“My Two Cents” – May 2018

Tim Doherty, Executive Director

Project Freedom continues to grow our housing units by partnering with several   local municipalities in Mercer County as well as those from across the State.  Over time we have modified our housing design and amenities to better reflect the needs and wants of our tenant consumers.  Our target population has also changed from strictly the physically disabled to also include “regular” non-disabled folks and their families.  So, now, we do house families with children and folks who may not be  disabled.  This is because our State, New Jersey, like so many other states, have recognized that inclusionary housing, that is disabled and non-disabled provides a better more natural and wholesome environment for everyone to live.

Although recognizing this kind of change, we still have continued to make our disabled population a priority.  That means we continue to build and design all of our units as accessible, so that someone who uses a wheelchair can easily manage any of our apartments.  Anyone can use the roll in showers, the lowered  countertops and the accessible kitchens and appliances.  Our overall site topography is also created so that there are no serious hills or slopes for which a wheelchair would find difficult to manage.

We also are trying to use less land as the large sites are also much more expensive to develop….more roads and sidewalk to build and maintain.  So, in order to maintain our numbers, we are designing a three story building, with elevator, that can provide cost savings overall.  We are hoping that these changes will enhance our building design while creating a lower overall cost.

The emphasis on cost reduction is because of the change in the new Federal Tax Law, which has reduced the tax liability for large companies and investors from 35 % to 21%.  By doing so, this change has reduced the value of the Tax Credit pricing over .05 Cents on the dollar, which overall can mean we lose about $500,000 for our projects.  This loss means that we need to become much more efficient, overall, when   budgeting for our projects.  The trick here is to figure out what to eliminate without compromising quality and valued amenities.

By building a three story building, rather than a two story, and reducing the total number of buildings from six to four, we hope to save around 20% of the cost of our project costs.  These are changes that we need to do, in order to keep within our available funding.  Along with these negative pressures on funding, we are seeing more and more demands from local towns to fulfill their affordable housing requirements, which is a positive change.  The Affordable Housing issue is currently being dealt with in the courts, with judges       negotiating the final numbers.  And from what we are seeing, those towns that don’t settle along the way, are getting higher final quotes on housing than they like.  This is what is fueling the current demand for   affordable housing in New Jersey towns. 

So, Project Freedom continues to change and adapt to the current housing market in order to continue to serve our Mission. 

 

Born without arms, Sarasota State Senate Candidate Has Long Fought for Disability Rights

Born without arms, Sarasota (FL) State Senate Candidate Has Long Fought for Disability Rights

By Zac Anderson Political Editor, The Herald Tribune, April 12, 2018

Olivia Babis often had to fight for equal rights growing up as a person with a disability.

Now the Sarasota Democrat wants to take the lessons she learned through her personal advocacy and help others who are struggling. Babis, 41, filed this week to run for a state Senate seat covering Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. She is challenging GOP state Rep. Joe Gruters for the District 23 seat.

“We need representation for the people who are falling through the cracks and feel like their voices aren’t being heard,” Babis said in announcing her campaign.

Born without arms, Babis said that in elementary school she initially was put in a special education class for much of the day with other disabled students, some of whom had intellectual disabilities.

Babis does not have an intellectual disability. Her family pushed for her to be fully “mainstreamed” with children who were not disabled. She finally was moved out of the special education class after testing as gifted in the third grade.

“The bar has been set so low for people with disabilities and I experienced that myself,” she said.

Read More By Clicking Here

Building Better Maps for the Disability Community

Building Better Maps for the Disability Community

Google and a slew of startups are including accessibility information in apps to help people navigate the world if they use wheelchairs or have other disabilities.

BY   

Occupational therapist turned disability rights activist Alanna Raffel has spent her career thinking about accessibility. So for her 30th birthday last year, she turned her passion into action.

Raffel had worked with disabled clients for years in Philadelphia. It wasn’t till late 2016, however, when she became more involved in advocacy, that she learned how difficult it was to find meeting spaces that could accommodate people of varying abilities. It’s particularly challenging in an old city like Philadelphia, where many of the buildings were built more than 200 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed.

mapping-event-alanna-raffel
Alanna Raffel enlisted her friends and family to help provide information to the accessibility app, Access Earth. 

Photo provided by Alanna Raffel

So last April she hosted a mapping event in which her family and friends downloaded the Access Earth app and scoured area businesses answering questions, like whether a storefront or restaurant has a step-free entrance or an accessible restroom. The goal: find out what is and isn’t wheelchair-accessible in the Center City district of Philadelphia.

The experience was eye-opening.

While laws like the Americans With Disabilities Act in the US require businesses and public facilities to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, they aren’t always followed or enforced. Many older places are exempt. What this means for someone with a disability is that it’s harder to get around and know what’s accessible and what’s not.

“It’s like playing the lottery,” said Michele Lee, a 35-year-old wheelchair user living in Chicago. Lee has moved about via wheelchair for the last 15 years following a spinal cord injury from a car accident.  “You never know whether train stations have working elevators or if sidewalks are free of construction or whether the restaurant I want to go to has an accessible bathroom.”

READ MORE BY CLICKING

Willing and able: Disabled workers prove their value in tight labor market

With the low 4.1% unemployment rate making it tougher for employers to hire and retain workers, CVS hires hundreds of disabled people annually and has ramped up the hiring amid the tight labor market, with the number of recruits doubling in 2017. USA TODAY

Julie Propp landed her first-ever job about 18 months ago — at age 55.

A part-time retail helper at a Kwik Trip convenience store in Marshalltown, Iowa, Propp cleans and ensures coffee cups and other items are well-stocked. She previously loaded boxes in workshops run by agencies that help disabled people but never had a traditional job because of a developmental disability.

She prefers her current gig. “It’s more money down there and more hours,” says Propp, who earns $10.90 an hour and will soon get a bump to $11.25. “Some customers are so nice.”

Source: USA Today.  Read More Here

 

 

Priced Out In The United States

In 2016, there was no housing market in the United States where a person with a disability
whose sole source of income was SSI could afford a safe, decent rental unit.

The Priced Out report, co-authored by TAC and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force, documents the nationwide housing affordability crisis experienced by people with disabilities. In 2016, millions of adults with disabilities living solely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) found that renting even a modest unit in their community would require nearly all of their monthly income. In hundreds of higher-cost housing markets, the average rent for such basic units is actually much greater than the entirety of an SSI monthly payment. There are proven solutions to the crisis – read our policy recommendations to learn more.

 

Click here to read more and to find out about your State!

 

Board & Corporate Officers Elected

During its first meeting of 2018, Project Freed’s Board of Trustees elected its officers and the corporate officer of Project Freedom Inc.   They are:

Chair, Board of Trustees
Herb  Schneider

Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
Tim Lutz

Treasurer, Board of Trustees
Anthony Torrington

Secretary, Board of Trustees
Dan Surtz

President, Project Freedom Inc.
Tim Doherty

Vice President, Project Freedom Inc.
Norman A. Smith

Assistant Treasurer
Steve Schaefer

Assistant Secretary
Tracee Battis

“My Medicaid, My Life” by Alice Wong

“My Medicaid, My Life” by Alice Wong,  New York Times — Opinion/Disability Section, May 3,2017

I am a Medicaid welfare queen. When Republicans talk about safety net programs like Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps, they evoke images of people like me gabbing on their smartphones, eating steak and watching TV from the comfort of home. Political rhetoric and media coverage paints us as unmotivated and undeserving individuals, passive consumers of taxpayer dollars who are out to “game the system,” taking resources away from hard-working people.

The reality of being a disabled person on Medicaid is far more complex and nuanced. Many people do not even know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare and simply consider them “entitlement programs,” as if tax breaks and corporate subsidies aren’t entitlements by another name. Medicaid is more than a health care program. It is a life-giving program.

Like the thousands of people sharing their stories at town halls about how the Affordable Care Act saved their lives, I am sharing my Medicaid story to illustrate its value and the potential consequences of “reform.”

I am an Asian-American woman with a disability and a daughter of immigrants. When I turned 18, my dad told me that I needed to make an appointment at the county office and apply for Medicaid. Living in an affluent suburb of Indianapolis, I was indignant. Medicaid was for “those people,” the “indigent.” I learned that my parents paid exorbitant monthly premiums for my health care. Only one company in our state would cover me because of my pre-existing condition (spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital motor neuron disease). I had no idea of the financial pressure placed on our family for basic health insurance because of my disability.

I graduated from high school in 1992, two years after the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed. Learning about disability history and realizing I was a member of a protected class encouraged me to imagine and create the life that I want. Once I got over myself and realized I had a right to Medicaid, it made a difference immediately.

I began to receive several hours a week of services to help me with personal care. When I went away to college I was able to hire attendants and live independently for the first time. It was an exhilarating taste of freedom that showed me a glimpse of what was possible. Before Medicaid, my family members, including my siblings, provided all of my care, including bathing, dressing and toileting. Now I had choices and the basic human right of self-determination.

Unfortunately, Indiana made cuts to Medicaid the following year that resulted in fewer hours of services. Our family couldn’t manage both tuition and private pay for personal care, so I made the heartbreaking decision to leave the school I loved and move back home.

As I commuted to a school nearby, I learned about the activism by disabled people that led to expanded accessibility and services across the country, California in particular. Moving to San Francisco for graduate school in the late 1990s afforded me the privilege of being in a state with a program that allows me to direct my own personal care services, including hiring and training my attendants. This program, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), is funded by a combination of local, state and federal funds. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to go to school, work or volunteer.

By no means is it fun or easy receiving Medicaid. I follow strict eligibility rules and guidelines. I’ve been able to work as a researcher thanks to a state Medicaid Working Disabled Program where I can maintain eligibility by paying monthly premiums. Over time, my disability progressed and I needed substantial care that would normally take place in an institution if I didn’t have any help. I became eligible for additional hours of service through a Medicaid waiver so that I could remain in the community and stay out of a nursing home, at a considerable savings cost for the entire system.

When you are disabled and rely on public services and programs, you face vulnerability every day. This vulnerability is felt in my bones and my relationship with the state. Fluctuations in the economy and politics determine whether my attendants will receive a living wage and whether I’ll have enough services to subsist rather than thrive. The fragility and weakness of my body, I can handle. The fragility of the safety net is something I fear and worry about constantly.

Although the American Health Care Act — the Republican attempt to replace the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act — failed, the assault on poor, disabled, sick and older people continues in other forms. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services can weaken regulations, place limits on the services states provide without legislation and add new work requirements. States can request block grants and changes to eligibility and regulations from the federal government directly. Block grants and per capita limits will force states to reduce or eliminate services to make up the difference from the federal government, affecting millions of people.

“Program flexibility” is code for the decimation of Medicaid that will put lives like mine at risk. Some people with disabilities may have to live in nursing homes if community-based services wither away under this flexibility and reform. We cannot disappear again after a history of segregation and institutionalization. When Republicans talk about freedom and choice, they don’t realize that Medicaid gives those very things to people with disabilities.

Every day I resist forces that label me as the Other or a scapegoat for society’s problems. With the disability community, I share our stories and speak out against threats to our future by using my privilege and tools such as social media. I hope my story will continue for decades to come.

 

Justice Department Scraps ADA Guidance

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he’s rescinding more than two dozen guidance documents including several clarifying the implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Among the 25 revoked documents are a number of ADA-related items dating as far back as 1995 offering guidance on everything from service animals to accessible building practices as well as a 2016 letter on employment of people with disabilities.

Sessions called the revoked documents “improper or unnecessary” and said they were outdated or went beyond what the law called for.

The move announced in late December came after President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring all federal agencies to identify regulations for “repeal, replacement or modification.” The withdrawn guidance was identified through this process, Sessions said.

Disability advocates indicated they are particularly worried about the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to pull a statement issued under the Obama administration addressing the implications of the ADA’s integration mandate on employment.

“The civil rights of persons with disabilities, including individuals with mental illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, or physical disabilities, are violated by unnecessary segregation in a wide variety of settings, including in segregated employment, vocational and day programs,” the Obama-era guidance stated.

The document warned states that they needed to modify their policies to ensure that employment programs offer people with disabilities the opportunity to work in integrated settings.

“We are extremely concerned about the withdrawal of this guidance document, both because it sends the wrong signal to public entities that are seeking to comply with the ADA and because it may reflect a diminished concern with the importance of providing employment services in the most integrated setting,” reads a statement from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and the Collaboration to Promote Self Determination, two umbrella groups representing dozens of disability advocacy organizations.

Taking away the guidance does not change any of the ADA’s mandates, disability advocates noted. Nonetheless, withdrawing the guidance, which serves as an interpretation of the law, can create uncertainty, they said.

“Guidance documents are important tools to educate all stakeholders about the requirements of the law in a clear fashion, and the withdrawal of some of these guidance documents may create confusion and misunderstanding,” the advocacy coalitions cautioned.

Sessions indicated that the Justice Department is continuing to review guidance to identify other documents that may be ripe for repeal, replacement or modification.

 

Justice Department Scraps ADA Guidance

“My Two Cents” – January 2018

As I write these words, it is the day after Christmas, so all the parties, have come and gone, with only memories of those good times.  It indeed has been a wonderful year, for which we at Project

Tim Doherty, Executive Director

Freedom have a lot to be thankful.  This year, we obtained our funding for two new projects, one in West Windsor and one in Gibbsboro.  Staff will soon be working to make them a reality, which will provide needed barrier free housing for many of our consumers.  We must have had our guardian angels working overtime for us to win those funding awards this year, which was quite extraordinary.

And speaking of Angels, at Project Freedom communities we have always been grateful for our “community angels” throughout the years, who provide special programs to our consumers throughout the year. 

  • At Robbinsville, The Resurrection Lutheran Church gives gifts to tenants at Easter as well as hosting our Thanksgiving dinner and Labor Day picnic, open to all tenants there. 
  • In Hamilton, the Nottingham Women’s Club donates a $25 Gift card to all the tenants there at Christmas Time.
  • In Hopewell, Merrill Lynch provides a ” Giving Tree” with Christmas gifts to each family there as well as food for many families during the Thanksgiving holiday.
  • Our Woodstown Community had a holiday food delivery to several tenants thanks to Franklin Savings Bank, and the Woodstown Police Department, and Meals on Wheels provided large gift bags to their Meal recipients.
  • In Lawrence, the Menges family donated personalized gift bags for all our tenants there, as well as helped with our annual Christmas party. They, along with Deborah Hospital donated Christmas gifts for our Chinese Auction, allowing many tenants to go home with more than one gift.  The students from Sommerville High School come down to help serve as waiters and waitresses, and escort tenants home or deliver gifts to those who couldn’t come out.  We even had the Lawrence Community Band give a holiday concert, with attendance from our other Mercer County communities, for a great night of Christmas music. 
  • In Toms River and Westampton, our two newest communities, PFI has provided the means to hold a Christmas party so all could enjoy the holidays.

So, a lot to be thankful for.  For me, these things don’t just happen.  I am pleased to have a great staff, who orchestrate, coordinate and work, those days….all with a smile on their faces, to provide these memorable events.  So, I would like to give a big “thank you” to them:  Lawrence: Joanne, Brie, Ross, Joe and Johnny; Hamilton and Robbinsville:  Jackie, Melinda, Mary, Esther, Judy, Dana, Maria, Doug, Ed, John and Ron; Hopewell: Ceil, Jennifer, Jen, Frank and Damien; Toms River: Laurie, Joyce, Jim and Al; Woodstown:  Sammi, Arlene, Mike and John; Westampton:  Dara, Savanah, Tony and  Leonard.  And of course our executive staff: Norman, Steve,  Frank, Tracee, Marion, Heather and Sakina.

And finally, to our Board of Trustees, who consistently meet every month to provide support and     continue the mission of Project Freedom, now and into the future.  Many thanks to all.                   Happy New Year.

 

Donations to PF at Lawrence Brings a Delicious Thanksgiving to Tenants

Project Freedom at Lawrence was blessed to have received numerous food donations from extremely generous people, stores and restaurants to help the tenants celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

As always, The Knights of Columbus along with St. Anne’s church began the holidays with a huge donation of 28 turkeys that they delivered to the Community Room above the call of duty.

Fusion Employer Services’ employees went all out by further donating an amazing amount of food delivered from ShopRite. Butter, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, yams, corn and green beans all bagged up and sent to Lawrence tenants.  On top of all of that amazing food,  Fusion employees also had ShopRite donate 25 freshly made pumpkin pies.  Yum!!

In addition, Terhune Orchards enthusiastically donated 15 delicious homemade pies to tenants featuring apple, coconut custard, peach and mincemeat.  It was quite a treat.

Both ShopRite in Hamilton and Ewing were also generous in donating five turkeys each.  This helped a number of families in need to have a proper and delicious Thanksgiving meal.

With all of these amazing, lovely and thoughtful donations, Project Freedom at Lawrence was able to provide complete and delightful Thanksgiving meals for tenants in need helping to make their Thanksgiving a joyful one to remember!!