[NYAPRS Enews] Help Save the Cross Disability Statewide Systems Advocacy Network!

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: Over the past few years, New York State has funded the
powerful Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN) coordinated by the
New York Association on Independent Living (NYAIL). By developing local
partnerships and coalitions, and engaging in community education about
issues impacting people with disabilities, the SSAN has increased
visibility about Independent Living, protected programs that people with
disabilities depend on, and worked to promote policies that improve our
independence and opportunities in work, education and community life. 

SSAN advocates positioned in key localities across New York have helped
generate hundreds of phone calls from our brothers and sisters in the
statewide cross disability advocacy community to supplement our own
efforts to restore SSI cuts, pass Timothy's Law and the SHU bill
mandating treatment alternatives to solitary confinement and support
bills promoting the expansion of peer crisis respite services and many
more issues of primary concern to NYAPRS members and the broader mental
health community. 

They need our support now to avoid being identified for cuts in the
Statewide Plan for Independent Living and we must now support them!
Please go to
http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14544291
<http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14544291&queueid=4
509552901> &queueid=4509552901 and urge state officials to retain SSAN
funding!

 

Save the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network!

 

With budget cuts to critical programs threatened from all directions,
now more than ever, the disability community desperately needs the
Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN)!  Last year, when the State
threatened to cut SSI payments, the SSAN alerted us all to the danger
and collaborated with other groups to put a stop to it.  When home care
was on the chopping block, the SSAN stood between consumer-directed
personal assistance and the budget ax, spreading the word so that policy
makers heard from us before it was too late. 

 

Now the SSAN may be at risk of being cut or reduced.  The Statewide Plan
for Independent Living (SPIL) for 2011-2013 is being decided, and some
governmental officials think that the SSAN is not a priority.
Fortunately, the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) has
co-signing authority with the State on the Plan, but they are going to
need our help.  The SILC needs to hear from disability advocates across
the State that the SSAN must be preserved in full force, or we will not
have the strength we need to raise our collective voices on the issues
that are central to our lives. 

 

Comments about the SPIL (Plan) must be submitted by the close of
business on Monday, January 25, 2010.  To submit your comments in
support of the SSAN, please go to
http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14544291
<http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=14544291&queueid=4
509552901> &queueid=4509552901, fill in the form at the bottom of this
page and click "send message".

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