Advocacy in Action - August ☀


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5K Information Lunch & Learn Virtual Training Award Nominations Farmers Market Survey A Note From Our Executive Director Health First Colorado School Supplies Notable Articles

HALLOWEEN 5K REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Sponsor our 5K event!

Interested in sponsoring us or have items you would like to donate?

Find out more

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS for our 5K on October 28th! Interested in volunteering your time to help? Fill out our volunteer interest form!

Volunteer Interest Form

Lunch & Learn for Spanish Families

RSVP

VIRTUAL TRAINING!!!

Award Nomination Request

We are approaching our Annual Meeting in September and are in search of nominations from our community for award winners.

The award descriptions are:

ABOVE & BEYOND: The Above and Beyond award is to recognize a neighbor, friend, sibling, physician, direct care staff, host home provider, volunteer, etc. who does things not because they must, but because they care about improving the life of an individual with an intellectual/developmental disability.

SUPERB SELF-ADVOCATE: An award going to a person with an intellectual and developmental disability. The person has met their goals, made great strides towards their goals, encourages others to be their best, or gives back to the community.

If someone you know would be a good fit to receive one of these awards, please fill out the form and return to me at tnevells@arcadams.org by August 15th.

Above & Beyond - English

Superb Self-Advocate - English

Above & Beyond - Spanish

Superb Self-Advocate - Spanish

Survey

Your opinion matters to us. We are working to improve here at The Arc of Adams County and need your feedback! You will receive a $5 arc Thrift voucher in the mail upon completion of the survey. Thank you!

Take Survey

What’s happening at the Arc of Adams County?

Greetings!

I hope you all have been enjoying your summer. Just a quick note to let you know what is happening at The Arc of Adams County.

In July, we celebrated with our Annual picnic. It was great to see so many new and familiar faces! Thank you to all who were able to join us. I hope you all enjoyed the picnic, face painting, balloon animals and general camaraderie. We have a few new staff since last year’s picnic. If you haven’t met them, feel free to check out their bios on our website: www.arcadams.org

Our office has been staying on top of the changes coming to Case Management and the move to Conflict Free Case Management. Conflict Free Case Management is coming and needs to be complete by July 1, 2024. As you may know, Rocky Mountain Human Services will be taking over case management for North Metro Community Services for people living in Adams County and receiving services. The State of Colorado is in the process of identifying when the change will take place, but it will be before the July 1, 2024 deadline. This change has been coming for a while, but if you would like more information about Conflict Free Case Management and the changes coming, please visit Colorado Health Care Policy and Finance website for more information. https://hcpf.colorado.gov/case-management-redesign. I hope to provide more of an update in our next newsletter.

The Speaking For Ourselves (SFO) group had a successful bake sale in July. If you are not familiar with the group, SFO is an advocacy group run by adults with IDD who are interested in positive change in our community. If you or someone you know is interested in checking out what the group is doing, feel free to reach out to the advisor for the group, Joshua Wann at jwann@arcadams.org.

Our Child and Family Advocacy team is hosting a Lunch and Learn on August 31, 2023 for Spanish speaking parents to learn more about special education. The information will be presented in Spanish. Please email Mayra Hernandez to register by August 28. mhernandez@arcadams.org.

Our Annual Membership meeting is coming up in September! As you may know, we choose this time to honor people in the community, providers, and self-advocates who are doing amazing things for and with people with IDD!

The Arc of Adams County is making some updates to our building. After the pandemic and sitting for over two years, our building needed a LOT of love and care. The outside building has been painted and the landscaping cleaned up. I want to give a shout out to JPL Cares who cleaned up our landscaping through their BRINGL!IFE program. They did a great job on our landscaping!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Kari Easterly

Executive Director

The Arc of Adams County

keasterly@arcadams.org

Farmers Markets

The Healthy Farmers Market locations in Adams County will be back this summer on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The markets will provide:

$20 produce vouchers for residents enrolled in WIC, SNAP, or Medicaid
$20 produce vouchers for residents aged 65 or older
Recipes and nutrition information

Anythink Huron Street
9417 Huron St., Thornton 80260
Tuesdays, June 20 - Sept. 26 | 9 a.m. - noon

Anythink Wright Farms
5877 E. 120th Ave., Thornton 80602
Thursdays, June 22 - Sept. 28 | 9 a.m. - noon

More Information

Experiences of Health First Colorado Members with Disabilities in Primary Care Settings – Part One

HCPF is holding this initial meeting in response to feedback from advocates about the experiences of Health First Colorado members living with disabilities in primary care settings. We invite all interested members living with disabilities, their family members, disability advocates and any other interested stakeholders to participate.

This meeting will begin with a presentation by our partner, the Colorado Health Institute, on Health First Colorado’s Accountable Care Collaborative, the regional structure that manages the physical and behavioral health benefits and helps coordinate care for Medicaid members.

HCPF will then lead and facilitate a listening session during which we invite stakeholders to inform us about patient experiences, issues, strengths and weaknesses: anything you want us to know.

HCPF’s goal for this first meeting is to gather information that will help us identify needed and feasible steps to improve this system of care.

The meeting will be held:

Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023

9 to 10:30 a.m. MT

Register Here

Need help with school supplies? Check out these Colorado events.

Saturday, Aug. 5

Time: 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Where: Town Center at Aurora, 14200 E. Alameda Ave.

Aurora Public School’s annual school kickoff will include free backpacks and school supplies to district students, low- or no-cost immunizations and vaccinations, and other free “goodies.” The event is also an opportunity to register children for school and meet staff.

Sunday, Aug. 6

Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Mile High Flea Market, 7007 E. 88th Ave.

Nonprofit Adelante Community Development is partnering with Mile High Flea Market to co-host a back-to-school resource and health fair that will include free backpacks and supplies for preschool students through 12th grade, as well as basic health screenings for adults and children, and COVID vaccines. There will also be other resources and assistance with Medicaid and CHP+ applications on site.

Sunday, Aug. 13

Time: 1 to 8 p.m.

Where: Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, 801 S. Yarrow St.

The Colorado Barber Giveback brings together barbers ready to give kids free haircuts before school starts. The group is also partnering with other organizations that will be offering backpacks and school supplies. There will also be food and live entertainment.

More information

Notable Articles

How Colorado is trying to get more students with intellectual disabilities into college

“For like 21 years of my life, I didn’t think I was actually a person because I had a disability and I wasn’t an equal because I had a disability,” Murphy said. “I thought it was a curse that I had what I have, and that’s 100% not true, but that’s just unfortunately how I thought.”

Now, at age 25, Murphy has shattered the expectations of those who once insisted college was out of her reach, graduating from the University of Northern Colorado’s Go On and Learn program in 2022 and working as a paraprofessional in her hometown, Grand Junction.

Read the full article here.

Feds Propose Rules For Web Accessibility

The U.S. Department of Justice is proposing first-ever rules to ensure that websites and mobile apps are accessible to people with disabilities.

Officials with the federal agency said this week that they sent a notice of proposed rulemaking under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the Federal Register.

The regulations are designed to improve accessibility of web and mobile applications run by state and local governments and other public entities, the Justice Department said.

Read the full article here.

Become a Member of The Arc of Adams County!

A membership with The Arc of Adams County provides:

a 15% discount at all arc Thrift stores.
$50 Voucher to all arc Thrift stores annually
a guaranteed invitation to our Annual Summer Picnic & Annual Meeting
legislative updates on information that impacts the lives of persons with IDD.
voting rights about issues facing The Arc of Adams County
monthly and weekly updates on disability news
concurrent membership with The Arc of the United State

We are on Instagram @TheArcAdams! Head over to our profile and give us a follow to stay updated with all things current at The Arc of Adams County!

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Our Mission

Since 1962 the mission of The Arc of Adams County is to protect, preserve and promote the human and civil rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively support their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.

Resources

Get Involved

Arc of Adams County

641 E 112th Ave., Northglenn CO 80233
United States

www.arcadams.org

303-428-0310

tnevells@arcadams.org

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