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Highlights from Grassroots Day in Sacramento


Lanterman community members attended 2018 Grassroots Day in Sacramento.

Lanterman community members who attended 2018 Grassroots Day in Sacramento include Gloria Levia, parent, and her daughter Angie Monson Leiva; Jae Rhee, parent; Kimberly Isaac, service provider; and Joe Perales, Lanterman family support specialist.
 
The following are key points that the group discussed and advocated for during their meetings with legislators:

  1. Restore Social Recreation and Camp - Families use camp or social recreation services because they provide both social opportunities and a break for caregiving families. These services were suspended in 2009 and had a disparate impact on diverse communities, and these services should be restored. You can learn more at www.restoremyservices.net.
     
  2. Reject the "Uniform Holiday Schedule" - Disabilities don't take days off, so cutting off services directly hurts the individuals receiving these services and their families, and this amounts to a rate cut for service providers by forcing direct service professionals, many of whom are paid minimum wage, to take unpaid days off.
     
  3. Shore Up Regional Center Direct Services - Service coordinators are supporting too many people as result of old funding formulas resulting in high caseloads. Also, with the Self-Determination Program beginning soon, new regional center staff will be needed to manage implementation at the local level.
     
  4. Fund Affordable Housing - The developmental centers are in the final phases of closing down. This is an opportunity to rethink how the State funds affordable housing for our community. As we move to a purely community-based model, it is time to look at new ways to prioritize our population's housing needs.
     
  5. Support Assemblymember Holden's Bridge Funding Request - Assemblymember Chris Holden is advocating for one-time only bridge funding to help service providers pay for unfunded costs. Business are struggling. Provider rates have not kept pace with the cost of delivering services. Stabilizing those programs respects the choices of people served, saves the jobs of direct service professionals, and will help prevent service interruption.

Top photo: On the steps of the Capitol building in Sacramento, from left to right: Angie Monson Leiva, Jae Rhee, Gloria Leiva and Kimberly Isaac

Second photo: A group of advocates, including Gloria Leiva (fourth from left), Joe Perales (center), Angie Monson Leiva and Jae Rhee, with Kala Tailor, Committee Secretary for Senator Kevin de León (far right)

Center, left photo: Michelle Heid, service provider (far left), with Senator Anthony J. Portantino (third from left) and other participants, including Kimberly Isaac (second from right)

Center, right photo: Brandon P. Seto, Legislative Director for Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (left), with Angie Monson Leiva

Bottom photo: Jae Rhee (far left), with Brandon P. Seto, Legislative Director for Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (center), Joe Perales, Kimberly Isaac and Angie Monson Leiva