by RIDDCouncil | Jun 21, 2016 | Cross Disability Coalition, Employment First, Policy
By Gina Macris When she became director of Rhode Island’s developmental disability agency in February, 2015, Maria Montanaro inherited a budget with no relation to actual costs that was destined to run a deficit. She had to work with a state-run system of group homes...
by RIDDCouncil | Jun 21, 2016 | Budget Cuts, Consent Decree, Cross Disability Coalition, Employment First, Laws & Legislation, Policy
By Gina Macris Rhode Island’s developmental disability budget for the next fiscal year includes assurances that a total of $9.1 million in Medicaid money will be spent to raise pay for direct support workers and to begin transforming the state’s system of services for...
by RIDDCouncil | May 19, 2016 | Consent Decree, Employment, Employment First, Federal Laws & Legislation, Laws & Legislation, Policy
Developmental Disability News is a RI website that covers the long-term impact of the 2014 Consent Decree between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the State of RI, as well as a related Interim Settlement Agreement between the DOJ and the City of Providence...
by RIDDCouncil | Oct 13, 2015 | Cross Disability Coalition, Employment, Employment First, Life is Good
The October Issue of RI Monthly has a featured article entitled “The Tyranny of Low Expectations” written by Associate Editor Casey Nilsson. “For decades, local agencies segregated people with disabilities and kept them from pursuing real work in the community. The...
by RIDDCouncil | Oct 13, 2015 | Employment, Employment First, Life is Good
The National Disability Institute (NDI) is celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month through its theme campaign “My disability is one part of who I am”. NDI advocates for advancing individual and systems level change to improve employment...
by RIDDCouncil | Oct 1, 2015 | Employment, Policy
The Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities was established under Section 609 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to advise the US Secretary of Labor in: Ways to increase competitive integrated employment...