Bridges to Employment Webinar Series

A free monthly webinar series from the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition designed to assist people with disabilities to obtain and keep gainful employment

Hosted by The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition and Brenda Mosby, owner of Mosby Business Services.

This month, CCDC launches the first of a five-part series designed to help individuals with disabilities overcome the misperception that working and benefits don’t go hand in hand.

Each month we will explore a different, employment-related topic chosen to offer new skills and knowledge in the employment field. Webinars are about an hour-long, require separate registrations, and are completely FREE.

Coming Up Next:

• March 22nd, Part 3A: Work Incentives – Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability. Register Here
• April 26th, Part 3B: Work Incentives cont.– Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability. Register Here
• May 24th, Part 4: Personal Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence – Brenda Mosby shares her expertise in understanding and using emotions in positive ways to build relationships and succeed at work. Register Here
• June 21st, Part 5: Transportation and Employment – CCDC transportation advocate, Jaime Lewis, will share transit options for people with disabilities, ensuring you can get to and from your new job. Register Here

Previous Sessions Available by Recording

Click here to access the archived recordings and documents.

Part 1: Medicaid Buy-In for Working Adults with Disabilities (Buy-In) High-level overview with Brenda Mosby and CCDC Appeals & Eligibility Director, Donna Sablan. Click here to access the archived recordings and documents.

Part 2: Applying for Buy-In – A step-by-step application walkthrough with CCDC Appeals & Eligibility Director Donna Sablan

Contact Angela Nevin at anevin@ccdconline.org for questions or accommodation questions. (All accommodation requests must be received a minimum of three days before each event.)

Bridges To Employment Webinar Series: Videos and Supporting Documents

Information flyer for this Webinar Series:

Bridges to Employment Information Flyer (pdf)

Here is what is next in this series:

• April 26th, Part 3B: Work Incentives part 2
  • Join us to talk with a specialist about what other incentives and supports you may qualify for as a working individual with a disability.
  • Register Here
• May 24th, Part 4: Personal Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence
  • Brenda Mosby shares her expertise in understanding and using emotions in
    positive ways to build relationships and succeed at work.
  • Register Here
• June 21st, Part 5: Transportation and Employment
  • CCDC transportation advocate, Jaime Lewis, will share transit options for people with disabilities, ensuring you can get to and from your new job.
  • Register Here

Part 1: Medicaid Buy-In – Video and supporting documents

Part 1: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 1 Transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 1 Presentation (pdf)

Part 2: Applying for Medicaid Buy-In – Video and supporting documents

Part 2: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 2 Transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 2 Presentation (pdf)

Part 3: Bridges to Employment Webinar Series 3A: AWIC Area Work Incentives Coordinators – Video and supporting documents

Part 3A: Downloadable documents

• Bridges to Employment Part 3A Auto-generated transcript of Video (text)
• Bridges to Employment Series Part 3A Presentation (pdf)

I Vote because…

In conjunction with the Getting Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign, the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) will be issuing a social media video challenge – “I’m disabled and this is why I vote…”

This is a call to arms for any and everyone in the disability community – regardless of disability type, or severity – to rise up and use your voice to demand action!

We need the disabled community to be registered to vote, to exercise their right to vote, and to hold their elected officials accountable to fulfilling their campaign promises – especially when it comes to protecting persons living with disabilities civil rights and healthcare, especially Medicaid.

Here’s how you can participate:

• Record a selfie-style video of yourself starting with the phrase, “I’m disabled and this is why I vote…”
  • If you are not a person living with a disability and would like to participate that is wonderful! Thank you! You can start by saying, “I am a person who is not disabled, but I vote for candidates who support the rights of people living with disabilities, and here’s why…”
• Post your video to your social media platforms (i.e.: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, etc.) using the following hashtags:
  • #Vote4Medicaid
  • #ColoradoDisabilityPowerVote
  • #ColoradoDisabiltyCommunity
  • #VoteLikeYourLifeDependsOnIt
  • #DisabilityRights
  • #DisabledVoicesInAction
  • #HearUs
  • #SeeUs
  • #ProtectUs
  • #VotingForOurLives
• Make sure that your post is public and sharable, and if possible please include closed captioning with your video(s).
• Tag CCDC in your post so that we can share it.
• Share the Colorado Voter Registration website link as often as possible – https://www.sos.state.co.us/voter/pages/pub/olvr/verifyNewVoter.xhtml
• If you see someone’s post using any of the hashtags mentioned above, especially, please like and share it to help expand the post’s reach and gain traction.

The Public Charge Rule Is Now in Effect Nationwide— What Does that Mean and What Can You Do?

Update: February 24, 2020 
From the Center for Public Representation

Today, the Department of Homeland Security’s discriminatory public charge rule goes into effect. The rule puts in place a new test for people who are applying for visas or green cards. It looks at people’s health, including whether they have a disability, and whether they have used or might one day use public benefits, including Medicaid-funded home and community-based services on which many people with disabilities rely because they are not covered by private insurance. This rule will have a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities and will discourage people already in the US from using critical public benefits to which they are legally entitled. Continue reading “The Public Charge Rule Is Now in Effect Nationwide— What Does that Mean and What Can You Do?”

Colorado bill would allow disabled company owners to keep working

The Colorado Senate Health and Human Services Committee will consider whether to give disabled business owners another option.

By Ed Sealover  – Reporter, Denver Business Journal, Feb 10, 2020, 10:33am EST

DENVER — Josh Winkler became paralyzed below the waist at age 17, but that didn’t stop him from getting a mechanical engineering degree in college and working for a NASCAR team until the Great Recession hit. He then launched his own company, Cripple Concepts, which makes a variety of aides for the wheelchair-bound, including joystick knobs for movement that don’t fall off and USB chargers that allow electric-wheelchair users to charge their phones without losing use of their mobility device. Continue reading “Colorado bill would allow disabled company owners to keep working”

Action Needed! SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65

SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65

By Julie Reiskin, Executive Director, CCDC

WILL ALLOW PEOPLE WITH SIGNIFICANT DISABILITIES WHO WORK USING THE MEDICAID BUY-IN TO CONTINUE WORKING AFTER AGE 65

Program: The Medicaid Buy-In for Working Adults with Disabilities (Buy-In) has been a path out of poverty for people with disabilities since 2014. By allowing people who have a disability and a job to buy into Medicaid and, if needed, long-term services and supports, individuals can earn up to 450% of the Federal Poverty Level while only counting 50% of their earned income. Best of all, there is no asset test. ALL OTHER paths into Medicaid carry a $2000 asset limit and strict earnings limits.  Continue reading “Action Needed! SB 20-033: Allow Medicaid Buy-in Program After Age 65”

Healthcare and Prosperity in America

By Timothy Postlewaite

Healthcare is crucial to prosperity in America, as it assists in the facilitation, participation, and productivity in a multitude of aspects from the standpoint of those whom the rest of society would categorize as “underdogs,” individuals who require more assistance to find their version of “normalcy.”  Medicaid is a prime example of a program that attempts to assist with this, as it assists the impoverished and the disabled by allowing them to have the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. From an early age, I have experienced the pros and cons of Medicaid. The program allocated funds toward my first electric wheelchair, which allowed me to enter Kindergarten with the ability to participate with a diverse group of kids.  Moreover, not only did this experience begin the process of acclimating me to social expectations, but it also assisted me in terms of forming my identity, providing me with a steadfast foundation of freedom and independence, two characteristics that have remained with me to this day. Continue reading “Healthcare and Prosperity in America”

Tennessee Set to Become the First State to Adopt Block Grants (TennCare Waiver Amendment 42)

Overview

Tennessee has submitted an application to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) asking to convert the bulk of funding for its TennCare Medicaid program to a modified block grant, along with numerous other changes that threaten both TennCare and the Medicaid program nationally. Continue reading “Tennessee Set to Become the First State to Adopt Block Grants (TennCare Waiver Amendment 42)”

The Hospital Transformation Program (HTP)

Overview

The Hospital Transformation Program (HTP) aims to improve outcomes and reduce costs by attaching quality and value metrics to the Hospital Provider Fee.  For information about the program, its committees, upcoming processes, and sign up for alerts and information, follow this link: Colorado Hospital Transformation Program.

The public comment period closed on December 15, 2019. However, if you would like to read the published summary requesting comments, you can access the Notice of Public Comment Process: Transformation Program: Delivery System Incentive Payment Demonstration pdf for more information.

Continue reading “The Hospital Transformation Program (HTP)”

Medicaid’s Appellate Process Gone Wrong

By: Stacy Warden/Author of Noah’s Miracle

The legal process isn’t easy for an already struggling family who is overwhelmed with the care of a child or family member. It’s intimidating from the start.  When a family is issued a denial they are provided with a notice of the denial and advised of their rights. However, there’s a tiny little clause that says should you lose your appeal that you very well may have to pay the State back in services and legal fees.  Which, for most families is an automatic discouragement from pursuing their appellate rights before an Administrative Law Judge. Continue reading “Medicaid’s Appellate Process Gone Wrong”