Save the New York State Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN)

Hello readers and SSAN volunteers.
This is extremely important, so please continue reading.

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. I am urging you to provide comments on the importance of the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN) of which you are a part and how the SSAN has positively affected your life and the lives of persons with disabilities. Your positive comments are needed and are vital to the continuation of the SSAN program.

If you would like to provide feedback about any aspect related to the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN), you need to respond by the end of business on Monday, January 25, 2010. The preferred method of response is electronic format; please email your comments to:
bradw@nysilc.org

Below is a copy of my own personal testimony, which you may use as a guide in helping to prepare your own.


Dear Brad:
On behalf of the Catskill Center for Independence, I thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the importance of including funding for the SSAN in the 2011 – 2013 State Plan for Independent Living. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information or feedback.


As you know, we at the Catskill Center for Independence assists individuals with disabilities in the achievement of independence in everyday life. The Center provides a variety of services, which ensure that its consumers have ready access to up to date, accurate information and viable options for obtaining services which best serve their individual needs. The Center also provides information and assistance to friends and family members of individuals with disabilities, employers, landlords, other agencies and members of the private and business sectors of the community in the development of a barrier-free environment.

We provide these services while maintaining and promoting the Independent Living Philosophy and serve Delaware, Otsego, Chenango and Schoharie Counties. Services are provided to all individuals without regard to race, color, creed, sex, national origin, age or nature of disability in accordance with all local, state, and federal regulations and laws.

We as an independent living center through the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN) inform our legislators at the local, State and Federal levels of issues of importance to people with disabilities and as such, how these concerns should be incorporated in the development of legislation and the implementation of policy which serves us all. As a result, many legislative changes have occurred, which have benefited persons with disabilities by helping to increase their independence and integration in our society. We also through various educational and outreach programs help inform our consumers of the various legislative processes and how they can make changes in their lives through the voting process and through other communications vehicles such as responding to action alerts, writing letters and making telephone calls to our legislators.

I believe, we have all proven, that the best way to promote coordinated and effective systems advocacy that addresses the needs of people with disabilities throughout New York State is to use Title VII, Part B funds and allow the continued functioning and possible expansion of the existing Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN) that has been in place and operating across New York for the past several years. Since its inception, the SSAN has grown to become an increasingly effective network of educated and dedicated disability advocates, who have had a significant affect on the development of disability related law and its benefits to the disability community.

Participation in the SSAN has provided tremendous value to the Catskill Center for Independence, as well as to our staff, our consumers, and our community as a whole. In coordination with the SSAN, CCFI has developed a reputable systems advocacy program in the community that currently comprises more than 150 active local volunteer disability advocates.
Our center continues to not only meet, but also exceed the requirements of the SSAN contract in all points. We continue to develop relationships with our local and State legislators, inform our consumers, legislators and other members of our community through our newsletter The Legislative Lookout, our blog at SSAN-network.blogspot.com and through other presentation and educational vehicles.

We at the Catskill Center for Independence strongly urge you to consider how effective the SSAN has become in mobilizing such a large number of disability advocates from across the state to act on pressing disability issues. In fact, CCFI recommends that the SPIL include an increase in funding for the SSAN program for the next three year cycle. The increase in funds should provide for an increase of SSAN Centers and for each Center to receive additional funds to further expand its SSAN activities.

Increased funding levels for SSAN would have an exponential impact to the outcomes that could be achieved across the state. Not only would there be a increase in number of potential disability advocates that are trained, mobilized and ready to act on advocacy initiatives, but participating Centers would have a more realistic level of resources available to pay for staff and for travel expenses that are often tied to any effective advocacy efforts.

Continuing to develop our local SSAN network would help assure the true integration and full inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the mainstream of society. The SSAN is only as strong as the access that its participants have to our public policymakers.

Respectfully Submitted:

Charles M. Reichardt
Systems Advocate
Catskill Center for Independence