Compass! Blueprint! Change Is In the Air
A lot of work is underway at the Oregon Office of Developmental Disabilities Services (ODDS). Either you have heard about it, or you are going to start hearing about it soon. Changes are coming to processes, forms, service rates, case management, ISPs, and so much more. In order to understand all of this change, we need to revisit some recent history and follow the path to where we currently stand.
Coming Soon: Mentor Brokerage Transition
A transition is coming to Brokerage services in the Portland and Mid-Valley areas. The Mentor Network will no longer provide services in Oregon after August 31st, 2021. Unexpected change can be unsettling, but there is a plan underway to maintain support without interruption to people currently using Mentor Brokerage services. We are pleased and fortunate to have established Brokerage organizations that are willing to come together to ensure that these services continue and that people get what they need.
Social and Emotional Wellness While Staying Home
Oregonians all across the state have worked hard to keep up with the changing rules and realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. It asks of us a near-constant recalculation that is exhausting: is it okay for me to engage in this action? How can I get this need met safely? Am I doing everything I can do for the people who matter to me? What can I do now to prepare for what’s next? Our logical brains are overloaded, and our emotions are all over the place, as we grieve habits and people lost to us, and worry about the world around us. How do we maintain our emotional and mental wellness, in this time and place?
COVID-19 and Oregon's Brokerage Community
Oregonians are all working incredibly hard to keep up with the changing rules and realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. For our social service entities, this has meant delaying long-term projects and other critical work in order to pick up the work of sharing goods, resources, and information with their communities. Health and safety in the time of COVID-19 is an ever-changing effort. It requires an immense amount of extra work, communication, and personal connection with people, even as in-person contact is limited.
Leadership Changes at OSSA: Laura Noppenberger
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better.
Laura breaks the mold of this posting series, and that is nothing new for her. She has been serving OSSA as our Treasurer since 2017, when Bill Uhlman stepped down from his position as Director of Eastern Oregon Support Services Brokerage and with OSSA. Laura deftly took over both leadership at Eastern Oregon Support Services Brokerage, and the Treasurer responsibilities for OSSA, and has spent the last two years breaking new ground, including helping the association take on our first-ever employee.
Leadership Changes at OSSA: Sarah Noack
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better.
Calling Sarah Noack “new” does not seem right. Truly, all of our new faces in leadership have been a part of important moments in Brokerage history from our inception. Sarah has always been ready for more–more responsibility, more progress, more challenge, more growth. She visualizes her goals with a clear and steady eye; the entirety of the Brokerage community has benefited from her vision. Sarah brings her thoughtful, considerate leadership to OSSA’s Vice President position.
Leadership Changes at OSSA: Jennifer Santiago
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better.
In August, the Oregon Support Services Association elected Jennifer Santiago as our new President. Jennifer may be new to the position, but she is not new to the field, or to the Brokerage community. She has been bringing her thoughtful contributions based on lived experience, shrewd insight, and tireless dedication to her work for years. We are excited to have Jennifer step into this new leadership role, and look forward to many productive years to come.
Leadership Changes at OSSA: Larry Deal
Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better.
The association of the 14 Brokerages (Oregon Support Services Association) formed back in 2010, as a way to work together to achieve our common goals. Since 2015, Larry Deal has served OSSA as its President, offering wise counsel and thoughtful planning to the association as we have grown. Elected at the same time as Executive Director Katie Rose was hired, the two have worked closely together to negotiate the best possible way forward at every fork in the path.
Check-In: The Oregon Needs Assessment and Service Hours
As you have heard from us before, the Oregon Needs Assessment (ONA) is currently being rolled out across the service system. By now, you should have received an ONA assessment from one of the new ONA Assessors located in case management agencies across Oregon. As a part of that process, you were probably told that the assessment is not yet tied to the allocation of services, which still happens through other means. But, when will that change, and what will the impact be on your services? Read on for an update on everything we know, to date.
Why Vision Matters
We have talked a lot about the series of policy changes back in late 2013 that resulted in the statewide Community First Choice K Plan, in consolidating services and payment into the eXPRS Plan of Care, and the rise of the Adult Needs Assessment as a primary point of departure for service planning and funding. Today, we believe that more change is necessary if Oregon is to regain a functional, sustainable structure for IDD services.
Nothing Endures But Change
We have talked a lot about the series of policy changes back in late 2013 that resulted in the statewide Community First Choice K Plan, in consolidating services and payment into the eXPRS Plan of Care, and the rise of the Adult Needs Assessment as a primary point of departure for service planning and funding. The entire system still struggles to find equilibrium in the wake of such wholesale change. Equity in service allocations, rates of pay, and time spent on face-to-face services vs. paperwork has been disrupted due to choices made during the implementation of these policies. Today, we believe that more change is necessary if Oregon is to regain a functional, sustainable structure for IDD services.
Vision, January 2016: A Second Look at the Future of IDD Services in Oregon
Nearly one year ago, the Oregon Support Services Association shared our February 2015 Vision for the Future of Disability Services in Oregon. It was meant to be a comprehensive look at what we want for our service system, with ideas about how we might get there. While the ultimate vision hasn’t changed substantially, the ideas for how we get there have been refined to fit a January 2016 understanding of the world. Click here to view the OSSA Vision For the Future of Disability Services in Oregon, January 2016.
This Week, Oregon Brokerage Association Celebrates Five Years
This weekend, the Oregon Support Services Association celebrates its 5 year anniversary! We formed the association in 2010 just as Oregon brokerages were about to celebrate a decade of services to the Intellectual and Developmental Disability (I/DD) community. The past five years have been filled with successes, challenges, and more twists and turns than anyone could have predicted. As many of you know, today’s terrain is significantly different.
A Diversity of Services Requires A Diversity of Providers
Community-based services are different. In 2001, Oregon made a deep investment in community supports when it began to develop Support Services Brokerages. This style of service, which seeks to serve people where and how they wish to live, is very support servicesdifferent from the institutional settings of the past. People make different choices when you let them, they express different needs than you might have anticipated--they surprise you. Oregon found that community-based services demanded a wider diversity of providers.
Choosing Between Vital Parts is a Losing Proposition for I/DD
When it comes to full lives for Oregonians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we want it all. As a member of the Oregon I/DD Coalition, OSSA helped to identify four top priorities for the 2015 legislative budgeting session. These four priorities, together, represent a pathway to richer lives for Oregonians with I/DD.
OSSA's Vision for the Future of Disability Services in Oregon
Sometimes, in the midst of change, it is hard to see the way forward. Oregon's system of services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities once felt like it had a clear identity as a national leader for progressive, community-based service. We closed down institutions. We gave control to the people using the services. We showed that giving people self-determination can not only be right, it can also be cost-effective, good business.