Thanks for Supporting the Cause

By Phil Prehn, Systems Change Advocate

ARISE would like to thank all the staff, consumers and friends who have been working so diligently with the Advocacy staff at ARISE, the New York Association of Independent Living (NYAIL) and the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Assn of NY (CDPAANYS) to try and stop catastrophic changes to the CDPAP program.

ARISE has long acted as a Fiscal Intermediary for CDPAP—helping maintain a program created and run by consumers of home care so they are able to live independently and contribute their talents to our community.

The efforts of folks who have sent e-mails and made phone calls to the Governor, the leaders of both houses of the NYS Legislature, and the NYS Senators and Assembly Members from CNY has not gone unnoticed. Thank you for taking a break from your busy lives to pitch in.

A robust shout out to the staffers and consumers who travelled to Albany to personally protest in the State Capitol building outside the offices of the Governor and her Health Commissioner. You brought ARISE’s spirit and the accomplishments of our decades old CDPAP program right to the Governor’s door.

Regardless of the news coming out of Albany, this effort has pointed out to me again how hard ARISE folks work—and how much they care.