Many of our consumers tell us about the challenges they face when looking for psychological counseling services. PLWAs in our Network area who seek assistance with mental health issues often find long waiting lists and out-of-pocket co-pays that are beyond their means.
The State University of New York at Albany’s Psychological Services Center have recently expanded their facilities at 299 Washington Avenue. Counseling is provided by doctoral students, who are closely supervised by clinicians from the University’s Department of Psychology.
They have day and evening hours, a sliding scale that starts at $10 per visit and are currently accepting referrals.
Click here for a brochure that describes their program. For more information about the center visit www.albany.edu/psc/ or call (518)442-4900.
We hope that service providers in our network will find this information helpful.
For the past year, one of our partner organizations has been publishing a newsletter that we want everyone to be aware of. The Saratoga County Housing Alliance email newsletter reports on national and state homelessness issues, local events, and grant-application opportunities. Written by Laura R. Weil, coordinator of the alliance, the July/August edition covers statewide affordable health-care programs, recently passed bills regarding HIV testing and needle exchanges, the new HUD definition of homelessness, and CARES’ November 2010 fundraising concert at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
The Saratoga County Housing Alliance Newsletter is open to the entire community, including those who are not yet members of the organization or live outside Saratoga County. To subscribe, click here and enter your email address (SafeUnsubscribe®) or send Laura a message at laurarweil@yahoo.com. If you have housing news to report or an event to publicize, be sure to send it to that address as well!
President Obama signed HR 1586 into law on Tuesday. Passed by the House to fund a six-month extension (through June 2011) of Medicaid’s temporary enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), this bill brought House members back from summer break for a one-time vote. FMAP was introduced last year to help states pay for additional Medicaid coverage under the economic stimulus package.
The bill passed under tight party lines, with two Republicans– Mike Castle (R-DE) and Anh Cao (R-LA) — voting in favor. Bobby Bright (D-AL), Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Gene Taylor (D-MS) were the only Democrats to oppose the bill.
HR 1586 reduced the FMAP increase from the initial 6.2% for six months to 3.2% for the first quarter (January 2011 through March 2011) and 1.2% for the second quarter (April 2011 through June 2011). States with high unemployment will receive additional percentage points in funding. Some states had already factored these increases into their budgets (see below), so they are breathing a sigh of relief today.
Out of the bill’s overall $26 billion, $16 billion will help states with Medicaid budget deficits. The remaining $10 billion was aimed at providing educational assistance in the states (the much-touted saving of teacher’s and state employee’s jobs).
The White House announced this bill does not add to the budget– it was paid for by reductions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), closing offshore tax loopholes for US firms abroad and taxing bonuses that firms who were bailed-out with taxpayer money paid out in 2009 to employees making over $250,000.
Public service announcements have long been part of the advertising landscape, but it seems they have grown in popularity during the Internet era. Thanks to the sharing tools of YouTube and Facebook et al., especially clever or touching PSAs can be spread among friends, increasing their reach beyond late-night radio/TV audiences.¹
Homelessness is a topic well suited to PSA advertising. Though most people are aware of the problem, information about its extent and the available solutions is seldom center stage in the political and media arenas. A YouTube search demonstrates that online videos to address this problem are being made — and more importantly, being watched — in great numbers.
CARES has put together a playlist of homelessness videos on our YouTube channel. They run the gamut from professionally acted PSAs from United Way of Canada to statistics-focused spots from Coalition for the Homeless to amateur videos by high school students. Perhaps the most moving footage comes from documentaries interviewing people who’ve lived on the streets, including a veteran ex-attorney in Inglewood, California. The PSAs report on places where it’s illegal to be homeless, as well as on implementable steps to reduce homelessness nationwide. Feel free to share the videos (online or in person) and subscribe to the CARES channel (by clicking the yellow button at the top) to be notified of updates.
Did you know that CARES, Inc. is on Facebook? As social media continues to grow in popularity, it seems that every organziation is trying to maintain a website, start a blog, and create a presence on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Here at CARES, we welcome the opportunities that social networking provides to stay in touch with our clients, spread the word about local events, and raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and homelessness issues.
That’s why we’re proud to introduce the new Facebook page, accessible at facebook.com/pages/CARES-Inc/176928542015. There’s information on CARES’ history, photo galleries of our logos and the Dutchess County event, and links to our YouTube video channel. We’re also connected with thirty not-for-profit organizations and government entities involved in the effort against AIDS and homelessness. Check out a sample of our Facebook content here:
Feel free to “Like” the page and check back often, as we’ll be posting more news about upcoming events in the next few weeks.
From left: Liz, Shannon, Sen. Duane, Shaquan and Paul.
On Tuesday, Shannon and Liz from the RWCN of Northeastern NY joined Central NY coordinator Paul Carr and the Albany Damien Center’s Shaquan Clark for legislative visits to discuss the impact of the NY state budget delay on HIV service providers. We even found time to take a short tour and watch the NYS Senate at work.
Agencies have found their state (and in some cases, federal) funds have been held up during four long months of budget negotiations. This has strained both the resources and morale of many non-profit groups. Organizations have laid off staff and cut back services. Some have shut down temporarily…and a few have closed permanently.
We visited the offices of Sens. Hugh Farley, John A. DeFrancisco and David A. Valeski to discuss the ‘ripple effect’ that service cutbacks have on PLWAs who rely on these vital nutrition, support and health assistance programs. Combine tough economic times with a rising demand for help at congregate meal sites, food pantries and general social service programs- then add cutbacks at AIDS service sites. Our clients are facing a growing number of dwindling options.
Although we did not schedule a visit with Sen. Duane’s office, Paul insisted we drop in– and who did we get to meet? Tom Duane in person! We thanked Senator Duane for the HIV testing bill that passed both houses last week. He tipped us to a few more aces up his sleeve for the HIV community…but sorry, that’s confidential
We all left the Capitol positive and energized, and the budget was passed later in the day.
New for July is CARES’ YouTube channel, which features videos related to housing, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS in New York State and beyond. Our first upload is a recap of the Dutchess County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness kickoff event (see previous post). Filmed in June at Poughkeepsie’s beautiful Grand Hotel and Conference Center, it has speech excerpts from Mayor John Tkazyik of Poughkeepsie, Mayor Steve Gold of Beacon, and Jackie Brownstein of Mental Health America.
Our YouTube channel can be found at youtube.com/user/CARESInc. Feel free to bookmark the page and check back for more videos in the coming weeks.
The National Plan to End Homelessness (see previous post) was not the only significant document released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month. June 2010 also saw the publication of the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, a treasure trove of current data. Most notably, the 198-page document includes the point-in-time estimate of the sheltered homeless population on a single January night; it also includes a one-year estimate of the total number of people who used residential services in the United States.
Among the findings:
1) “On a single night in January 2009, there were an estimated 643,067 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people nationwide.”
2) “Nearly 1.56 million people used an emergency shelter or a transitional housing program during the 12-month period” of the study. “Two thirds were homeless as individuals, and one-third were homeless as members of families.”
3) “A typical sheltered homeless person in 2009 was an adult male, a member of a minority group, middle-aged, and alone.”
4) “The overall number of sheltered homeless people increased slightly between 2007 and 2008 before dropping slightly … between 2008 and 2009. The continued rise in family homelessness across the three years … is almost certainly related to the recession.”
Farther into the report, a wealth of data is organized into maps and charts by county, as well as plots over time. It should prove useful for regional planners and grant applicants in the next year.
The report is the fifth in a series. It can be read in its entirety here.
Among the 83 bills signed by New York Governor David Patterson last Friday were two bills of significant importance in the battle against HIV/AIDS:
S.8227/A.11487 updates New York’s HIV testing law, which will increase testing rates and reduce rates of transmission. Kudos to Senator Duane and Assemblyman Gottfried for crafting an HIV testing bill that garnered significant support (including the support of our Northeastern Ryan White HIV Care Network). The bill will require healthcare providers to routinely offer HIV testing to patients between ages 13 to 64 as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The bill allows for written consent to testing that is durable and portable (remaining in place until revoked). It also provides for documented oral consent for ‘rapid’ HIV testing.
The Governor also signed A.8396-A/S.5620-A, which enhances existing law regarding the possession of syringes or needles by those who participate in needle exchange programs. Public health agencies who provide IV drug users with clean syringes and to substance use counseling and health care have operated in New York for many years. These programs are very effective in reducing the risk of transmission of both HIV and Hepatitis C as well as facilitating linkages to harm reduction and recovery programs.
Prior to the passing of this law,trace elements present in used syringes could be used to charge participants of syringe exchange programs with criminal possession under the Penal code. This was clearly in conflict with the spirit of Public Health Law provisions and the goals of needle exchange and syringe access programs.
Members of our Network are grateful to the Governor for placing the health and well-being of all New Yorkers ‘on the front burner’ in our continuing efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Go HERE to read the just-released National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. Our Network is proud to have collaborated on this important project through written testimony, live Town Hall participation and multiple planning calls including direct calls to Jeff Crowley, the White House’s Director of the Office of AIDS Policy.
We are so proud of all our members who made their voices heard throughout this process at local, state and federal levels.
To watch live broadcasts from Health and Human Services Director Sibelius introducing the policy release go HERE.
Also, President Obama will deliver remarks at a White House reception honoring the HIV/AIDS Community. The President’s address can also be viewed online at WhiteHouse.gov/live at 6:00 p.m. ET.
