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Comment by Aloha Spirit on May 7, 2012 at 11:57am

Please go to our web site for Aloha Spirit information about our upcoming event July 28, 2012 at Elings Park, Santa Barbara. If you would like to help sponsor our event please email AlohaSpiritBash@yahoo.com for more information and our tax id number. Tickets go on sale online June 1, 2012 www.AlohaSpiritBash.org 

Comment by Pathpoint Employment Specialist on May 27, 2011 at 1:45pm

We are in the midst of preparing an ADA awareness workshop - providing the basic tools for Employers to understand the benefits of hiring people with disabilities or disadvantages; and the knowledge to be comfortable in hiring someone from the largest minority group in the country!

Please let us know if you would like to receive an invitaion to this no-cost informational orientation.

Comment by Devereux California on March 7, 2011 at 2:07pm

     The dedicated staff and providers of services to individuals with developmental disabilities have been working with each other and the vulnerable members of this population in the Tri-Counties area, to advocate for the critical need for services which is being jeopardized by the impending state budget cuts to the Developmental Disabilities system!  

     With the Budget Conference Committee approving additional cuts to Developmental Services on March 3, it is imperative that we keep the pressure on!  We will continue to ask our stakeholders to write new letters, and to make calls and visits to their legislators too push our alternatives to the proposed cuts  through the stakeholder process and with key legislators and the administration. It is up to all of us to demonstrate to Legislators that while the reduction in cuts is better than it was, it is still too much for the community-based service system to handle.

     Adding March 3rd's new cut of $24 million General Fund to all the previous cuts, and adding in lost federal matching funds, the total cuts to Purchase of Service are 17% of the budget. However, cuts to Developmental Centers are only 8% and Regional Center operations have been cut 7%.

     All of our efforts have not gone to waste. Without pressure from our community, the additional cuts would have been much worse. Members of the Budget Conference Committee fought the Department of Finance's proposal to take $39 million from community services, and ultimately approved the additional $50 million cut to the entire DDS budget with only $24 million coming from community services.

     So get out your pens, fire up your computers and start writing another round of letters! Now that the Budget Conference Committee has finished their work, the full Legislature will be voting on the budget this week. Communications should target all members of the Senate and Assembly. Our messages are:

 * We appreciate the cut reductions you have worked to achieve for community-based services and the people we serve.

* We know that the cut to DDS's budget has to occur, but cuts should be spread equitably throughout the system so all parts share the pain.

* Purchase of Service Standards will eliminate the rights of individuals with disabilities under the Lanterman Act. There are alternatives that will achieve the same level of savings without limiting services.

* Federal Funds should be maximized to offset the need for reductions to community-based services.

* All cuts should remain as far from the lives of people with disabilities as possible. Currently, services to people in the community are hit twice as hard as other parts of the system.