Our partners at Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PPAL) sit at the table with partners on the Children’s Mental Health Campaign. PPAL is the only family organization at the table to provides the family voice. The Campaign partners have asked PPAL to bring families to listening sessions (Starting next Monday, February 28th – see schedule and links […]
More than 70 family members, self-advocates, professionals, and policymakers showed up to share with and listen to one another on April 5 for our kick-off OUR VOICE community call. A BIG THANK YOU to Representative Kip Diggs Representative Andres X. Vargas Neha Singh Senior Policy Aide for Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz Danielle Allard Chief of Staff […]
Telling Your Story Workshop on Wednesday, August 26, 2020, at 6:30 pm with Charlie Fiske, Director of Public Policy at the Arc of Massachusetts Join Sue and Charlie for this workshop, which will focus on how the sharing of personal stories can lead to legislative change. Contact sue@massfamilies.org for details or connection information. Boltwood Student Civic […]
The 2019 Autism Waiver Open Interest Period will be held from October 17 – 31, 2019. The English, Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese versions of the open enrollment application are available here. English (docx) English (PDF) Spanish (docx) Spanish (PDF) Portuguese (docx) Portuguese (PDF) Vietnamese (docx) Vietnamese (PDF) The documents have been translated into multiple languages […]
Calling all Western region Family Leadership Series Grads! You’re invited to a gathering of MFOFC West FLS alumni on: Tuesday, September 24, 2019 South Hadley Public Library 2 Canal St, South Hadley, MA 01075 The goal of the meeting will be to catch up with how graduates are doing with their leadership/advocacy goals, and to […]
La Región del Noreste de Familias de Massachusetts Organizadas para el Cambio (Massachusetts Families Organizing for Change) le invita participar en un Campamento de Abogacía ESPECIAL. Esta sesión del campamento de Abogacía tendrá lugar en Malden, Massachusetts, en las fechas siguientes: September 25, 2019 October 2, 2019 October 9, 2019 October 16, 2019 La fecha […]
Multicultural Community Services hosted a special needs trust training May 30, 2019, for families at their office in Holyoke and MFOFC’s Western Coordinator, Sue Crosby. Sue reported that approximately 20 families and providers met with attorney Hyman Darling from the Bacon Wilson Law Firm to learn not only about special needs trusts, but also about […]
Here are some other things that have been going on in the West: Social Media Safety Workshop a Success Last year at the 2018 DDS Family Support Conference, I attended at breakout session on social media safety. Following the presentation , I was asked by several family support providers if it would be possible to […]
Sue Crosby, the MFOFC West Regional Coordinator, has been helping advise a group of students from UMass Amherst who are completing service learning/capstone projects related to disability rights and advocacy. Dental Health Bill Raj, one of the students Sue has been working with, started a petition to promote bill HD 3436 / SD 1942 : […]
The West Region Family Leadership Series will kick off soon! We still have space for a few more participants, so we have extended the application deadline to December 15, 2018. The Series focuses on supporting families to advocate for their family member with disabilities to live in their communities as naturally and typically as desired. Applications from […]
