Thank You for Your Continued Membership!

Your Providers’ Council membership contributes immensely to our ability to represent the critical issues that face our sector. Working with you and your colleagues, our voice within the sector is much stronger.

As the Commonwealth's budget challenges continue into FY '11, your involvement is more important than ever.

Please take a moment to:

• Renew your membership
• Receive information to make the most of your membership
• Realize savings at your agency through member discounts
• Review what we accomplished together in 2009

Here's a recent letter sent to members regarding the importance of working together in 2010:

The Council is working with a broad coalition of human service providers to implore the Governor and Legislature to put People First! when considering any 9C cuts to the state budget.  This campaign will continue through the FY 2011 budget deliberations.  The People First! campaign will have many messages, but one banner to reflect the solidarity of our mission driven work.  You will be hearing more about this campaign in the days to come.

Update: Please sign our petition asking Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo to put People First! when crafting the FY '11 budget!

For more information on our public policy efforts and this initiative, or to learn about other ways to get involved, please contact Michael Ripple.

More than 300 human service providers from across Massachusetts, many of them Providers' Council members, gathered at the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Tuesday, November 24 for a human service summit with Governor Deval Patrick to address critical issues facing the sector.

Among the topics highlighted were opportunities for social innovation, strengthening the workforce, changes to state government, and strategies for healthy growth of the sector.

Below is a broadcast courtesy of NECN, which features an interview with Providers' Council Board Member & President/CEO of Work, Inc., Jim Cassetta and Council President/CEO Michael Weekes, who highlighted the need for more support for innovations like the work of the Pine Street Inn's Abundant Table social enterprise.

Governor Patrick on Friday, Nov. 13, made the decision to cut $100 million from the MassHealth (Medicaid) budget, and, in effect, he ended up cutting more than $25 million from day habilitation services for individuals with disabilities. He also eliminated some personal care aides for individuals with disabilities needing less than 14 hours of assistance per week.

The Providers' Council sent this letter to Governor Patrick about these cuts, which again further slash already decimated human services budgets. In the letter, Michael Weekes tells the governor the cuts are unacceptable.

"While we understand that you are charged with balancing the state budget in an unprecedented economic climate, these particular cuts have crossed a line," Weekes writes.

Massachusetts nonprofits have a new resource from MassDevelopment to acquire or upgrade real property.  Through the Community Service 501c3 Loan Fund, agencies with an operating budget of less than $5 million may receive loans of $100,000 to $500,000.  Please call MassDevelopment at 800.445.8030 with any questions you may have.

The Providers' Council greatly appreciates the support of the exhibitors & sponsors who helped make our 34th Annual Convention & Expo, Mission: Possible such a resounding success.

Besides showing a commitment to working with nonprofit human service providers, the contributions of many of these organizations help ensure that any provider who wishes to attend the convention is able to do so by helping keep registrations fees low and supporting our scholarship fund.

Governor Deval Patrick spoke to attendees at the Providers' Council 34th Annual Convention & Expo "Mission: Possible" on Thursday, October 29. Patrick's speech is available in its entirety below.

We hope you had the opportunity to come to the Convention and enjoy it with us. Thanks for your continued support of the human services sector.

Governor Patrick on Oct. 29 announced his plan to close a budget gap of nearly $600 million. The plan, however, did not cut human services as much as providers had originally feared. The Governor shared the news with more than 1,000 providers at "Mission: Possible," the Providers' Council 34th Annual Convention & Expo, before discussing his plan in greater detail in Worcester.

“We should be just as concerned about our commitment to our values as we are about the value of our commitments.  Those values – creating good jobs at good wages, offering a world-class education to our kids, delivering quality, affordable health care to our residents, protecting and supporting the most vulnerable – those are the values to which we as a Commonwealth are committed,” said Governor Patrick in a statement. “So as I meet my statutory responsibility to bring the budget in line, I do so according to my moral responsibility to those values.”

For the full press release from the Governor's office, click here.

The Providers' Council gave testimony on the new proposed rates for foster care during a Division of Health Care Finance and Policy hearing on September 25, 2009.

Click here for the Council's testimony.

Several Council members also testified at the hearing. Below is a picture of Tom Fisher, President and CEO of Community Care Services, and several of the organization's foster parents who also testified during the hearing.

For more information, call the Providers' Council at 617-428-3637.

The State Lobbyist Website has been updated with information pertaining to the new laws that will become effective on September 29th.  Please take the time to read the updated information provided by Secretary Galvin’s office (particularly the “Mandatory Seminar”) and feel free to pass this public website information along to your colleagues or clients. Please read this information carefully to see how it will affect you or your colleagues.

Mandatory Seminar

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