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A weekly view of activities at The Arc of Minnesota and other items of interest to chapter execs, chapter presidents, advocates, and volunteer leaders

July 11, 2008

In This Issue…

• You can sign up now for our Public Policy Planning Day.
• Roommates" may help someone find the just right person to live with.
• Arc chapter has resources to facilitate inclusion in your local faith community.
• Our chapters don't take the summer off.
• School's back in session this fall for next Partners class.
• Let us know your thoughts about anything you read here. E-mail Mike Gude at mikeg@arcmn.org.

You can sign up now for our Public Policy Planning Day. Members of The Arc of Minnesota who are interested in public policy are invited to The Arc of Minnesota's Public Policy Planning Day. The event will be August 7, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. This year's Planning Day will be at the Minnesota Department of Education Conference Center in Roseville. A flyer about the event is attached to this issue of Snap Shots and will be posted soon on The Arc of Minnesota web site.

"Roommates" may help someone find the just right person to live with. "Roommates" is an online service that can help persons with a disability find someone to share housing with them. A "consumer-to-consumer" service, the web site helps match up people who want to get together to buy or rent an apartment or house, or to help an individual who already has a house or apartment find someone to share it with. The Arc of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Human Services collaborated with TheArcLink.org to make this service possible. It has a number of protections in place to help make this a safe, positive experience for those who choose to use this service. Go to www.ArcLink.org, and click on the Roommates link. There is also a link on The Arc of Minnesota's web site.

Arc chapter has resources to facilitate inclusion in your local faith community. In response to the court case involving Carol Race and her conflict with her local church over including her son Adam in regular Sunday church services, Arc Greater Twin Cities compiled a list of its materials on inclusion of people with disabilities in faith communities. That list of resources is also on The Arc of Minnesota's web site at www.arcmn.org/FaithInclusionList.doc.

Our chapters don't take the summer off. Here are a few of their activities right now:

• Arc Central Minnesota celebrated several recent successes in fundraising: its 2nd annual Golf Tournament; its annual plant sale; and a $75,000, three-year grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to help build its fundraising capacity.
• Arc Greater Twin Cities is holding its "GetSet! for Guardianship and Transition" workshop on August 12 in Minneapolis. Contact them at 952-920-0855 for more information or to register.
• Arc Headwaters staff had a positive meeting with the local dental clinic in Bemidji to raise awareness among the dental staff about providing services to persons with disabilities who are covered by Medical Assistance.
• Arc Midstate is gearing up for its 2008 Buddy Walk and Roll on August 2nd. They have set up a web site so participants can set up their own Buddy Walk and Roll Web Page to raise money. Go to www.firstgiving.com/arcmidstate for more information.
• Arc Mower County and members of its local People First group adopted a highway near Austin. Staff and volunteers pick up trash along a two-mile stretch of Highway 56.
• Arc Northland held support and information groups for parents for its "Extreme Parenting" series in May and June in Duluth and Two Harbors. The groups help parents whose children have emotional and behavioral challenges.
• Arc Range's self-advocacy group has already attracted 10 members. It meets on the first Tuesday of the month.
• Arc Southeastern Minnesota featured a fifteen year-old high school student named Zach Thesing in its most recent newsletter. Zach, who has Down Syndrome, is a wrestler on the St. Charles High School wrestling team.
• The Arc of Southwest Minnesota received a grant to help it complete the process and the paperwork to become its own 501(C)(3) organization and help it upgrade its accounting systems.

School's back in session this fall for next Partners class. The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities begins its 26th class for Partners in Policymaking training in September, 2008. Partners is a leadership training program for parents of young children with developmental disabilities and adults with disabilities. It teaches leadership skills, as well as how to develop partnerships with elected officials and other policymakers who can affect the lives of persons with developmental disabilities and their families. The deadline for registering is July 25, 2008. You can apply online at www.mngts.org/partnersinpolicymaking.org. For more information about Partners, call Carol Schoeneck at 651-222-7409 or 1-800-569-6878, ext. 205 or cschoeneck@mngts.org

If someone you know would like to receive this publication, contact Monica Saby at monicas@arcmn.org. If you have any comments about Snap Shots, contact Mike Gude at mikeg@arcmn.org to be put on the e-mail list. Snap Shots is produced by The Arc of Minnesota, 770 Transfer Road, Suite 26, St. Paul, MN, 55114. Web site = www.TheArcOfMinnesota.org ; General e-mail address = mail@arcmn.org

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