JFActivist

Disability Coalition Supports Health Reform that Includes Home and Community Based Services and Supports

From the JFA Moderator:

Last Friday, November 6, in anticipation of the House vote on Health Reform, the Justice For All Action Network (JFAAN), a coalition of diability-lead organizations and allies, sent the following letter to every member of the House of Representatives. 

>>> For More Information on JFAAN and its Current Work

November 6, 2009

 

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Boehner, and Members of the House of Representatives:

The disability community has been advocating for over twenty years for the equitable choice to receive support services in their own homes and communities rather than nursing homes or other institutions.  We believe this is a civil rights issue.   Though there has been progress reducing the institutional bias in Medicaid, we hope during this Year of Community Living (July 2009 – July 2010) and as we celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), this progress can continue.

For this progress to occur we believe the Administration and Congress must work with the states and the disability community in two areas.  One is stronger enforcement of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision and the other is protection of Medicaid optional home and community services in healthcare reform legislation.   The recent October 30^th letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Regional Office to the State of Missouri,  detailing how they are not complying with the Olmstead decision and the steps CMS wants them to take in order to come into compliance,  is a positive example of what the disability community would like to see continued all over the country.

 >>> For more on the CMS Letter

States are currently reducing home and community services and people with disabilities and their families are being threatened with having to go into an institution because there are few community service options available.  Though we understand the economic realities confronting states, we believe that criteria must be developed and enforced by Department of Health and Human Services –Office of Civil Rights, CMS and the Department of Justice that protects our rights to services in the most integrated setting.   States currently have little guidance on what implementing the Olmstead decision means and we believe many states are currently violating the decision’s language of services in “the most integrated setting.  We believe the Administration should work with the disability community, National Governors Assn and the National Conference of State Legislators to assure the community integration rights of people with disabilities are protected.

The reform of the healthcare delivery system has been one of the highest priorities on the agenda of most national and state disability rights advocacy organizations in the country.  Expanding coverage to the uninsured and those of us with pre-existing conditions are just two of the major benefit of all the proposals that are currently moving forward in Congress.  People with disabilities of all ages have a personal stake in the outcome of the debate on how acute medical and long term services and supports are delivered and paid for though most of the discussions have surrounded doctors, hospitals, durable medical equipment, insurance companies and other payers of healthcare services.

 The Congressional proposals use the expansion of Medicaid as the payer for those currently uninsured for those up to 133% of poverty in the Senate bill and 150% of poverty in the House.  This is a logical approach because the legislation builds on a system that is established in every state in the country.  We support the expanding of Medicaid funding for the uninsured with some protections for those currently receiving Medicaid services.

Our concern is how the expansion of Medicaid for the low income uninsured will affect the delivery of Medicaid optional services for people with disabilities at a time that states are currently under extreme budget restraints and are reducing not only Medicaid optional services but also slashing education and other needed human services. Proposals in Congress have states picking up between 5%-23% of the costs of covering the low income uninsured.  Governors have expressed their concerns about  how absorbing  this increase will increase their deficits and may result in massive cuts in education and human services.

 The fact that all Medicaid home and community services are optional make them particularly vulnerable to cuts though these community long term care services are less expensive and overwhelmingly preferred over nursing home and other institutional services.  Currently US long term care policy makes it mandatory for states that choose to deliver Medicaid funded services must provide nursing home services.  The rebalancing of the long term care system, moving from funding focused on nursing homes and other institutions to a system giving a real choice for home and community services, has been accelerating over the last decade.  It would be a major irony if one unintended consequence of health care reform legislation was to reverse this rebalancing trend by putting states in the position to make the difficult and wrenching decision to cut home and community services and other optional services.

Though there are proposals to protect  from states cutting out Medicaid optional populations there is nothing in the bills that would prohibit states from cutting Medicaid optional services like home and community 1915 (c) waivers and/or the Personal Care Option.  We ask you to work with us to put in language in the legislation that will protect home and community services and continue the rebalancing of the long term care system that gives people with disabilities of all ages a real choice for services in the most integrated setting.  

President Obama declared that the year from July 2009 to July 2010 as the “Year of Community Living”.  On July 26, 2010 the disability community will celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA.  We hope that strong enforcement of the Olmstead decision and the passage of health care legislation by Congress will promote the values and principles of integration, inclusion and independence that are at the foundation of the ADA and of people with disabilities lives in the community.

If you have any questions, please call or email Andrew Imparato, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (mobile: 443-386-2935  or email aimparato@aapd.com) or Bruce Darling, National Organizer for ADAPT (mobile: 585-370-6690 or email bdarling@cdrnys.org).

 

For an Institution and Barrier Free America,

 National

ADAPT

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN)

Coalition for Community Integration

Disabilityworks

Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)

Little People of America

National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, Inc.

National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Organizations (NCMHCSO)

National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)

National Spinal Cord Injury Association

National Telecommuting Institute (NTI)

National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN)

Not Dead Yet

Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)

TASH

United Spinal Association

 

State

Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State (CDPAANYS)

Disabled Action Committee (DAC Virginia)

Michigan ADAPT

NC Disability Action Network

New Jersey Association of Community Providers (NJACP)

New York Association on Independent Living

New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC)

New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS)

Starkloff Disability Institute

Statewide Independent Living Council of GA, Inc.

Texas State Independent Living Council

 

Local

Boston Center for Independent Living

Chicago ADAPT

ECBConsulting

FRIDA

Paraquad

S.E. Kansas ADAPT

Interfaith Coalition Supports Long Term Services and Supports in Health Reform

From the JFA Moderator:

Last Friday, November 6, the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC) sent a letter (read full text below) to Congress supporting the inclusion of two important long-term services and supports provisions in health care reform, the Community First Choice (CFC) Option and the CLASS Act.  Hosted by AAPD's Interfaith Initiative, IDAC brings together national religious and religiously affiliated organizations to mobilize the religious community to speak out and take action on disability policy issues with Congress, the President and Administration, and society at large.

>>> For More on IDAC

 

November 6, 2009

Dear Member of Congress:

We, the undersigned members of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC) and other religious and religiously-affiliated organizations, write to urge you to retain long term services and supports in health reform. The Community First Choice Option and the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act) must be included in health reform to ensure that people with disabilities have access to critical long term services and supports that promote independence and dignity.

The Community First Choice Option would allow states to provide community-based attendant services and supports through a Medicaid state plan option to people with disabilities who are Medicaid eligible. Including the option in health reform will help to address Medicaid’s institutional bias, which often forces people with disabilities to live in institutions rather than in their homes and communities. Institutionalization severs individuals from society, greatly limiting their ability to contribute economically, socially, politically and spiritually.

The CLASS Act creates a national, affordable, voluntary long term care insurance program. By participating in this program, individuals will be able to receive cash benefits for necessary supports without being forced to rely on Medicaid. The CLASS Act would result in important savings to Medicaid while providing participants with the ability to exercise personal responsibility and choose how their services and supports are provided.

 

The Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Act must be included in health reform. The shared values of our faiths are in conflict with public policy that limits the choices and opportunities for older adults and people with disabilities. These proposals are crucial steps in fulfilling the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act to “assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency” for people with disabilities. They will help to make it possible for people with disabilities to continue contributing in their communities and congregations as well as to their nation.

Respectfully,

The American Baptist Home Mission Societies

Association of Jewish Family & Children's Agencies

Council for Health and Human Service Ministries of the United Church of Christ

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Hindu American Foundation

Islamic Society of North America

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

L'Arche USA

Lutheran Services in America

National Council of Jewish Women

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office

UJC/The Jewish Federations of North America

The Union for Reform Judaism Unitarian Universalist Association of   Congregations

United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

For more on these provisions see previous JFActivist Action Alerts:

Action Alert: Support for CLASS Act Grows, Join in

URGENT! TODAY is a Turning Point for Long Term Services and Supports in Health Reform

Action Alert: THIS WEEK Support Long Term Services and Supports in Health Care Reform

Disability Coalition Applauds Health Care Legislation that expands coverage for People with Disabilities

Press Release from the Justice For All Action Network (11/9/09):

Disability Coalition Applauds Health Care Legislation

that expands coverage for People with Disabilities

Health Care Reform one of 12 items on Coalition Agenda

(Washington D.C.) -- The Justice for All Action Network (JFAAN), a coalition of disability-led organizations and allies, applauds health care legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.   Passed Saturday in a House vote, the legislation increases the number of people with disabilities covered by health care and increases service options for people with disabilities. 

Key points of the legislation supported by JFAAN include:  expanding coverage to millions of people currently uninsured; a provision that makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage based upon pre-existing conditions; and the inclusion of the CLASS ACT and the Community First Choice Option (CFC). 

"People with disabilities have much at stake as health care reform gets one step closer to passage," said Andrew Imparato, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities.  "A good barometer of the new system that emerges from health reform will be the extent to which it works well for people when they need it the most--whether people with disabilities and chronic health conditions can obtain acute care and long-term services and supports without incurring financial hardship or being forced into a nursing home or other institution."

Under the current system of health care, people with disabilities have no legal protection if they are denied coverage based upon their disability.  “With this bill, people with disabilities who have been denied because of pre-existing conditions will have a legal right to coverage,” said Gary Arnold of Little People of America. 

Additionally, the long-term care system currently denies the right of people with disabilities to receive services in the most integrated setting, a right recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 1999 Olmstead Supreme Court Ruling.  Thousands of people in the United States are forced into nursing homes because supports, like personal assistant services, can only be accessed in institutions.   The Justice for All Action Network has advocated to include the CLASS Act and the CFC, which expand optional home and community services, in new healthcare legislation.  “The House vote is a good first step as we approach the 20^th Anniversary of the ADA.  We challenge Congress to finalize a bill that recognizes the civil right of people with disabilities to access to services in their homes,” said Bruce Darling of ADAPT, a grassroots disability rights group. 

Healthcare Reform is a key component of 12-point JFAAN Joint Campaign Agenda the coalition has developed that addresses major policy issues of people with intellectual, physical and psychiatric disabilities. Throughout the healthcare debate,  JFAAN members have, through outreach, direct action, and negotiation,  advocated for health care legislation that includes more long term care choices for people with disabilities.

Created in an effort to build a strong and unified cross-disability movement, the Justice for All Action Network is organized into a steering committee of 13 national consumer-led disability organizations and more than 20 organizational and individual members.  The group was formed in the wake of the 2008 Presidential Election.

About the Justice for All Action Network

 

Mission: The Justice for All Action Network is a national cross-disability coalition, led by disability groups run by persons with disabilities with support from allies, committed to building a strong and unified cross-disability movement so that individuals with disabilities have the power to shape national policies, politics, media, and culture.

Working as a coalition, JFAAN is committed to accomplishing each item on the coalition’s agenda by July 2010, the 20^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Steering Committee Members:  ADAPT, American Association of People with Disabilities, American Council of the Blind, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Hearing Loss Association of America, Little People of America, National Association for the Deaf, National Coalition of Mental Health Consumer Survivor Organizations, National Council on Independent Living, National Federation of the Blind, Not Dead Yet, Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, United Spinal Association.

For more information, contact:

Andy Imparato, American Association of People with Disabilities, 202 521-4301, AImparato@aapd.com;

Kelly Buckland, National Council on Independent Living, 202-207-0334, kelly@ncil.org.

House Passes Health Care

*** Just In ***

The House of Representatives passed the Health Care Reform bill this evening, November 7 shortly after 11pm.  Thank you to all the JFA Readers and disability activists who have been following and taking action to support this legislation.

Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

From the LA Times  (11/3/09):

Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

By Kathi Wolfe

As a legally blind lesbian, I celebrated on Oct. 28 when the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Boyd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act...

...In 1999, Eric Krochmaluk, a man with intellectual disabilities from Middletown, N.J., was kidnapped, choked, burned with cigarettes and abandoned in a forest...

...No one will be prosecuted simply for exercising the freedom of speech. And that is how it should be, even if that speech is ugly and bigoted.

But once someone commits a violent crime against us because of who we are, that person's bigoted intentions ought to be penalized. Judges and juries, at sentencing, often take into consideration the frame of mind of the criminal. They should do so with these crimes, too. The community has a right to say that bigoted violence is especially corrosive.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act won't end bias-based crimes. But it will put everyone on notice that such crimes will not be tolerated.

And for those of us who are vulnerable, it makes us a little less fearful today than we were yesterday.

That's something that all Americans should celebrate.

House to Vote On Health Care Reform Bill with Community First Choice and CLASS Act

From the JFA Moderator:

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) by the end of today, Saturday, November 7.  This bill includes both the CLASS Option and a Community First Choice Option as a Sense of Congress (for an explanation see below), two MAJOR long term services and support provisions that the disability community has been advocating hard for over the last several months and years. Passing this bill will be the first of several very important steps toward ensuring all Americans have the choice to live in their homes and continue to work.

For More information on the CLASS Act see http://www.passtheclassact.org/

For More information on the Community First Choice Option see http://www.passthecommunitychoiceact.org/ 

What Comes Next?  Senate negotiators are merging the Senate Finance and HELP Committees' bills.  Advocates are working to ensure that the CLASS Act and the Community First Choice Option are included in the merged Senate bill.  The timeline for the Senate debate and vote on their version of the bill is uncertain.  

What Can You DO? Call your Senators and tell them you support inclusion of both the CLASS Act and the CFC Option in Health Care Reform. You can reach your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

From Mike Oxford and ADAPT (11/4/09):

Hey ADAPT & Community Choice Supporters!

Your hard work is paying off once again.  As you know the Community First Choice Option (CFC) is in the Senate health reform bill.

I just received word from Congressman Danny Davis' office that CFC has been included in the House health bill as a "Sense of Congress."  What does this mean?

A Sense of Congress is not legislation, itself.  It does express the desire and support of Congress to have the language become law eventually.

What this means is that the House is sending a message that when the Senate and the House conference the final bills, the House wants the CFC legislative language in the Senate bill to remain in the final bill that passes into law.  The reason for doing the Sense of Congress instead of actual legislative language is so their aggressive timetable can be kept; so they won't have to score the whole bill again.  The House is supposed to finish their health bill work this week and not break until they do.

Ours is the ONLY Sense of Congress in the health bill and word is, no other amendments will be allowed.  Rep. Danny Davis was very vocal in support and Chairman Rangle, Waxman and Miller were all supportive of getting it in.

Quite an accomplishment!  Great work ADAPT & Community Choice Supporters.

You're the best! Stay tuned for next steps we need to take in the next couple of days.

 Mike O.

Insurers Wrongfully Deny Disabled Workers Claims

From the LA Daily Journal (10/12/09):

Ill Workers Denied Benefits Face Fight Alone

By Evan George

... An investigation by the Daily Journal, which included a review of 576 lawsuits filed in federal court in California against the seven largest disability insurers, found:

Insurance companies regularly deny, or terminate, benefits to people even after they are found disabled by the federal government and approved for Social Security checks. The companies hire contract doctors who routinely reject the opinion of treating physicians without ever having seen the patients.

Some insurers provide incentives to employees to deny and terminate claims, tying performance evaluations to meeting money-saving goals.

No regulatory agency has taken responsibility for these cases. Consumers who complain to the Department of Insurance are ignored or told to contact the federal Department of Labor because workplace benefits are controlled by federal laws. But the Department of Labor does not investigate, or track, the complaints either. Officials say the only thing the law provides is the chance to sue in federal court.

Those who choose to fight the insurance companies wait years. Plaintiffs waited two years and eight months on average from the time they became disabled before their cases resolved, the Daily Journal found. One man has been waiting 10 years for benefits.

In nearly half the cases reviewed by the Daily Journal that reached court, judges find that the insurance companies had no basis to deny benefits. Judges who consider the companies' patterns of practice side with workers even more often, one survey found, nearly 70 percent of cases.

Because federal law does not allow for any damages, there is no peril for the insurance companies to repeatedly deny legitimate claims. Judges often find that the insurers wantonly denied or arbitrarily stopped paying benefits to disabled workers. Yet the most the companies will have to pay is the original amount, plus, in some cases, legal fees.

"There is really no downside for an insurance company to cut these people off," said Alice Wolfson, an attorney who chairs the board of the nonprofit United Policyholders. That group advises consumers who have trouble getting any kind of benefit from insurance companies.
Wolfson said the insurance companies bank on many people giving up after a claim is denied the first or second time.

"Some people will get lawyers and some will fight," she went on, "but then the company still has a choice to settle the case for pennies on the dollar."... 

>>> For the Full Article

President Obama Signs Hate Crimes Law Protecting People with Disabilities

From CBS News (10/28/09):

Obama Signs... Hate Crimes Bill

President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed and celebrated hate crime legislation that extends protection to people based on sexual orientation, sealing a long-fought victory to gay advocates...

The new law expands federal hate crimes to include those committed against people because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also loosens limits on when federal law enforcement can intervene and prosecute crimes, amounting to the biggest expansion of the civil-rights era law in decades.

...Obama said in East Room reception, surrounded by joyous supporters, "No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are, or because they live with a disability."

..."We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits; not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear," Mr. Obama said...

>>> For the Full Article
>>> For an (uncaptioned) video of President Obama's comments
>>> For the White House transcript of President Obama's full Comments

URGENT! TODAY is a Turning Point for Long Term Services and Supports in Health Reform

Act Now to Ensure the CFC Option and CLASS ACT Remain in Healthcare Reform!

 Call Your Senators This Wednesday and Thursday and Ask for their Support!

 Contact both of your Senators’ offices today and tomorrow October 21 and 22!  You may call toll-free (thanks to Families USA): 1-800-828-0498 or use the Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Message

I am calling to urge Senator _________ to ensure that both the CLASS Act and the Community First Choice Option are included in the final healthcare reform bill in the Senate. People with disabilities who need long term services and supports now or in the future should be:

 

1.    a part of the solution;

2.    able self-determine the services and supports that they really want; and

3.    able to have the freedom to choose where they want to live.

Background Information

This week the Senate Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committees are merging their separate healthcare reform bills into one single bill that will go to the Senate floor to be debated as early as next week.  Two critical provisions that change the way long term services are delivered and funded for people with disabilities are included.  These two provisions complement one another and must be a part of the final Senate bill!

The Finance Committee bill includes the Community First Choice (CFC) Medicaid Option. This state option will allow the states to offer broadly defined attendant services and supports in one’s home or community setting to individuals eligible for nursing home, ICFs/MR, and other institutional level care.  To encourage the states to implement the CFC Option, the state will receive a 6 percent increase in its federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) match for services provided under this option. The CFC moves us one step closer to ending the institutional bias in Medicaid!

The Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s bill includes the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS) Act. The CLASS Act would create a solvent, affordable, premium-based, national insurance program providing a cash benefit that can be used for assistance with the activities of daily living. This helps state Medicaid budgets because many people will have a way to avoid becoming impoverished by spending down to Medicaid eligibility levels.  The CLASS Act complements the CFC Option and Medicaid, Medicare, and private long term care insurance.

If you have questions about the CFC, the CLASS Act or healthcare reform, please call NCIL Policy Analyst, Jason Beloungy, at 202-207-0334 (toll-free: 1-877-525-3400), ext. 1008. Jason can also be reached by e-mail at: jason@ncil.org

 

CA, IL, LA, and PA: Speak Out! EEOC Town Halls on ADA Amendments Regulations

Speak Out! EEOC Town Halls on ADA Ammendments Regulations

From the EEOC (10/20/09):

The EEOC will be hosting a series of forums for public input throughout the country in coming weeks to obtain direct input from the business/employer communities as well as the disability and disability advocacy community on EEOC's proposed regulations under the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).  

Presided over by EEOC's Acting Chair, Stuart J. Ishimaru, Acting Vice Chair, Christine Griffin, and Commissioner Constance S. Barker, as well as DOJ’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Samuel Bagenstos, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Mazen Baswari, and Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, John Wodatch, the Town Hall Listening Sessions are an opportunity for these officials to hear directly from stakeholders of all perspectives on the proposed regulations. 

Five-minute time slots to address the panel will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Some of the slots will be available on an advance registration basis and some on first-come, first-served sign up basis at the events.  Members of the public are also invited to attend and view the proceedings, with space available on a first-come, first-served basis.

As a reasonable accommodation, there will be limited availability to provide public input by telephone.  To request this accommodation you must register in advance.

Individuals representing themselves or organizations are urged to take advantage of this opportunity to provide input on the EEOC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which can be viewed, along with a question-and-answer guide, at www.eeoc.gov.  

Sign Language Interpreters, CART, and assistive listening devices will be available.  If you need printed materials in an alternative format please email Elisa.gonzalez.ctr@tma.osd.mil   Please let her know what you need and the location (city) of the event you will be attending.

Both EEOC and DOJ want to encourage all individuals and organizations who cannot attend an event to make sure you submit comments and attachments electronically at http://www.regulations.gov , the Federal eRulemaking Portal. The ID #  is 3046-AA85. Written comments may also be submitted to Stephen Llewellyn, Executive Secretariat, EEOC, 131 M Street, NE., Suite 4NW08R, Room 6NE03F, Washington, DC 20507.  Comments may be transmitted by facsimile (``FAX'') machine by dialing (202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll-free number.)  Only comments of six or fewer pages will be accepted via FAX transmittal.  Comments must be submitted on or before November 23, 2009. 

California:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announce a full-day Town Hall Listening Session, on Monday, October 26, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at California Endowment, 1111 Broadway, 7th floor, Oakland, CA 94607.

For more information, or to register as a speaker, please contact Ms. Linda Li at 415-625-5618 (TTY 415-625-5610) or at Linda.Li@eeoc.gov

Illinois:

The U.S.Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announce a full-day Town Hall Listening Session, on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Access Living, 115 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60654

For more information, or to register as a speaker, please contact Ms. Rita Coffey at 312-353-7254 (TTY 312-353-2421) or at Rita.Coffey@eeoc.gov   

Louisiana: 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announce a full-day Town Hall Listening Session, on Friday, November 20, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the University of New Orleans Training Resource and Assistive-Technology Center (UNO-TRAC), 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148. 

For more information, or to register as a speaker, please contact Maple Thomas at 504-595-2827 (TTY 504-595-2958) or at Maple.Thomas@eeoc.gov 

Pennsylvania:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announce a full-day Town Hall Listening Session, on Friday, October 30, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Liberty Resources, 714 Market Street, Suite 100, Philadelphia, PA 19106

For more information, or to register as a speaker, please contact Ms. Mary Tiernan at 215-440-2671 (TTY 215-440-2610) or at Mary.Tiernan@eeoc.gov

Pass this information on to your friends and colleagues.  Downloadable Notices are attached below.

>>>Download EEOC Notice for Chicago

>>>Download EEOC Notice New Orleans

>>>Download EEOC Notice Philadelphia

>>>Download EEOC Oakland Notice