[Nfbv-announce] Governor's threat to DBVI

[Mark W. Roane]

As all of you are well aware by now, the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI) is currently facing the most significant threat in its long history.  While our phone calls and e-mails are making our voices heard in the General Assembly, we have good reason to believe that Governor McDonnell may be influencing the legislators to proceed with the proposed consolidation of the DBVI into a newly created mega agency of disabilities despite the concerns of the DBVI's stakeholders.  Therefore, it is critically important that we now call and e-mail the Governors office to make sure that they fully understand the negative impact such a consolidation would have on the lives of all blind Virginians.

 

I urge all of you to call and e-mail the following individuals and also would encourage you to have your friends, family members and associates do the same.  Please continue with the same courteousness and respect that we have shown all of our elected officials.

 

Governor Robert F. McDonnell

(804) 786-4273

Robert.f.mcdonnell at governor.virginia.gov

 

Governor's policy office

Julia Hammond

(804) 692-2559

Julia.hammond at governor.virginia.gov

 

Secretary of Health and Human Resources

Secretary William Hazel

(804) 692-2571

Bill.hazel at governor.virginia.gov

 

When contacting these individuals, you may want to make the following points.

 

1  The Governors own commission on Government Reform did not recommend including the DBVI in the newly created agency.  Why include the DBVI now without an honest evaluation of how such a consolidation would affect the services received by blind Virginians.

 

2  There is minimal savings to be realized by this proposed consolidation.  The majority of the savings normally associated with such a consolidation were put in place when the administrative functions of HR, fiscal, purchasing and I T were shared with the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) in 1995.

 

3  The DBVI has been an excellent steward of the taxpayers money.  The DBVI currently receives less general fund money than it did in 1991 while still providing a full range of services to it's clients.

 

4  Beginning in the 1970s, there have been numerous attempts to answer the question of whether services for blind individuals are more effectively and/or more efficiently provided under a combined or specialized model.  In every case, researchers have shown that the minimal administrative savings achieved by consolidation are offset by less effective and less well-organized and less efficient services under a generalist's model.  In the late 1990s, Cavenaugh, Giesen, and Pierce at Mississippi State University conducted an analysis of national data and found that blind people served through separate agencies for the blind are nearly twice as likely to be self-supporting at closure than blind people served by a consolidated vocational rehabilitation agency.

 

Our time to address this matter is growing very short so call and e-mail today.  Also, please let me know once you have done so.  Everyone has done a great job up to now and I know you will all see this through to the end.  Together we will preserve a strong and independent agency for all blind Virginians.

 

Mark Roane