[Ohio-talk] Services for the blind threatened

[Cheryl Fields]

Hello,
This article appeared yesterday in the Columbus Dispatch, it is
disturbing. There has been no press coverage in Cleveland on this
serious issue. If this is not resolved, services for blind persons
will be greatly effected. Please read, how can we, nfb, become pro
active

Best,

Cheryl Fields


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Page 1

Columbus, OH February 6, 2014

Social services

Funding flap threatens programs for disabled

Chris Luzader, who is developmentally disabled,

greets shoppers at the Walmart store in Westerville. Luzader is part
of the state's Bridges to Transition

program, which is in jeopardy because of a funding dispute.

Sometimes the weight of a government dispute falls squarely on the
shoulders of average citizens.

This is one of those times for Chris Luzader, 46, who loves his job as
a greeter at the Walmart on Schrock

Road in Westerville.

Luzader, who suffered permanent neural motor-control damage from a
bout with spinal meningitis when

he was 6 weeks old, knows the program that keeps him employed is in
danger, but he tries not to think

about it.

"If I didn't have this job, I'd be hurting for money," he said. "I
hope it don't come down to that."

Luzader is one of 300 people in the Bridges to Transition program
operated by the Franklin County Board

of Developmental Disabilities that helps disabled adults find and keep
jobs. About $1 million for the local

program comes from the federal government. It's a great deal for local
agencies, which put up $1 for

every $3.69 in federal money.

And there's the problem.

A compliance dispute between the Office of Ohioans with Disabilities,
or OOD, and the U.S. Department

of Education threatens to cut $30 million going to Bridges to
Transition and dozens of other programs for

disabled Ohioans. Local agencies put about

$10 million into the programs overseen by the federal Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative

Services.

The dispute goes back to early 2011 when Kevin Miller, newly appointed
as head of what was then the

Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (now the OOD), wrote to
federal officials about questions

raised in prior reports concerning spending by third-party
contractors. The U.S. Department of Education

indicated that the issues appeared to be resolved, Miller said. The
program also got a green light last year.



Page 2

But a routine audit this year concluded that the state was improperly
using federal funds. That finding

means $30 million going to dozens of agencies -- including the Center
of Vocational Alternatives in

Columbus, Goodwill and the Franklin County Developmental Disabilities
Board -- could be cut off. The

Oct. 18 finding gave the state a month to terminate contracts. There
was also an indication the state might

have to pay back money spent previously.

The federal agency cited several issues, most involving administration
functions performed by some of

the 73 third-party state contractors that regulators said did not
benefit disabled clients. The draft federal

report cited examples including $10,000 spent on financial services,
plus expenses for liability insurance,

an audit fee, chamber of commerce dues and cellphone charges.

"We feel we're in compliance," Miller said. "We believe this is a very
rigid interpretation of what the

federal code says and a misunderstanding of how Ohio's program is structured."

Jacqueline Romer-Sensky, a commissioner of the disabilities office,
said the cutoff order "may

dramatically disrupt services for 8,500 Ohioans with disabilities
currently receiving assistance to find a

job. ... This we find an outrageous and unconscionable affront to our
consumers and the providers who

partner with them."

Members of Ohio's congressional delegation are preparing a letter
asking U.S. Education Secretary Arne

Duncan to intervene.

Officials from two statewide agencies say cutting off the contracts
would have damaging results.

Cheri Walter, executive director of the Ohio Association of County
Behavioral Health Authorities, said

Recovery to Work projects with agencies throughout the state help
recovering addicts and those with

mental illness return to the workforce.

"For some of our agencies and our clients, this is not just about a
job. It's about life and death," Walter

said. "We just think it's a terrible injustice to the clients we're serving."

Adam Herman, spokesman for the Ohio Association of County Boards of
Developmental Disabilities,

said the Bridges to Transition program serves about 4,000 people in 55
of 88 Ohio counties.

"It would be a travesty if bureaucratic disagreement between the state
and federal governments were

allowed to get in the way of people with significant disabilities
getting the skills they need to find and

keep a job," Herman said.

"Through no fault of their own, people with developmental disabilities
already face an uphill battle when

seeking a job and trying to live independently. They don't need the
government working against them as

well."

ajohnson at dispatch.com

@ohioaj