Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living

(APRIL) Conference 2022:

The Power of Peer Support

#ThePowerOfPeerSupport

#APRILConference2022

Join us at the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) conference October 10-14, now in a Virtual Format! 2022 APRIL Conference Registration will close September 30, 2022.

For more information and to register: https://bit.ly/3cHy3MS

Pre-Sale! Order your APRIL Conference T-shirts Today!

T-shirts are now available for both the APRIL Conference and APRIL Youth Conference, 2022. Get yours today from the 5518 Designs Website

Photo description of t-shirts below:

Left: a light heather gray t-shirt with a stylized outline image of two hands clasped together in rainbow colors and curved text above that reads The Power of Peer Support, with curved text below that reads APRIL Conference 2022

Right: a bright aqua blue t-shirt with Scrabble style pieces at the top that spell out Every Body and text below that reads Every Mind. In the middle is 5 cartoon style images of people of various ethnicities and disabilities engaging in various daily activities

New Staff: Welcome Ashley, to our Team!

Payroll & Billing Specialist II

Ashley Fox has joined our team as our new Payroll and Billing Specialist II. Ashley can be found in our Financial Management Services Department, joining a great team of specialists who handle all of our accounts payable and receivable, payroll & more!

What is a Center for Independent Living?

Centers for Independent Living (CIL's) were born from the civil rights movement to fight for accessibility, social acceptance, deinstitutionalization and all civil and human rights of people with disabilities. The first CIL was established in Berkeley California, 1972 (pictured above: leaders and activists in the disability rights movement of the 1960's-1970's take to a street demonstration)

Read more about CIL's and the IL Movement

Will the Ending of the Pandemic and Public Health Emergency Period Mean an End to COVID-19?

As many of us have begun to settle into a new post-pandemic normal and reflect upon the past two years, it's normal and expected to want to move on from the dialogue and experiences, isolation and instability and maybe even try to forget it ever happened. But research, experiences and growing numbers of not only first infections, but second and third recurrences and extended, long-term symptoms and side-effects are being reported day after day. In response to this ongoing public health issue, The Administration for Community Living (ACL) began in January, carrying out a multi-million dollar investment to expand the public health workforce in aging and disability networks.

Independence, Inc. was among the grantees for this program and is using the funding to create a new Social Support and Resource Specialist position that will serve as a liason between health agencies, departments and other public programs and services and the communities we serve to help ensure the dissemination of vital, accurate information, resources, guidance, advocacy and assistance with Covid-related and other public health emergencies and needs.

Amy Ballinger, Independence, Inc. Community Engagement Manager, will expand her work to take on this new roll as Social Support and Resource Specialist for the 2 year contract period, ending September 2024. 

For more information:

ACL Covid-19 Response Announcement

Independence, Inc. Website

ACL Website

Consumer Art Gallery!

Do you love to create? Color? Draw? Paint? Send us a photo of your work and we'll display it on our website in our Peer Support Art Gallery!