Ethnic Community Self-Help Program

Funding is available for ethnic community based and faith-based organizations in an effort to strengthen organized ethnic communities comprised and representative of refugee populations, and to ensure ongoing support and services to refugees within five years after initial resettlement. The populations targeted for services and benefits in the application must represent refugee communities which have arrived in the U.S. within the last five years (no earlier than 2005).

The deadline to submit an application in FY12 is March 13, 2012.

The FY13 deadline is March 13, 2013.

Applications must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).

 

More information can be found here.

 

Health Care Innovation Challenge

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is pleased to share the announcement of a unique funding opportunity announcement through its Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP or those with the highest health care needs.

The objectives of this initiative are to:

1. Engage a broad set of innovation partners to identify and test new care delivery and payment models that originate in the field and that produce better care, better health, and reduced cost through improvement for identified target populations.
2. Identify new models of workforce development and deployment and related training and education that support new models either directly or through new infrastructure activities.
3. Support innovators who can rapidly deploy care improvement models (within six months of award) through new ventures or expansion of existing efforts to new populations of patients, in conjunction (where possible) with other public and private sector partners.

Awards will range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period. Applications are open to providers, payers, local government, public-private partnerships and multi-payer collaboratives. Each grantee project will be monitored for measurable improvements in quality of care and savings generated.
The Health Care Innovation Challenge will encourage applicants to include new models of workforce development and deployment that efficiently support their service delivery model proposal. Enhanced infrastructure to support more cost effective system-wide function is also a critical component of health care system transformation, and applicants are encouraged to include this as an element of their proposals.

Potential applicants must submit a letter of intent (LOI) by December 19, 2011 in order to be eligible for a funding award. Please refer to the FOA for more information on the LOI process.

Click here for additional information.
A printable fact sheet is also available here.

 

Science Fusion: 1st Annual Asian Americans in Science Day

Science Fusion: Asian Americans in Science

Saturday, January 7th, 2012 1-4p.m.

Science Museum of Minnesota

120 W. Kellogg Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55102

(651) 221-9444

2012 marks the first ever annual Asian Americans in Science Day at the Science Museum. Meet science and professionals representing different backgrounds from SE Asia to the mainland and the Pacific Islands. Learn about what they do and discover inspiring contributions they have made to technology, health care, and innovation in Minnesota.

All activities are included with admission.

Science Fusion is a four-part series that brings together scientific and educational professionals to connect with children and adults.

 

Minnesota Attorney General Targets School Bullies

Attorney General Lori Swanson is taking initiative to combat bulling in schools . Swanson’s new proposal will prohibit students from bullying and retaliating against victims or those who report bullying.

It will require districts to comply as early as January 1st, 2012. Districts will also be required to set procedures for immediate reporting of bullying including investigation and disciplinary action, and in applicable cases, notifying police. Bullying prevention programs will be needed to be provided to all K-12 students. Districts will be responsible for filing annual reports with the attorney general on bullying incidents at their schools.

 

Health Disparities Research Speaker: Mental Health in Ethnic Populations

The Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series on Health Disparities Research continues with Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Director, UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities. The topic is TBA and will be broadcast over the Web via Mediasite for off-site viewing.

When: 12:00-1:00, Friday, December 9
Where: 2-530 Moos Tower
To attend this event, please RSVP to: phdr@umn.edu

Click here for more information.

 

Job Posting for BiLingual Advocate: Hmong/English

This position will provide information, referrals, intake for requests for support and outreach throughout the 7 county metro area. The advocate will provide individualized advocacy and support services to families and individuals. This position will create and implement plans to assist individuals in accessing their preferred options and/or overcoming the barriers that inhibit access to adequate support. Employees are expected to demonstrate competence within the areas of communication, problem solving, flexibility, job knowledge, time management, interpersonal relations, ethics, and leadership.

Major Responsibilities:

• Participates in providing information and assistance telephone coverage and in-person consultation.
• Provides direct individual advocacy to families and individuals.
• Maintains current knowledge of community programs, government programs, supports and service areas impacting the lives of people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.
• Represents the agency in educational, county and state committees.
• Creates and maintains quality database documentation of all actions taken within each intake situation.

 

New ECHO Program Aims to Reduce Snow Emergency Towing For Immigrants and Refugees

Twin Cities residents are gearing up to deal with the approaching months of snowfall and what that means for their day-to-day lives. To assist them with that, a new ECHO television program is taking measures to ensure that all residents, including those who speak limited English or may not speak English at all, understand the rules of a Snow Emergency – why it is declared, what it means for their vehicles, the rules of parking, and the consequences if parking regulations are not followed.

“Understanding Snow Emergency” has been created in partnership with the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and Minnesota Medical Response System (MMRS) with the goal of helping Minnesota residents understand Snow Emergency parking rules in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The program will air on tptMN (Comcast Channel 243) in EIGHT languages on Sundays in December (see below) and will be
available for streaming online here by December 1.

ECHO has created translated fliers describing the show and listing the air dates for organizations to print, post, and pass. Fliers can be downloaded free of charge here.

 

Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in English – Guests: Tom Sagert, City of St. Paul and Gao Vang, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Spanish – Guests: Chevo Perez, City of St. Paul and Roman Gonzalez, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. in Hmong – Guests: Long Yang, City of St. Paul and Gao Vang, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 11 at 7:20 p.m. in Somali – Guests: Abdi Omer, City of St. Paul and Ahmed Muhumud, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 11 at 7:40 p.m. in Karen – Guests: Henry Ung, City of St. Paul and Ahmed Muhumed, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. in Vietnamese – Guests: Huong Hoang, City of St. Paul and Ahn Nguyen, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 18 at 7:20 p.m. in Lao – Guests: Nou Gamble, City of St. Paul and Thavisack Silaphet, City of Minneapolis
Dec. 18 at 7:40 p.m. in Khmer – Guests: Henry Ung, City of St. Paul and Cheyenne Erickson, City of Minneapolis

 

DVDs of this program will be available in mid-December, each disc contains the program in all eight languages. You can place advance requests for free DVD copies by emailing ECHO at olson@echominnesota.org.

 

State of the Plate: Minnesota Healthy Food Futures

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is holding a one-day conference for the health community by examining the connections with food, farm and health policies. Learn how food and and farm policy issues relate to unhealthy food consumption, food justice and the role of health professionals who help to improve Minnesotans’ health through effective policy change.

What: State of the Plate: Minnesota Healthy Food Futures

When: Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Where: Earle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota

Click here for more information and to register.

Featured speakers include:

• Dr Kelly Brownell, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
• Annie Haddix, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• LaDonna Redmond, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Hil Xyooj, Farmers’ Legal Action Group Inc.
• Monty Fox, White Earth Reservation
• Dr. David Wallinga, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• And many more

 

Update on 20% Pay Cut for PCA relative caregiver

The following content is from The Arc. More info can be viewed at this link.

Temporary Injunction Stops 20% Relative PCA Cut

On Wednesday October 26th, Judge Dale Lindman, Ramsey County District Court, issued a temporary restraining order to stop DHS from implementing the 20% wage cut to personal care attendants (PCAs) who support family members with disabilities. The Arc Minnesota has actively worked on this issue since the end of the legislative session, expressing our concerns and sharing individual stories with the Governor, Dept. of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Lucinda Jesson, and legislators. We are pleased with the judge’s action, but we still need to keep up our advocacy efforts with legislators in case we ultimately need a legislative solution.

The lawsuit was filed by 10 PCA agencies and several PCAs and PCA recipients. We applaud the courage they have demonstrated in taking this action. A hearing will be held in 30 days to review the merits of the case. There were a number of media articles on this lawsuit, including coverage in the Star Tribune. How can you support the lawsuit? Here are two ways:

• Continue your legislative advocacy. Continue to share your personal story with your legislator about the harm created by the PCA cut. Write letters to the editor. We cannot assume the courts will resolve this issue, and we need to be prepared to go to the Legislature.

• We have been asked to help identify any individuals who have been seriously impacted by the PCA cut who would be interested in testifying. Serious impact means having to move to a more institutional placement (i.e., nursing home, assisted living, etc.) or losing key relative caregivers. If you fit these criteria and are interested in the possibility of testifying, please contact Anni Simons at 651-523-0823, ext. 112 or asimons@arcmn.org

 

 

Colloquium on cultural adaptations involving hot button issues in efficacy, effectiveness and implementation research

For the Fall 2011 Colloquium Series, the Center for Personalized Prevention Research in Children’s Mental Health (CPPR) presents The Science of Tailoring Treatment: Adaptive Interventions Based on Culture and Preference. Join us as Anna Lau, Ph. D. talks about cultural adaptation relating to prevalent and popular issues in efficacy, efficiency  and implementation research.

What: Raising the Spectre of Cultural Adaptation: Hot button issues in efficacy, effectiveness and implementation in research

Where: 717 Delaware St SE, Room 330

When: Monday, December 5th 4:00pm

 

View the flyer at this link.