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Text Box: Summer 2007     NUMBER XIII Text Box: ACCESS NEWS Text Box: Access to Independence of Cortland County, Inc.

Text Box: Table of Contents   March on Capitol................... 2   Employment Conference...... 2   Community Involvement...... 3   20 Years of Advocacy............. 3   Election Info.......................... 4   Community Choice Act......... 4   Housing Barrier to IL........... 5   Benefits Training................... 5   Entrepreneurial Eyes............ 5   Youth Transition................... 6   DEAM / DMD...................... 6   ADA Celebration................... 6   Peer Mentoring...................... 7   Familiar Faces....................... 7

Text Box:   Text Box:      On Thursday, August 9, Mary Ewing, Executive Director of Access to Independence of Cortland County, Inc., announced that her agency had been award a $200,000 grant from the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) to administer a program to provide accessibility modifications to low and very low income households.          The new grant will run from April 2008 through March 2010. Along with additional matching funds from Access to Independence and Thoma Development Corporation, the agency aims to implement up to 15 housing modifications.      Ms. Ewing said that Access to Independence will partner with Cortland County Area Agency on Aging, Cortland County Community Action Program, and Cortland Housing Assistance Council, among others, to provide services and

Text Box: the week, the announcement of additional funds couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Mr. Ferri.      Mr. Ferri and Access to Independence Program Coordinator, Fran Pizzola, were recently featured in a video prepared by the NYS DHCR to show-off the state’s success in its efforts to remove architectural barriers and to help keep people who have disabilities at home rather than in nursing homes. That video shares the stories of a dozen benefactors of the Access to Home project, including two in McGraw that Mr. Ferri and Access to Independence completed. The video is available online at http:/www.dhcr.state. ny.us/general/multimedia.htm.      Access to Independence has been contacted by organizations and families across the region seeking consultation on accessibility and assistance with barrier removals. Some of those who have contacted the agency include the Cortland Free Library, Glenhaven Library, McGraw Methodist Church, McGrawville Baptist Church, Town of Scott, YWCA, Walden Oaks, Cortland County Board of Elections, and the Suffolk County DSO.      For more information, contact Rob Ferri at 753-7363 or by email: rferri@ aticortland.org.

Text Box: structural modifications for assisted households.       Adaptation work must meet the needs of those with physical disabilities, and seniors with an age-related disability. Examples of modifications include: wheelchair ramps and lifts, handrails, expanded doorways; roll-in showers with grab bars, bathtub grab bars and seats; kitchen modifications; modifications for the visually and hearing impaired; and relocating a bathroom or bedroom.      Rob Ferri, Access to Independence Architectural Barrier Specialist, manages the agency’s existing Access to Home project, which is funded through an initial DHCR grant of $200,000. That project started in April 2006 and runs through March 2008, with a goal of completing at least 15 home modifications.      Since July of last year, Mr. Ferri has seen through to completion a total of 11 projects, including the installation of 10 ramps, three bathroom renovations, two interior door modifications, and installation of a fire alarm system for a person with a hearing impairment.      Another five projects are currently underway, with seven more set to begin this year and two more in the spring.      “With eight applications currently on hold and a waiting list that is growing by

Text Box: Access to Home Success Earns Agency Another Two-Year, $200,000 Grant

Text Box: Above: Before and after pictures of a recently completed Access to Home project in Cortland County. Residents now have independence to get in and out of their house.