FREED Center for Independent Living

If you haven’t done so already, now is a good time to get your go bag ready for the season. Remember to include your speciality equipment, medical supplies, and prescriptions.

We want to bring some great stuff to this community, so we've got some dances coming up in June! This is pur Special Needs dance! Click the link below! https://fb.me/e/EXVzDNIA

Dan Okenfuss, the Public Policy Manager at the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers - CFILC, joins us this month to discuss his extensive career in #CaliforniaPolitics, as well as his leadership in Little People of America (LPA). He also tells us about starting a family with the help of LPA’s adoption program. The show will air on Monday, May 3, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. on KVMR 89.5FM & 105.1FM Nevada City, which is available for streaming worldwide at https://kvmr....org. A recording of the show will be available on this page shortly following the broadcast and will also be available on the Disability Rap podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify! We will also post an extended version of the interview on this page shortly after airtime. In his post at CFILC, Dan advocates for the rights and increased supports and freedoms of people with disabilities in the state. He tracks bills moving through the California state legislature that would have a positive (or negative) impact on the lives of older adults and people with disabilities. Dan has an extensive background in public policy work, both here in California and in our nation’s capital. He has worked for at least six California Assemblymembers. Early in his career, Dan was a Legislative Aide to US Congressman David Mann of Ohio. Dan has achondroplasia, which is the most common form of dwarfism. He is a lifelong member of Little People of America and has served as National Vice President of Public Affairs and a Chapter President for that organization. His wife, Ericka, is also a little person. They have two remarkable children, and we say remarkable because, as we were doing research for this show, at least half of the articles we read were about their sons, Hai and Jude, and only mentioned Dan as their proud father. Hai and Jude have won numerous athletic awards. They represented the United States at the 7th World Dwarf Games 2017 in Guelph, Ontario.

The vision: A California where everyone can work, live, and age with dignity, at home and in community. The challenge: Decades of policies and practices based o...n ableism and ageism that marginalize people with disabilities and older adults. Decades of undervaluing and underpaying care workers. A rapidly growing number of older adults and people with disabilities who need support, without the workforce to meet it. The way forward: A powerful movement, led by people with disabilities, older adults, family caregivers, and workers, whose personal stories move everyone to demand affordable homecare, fair pay for care providers, and real support for family caregivers. How do we get there? Apply to Hand in Hand’s Home and Community-Based Stories Fellowship, learn to tell your story, and lead the way to a better homecare future. Apply today and learn more at domesticemployers.org/HCBS. Applications due by May 9th at 11:59pm. [Images: Bold black words on white background read: Home and Community-Based Stories (HCBS): A Storytelling and Organizing Fellowship. Are you feeling the effects of our broken long-term care system in your life? Your story is needed to transform that system into something that works for all of us. Apply to Hand in Hand’s HCBS Fellowship to learn how to use your story to build a California where everyone can live, age, and work with dignity. Apply now and learn more: domesticemployers.org/HCBS. Applications close Sunday, May 9. A collage of images depicts a person in their sixties, seated with their child’s arm around their shoulder, both smiling. A young man sits in a manual wheelchair, one arm propped up on the back of the seat, smiling at the camera. A woman sitting at a table, dispensing medication for an older man, who sits in a wheelchair. On the right, Hand in Hand’s logo. Below that, the logos of Community Partners are listed: DO (Disability Organizing) Network, California Alliance for Retired Americans, Senior & Disability Action, South LA Cafe.]

A virtual space to come together in this time of physical separation. Join FREED staff and volunteers each week for a one-hour virtual session of fun, conversation, and connection. When: Every Friday at 11 a.m., starting March 5, 2021.... Where: on Zoom! Each week, we will have a different theme. There will be a monthly book club, workshops on personal emergency preparedness, art classes, and opportunities to engage in community organizing and systems change advocacy.