Dear Stakeholders,
I’m writing to you in the middle of March. Change is in the air. Temperatures are rising and things are heating up in state and federal legislative chambers. We’re through the first funnel in Iowa. Some bills we were watching survived. Others did not.
Before we go into those, I’d like to take a moment to tell you about our advocacy efforts here at Crossroads the last few months. As many of you have seen, we’ve been tirelessly telling our stories. We’ve posted in support of a petition aiming to protect Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973. To date, that’s garnered almost 1,200 signatures.
We’ve also shared stories from our clients, staff, and guardians. One of those posts about Ben Draves reached over 30,000 people in a week. That post and several like it illustrate the daily impact that Medicaid funding has on our clients and community.
We’ve also been busy with in-person advocacy efforts. On February 25th and March 11th, we opened our doors to disability advocates from across Muscatine. We talked about pending legislation and gave everyone ways to affect change. We invited a congressional staffer and told him what Medicaid means to us and what cuts would do to our organization and our clients.
On February 26th, a group of Crossroads clients and staff trekked to Des Moines. They stopped off at the DD Council, where they learned how to effectively advocate with legislators. Freshly equipped with those strategies, they headed over to the Capitol and met with members of both chambers. They talked about preserving Medicaid funding and a bill called Work Without Worry. Whatever happens with any of these bills, those folks can be proud of their advocacy. I know I am.
We couldn’t do any of this without all of you. Whether you liked and shared a post, called a representative, or signed onto a petition, thank you. Keep your eyes peeled for more opportunities to help. Whether it’s fighting against federal cuts to Medicaid or supporting our clients’ self-sufficiency through Work Without Worry, we’ll give you the tools. We’re counting on you to use them.
In Advocacy,
Marc
P.S. – Don’t forget you can stay up to date on all of the latest Crossroads advocacy efforts, including how you can participate here.
