Congratulations to Amber Barnes, staff at Opportunity Partners, for winning an Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota (ARRM) Cares Award. She won one out of the six awards that were given this year at the ARRM annual conference. Amber was chosen from more than 100 nominees for her outstanding demonstrations of professional integrity, networking support and creative, innovative and proactive approaches to services. Read her nomination online.

Amber is a Job Development Specialist at OP. She helps people with resume building, interview skills and other tasks related to obtaining independent employment.

Way to go, Amber! You're extremely deserving of this award.

Unfortunately, the 2016 legislative session ended on May 23 with no rate increase for Home & Community-Based Services (HCBS). Opportunity Partners actively participated in the Best Life Alliance, a coalition of 140 disability and senior organizations seeking a 5 percent rate increase to provide a compensation increase for Direct Support Professionals.

We are proud of our hard work this session as part of the Best Life Alliance and believe that together we did everything we could to help pass a rate increase. While we are disappointed with the outcome, we believe progress at the Capitol often takes years of persistent work as a community. We received a 5 percent rate increase in 2014, and will not let this negative news prevent future success. Thank you for your advocacy and support which helped increase awareness of the workforce shortage and position HCBS for an increase next year.

Do you want to get involved our public policy efforts? Contact Alicia Munson to learn more.

"The effects of the storm are already apparent, but the most damaging policy changes and rate cutting formulas are still on the horizon and will wallop service providers in the coming months."

The latest blog post comes from OP's Senior Director of Public Policy and Organizational Strategy, Rick Hammergren.

Read more.

June 11, 2016 - Hennepin SILS & SLS Picnic