1. Director’s Activities Highlights Department Directives Budget Update
Executive Directors Report Tony Anderson Executive Director Valley Mountain Regional Center april 2018

2. Directors Activities Highlights
Organizational Activities
Activities with Community Partners
Board Development
Communications

3. Organizational & Professional Development (page 1)
Attended a workgroup on improving the quality and efficiency of technology at VMRC through training sessions and edits to the policies and procedures related to the use of technology.
Attended meetings with ARCA new directors, the executive directors group, the executive committee, and the board of directors for the Association of Regional Center Agencies.
Attended the Train the Trainers subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup on creating trainings to improve the quality of presentation and teaching technics and edits to the policies and procedures related to the regional center’s emphasis on learning.

4. Organizational & Professional Development (page 2)
Attended the On-Boarding subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup which is focused on improving the first year service for new employees through training and support.
Attended the Policies and Procedures for Regulations subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup which is focused on updating our policies and procedures related to stator requirements and providing training for staff to implement our mandates consistently.
We held our first all management meeting in Stockton. We provided a training by our HR Director Bud Mullanix on organizational change, the department heads gave updates from their departments, and I provided reports on a few changes coming from Sacramento and engaged the management team in addressing rumors they may be hearing.

5. Organizational & Professional Development (page 3)
Attended the “Tools of Trade” subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup which is focused on developing tools to help service coordinators improve their service and training to teach them how to use these tools.
Meetings with the management of the Quality Assurance and Resource Development units on issues related the transition both units are experiencing at this time. We are using this time to relook at the organization of these functions and exploring different organizational structures to deliver quality services from these units.
Attended the Communications subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup on creating trainings focused on improving the way we communicate with each other at VMRC, problem solving, conflict management, etc.

6. Organizational & Professional Development (page 4)
Attended the Case management subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup on creating trainings to help case mangers work on continuous improvement on the competencies of social work case managers.
Attended the Management and leadership subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup on focused on developing the skills of our managers at VMRC.
Participated in the Fiscal Services subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup on creating trainings to help the employees to fully understand how our finances work in the agency and throughout our system in the state and nation.
Attended the Community Collaboration subgroup of the Training and Development Workgroup to develop training that will be relevant to VMRC staff and some part of our community.

7. Activities with community partners (page 1)
Together with the Coalition of Local Area Service Providers (CLASP) we organized a highly successful one day training in our Stockton office.  The event sold out with 130 attendees and netted about $2500 and received overwhelmingly excellent ratings on every question.
Attended the VMRC Self-Determination advisory committee chaired by Claire Lazaro who gave an update on the Statewide Advisory committee meeting, the status of the program rollout. The program is expected to be approved before the end of the fiscal year.
Met with the leadership of CLASP who expressed concerns with our monitoring of some services. We will respond to their concerns and inform them of our plans in writing next month. Later in the month I attended the CLASP membership meeting which was held in our San Andreas office.

8. Activities with community partners (page 2)
Met with the office of client’s rights from Disability Rights California (DRC) to check in on the status of cooperation of our agencies to assure the rights of people with IDD in our region.
Met with the representative for Senator Tom Berryhill and Assembly Member Frank Bigelow in Jackson. Our Legislative Committee team focused on state budget items that do or will impact our community such as the 4 closure days, restoration of social recreation and camp services, closing the state developmental centers while maintaining the funding for people with IDD, and Assemblymember Holden’s request for $25 million to increase rates for providers facing rising costs until the comprehensive rate study is completed.
Met with Lynn Hogue of UCP San Joaquin to discuss a variety of trends in our community and to tour the program and learn more.

9. Activities with community partners (page 3)
We are continuing our efforts to serve as the sponsoring organization for the Awesome Spot adaptive playground in Modesto. Anthony Hill, VMRC Legal Advisor has been working the city of Modesto and Awesome Spot organizers to craft an agreement that removes our liability and provides them with the organizational support they need to build this needed resource for our community.
Attended the State Council on Developmental Disabilities North Valley Hills Office Regional Advisory Committee meeting. Gave a VMRC director’s report and answered questions.
Along with Cindy Mix and Brian Bennett we met with representatives from Pride Industries to discuss expansion of their services to our region. We discussed day program, supported employment, and other employment services for San Joaquin and then Stanislaus counties.

10. Activities with community partners (page 4)
I met with the leadership of the Self-Advocacy Council 6 (SAC6) to discuss issues important to the self-advocates. I reached out to the leadership to establish ongoing professional and advisory collaboration between the self-advocates and the director’s office.
Together with regional center directors we met with Nancy Bargmann to discuss the status of the Disparities projects in the state.
We hosted a public meeting in our Cohen Board room for San Joaquin County to discuss their closure of the activity center with the families of those who are losing their services provided by the county.
Participated in our first organizing meeting for our mental health services act grant project.

11. Board development
We held an all-day training for the board of directors focused on parliamentary procedures and an extensive review of the Kinetic Flow surveys of consumers and families, providers, and staff.  The board agreed to organize a strategic planning committee to review these findings again and strategize initiatives to address the issues that are highlighted in the surveys.

12. Communication/Outreach
We held three public hearings on the status of our disparities initiatives at VMRC. Our Cultural Specialist gave the presentations showing improvements in many areas, talked about the outreach activities we’ve been engaged in, plans for the future, and showed the data on the disparities among race and ethnicity and the expenditure of services.
I attended the update session of the new website build up that is getting much closer to rollout.
I was a speaker at the CHOICES conference and provided an overview of budget proposals from the governor.

13. Department correspondence

14. SURVEY ON SERVICE COORDINATOR CASELOADS
Welfare and Institutions Code section (e) (Enclosure A) requires that regional centers provide service coordinator-to- consumer caseload data to the Department of Developmental Services (Department) and that regional centers maintain specific service coordinator-to-consumer ratios. Additionally, the Department provides regional centers with Community Placement Plan Operations funding to maintain a one to 45 caseload ratio for individuals who moved from a developmental center and have lived in the community between 12 and 24 months. The caseload ratio survey referenced below has been revised to collect information on the ratios for these individuals.

15. Our audit with DDS is scheduled for may 2, 2018

16. GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF RESTRAINT OR CONTAINMENT IN ENHANCED BEHAVIORAL SUPPORTS HOMES (EBSH)
The purpose of this correspondence is to inform regional centers that the Department of Developmental Services (Department) has developed and adopted Guidelines for the Use of Restraint or Containment in Enhanced Behavioral Supports Homes, as required by Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) § (i)(1). The guidelines are enclosed and are also available on the Department’s website at:

17. OUTCOME MEASURES FOR DISPARITY FUNDS PROGRAM
INSTITUTE FOR MAXIMUM HUMAN POTENTIAL
SPECIAL NEEDS NETWORK INC.

18. budget attachments

19. Valley Mountain Regional Center Legislative Committee
The Legislative Committee Budget Report First Draft (final version will be available in April 2018)
content/uploads/2018/02/BudgetPresF_draft2.pptx

20. Questions?