Dear Friends,
As I near the end of my term as President of the MOHR Board, I am filled with gratitude, satisfaction, apprehension, and a forward-thinking spirit to continue MOHR’s heritage of excellence.
Gratitude. I had the honor of attending several extraordinary events across the state hosted by MOHR members. It is gratifying to see agencies responding to local needs while exhibiting our guiding principles of respect, inclusion, collaboration, and strength.
Satisfaction. MOHR is a volunteer-driven organization representing 100 day and employment service providers. It is laudable that our volunteers in governance, education & training, government relations, and communications continue to raise the bar for members in promoting best practices, clear communication to constituents, and unwavering advocacy. A note to all MOHR members: your volunteer assistance is appreciated and needed. If you wish to be better connected to your peers, please reach out to your region representative and discuss volunteer opportunities.
Apprehension. Legislative funding for disabilities continues to be reduced in a myriad of ways, including capping needed services, reducing hours of service, and creating financial hardship for agencies with unfunded mandates or delayed payments. In the beginning of this biennium, human service reductions amounted to $1 billion. In the waning days of this past session, the supplemental budget agreed upon by the Governor and House and Senate leaders carved an additional $300 million from human services in the next biennium. As Sen. John Hoffman, Human Services Committee Chair stated while moving the Omnibus Human Services supplemental appropriations bill forward, “Minnesota has to do better” for individuals with disabilities. We concur.
Forward-thinking Spirit. Revenue and profits aside, I consider MOHR members to be the Fortune 500 (OK, 100) of the best organizations in Minnesota. We model the same factors that enable major corporations to achieve success: value, actionable insights, stellar performance, unmatched employee dedication, market adaptability, and growth, to name a few. Recent research released by ANCOR shows that for every $1 invested in HCBS for people with I/DD, the broader economy generated an additional $1.50. ANCOR’s report showed that in fiscal year 2023, state and federal governments invested a combined $67 billion in Medicaid HCBS support. In turn, according to the data, this investment supported $170 billion in economic output. Each of us can examine our community impact and talk about the number of people we employ (who pay taxes and purchase local goods), the number of parents who remain in community employment because of our work, the number of employers who rely on the employees we support, the tradespeople who keep our facilities fixed and built, and medical entities who keep us healthy. The list goes on.
We are an economic engine for the state of Minnesota, and we need to toot our horn.
I will utilize experts among the MOHR community that I have met during my tenure as board president to unabashedly communicate the cost-effective, high achieving, people focused, unstoppable, resilient, purposeful, and high yield investment that accompanies services and programs for individuals with disabilities.
With admiration and respect,
Robin
