Unfortunately, the Minnesota Legislature was unable to agree on spending in many areas, including Health and Human Services. This means that many of the changes to long-term disability care, updates to the waiver rate system, and other priorities that would have benefitted individuals with disabilities were not made into law this year. We are hopeful that 2023 will be a productive session that results in much needed changes to disability services.

At PICS (Partners in Community Supports), we strive to make our services easier to use for the families who rely on them. We’re excited to share that our portal and timekeeping systems will be updated in Fall 2022.

New terms of agreement between SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) changes will go into effect July 1, 2022. The changes can be found by visiting the DHS website. 

Gov. Tim Walz recently signed a bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature providing bonus pay to eligible COVID-19 frontline workers (MN Frontline Worker Pay). MN Frontline Worker Pay is given to thank Minnesotans who worked on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic peacetime emergency.

Linda Tedford was a single parent of two young children who worked full-time when she first learned about PICS (Partners in Community Supports), a subsidiary of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS). “I didn’t realize that there were options for me to actually have people who were in my family as paid caregivers for my son Chris,” recalled Linda.

We recently added a translation tool to our website to increase access to our resources and information. Each page is now available in Hmong, Somali and Spanish, as well as English.

Minnesota’s legislative session is in full swing. PICS’ Advocacy Team is monitoring several bills in the Minnesota House and Senate that might affect the daily lives of PICS families.

Staying connected is more important than ever. At PICS (Partners in Community Supports), we want to make sure that you’re informed about free and low-cost options for internet access at home and in the community.

We love finding new ways to connect with our community and are excited to launch our new quarterly PICS E-newsletter. In this newsletter you will find the latest updates at PICS, ways to connect with us on social media, a spotlight of another service of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, upcoming events, and other exciting news from PICS, like our advocacy and anti-racism work.

Describing self-directed services to those unfamiliar with them can be a challenge. It helps to hear directly from families who use them to understand the positive impact self-directed services can have in their lives.