Hi All,

Hopefully all you saw my email to membership that went out on Saturday.  I had a number of members reach out to me on our Budget Strategy and I wanted to be as transparent as possible with our members.

We have two efforts going on that all of you need to be aware of that effect budget and policy.  One is short-term and one is short/long-term.

The biennium budget committee is comprised of our  Mike Toman (Lobbyist), Nick Blazer(Lobbyist), Mike Hartley (Public Relations/Messaging Strategy), Anita Allen, Than Johnson and Scott Delong.  This is a small committee focused so to be nimble and focused.  The timeline for this committee is now through June 2019.    Than and Anita will be the main people to report back to the Board our progress and to keep everyone update.

Policy Committee’s White Paper on OPRA Policy Initiatives.   This is an effort coming from the OPRA Policy Committee and is very exciting.  This initiative is headed by Diane Beastrom and the policy members.  They will be presenting a White Paper to the Board soon which will outline OPRA’s Policy Initiatives both short and long-term.  The Board will have to vote on the final product. This will be used to help us with our overall strategic plan as well as establishing our policy initiatives to our members and the IDD system.  The timeline for the White Paper’s completion will be by March or April.

I just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of the two separate but complimentary efforts going on and the WHY behind each.

Thanks

Jamie

James W. Steele, MSW
Executive Director
Ohio Valley Residential Services
2261 Victory Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45206
Office:  513-281-6800 x102
Cell:  513-200-3695