Worker Groups Spring Up in New England
Sept. 10, 2003 - Two new worker associations are being organized in New England, joining a neighboring group that has been in operation since last year. Organizers for all three, along with other workers and worker advocates in the region, are investigating ways of coordinating their efforts.

Groups include the following:

The Maine Personal Assistance Services Association (Maine PASA) was started in October 2002 with funding from a Real Choices Systems Change grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). It is open to people who work in a wide variety of settings, from homes and facilities to schools and places where people with disabilities are employed. Its mission is "to empower workers, to build opportunities, to respect human dignity and to improve the quality of our jobs."

A work group of direct-care and personal assistant workers has been meeting monthly to set up Maine PASA's structure, and the group is mailing a bimonthly newsletter to a list of more than 250 people. This November it will host its second annual meeting, titled People in Direct Care, Support and Personal Assistance: Building our Capacity and Valuing our Work. In the future, organizer Elise Scala thinks Maine PASA may consist of local support groups supplemented by coordination of advocacy, support, and benefits at the state and regional levels. Meanwhile, priorities include raising public awareness about the importance of direct-care workers, disseminating information to workers, and applying for formal non-profit status, which the group expects to do within the next year.

A professional caregivers' association in Vermont funded by a CMS Real Choices grant is being coordinated by Kathy West of Care of Vermont Elders (COVE) and Joan Haslett of the state's Department of Aging and Disability. The group was launched at a recent conference hosted by the Department of Aging and Disability, and an advisory board has been convened. Its organizers hope to see it become a mechanism for providing workers with affordable health insurance.

Created by personal assistants for personal assistants, the Connecticut Association of Personal Assistants (CAPA) was founded in 2002 with the help of a grant from the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. Founder and director Deb Barisano oversees a support system that consists of monthly meetings, a quarterly newsletter, a website, and legislative advocacy on behalf of workers.

Organizers for each of these groups, along with other interested workers and worker advocates, met earlier this year to exchange information and explore the possibility of coordinating future efforts. They now stay in touch through monthly telephone meetings. "Our primary purpose right now is to share information and get to know each others' programs," said Scala in an e-mail exchange. "We are identifying common experiences and challenges involved with developing the associations and coordinating direct-care and support workers. The regular exchanges serve as an internal consultation process that is very helpful to those of us in the early states of development." Their networking is supported by the National Academy for State Health Policy, the technical assistance provider for the Real Choices grants.

For contact information for the Maine PASA and CAPA, go to: http://www.directcareclearinghouse.org/worker_assoc.jsp