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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

CIL-NET Presents: A National Learning Collaborative on Business Acumen at Centers for Independent Living

May-December 2019

Are you looking to begin, secure, or grow contracts and funding from health plans and payers, but need help with your business acumen efforts?

CIL-NET is offering a National Learning Collaborative to assist CILs in improving business acumen by contracting with health plans and other health payers to establish income-producing community-based services that enable people with disabilities and significant health issues to live successfully in the community.

Goal of the Collaborative: To increase the Center’s capacity to engage in new business practices, notably contracting with health plans and payers, in order to establish and operate self-sustaining service programs in the community.

What is a Learning Collaborative?

A learning collaborative is an interactive group process to improve programs and performance through progressive learning, action, and planning. The National Learning Collaborative on Business Acumen at Centers for Independent Living is much more than training. From May to December of 2019, our facilitators will work with a dedicated group of CILs to support one another as they plan to create or expand their business acumen efforts. It involves a commitment of time and resources to complete an actionable plan. Participants in the collaborative will learn alongside and support one another. A successful collaborative requires commitment, teamwork, and follow-through. Therefore, we are asking interested individuals to apply to participate. A maximum of 12 CILs will be selected for participation with a maximum of 2 individuals per CIL.

Applicants must have the authority and the resources to participate fully and to be ready to go when the collaborative participants are selected. Applicants must be available and prepared to participate in all collaborative activities, including monthly group calls, planning work between calls, and an onsite meeting at The Independence Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer. Group and individual work between calls is estimated at 12-14 hours a month. Facilitation of the collaborative is provided by Patricia Yeager and Jennifer Morgan along with project support from ILRU and NCIL.

What Are the Application Requirements?

  1. A maximum of 2 individuals from each center may apply.
  2. Participation will be limited to the individual(s) who are accepted for enrollment. Substitutes may not join collaborative activities.
  3. Participants must be individuals with decision-making authority (e.g. executive director, deputy director, program manager).
  4. The person at the CIL who is working on business acumen efforts at the CIL must be one of the individuals who applies.
  5. Participation in all group activities are mandatory to include monthly group calls, one onsite visit to The Independence Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer, and a virtual final presentation at the end of the collaborative.
  6. Each participating CIL will be expected to develop an actionable plan for creating or expanding business acumen efforts.
  7. The CIL’s plan must be given sign-off by the authorizing CIL leader or the board of directors where appropriate before it is presented at the end of the learning collaborative.
  8. The applicant CIL must have the financial and human resources necessary to make a commitment for full participation throughout the entire collaborative timeframe. (Group and individual work between calls is estimated at 12-14 hours a month.)

How Do I Apply?

Fill out the online application form.

Applications are due April 2, 2019. Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. No applications will be accepted after the deadline.

Who Are the Facilitators?

Jennifer Morgan is the Aging and Disability Program Manager at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. In 2017, she joined the ILRU team and has a lead role in the Disability and Aging Work Group in developing resources for the Aging and Disability Business Institute. Prior to her work with ILRU, for five years she was the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) Director working closely with Utah’s Centers for Independent Living and Area Agencies on Aging. She also collaborated with the VA Office of Rural Health in the development of the COVER to COVER model. In her continued work with programs impacting older adults, people with disabilities and Veterans, she works with ILRU, the National Council on Aging, Salt Lake Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Utah’s Arthritis Program Self-Management programs. Ms. Morgan has a B.S. in Psychology.

Patricia Yeager is the CEO of The Independence Center, a 30+ year old organization serving the Pikes Peak area, she is knee deep in health care; The IC operates a $12 million skilled and nonskilled home health agency and a pilot hospital to home program helping people with disabilities transition home after an acute hospital episode rather than the nursing home. She has served as Executive Director for four CILs and was the first director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers. Patricia Yeager holds a M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling (1979) and a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Administration (2011).

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