Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living

Connecting people to the power of independence

Updates

Please follow us on social media for news and updates.

Local Partnership Helps People Save for Education, Homeownership, and Entrepreneurship

Goal$avers is a local program that can help low-to-moderate income individuals and families save money to buy a first home, pay for school, or start a small business. Goal$avers is made possible by a grant-funded partnership between the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency (BVCAA) and the United Way of the Brazos Valley.

homeownershipeducation

small business

After filling out an application and qualifying for the program (income, residency, and asset restrictions apply), participants in Goal$avers establish a savings account called an Individual Development Account into which they place money toward their home, school, or business goal. At the end of six months, Goal$avers matches at a rate of 2 to 1 the money the participant saved, up to $2000. For example, if a participating family saves $2000 toward their homeownership goal, Goal$avers provides an additional $4000, for a grand total of $6000! Now that’s a lot of tuition or a chunk of a down payment on a house or for a business!

While Goal$avers is open to everyone who meets the qualifications, this program can be especially helpful to people who have disabilities in building their independence through reaching housing, educational, or vocational goals. One thing that people with disabilities need to keep in mind when applying for Goal$avers is that only earned income can be saved toward the match. SSI and SSDI cannot be used for the match.

For more information please contact Goal$avers Program Coordinator Tara Lazaro at (979) 255-8301 or by email at ida@bvcaa.org.

 

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month

The Brain Injury Association of America reminds us that, “A brain injury can happen anytime, anywhere to anyone. Brain injuries do not discriminate. Did you know that 1.7 million people will sustain a brain injury each year? An injury that happens in an instant can bring a lifetime of physical, cognitive and behavior challenges and early, equal and adequate access to care will greatly increase overall quality of life. This is our goal. Please click here for more information.

Local and Online Tax Prep Help for People with Disabilities

It’s Tax Time again, and if you don’t see well or have any of a number of other access needs, those piles of forms can be downright daunting! But wait! There’s lots of help out there!

The Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities once again announces “Tax Time with Lex the Service Dog,” a captioned video guiding people who have disabilities to accessible online resources for tax prep. And he even does it in sign language. Just click the red and white arrow to meet Lex:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B6cMaSwCjU8

For those not comfortable doing taxes on the Internet, we also have great local resources to help with tax prep. Both the Bryan and College Station public libraries offer FREE tax prep assistance to anyone in the community, and they tell us they are more than willing to take the extra steps to assist their neighbors who have disabilities, such as explaining complex tax topics and reading small print forms out loud.

Here are the times and locations:

Clara B. Mounce Library in Bryan:

201 East 26th Street
Bryan, Texas 77803
(979) 209-5600

Hours are: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., T 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., R 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Larry J. Ringer Library in College Station:

1818 Harvey Mitchell Parkway
College Station, Texas  77845
(979) 764-3416

Hours: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Both locations are fully wheelchair accessible. Use elevator at Bryan location to access tax help on second floor.

 

 

BVCIL Staff Attend Statewide Independent Living Conference

Eight BVCIL staff members attended the Texas Statewide Independent Living Conference in Austin, March 3-5. The conference theme was “Take a Seat to Make a Stand.” We collaborated with folks from other Centers for Independent Living, many representatives from state organizations like DADS and DARS, and lots of individual Texans who have disabilities to bring back to our community information and ideas on advocacy, employment, Medicaid, and many other important issues.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin, noted for its accessibility, served as the site for this year’s conference. Attendees also had opportunities to interact with several well-known service providers such as the Texas Talking Book Program at their exhibit booths.

cp8Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell issued a special proclamation officially recognizing the dates of the conference as Independent Living Days in Austin.

Although not an actual part of the conference itself, the event culminated in a march of over 2500 Texans with disabilities and friends down Congress Avenue for a rally at the Capitol to stress the importance of state Medicaid benefits.

Teal Sherer: Actor, Producer, Advocate

teal

Teal Sherer is a successful actor and producer in Hollywood with several acclaimed roles on her resume and her own series on YouTube. She also uses a wheelchair. Teal was a featured speaker at the recent Texas Statewide Independent Living Conference, “Take a Seat to Make a Stand,” held March 3-5, 2013 in Austin, Texas. The Texas State Independent Living Council (SILC) hosts this conference each year.

mgl

Teal’s online series, My Gimpy Life (http://MyGimpyLife.com) takes a fun, edgy, and candid look at life as an actor with a disability. Not a documentary, Teal’s production advocates by example, portraying independent living while tackling in situational scenarios issues of accessibility, inclusion, and equal treatment of people with disabilities.

Take a look at Episode 1, “Accessible,” below. Be sure to notice all the independent living that goes on as a foundation to the advocacy about accessibility.

My Gimpy Life, Episode 1, “Accessible”

Great Fun Opportunity to Help Promote Accessible Parking in Texas and Win a Prize!

Parking Mobility is having a fun contest to help promote the importance of accessible parking in Texas for people who have disabilities. Accessible parking helps people who have disabilities maintain their independence by making it easier and safer for them to get in and out of places of employment, do their own shopping, and run their own errands.

Between now and March 11, Parking Mobility is collecting photos of vehicles parked improperly in accessible parking spaces. You can email photos to Mack Marsh at mack@parkingmobility.com.

The three people who send Mack the most photos will each get a $100 gift card to Apple. Also, if you send Mack the names and email addresses of everyone you tell about this contest, every time they send a photo, you also get one point toward winning your own card. Easy!

This contest is not meant to get our neighbors in trouble. Cars in the photos sent will not be given tickets.The point is to help remind everyone why we should respect accessible parking for people who really need to use it.

Here is an example of a photo someone sent Mack:

2/26/13, 4:00 p.m., outside an Olive Garden restaurant.

parking

Have Fun!