Advocacy Resource Links
Civil Rights / Legal Links
Southern Tier ADAPT is part of a national grass roots community that organizes activists in the fight for disability rights that enable people to live in their own homes in the community. Affordable and accessible housing, available and accessible transportation, health care access and equity, community based long term care, and other services and supports are all areas that Southern Tier ADAPT fights for.
Contact Nicole Hakes or Sue Ruff, 607-724-2111.
Legal Services of CNY offers free civil legal services to low income families and individuals including disability discrimination and disability related issues. https://www.lscny.org/
NYS Division of Human Rights provides information and assistance in regard to possible violations of NYS’s Human Rights Law as it covers people with disabilities.
Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier recognizes the diverse social conditions and institutions that contribute to mass incarceration. J.U.S.T. advocates with and for individuals, families and loved ones of those currently or previously incarcerated, educates the community about the harms of mass incarceration, champions community mobilization, supports, and services to end poverty, racism, the criminalization of people with disabilities, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), founded in 1979, is a leading national civil rights law and policy center directed by individuals with disabilities and parents who have children with disabilities. https://dredf.org/
Education
In addition to STIC’s Education Advocacy Team (EAT) and FACE, other resources include:
Southern Tier Special Education Task Force (a regional affiliate of the NYS Special Education Task Force) is committed to improving educational access and outcomes for students with disabilities through a collaborative regional and statewide network of stakeholders representing a variety of perspectives in addressing the special education needs of students in Broome, Tioga, Tompkins, Chemung, Cortland, Chenango, Otsego, and Delaware counties, as well as New York State. - https://www.nyspecialedtaskforce.org/southern-tier-task-force.html
Wrightslaw provides information about education law and advocacy for students with disabilities. - https://www.wrightslaw.com/
Emergency Preparedness
Disability Policy Consultant – June Kailes
NY Alerts
Red Cross, Southern Tier
NYSILC Emergency Preparedness
https://nysilc.org/emergency-preparedness
Employment
Job Accommodation Network provides free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues. Working toward practical solutions that benefit both employer and employee, JAN helps people with disabilities enhance their employability, and shows employers how to capitalize on the value and talent that people with disabilities add to the workplace.
Our Ability, connections and resources for job seekers with disabilities.
NYAIL Employment Committee
Chair Sue Ruff – susanr@stic-cil.org
Alex Thompson - athompson@ilny.org
Health Care
Rural Health Network Serving South Central NY works to advance the health and well-being of rural people and communities through advocacy, education, food access, healthcare, transportation access, service planning through collaboration. Link is here https://rhnscny.org/
Mental Health Association of the Southern Tier provides programs and services to support individuals with mental health challenges, including peer support, wellness, and mobile crisis services. https://mhast.org/
Truth Pharm raises awareness, works on reducing stigma, and advocates for policy change to reduce the harm caused by substance use. https://truthpharm.org/
NYAIL Health Committee
Chair, Bruce Darling, Center for Disability Rights, link to this NYAIL page
https://ilny.us/advocacy/public-policy-committees
the alliance for rights and recovery – Health Care Stories (How We Want to be Treated) https://dredf.org/healthcare-stories/
The Alliance for Rights and Recovery is a statewide coalition of people dedicated to improving services, public policies, and social conditions for people living with mental health, substance use and trauma-related challenges. https://rightsandrecovery.org/
NY Caring Majority is a movement of seniors, people with disabilities, family caregivers, and domestic and home care workers from all across NYS. https://www.nycaringmajority.org/
Housing
NYAIL Housing Committee
https://ilny.us/advocacy/public-policy-committees
NYAIL Housing Comm.,Chair Phil Prehn, ARISE - pprehn@ariseinc.com
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Fair Housing Alliance
https://nationalfairhousing.org/
Transportation
GETTHERE works on assistance with ride sharing, connection to care, transportation planning and training. https://gettherescny.org/home
Broome County Transit - https://broomecountyny.gov/transit/
Binghamton Metropolitan Transportation Study - https://bmtsonline.com/
NYAIL Transportation Committee https://ilny.us/advocacy/public-policy-committees
Co-Chairs Cliff Perez – cperez@ilchv.org and Joseph Rappaport – jrappaport@bcid.org
Voices for Public Transit (National Advocacy Organization)
https://voicesforpublictransit.org/
Voting
League of Women Voters of Broome and Tioga Counties a non-partisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy; the local League is affiliated with League of Women Voters NYS and LWVUSA.
https://my.lwv.org/new-york/broome-and-tioga-counties
A new website for the LWVBTC is coming soon.
Finding your polling place or checking your registration - https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/
Register to Vote - https://www.ny.gov/services/register-vote
Process information - https://elections.ny.gov/voter-registration-process
Information about County Boards of Election
https://publicreporting.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoardRoster/CountyBoardRoster
Rev-Up is a site provided by AAPD that helps people register and learn about upcoming elections.
https://www.aapd.com/about-rev-up/