Archive for » August 10th, 2012«

10 Aug 2012

New VA Mental Health Outpatient Clinic to Open in Reno

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug 10, 2012–To better serve the mental health needs of Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a new Mental Health Outpatient Clinic at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System in Reno, Nev. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for today.

“VA is continuing to elevate its service to our Veterans by becoming the twenty-first century standard of excellence in health care and focusing on Veteran-centric care, particularly in the critical area of mental health. I fully anticipate that this new mental health outpatient clinic in Reno will provide the world class care that our Veterans in Northern Nevada and Northern California deserve and have to come to expect,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.

This brand new, state-of-the art, 15,500 square foot facility is one of the first of its kind to be designed around the patient centric model that incorporates a natural, open healing environment with leveraged technological advances to make it more energy efficient. The facility offers 40 brand new clinical spaces for one-on-one counseling and three larger multi-purpose rooms to facilitate group therapy sessions. The building itself was designed to be open and flowing and less institutional, while utilizing natural light. As part of a “green” resource-management strategy, the building’s heating and ventilation system will automatically shut down when the facility is not occupied.

“This new building goes a long way toward improving access to care for our Nation’s heroes while enhancing Veteran-centered care and reducing the government’s carbon footprint,” said Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Robert A. Petzel.

This facility is part of VA’s overall mental health program. Last year, VA provided quality, specialty mental health services to 1.3 million Veterans. Since 2009, VA has increased the mental health care budget by 39 percent. Since 2007, VA has seen a 35 percent increase in the number of Veterans receiving mental health services, and a 41 percent increase in mental health staff.

In April, as part of an ongoing review of mental health operations, Secretary Shinseki announced VA would add approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff to help meet the increased demand for mental health services.

VA operates the Nation’s largest integrated health care system. With a health care budget of more than $50 billion, VA expects to provide care to 6.1 million patients during 920,000 hospitalizations and nearly 80 million outpatient visits this year. VA’s health care network includes 152 major medical centers and more than 800 community-based outpatient clinics.

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Office of Public Affairs

Media Relations

202-461-7600

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NEVADA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HEALTH HOSPITALS PUBLIC POLICY/GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE REFORM MENTAL HEALTH PUBLIC POLICY WHITE HOUSE/FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Copyright Business Wire 2012

PUB: 08/10/2012 01:33 PM/DISC: 08/10/2012 01:33 PM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120810005593/en


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10 Aug 2012

New VA Mental Health Outpatient Clinic to Open in Reno

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug 10, 2012–To better serve the mental health needs of Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a new Mental Health Outpatient Clinic at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System in Reno, Nev. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for today.

“VA is continuing to elevate its service to our Veterans by becoming the twenty-first century standard of excellence in health care and focusing on Veteran-centric care, particularly in the critical area of mental health. I fully anticipate that this new mental health outpatient clinic in Reno will provide the world class care that our Veterans in Northern Nevada and Northern California deserve and have to come to expect,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.

This brand new, state-of-the art, 15,500 square foot facility is one of the first of its kind to be designed around the patient centric model that incorporates a natural, open healing environment with leveraged technological advances to make it more energy efficient. The facility offers 40 brand new clinical spaces for one-on-one counseling and three larger multi-purpose rooms to facilitate group therapy sessions. The building itself was designed to be open and flowing and less institutional, while utilizing natural light. As part of a “green” resource-management strategy, the building’s heating and ventilation system will automatically shut down when the facility is not occupied.

“This new building goes a long way toward improving access to care for our Nation’s heroes while enhancing Veteran-centered care and reducing the government’s carbon footprint,” said Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Robert A. Petzel.

This facility is part of VA’s overall mental health program. Last year, VA provided quality, specialty mental health services to 1.3 million Veterans. Since 2009, VA has increased the mental health care budget by 39 percent. Since 2007, VA has seen a 35 percent increase in the number of Veterans receiving mental health services, and a 41 percent increase in mental health staff.

In April, as part of an ongoing review of mental health operations, Secretary Shinseki announced VA would add approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff to help meet the increased demand for mental health services.

VA operates the Nation’s largest integrated health care system. With a health care budget of more than $50 billion, VA expects to provide care to 6.1 million patients during 920,000 hospitalizations and nearly 80 million outpatient visits this year. VA’s health care network includes 152 major medical centers and more than 800 community-based outpatient clinics.

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Office of Public Affairs

Media Relations

202-461-7600

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NEVADA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HEALTH HOSPITALS PUBLIC POLICY/GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE REFORM MENTAL HEALTH PUBLIC POLICY WHITE HOUSE/FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Copyright Business Wire 2012

PUB: 08/10/2012 01:33 PM/DISC: 08/10/2012 01:33 PM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120810005593/en


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10 Aug 2012

Local donations to presidential campaigns


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The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has raised $1.25 million in contributions from local individuals, nearly twice as much as the $682,832 the Mitt Romney campaign has raised, according to data through June 30, compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.

These are contributions made directly to the presidential campaigns and do not include donations to other organizations that support the campaigns, such as political parties and super PACs. This report deals with contributions by people who report associations with ZIP codes in one of the four Almanac towns: Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley or Woodside.

There is an explanation for why the Romney campaign trails the Obama campaign by such a wide margin. Because Mr. Obama was running unopposed, donors to his campaign committee have been able to give the maximum ($2,500) for each election, both the primary and the general, a total of $5,000. That’s not true of Mr. Romney, who faced substantial opposition in the primaries. While he faced opposition, donors to his campaign committee could give only up to $2,500 for the primary election .

Mr. Obama’s campaign has received 148 local donations of $5,000 each, whereas Mr. Romney has received eight, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the source of data for this story.

The gap between the Obama and Romney campaigns narrows considerably when you look at only primary election donations and the individuals who gave the maximum $2,500 for the primary elections. In that case, Mr. Romney’s campaign raised about $493,000 from local individuals and Mr. Obama’s, $529,000.

Using this measure, the candidates are essentially tied in Portola Valley in terms of dollar donations, while in Woodside Mr. Obama is up by 14 percentage points, and in Menlo Park by 34 points. In Atherton, Mr. Romney leads by 20 points.

In addition to limits on donations to presidential campaigns, there are limits on contributions to a national party committee ($30,000 per calendar year) and to a state, district or local party committee ($10,000 per year), according to the Federal Election Commission. As for so-called super PACs, an individual may give an unlimited amount to advance a political point of view if the organization does not “coordinate” its efforts with a candidate or campaign.

Obama campaign
Following are local donors who have given at least $2,500 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics:

■ Portola Valley: Polly W. Bredt, Thomas H. Bredt, Lise J. Buyer, Gayle Collat, Laura Cornish, Dennis Debroeck Eileen Donahoe, John Donahoe, Donna L. Dubinsky, Anne S. Galli, Judith Hasko, Nancy Heinen, Jeffrey D. Jordan, Vinod Khosla, Gregory King, Karen King, Joseph C. Krauskopf, Steven Krausz, Chong-Moon Lee, Richard J. Lee, Joann Loulan, James McGeever, Armand Neukermans, Elaine Neukermans, Steve Newman, Dorothy Polash, Kathy Reavis, Elizabeth B. Ross, Nicole Rubin Diana Sunshine, Arlene B. Tenenbaum, Jay M. Tenenbaum, Lawrence Tesler, Leonie Walker.

■ Woodside: Roger J. Bamford, Andrew Bridges, Susan Z. Breyer, Victoria Burns Humphrey, Diane M. Chesler, Joy Covey, Laura H. Covington, John C. Dean Jr., John Doerr, John Doyle, Elizabeth C. Dressel, Cindy Goldberg, Evan Goldberg, Alan C. Herzig, Grant Huberty, Roberta Kameda, Deepak Kamra, David Klausner, Elizabeth Korman, Mitchell Lasky, Mary Ellen Lemieux, Ronald Lemieux, Shirley Ludwig, James E. Lyons, Laird McCulloch, Ann K. McNamee, Laura Nibbi, Yagyensh Pati, Lois Ann Porter, Caitlyn Symone Prather, Sally Rau, Erica J. Rogers, Dan Rosenweig, Eve Shaw, Nicole Sheehan, John Shoch, Robert E. Sims, Deborah Suppes, John Thompson, Sandra Thompson, Frank Van Veenendaal, Lisa Wan, Maurice Werdegar, Pegi Young.

■ Atherton: Fred Alvarez, Alan Austin, Vinod Bhardwaj, Jennifer Blakely, Jennifer Carrico, Bita Daryabari, Jorge Del Calvo, Caroline Donahue, Marilee Gardner, David Goldberg, John D. Goldman, Marcia L. Goldman, Noosheen Hashemi, Caitlin Heising, Mark Heising, Matthew Heising, David Henig, Manuel Henriquez, Felicia Horowitz, Lawrence Horowitz, Susan Hyatt, Ross Jaffe, Edward D. Johnson, David Keller, Chris M. Kelly, Steven Kleiman, Ross Koningstein, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Omid Kordestani, James M. Koshland, Jim Koshland, Patricia Kubal, Joan Lane, Gary Lauder, Laura Lauder, Gregory Loew, Giacomo Marini, Steve Markoulis Charles L. Marks, Steve McAdams, Beth McLellan Marjorie McMorris, Agnes Mendelson, Alan C. Mendelson, Dianne Morton, James Neupert John O’Farrell, Renuka Prasad, Geoff Ralston, Arvind P. Relan, Sheryl K. Sandberg, Komal Shah Elizabeth Simons, Patrisia Spezzaferro, Jim Stephens, John Suttle, Richard Thesing, Lida Urbanek, Arthur Wong, Brenda Woodson.

■ Menlo Park: Sheri Anderson, Clarence Andresen, Joseph S. Andresen, Jody Beecher, Eugene James Boyle, Jody Buckley, David C. Burke, Brook H. Byers, Andrea Corney, Lee Courtney, Lance Dixon, Melissa P. Draper, Timothy Draper, Judith Estrin, Robert Alan Eustace, Diane Frankle, Gregory M. Gallo, Penny Gallo, Venky Ganesan, Maria Gomes, Peter Gregory, Karen Grove, Stephen J. Harrick, Judy Heyboer, Bill Hinman Donna Ito, Cathryn Jenkins, Michael Jung, Scott Kaspick, Kathy Ann Kwan, Craig Lewis, Angela MacFarlane, Michael Malecek, Wendy Malecek, Bonnie Matlock, Beth Ellyn McClendon, Roderick McInerney, John McMurtry, Beverly Mitchell, Sally Morton, Brad O’Brien, Judy O’Brien, Carol Orton, Kay Pauling, Claire E. Perry, Joyce Pharriss, Shervin Pishevar, Andrew Rappaport, Heyward Robinson, Diane W. Savage, Catherine Selleck, Nancy B. Serrurier, Susan Termohlen, Immanuel Thangaraj, Stephen J. Venuto, Babette Vllasenor, Jeff Weiner, Steven Westly, Jason Wheeler, Jackie Wood, Eric Wright.

Romney campaign
Following are donors who have given at least $2,500 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics:

■ Portola Valley: Robert R. Allen Jr., Michael J. Boskin, Carter Boyce, James D. Boyce, Richard W. Boyce, Sandra Boyce, Travis Boyce, Laird Cagan, Douglas C. Carlisle, Andrew Chase, Jacquelyn S. Curtis, Mark T. Curtis, Jeff Epstein, Sue Epstein, William S. Floyd, Daniel Gilbert, Amy Gurley, John Gurley, Judith H. Hamilton, Kenneth L. Hirsch, Kurt Jaggers, Suzanne K. Jaggers, Denny Lanfear, Karen Lanfear, George McCown, John M. McGraw, Dorian McKelvy, Scott McNealy, Susan McNealy, Christopher J. Molumphy, Ralph A. Pica, G. Kirk Raab, Maryann Raab, Daniel Webb.

■ Woodside: Deborah E. Addicott, Betty Bialek, Fred Bialek, H. Raymond Bingham, Kristin Bingham, Lawrence Bowman, Jonathan Coslet, Frederick Degrosz, Kenneth Diekroeger, Oliver Evans, Mary E. Finlayson, Norris Finlayson, Kenneth Fisher, Sherrilyn Fisher, Rhodine Gifford, Emma Goltz, Frederick Goltz, John Hamilton, Fredric W. Harman, Stephanie C. Harman, Gregory J. Hartman, Bruce Isackson, Robert C. Kagle, Ann M. Livermore, Thomas H. Livermore, Armas C. Markkula, Linda Markkula, Marissa E. Matusich-Kagle, Matthew K. McCauley, Mary Meeker, Harold M. Messmer Jr., Daniel W. Morehead, Helen O’Neill, Gary Pinkus, Erik D. Ragatz, Kendra L.H. Ragatz, Jeanne Rosner, Larry Solomon, Barbara Sonsini, Larry Sonsini.

■ Atherton: Douglas C. Allred, Carol Bartz Bruce Basso, Peter Bell, Douglas Bergeron,Sandra Bergeron, Ivan J. Brockman, James Carrathers, Noreen N. Carrathers, John D. Carter, George W. Cogan, Bret E. Comolli, David Crawford, Brenden P. Cullen, John D. Diekman, Donald R. Dixon, Bruce Dunlevie, Barbara H. Edwards, Jennifer Fonstad, Stephen B Gaddis, Susan Gaddis, Lainie Garrick, Gary George, Michael L. Goguen, Kenneth Goldman, Linda Grais, Dr. Griffith R. Harsh IV, David A. Haynes, Stanley J. Hiller Jr., Jeffrey Housenbold, Ruth Housenbold, Bradford C. Koenig, Lauren Koenig, Pierre Lamond, Pierre R. Lamond, Steven A. Laub, William P. Laughlin, David Mark, Nancy H. Mark, Debra McLean, James McLean, Mervin G. Morris, Missy Morris, Robert O’Donnell ,Tom P. Palecek, Patricia Perkins-Leone, Vivek Ranadive, Christine Rogers, Jennifer Rogers, Jesse T. Rogers, Mindy Rogers, Mario Rosati, Laurie Shepard, Roderick Shepard, William C. Sonneborn, Catherine R. Spieker, Tod Spier, Barbara Stephenson, Thomas F. Stephenson, Mark A. Stevens, Mary V. Stevens, George Joseph Still Jr., Barbara Alison Walecka, John Walecka, Frank Walters, Alan Waxman, Mary J. Wheeler George, Margaret C. Whitman, David B. Wright, Arthur F. Zafiropoulo, Lisa Zafiropoulo, Delon Zinn, Ray Zinn.

■ Menlo Park: Katherine Herbert Alden, Jeff Bird, Mary Jo Brimhall, B. J. Cassin, Bebe Cassin, David Castagna, Karen Castagna, Jeff Chambers, Robert Dean, Timothy C. Draper, Victoria Huff Eckert, Diego Gilbert Fonstad, Saul Fox, Cassius L. Kirk Jr., John Knoll, Donald Lucas, Grant L. Malquist, David F. Marquardt, Lori Marquardt, George E. McCown, J. Sanford Miller, Amity Susan Millhiser, Ellen H. Moran, R. Matthew Moran, Sanjay Morey, Roslyn Morris, Greg Mrva, Marion Oster, Robert J. Oster, Stephen Peters, Carolee R. Petterson, Dale J. Petterson, Jeanette S. Ritchie, Jeffrey A. Rodgers, Doug Roeder, Bryan Taylor, Pyeatt Taylor, Alan R. Thompson, Jon A. Woodruff, Tiffany A. Woodruff, Geoff Yang.

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10 Aug 2012

Local donations to presidential campaigns


Bookmark and Share

The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has raised $1.25 million in contributions from local individuals, nearly twice as much as the $682,832 the Mitt Romney campaign has raised, according to data through June 30, compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.

These are contributions made directly to the presidential campaigns and do not include donations to other organizations that support the campaigns, such as political parties and super PACs. This report deals with contributions by people who report associations with ZIP codes in one of the four Almanac towns: Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley or Woodside.

There is an explanation for why the Romney campaign trails the Obama campaign by such a wide margin. Because Mr. Obama was running unopposed, donors to his campaign committee have been able to give the maximum ($2,500) for each election, both the primary and the general, a total of $5,000. That’s not true of Mr. Romney, who faced substantial opposition in the primaries. While he faced opposition, donors to his campaign committee could give only up to $2,500 for the primary election .

Mr. Obama’s campaign has received 148 local donations of $5,000 each, whereas Mr. Romney has received eight, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the source of data for this story.

The gap between the Obama and Romney campaigns narrows considerably when you look at only primary election donations and the individuals who gave the maximum $2,500 for the primary elections. In that case, Mr. Romney’s campaign raised about $493,000 from local individuals and Mr. Obama’s, $529,000.

Using this measure, the candidates are essentially tied in Portola Valley in terms of dollar donations, while in Woodside Mr. Obama is up by 14 percentage points, and in Menlo Park by 34 points. In Atherton, Mr. Romney leads by 20 points.

In addition to limits on donations to presidential campaigns, there are limits on contributions to a national party committee ($30,000 per calendar year) and to a state, district or local party committee ($10,000 per year), according to the Federal Election Commission. As for so-called super PACs, an individual may give an unlimited amount to advance a political point of view if the organization does not “coordinate” its efforts with a candidate or campaign.

Obama campaign
Following are local donors who have given at least $2,500 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics:

■ Portola Valley: Polly W. Bredt, Thomas H. Bredt, Lise J. Buyer, Gayle Collat, Laura Cornish, Dennis Debroeck Eileen Donahoe, John Donahoe, Donna L. Dubinsky, Anne S. Galli, Judith Hasko, Nancy Heinen, Jeffrey D. Jordan, Vinod Khosla, Gregory King, Karen King, Joseph C. Krauskopf, Steven Krausz, Chong-Moon Lee, Richard J. Lee, Joann Loulan, James McGeever, Armand Neukermans, Elaine Neukermans, Steve Newman, Dorothy Polash, Kathy Reavis, Elizabeth B. Ross, Nicole Rubin Diana Sunshine, Arlene B. Tenenbaum, Jay M. Tenenbaum, Lawrence Tesler, Leonie Walker.

■ Woodside: Roger J. Bamford, Andrew Bridges, Susan Z. Breyer, Victoria Burns Humphrey, Diane M. Chesler, Joy Covey, Laura H. Covington, John C. Dean Jr., John Doerr, John Doyle, Elizabeth C. Dressel, Cindy Goldberg, Evan Goldberg, Alan C. Herzig, Grant Huberty, Roberta Kameda, Deepak Kamra, David Klausner, Elizabeth Korman, Mitchell Lasky, Mary Ellen Lemieux, Ronald Lemieux, Shirley Ludwig, James E. Lyons, Laird McCulloch, Ann K. McNamee, Laura Nibbi, Yagyensh Pati, Lois Ann Porter, Caitlyn Symone Prather, Sally Rau, Erica J. Rogers, Dan Rosenweig, Eve Shaw, Nicole Sheehan, John Shoch, Robert E. Sims, Deborah Suppes, John Thompson, Sandra Thompson, Frank Van Veenendaal, Lisa Wan, Maurice Werdegar, Pegi Young.

■ Atherton: Fred Alvarez, Alan Austin, Vinod Bhardwaj, Jennifer Blakely, Jennifer Carrico, Bita Daryabari, Jorge Del Calvo, Caroline Donahue, Marilee Gardner, David Goldberg, John D. Goldman, Marcia L. Goldman, Noosheen Hashemi, Caitlin Heising, Mark Heising, Matthew Heising, David Henig, Manuel Henriquez, Felicia Horowitz, Lawrence Horowitz, Susan Hyatt, Ross Jaffe, Edward D. Johnson, David Keller, Chris M. Kelly, Steven Kleiman, Ross Koningstein, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Omid Kordestani, James M. Koshland, Jim Koshland, Patricia Kubal, Joan Lane, Gary Lauder, Laura Lauder, Gregory Loew, Giacomo Marini, Steve Markoulis Charles L. Marks, Steve McAdams, Beth McLellan Marjorie McMorris, Agnes Mendelson, Alan C. Mendelson, Dianne Morton, James Neupert John O’Farrell, Renuka Prasad, Geoff Ralston, Arvind P. Relan, Sheryl K. Sandberg, Komal Shah Elizabeth Simons, Patrisia Spezzaferro, Jim Stephens, John Suttle, Richard Thesing, Lida Urbanek, Arthur Wong, Brenda Woodson.

■ Menlo Park: Sheri Anderson, Clarence Andresen, Joseph S. Andresen, Jody Beecher, Eugene James Boyle, Jody Buckley, David C. Burke, Brook H. Byers, Andrea Corney, Lee Courtney, Lance Dixon, Melissa P. Draper, Timothy Draper, Judith Estrin, Robert Alan Eustace, Diane Frankle, Gregory M. Gallo, Penny Gallo, Venky Ganesan, Maria Gomes, Peter Gregory, Karen Grove, Stephen J. Harrick, Judy Heyboer, Bill Hinman Donna Ito, Cathryn Jenkins, Michael Jung, Scott Kaspick, Kathy Ann Kwan, Craig Lewis, Angela MacFarlane, Michael Malecek, Wendy Malecek, Bonnie Matlock, Beth Ellyn McClendon, Roderick McInerney, John McMurtry, Beverly Mitchell, Sally Morton, Brad O’Brien, Judy O’Brien, Carol Orton, Kay Pauling, Claire E. Perry, Joyce Pharriss, Shervin Pishevar, Andrew Rappaport, Heyward Robinson, Diane W. Savage, Catherine Selleck, Nancy B. Serrurier, Susan Termohlen, Immanuel Thangaraj, Stephen J. Venuto, Babette Vllasenor, Jeff Weiner, Steven Westly, Jason Wheeler, Jackie Wood, Eric Wright.

Romney campaign
Following are donors who have given at least $2,500 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics:

■ Portola Valley: Robert R. Allen Jr., Michael J. Boskin, Carter Boyce, James D. Boyce, Richard W. Boyce, Sandra Boyce, Travis Boyce, Laird Cagan, Douglas C. Carlisle, Andrew Chase, Jacquelyn S. Curtis, Mark T. Curtis, Jeff Epstein, Sue Epstein, William S. Floyd, Daniel Gilbert, Amy Gurley, John Gurley, Judith H. Hamilton, Kenneth L. Hirsch, Kurt Jaggers, Suzanne K. Jaggers, Denny Lanfear, Karen Lanfear, George McCown, John M. McGraw, Dorian McKelvy, Scott McNealy, Susan McNealy, Christopher J. Molumphy, Ralph A. Pica, G. Kirk Raab, Maryann Raab, Daniel Webb.

■ Woodside: Deborah E. Addicott, Betty Bialek, Fred Bialek, H. Raymond Bingham, Kristin Bingham, Lawrence Bowman, Jonathan Coslet, Frederick Degrosz, Kenneth Diekroeger, Oliver Evans, Mary E. Finlayson, Norris Finlayson, Kenneth Fisher, Sherrilyn Fisher, Rhodine Gifford, Emma Goltz, Frederick Goltz, John Hamilton, Fredric W. Harman, Stephanie C. Harman, Gregory J. Hartman, Bruce Isackson, Robert C. Kagle, Ann M. Livermore, Thomas H. Livermore, Armas C. Markkula, Linda Markkula, Marissa E. Matusich-Kagle, Matthew K. McCauley, Mary Meeker, Harold M. Messmer Jr., Daniel W. Morehead, Helen O’Neill, Gary Pinkus, Erik D. Ragatz, Kendra L.H. Ragatz, Jeanne Rosner, Larry Solomon, Barbara Sonsini, Larry Sonsini.

■ Atherton: Douglas C. Allred, Carol Bartz Bruce Basso, Peter Bell, Douglas Bergeron,Sandra Bergeron, Ivan J. Brockman, James Carrathers, Noreen N. Carrathers, John D. Carter, George W. Cogan, Bret E. Comolli, David Crawford, Brenden P. Cullen, John D. Diekman, Donald R. Dixon, Bruce Dunlevie, Barbara H. Edwards, Jennifer Fonstad, Stephen B Gaddis, Susan Gaddis, Lainie Garrick, Gary George, Michael L. Goguen, Kenneth Goldman, Linda Grais, Dr. Griffith R. Harsh IV, David A. Haynes, Stanley J. Hiller Jr., Jeffrey Housenbold, Ruth Housenbold, Bradford C. Koenig, Lauren Koenig, Pierre Lamond, Pierre R. Lamond, Steven A. Laub, William P. Laughlin, David Mark, Nancy H. Mark, Debra McLean, James McLean, Mervin G. Morris, Missy Morris, Robert O’Donnell ,Tom P. Palecek, Patricia Perkins-Leone, Vivek Ranadive, Christine Rogers, Jennifer Rogers, Jesse T. Rogers, Mindy Rogers, Mario Rosati, Laurie Shepard, Roderick Shepard, William C. Sonneborn, Catherine R. Spieker, Tod Spier, Barbara Stephenson, Thomas F. Stephenson, Mark A. Stevens, Mary V. Stevens, George Joseph Still Jr., Barbara Alison Walecka, John Walecka, Frank Walters, Alan Waxman, Mary J. Wheeler George, Margaret C. Whitman, David B. Wright, Arthur F. Zafiropoulo, Lisa Zafiropoulo, Delon Zinn, Ray Zinn.

■ Menlo Park: Katherine Herbert Alden, Jeff Bird, Mary Jo Brimhall, B. J. Cassin, Bebe Cassin, David Castagna, Karen Castagna, Jeff Chambers, Robert Dean, Timothy C. Draper, Victoria Huff Eckert, Diego Gilbert Fonstad, Saul Fox, Cassius L. Kirk Jr., John Knoll, Donald Lucas, Grant L. Malquist, David F. Marquardt, Lori Marquardt, George E. McCown, J. Sanford Miller, Amity Susan Millhiser, Ellen H. Moran, R. Matthew Moran, Sanjay Morey, Roslyn Morris, Greg Mrva, Marion Oster, Robert J. Oster, Stephen Peters, Carolee R. Petterson, Dale J. Petterson, Jeanette S. Ritchie, Jeffrey A. Rodgers, Doug Roeder, Bryan Taylor, Pyeatt Taylor, Alan R. Thompson, Jon A. Woodruff, Tiffany A. Woodruff, Geoff Yang.

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10 Aug 2012

Charities Helping Struggling States Make Welfare Payments: GAO

Faced with tight budgets and needy residents, state governments are increasingly turning to third parties like charities to keep their funding commitments to welfare programs.

The number of states that turned to nonprofits and other third parties for help maintaining welfare funding increased to 13 states in 2011 from 3 states in 2007, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last month (h/t the Examiner). And more states are expected to exercise the option in the future; 17 states said they will probably tap charities for welfare funds, the report found.

The GAO’s findings are just another indication of the toll the down economy takes on state and local governments. Municipal governments are facing such financial woes that they could be forced to cut social services, according to a report last month from the State Budget Crisis Task Force. New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch, one of the organizers of the task force, told The Huffington Post last month that he was concerned states’ dire straits threatens “the social order.”

At the same time, the number of Americans turning to government assistance for help has increased. The number of Americans using food stamps had grown more than 40 percent over the past three years as of February 2012, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The GAO study found that food assistance was the most common reason states asked charities for help, but some also tapped nonprofits for aid paying for medical care, employment assistance and other services.

The welfare partnership isn’t the only way in which private groups are helping states. New Jersey officials announced plans to use a grant from a nonprofit to help turn around the state’s struggling schools, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, officials are projecting that the city will receive more than $2 million in voluntary contributions from nonprofits, according to the Scranton Times Tribune.

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10 Aug 2012

Charities Helping Struggling States Make Welfare Payments: GAO

Faced with tight budgets and needy residents, state governments are increasingly turning to third parties like charities to keep their funding commitments to welfare programs.

The number of states that turned to nonprofits and other third parties for help maintaining welfare funding increased to 13 states in 2011 from 3 states in 2007, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last month (h/t the Examiner). And more states are expected to exercise the option in the future; 17 states said they will probably tap charities for welfare funds, the report found.

The GAO’s findings are just another indication of the toll the down economy takes on state and local governments. Municipal governments are facing such financial woes that they could be forced to cut social services, according to a report last month from the State Budget Crisis Task Force. New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch, one of the organizers of the task force, told The Huffington Post last month that he was concerned states’ dire straits threatens “the social order.”

At the same time, the number of Americans turning to government assistance for help has increased. The number of Americans using food stamps had grown more than 40 percent over the past three years as of February 2012, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The GAO study found that food assistance was the most common reason states asked charities for help, but some also tapped nonprofits for aid paying for medical care, employment assistance and other services.

The welfare partnership isn’t the only way in which private groups are helping states. New Jersey officials announced plans to use a grant from a nonprofit to help turn around the state’s struggling schools, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, officials are projecting that the city will receive more than $2 million in voluntary contributions from nonprofits, according to the Scranton Times Tribune.

Also on HuffPost:


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10 Aug 2012

Crusaders ball auctioned for mental health charity

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10 Aug 2012

Crusaders ball auctioned for mental health charity

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10 Aug 2012

Mental health system braces for cuts

The already fragile spectrum of mental
health services in Watauga County is about to get another shock to the system.

In a community forum Tuesday in Boone, leaders of
Smoky Mountain Center outlined how they plan to manage more than $3.5 million in state and local
funding cuts this year across their 15 counties.

More than 50 people, including service providers, consumers and their family
members, and local government representatives, crowded into the space to learn more about the
unsettling outlook.

“This year is a bad
year. It is a very bad year, and you’re going to hear me say that over and over
tonight,” Smoky Mountain Center CEO Brian Ingraham said. “Regardless of that, we have
to do the best job of figuring out how to manage that money.”

Smoky Mountain Center is the local management entity for parts of western
and central North Carolina. LMEs are responsible for coordinating and managing mental health
services, and they establish contracts with providers who offer services for substance abuse,
mental health problems and people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Across its service area, Smoky Mountain Center was
dealt state cuts to several pots of funding, according to chief financial officer Lisa
Slusher:

— $974,070 from its substance
abuse block grant

— $1.67 million from its single-stream funding,
which can be used for any age, disability or service

— $783,979
from its social services block grant, which provides for child mental health services and adult
and child intellectual/developmental disabilities

— $48,000 for its
drug treatment court in the northern region, which includes Watauga County

It also will operate with $113,574 less from
county contributions.

Only one of those cuts
— the single-stream funding — was considered a “one-time” cut. Ironically,
that “one-time” cut also occurred last fiscal year, Slusher said.

Part of what makes this year’s cut painful is
that Smoky Mountain Center spent about $2.308 million from its fund balance to buffer major cuts
last year, Slusher said.

To tackle the cuts,
Smoky Mountain Center will be eliminating some programs, reducing others or ceasing planned
expansions, Ingraham said. The organization also looked to consolidate similar services and find
any instances in which Medicaid money could replace lost state funds.

Watauga and several surrounding counties are not
strangers to upheaval in mental health services, a fact that wasn’t lost on Smoky Mountain
Center.

“We have to be very, very
careful about making any changes in an environment that by its nature is very, very
fragile,” Ingraham said.

The collapse
last fall of New River Behavioral HealthCare, a major provider in the area for more than four
decades, destabilized the entire area, said Billy West, CEO of Daymark Recovery Services, which
took on many of New River’s former duties.

From the start, Daymark had to make major cuts and service reductions — a
fact that will help it “hold the line” for these new cuts, West said.

Instead, the funding reductions will mean that
Daymark cannot expand, keeping its services very thin, he said.

“I would say, you’re not going to see a retraction right now in
services or staff, (but) it’s not nearly where it needs to be,” West said.

But in other facets, particularly vocational
services for adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities, the overall cuts from Smoky
Mountain Center will likely be around 20 percent, said Michael Maybee, director of Watauga
Opportunities.

Maybee said he has not yet been
provided exact figures, so it’s not clear how Watauga Opportunities will have to cut
services.

“I will try my darnedest to
find a way to work it so people don’t have to go home,” he said.

Maybee said part of problem was an accidental
“double cut” from the social services block grant. Legislators planned to transfer
$4.3 million statewide from mental health to the Department of Social Services for guardianship
services, but that transfer happened twice, he said.

The problem wasn’t noticed until the very end of the legislative session,
and it slipped into the budget anyway, he said.

Maybee said he’s cautiously optimistic that that change can be reversed,
as several at the state level have said it was not their intent.

“The question is, how do you fix it now that it’s law?” he
said.

Several who attended Tuesday’s
forum said the key would be contacting state legislators and asking them to respond to the
problems, particularly regarding that social services block grant.

Some expressed interest in traveling to Raleigh on Tuesday to address a
legislative oversight committee on mental health when it discusses the topic.

Ingraham said Smoky Mountain Center has contacted
every stakeholder it could at the state level to get them to hear its needs.

“It’s not what we want to do. It’s
not good for people,” he said. “We do it in the best way we can to try to minimize
the impact, knowing there will be impact. It’s the reality that we have to be responsible
for creating.”

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10 Aug 2012

Bangladesh seeks donations to build graft-tainted bridge

Bangladesh’s government is seeking donations from its citizens to build a $3-billion bridge over the Padma river after the World Bank cancelled a loan deal for the project, citing graft allegations.

Bangladesh Bank ordered all state-owned and private commercial banks to open “collection accounts” in their branches to receive donations from resident and expatriate Bangladeshis, the central bank said in a circular late on Wednesday.

The central bank said it issued the order on behalf of the finance ministry.

The donations will be free of any service charge and will be deposited in the state treasury at the end of every month, the central bank added.

The finance ministry said the government took the decision after “continued interest and enthusiasm among the people to participate in the construction of the Padma Bridge”.

The World Bank cancelled its $1.2-billion finance package for the bridge, saying the government had not cooperated in investigating “high-level” corruption at the heart of the project.

Other donors also halted their loans after the World Bank made its decision.

The cancellation embarrassed Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the 6.2-kilometre (3.8-mile) bridge was one of her key election pledges.

The bridge, designed to carry a highway and railway line, is aimed at transforming the lives of 40 million people in the country’s impoverished south, including Hasina’s home district.

Traffic is currently transported across the Padma river — the local name for the Ganges — by slow ferries.

The World Bank recently said it was “technically possible” to reinstate the loan, but only if its demands were fully met to investigate and remove tainted officials.



This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire.

Original article © Agence France Presse 2012


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