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HOW BAZELON LAW CENTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH RECEIVES 50k FOR IMMIGRANTS AND ACTION ALERT! (3295 hits)



For Immediate Release From Bazelon Law Center For Mental Health!


Bazelon Center Receives $50K Grant from Borealis Philanthropy Immigration Litigation Fund

In July, the Bazelon Center received a one year, $50,000 grant from the Borealis Philanthropy Immigration Litigation Fund (ILF)(https://borealisphilanthropy.org/grantmaking/immigration-legal-strategy-support-fund/). The ILF is a national funder collaborative whose goal is to ensure that the nation's immigration enforcement system is fair, humane and prioritizes the civil and human rights of those vulnerable to deportation. ILF believes that litigation is an essential tool in achieving public policy and social change on immigration issues. The ILF is a collaborative effort of the Ford Foundation, JPB Foundation, NoVo Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Reis Foundation, and Anonymous Donors. Our legal advocacy will have several stages with the long-term aim of placing immigrant children with mental health disabilities in integrated settings where they can thrive.

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Letter from ACLU, Bazelon Center, Disability Rights Maryland and NAACP-LDF Demands Urgent Action Following Baltimore Police Shooting of Ricky Walker Jr.

In an effort to put an end to tragic police shootings of Baltimore residents with disabilities who are all too often Black, especially after the shooting of Ricky Walker, Jr. by Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) officers, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law partnered with a coalition of civil rights groups to demand immediate action from Baltimore City officials. On July 20, the Bazelon Center, Disability Rights Maryland (https://disabilityrightsmd.org/, the ACLU of Maryland (https://www.aclu-md.org/), and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (https://www.naacpldf.org/) sent a letter to Baltimore's mayor, police commissioner, State's Attorney, and the CEO of Baltimore's behavioral health authority demanding that they take immediate action to prevent more tragedies like Mr. Walker's. The letter asks that Baltimore's 9-1-1 system dispatch non-law enforcement mobile crisis teams on calls responding to individuals in crisis, and that Baltimore expand and enhance its behavioral health system, including its crisis response system but also longer-term supports, including housing services.

Read the press release (PDF) here: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/... Read the letter (PDF) here: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/...

The Baltimore Sun highlighted the letter in the July 23, 2020 article, "Federal judge overseeing Baltimore Police consent decree says "defunding the police" is not an option."

Read the article here: https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/balt...

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Bazelon Center and Partners File Federal Complaints Challenging Crisis Standard of Care Plans in COVID-19 Hotspots Arizona and Texas

On July 23, a coalition of state and national disability and civil rights advocacy groups filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) challenging the crisis standard of care plans in Arizona and Texas, two states hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. These crisis plans are used to decide who receives life-saving treatment. Along with state partners, the national groups - the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, The Arc (https://thearc.org/), the Center for Public Representation (https://www.centerforpublicrep.org/), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (https://dredf.org/), the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (https://autisticadvocacy.org/), and Justice in Aging (https://www.justiceinaging.org/)- argue that the plans discriminate against people with disabilities, older adults, and people of color, placing these communities at risk of substantial and imminent harm-and the real risk of being denied basic and emergency treatment-during the pandemic.

Read the press release (PDF) here: https://www.justiceinaging.org/. Read the Arizona complaint (PDF) here. Read the Texas complaint (PDF) here: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/...

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Bazelon Center and Partners File Amicus Brief in SDNY Challenging "Public Charge" Rule

This week, the Bazelon Center and partners filed an amicus brief (www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Amicus-Brief-SDNY-public-charge-PI-decision-2-7-29-20.pdf) in a case in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York challenging the Trump Administration's "public charge" rule. The changes that this Administration made to the rule dramatically broaden the types of benefits that are counted against immigrants in deciding whether they are likely to become a "public charge" (meaning that they may be prevented from becoming a lawful permanent resident or from entering the country). Those benefits now include a wide array of government programs including Medicaid, housing assistance, and food assistance. Having a significant disability also counts against people in this determination. The amicus brief highlighted the rule's discriminatory impact on immigrants with disabilities. The court issued a nationwide injunction barring the rule from being implemented. The court cited the impact on people with disabilities as one of the bases for its decision. Read the amicus brief (PDF) here: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/...


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Bazelon Center and Partners File Federal Lawsuit against Alameda County for Its Failed Mental Health System

Yesterday, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, along with Disability Rights California (DRC)(https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (https://dredf.org/), and the Oakland-based law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (https://gbdhlegal.com/) filed a federal lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/July-30-2020-DRC-v-County-of-Alameda-CA-Complaint.pdf) against Alameda County and Alameda Health System. The lawsuit challenges the failure to provide people with mental health disabilities, especially Black people with disabilities, the services they need resulting in their needless segregation in psychiatric institutions and incarceration.

Read the press release (PDF) her: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/... . Read the complaint (PDF) here: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/...

A video providing an overview of the lawsuit, with personal stories of people who have faced institutionalization in Alameda County, is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESb5TY9XyL...

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ACTION ALERT! ACTION ALERT! ACTION ALERT! ACTION ALERT! ACTION ALERT!


Please contact your Senator and urge that the Senate include home and community-based services for people with disabilities in its COVID-19 relief package instead of weakening the ADA and other civil rights laws!

The COVID-19 relief package passed by the House (Please contact your Senator and urge that the Senate include home and community-based services for people with disabilities in its COVID-19 relief package instead of weakening the ADA and other civil rights laws!

The COVID-19 relief package passed by the House (https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/documents/Heroes%20Act%20Bill%20Text.pdf) included provisions to expand Medicaid-funded home and community-based services to enable people with disabilities to be discharged or diverted from institutional settings. Expanding these services is particularly critical right now, since more than 40% of the nation's deaths from COVID-19 are people served in congregate care settings including psychiatric hospitals.

Yet these services are not included in the Senate's current package https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/20... Tell your Senator to insist that they be in the package and that they include community-based mental health services. The House bill inadvertently left out most community mental health services.

Not only does the Senate's relief package fail to include the services needed to save the lives of people in congregate settings; it also includes sweeping provisions weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws by eliminating the right to enforce these laws under many circumstances when covered entities violate them.

For example, the Senate's bill would make it extremely difficult for many people with disabilities to get needed accommodations from their employers or from businesses, or to enforce their rights to ensure that institutions take appropriate steps to protect the people they serve from contracting COVID-19. Tell your Senator to insist that these "liability shields" be removed from the package and that the ADA not be weakened.

Find your Senator and his or her contact information here: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_inf...

Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 (voice) or 202-224-3091 (TTY) to be connected to your Senator's office.

We are also co-hosting a COVID-19 Disability Call-In Day tomorrow. See the details here!
) included provisions to expand Medicaid-funded home and community-based services to enable people with disabilities to be discharged or diverted from institutional settings. Expanding these services is particularly critical right now, since more than 40% of the nation's deaths from COVID-19 are people served in congregate care settings including psychiatric hospitals.

Yet these services are not included in the Senate's current package. Tell your Senator to insist that they be in the package and that they include community-based mental health services. The House bill inadvertently left out most community mental health services.

Not only does the Senate's relief package fail to include the services needed to save the lives of people in congregate settings; it also includes sweeping provisions weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws by eliminating the right to enforce these laws under many circumstances when covered entities violate them.

For example, the Senate's bill would make it extremely difficult for many people with disabilities to get needed accommodations from their employers or from businesses, or to enforce their rights to ensure that institutions take appropriate steps to protect the people they serve from contracting COVID-19. Tell your Senator to insist that these "liability shields" be removed from the package and that the ADA not be weakened.

Find your Senator and his or her contact information here.

Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 (voice) or 202-224-3091 (TTY) to be connected to your Senator's office.

We are also co-hosting a COVID-19 Disability Call-In Day tomorrow. See the details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/6866040188...
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Learn more at: http://www.bazelon.org/
Posted By: agnes levine
Monday, August 3rd 2020 at 1:37PM
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