Independent Perspective #1630

Guest:  Todd Vaarwerk

Topic:  Virtual Legislative Education Week

Duration:  05:31

Published:  January 28, 2021

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today is Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of Western New York Independent Living, and I’m your host, Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Todd.

Guest:  Always good to be here.

Host:  And as always, it’s our pleasure to have you because you are our man in the know for all things political. In any case, we’re coming up on February soon, and that is always legislative budget season in New York State. In years past, that has meant recruiting a bus-full of volunteers to go down and plead our case to our legislators, but Covid has changed all that; there’s no in-person visits in Albany anymore so you have worked out another way to do this. Can you tell us about the Virtual Legislative Education Week?

Guest:  Well, you're absolutely right, the Legislative OGS Building is closed to the public, as are all the Capital Office Buildings, they’re are closed to the public and not the workers. So, there is no in person visit this year, no getting on the bus, and doing the overnight, and doing all that farther out. We are going to do a Virtual Legislative Education Day. The one major thing that's changed about that is that it's actually going to be an Awareness Week because they want to give us an entire week to schedule virtual meetings with our legislators. So that week is February 8th to the 13th, that’s Monday to Friday, and it's going to start on the 8th at 9:00 a.m. in the morning with a virtual rally, like we normally would do in Albany at The WELL. So, all this stuff is going to be done by Zoom. The really important thing that we want folks to remember is that these virtual meetings are just as important as the meetings where we would travel to Albany are, because this is our opportunity to tell our elected officials what’s important to us in terms of the budget and policy priorities that they are deciding on. So, if you've got an interest in talking about public transportation, I want to hear from you. I might want you to be on the meeting with Tim Kennedy, who's the chair of the Senate transportation committee. If you have an interest in libraries, our newest state senator Sean Ryan is the new head of the committee on libraries. So, there are plenty of ways that you can participate virtually in meeting with legislators and talking to them about what's important to people with disabilities. How do you do this you ask, because I know that's going to be your next question, right Ernie? It's really simple, all you have to do is call up Jillian at our Community Engagement department at extension 146 and tell her you want to participate. She's going to ask for your name, she's going to ask for your phone number, she's going to ask for your email address so that we can send you all the information you need to participate in these meetings.

Host:  And in just a moment you’ll give what phone number people will find extension 146 at.

Guest:  Absolutely, they would find that at 716-836-0822 ext. 146. If you have questions about a particular policy or how this is going to work, they can always call my office. That's the same number 716-836-0822, my extension is 101. But you could also email us to tell us that you want to participate and the best way to do that is to email jmoss@wnyil.org

Host:  We should probably mention that it is not just the voices of people connected with Independent Living in Western New York that are going to be heard there, it’s people from all over the Empire State thanks to us being under the umbrella of the NYAIL.

Guest:  The New York Association on Independent Living, yes, absolutely. This week isn't just being done by us locally, this week is being done statewide by all of the Independent Living Centers. But anybody who's gone to any of our Albany trips, anybody who's heard me talk on this program knows that the consumer stories are the critical part of what makes those meetings so important. So, without you to be there with me at the meetings, the power is diminished.

Host:  If you could just mention sign in phone numbers once more because we’ve got to get out of here.

Guest:  It's 836-0822 extension 146 or sending an email to jmoss@wnyil.org

Host:  Thanks for being with us, Todd.

Guest:  Always a pleasure.

Host:  You’ve been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today was Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of Western New York Independent Living, and I’ve been your host, Ernie Churchwell.