Imagine! Leadership Development Group Update

The latest update from Imagine!’s Leadership Development Group (LDG), submitted by LDG member Jen McIntyre. 

Imagine!’s Leadership Development Group has been busy this past month attending the Foundation Board Meeting, the Board of Directors Meeting, and the Executive Team Meeting. Additionally we all recently attend the Colorado State Joint Budget Committee (JBC) briefing held on December 5, 2017 down in Denver.

The JBC is comprised of three Senators and three Representatives and their duty is to study the “management, operations, programs, and fiscal needs of the agencies and institutions of Colorado state government.” Our LDG members attended the Briefing on the Department of Human Services, Services for People with Disabilities, and the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, Office of Community Living. By attending this meeting and the Board of Directors Meeting, we were able to learn about the process of how the State of Colorado determines their budget which effects the individuals receiving services through Imagine!. The Governor of the State of Colorado presents his proposed budget to the JBC at the beginning of November. The budget is based upon the Governors priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Soon after, the JBC holds briefings where a JBC staff presents oral and written information to the JBC members and community representatives. The information presented is meant to formulate questions and discussions for each department in an effort to justify how funding is allocated. The briefing the LDG members attended was led by Robin Smart, JBC Staffer. She discussed such issues as the IDD system policy, the CHRP (Children’s Habilitative Residential Program) transfer from DHS (Department of Human Services) to HCPF (Health Care Policy and Financing), cost of living and case load adjustments and compensation adjustments for direct care positions, just to name a few.

Following these Briefings there will be JBC hearings held down in Denver. At these hearings, the different departments will have an opportunity to answer questions about their requests for funding, provide justification for requests and stir up discussion with the JBC members. The JBC members then make their formal proposal for how the funds should be allocated to different departments for the state of Colorado. It has been quite a learning experience for all of us to view and be a part of this process, which affects us all in ways we had not contemplated previously. We look forward to attending these upcoming meetings and learning more about the JBC process.