Emily F. Keller: Journalist

Gov. Cuomo Questions Nonprofits on Executive Pay

    Governor Andrew Cuomo has formed a task force to seek data from nonprofits on the compensation they provide to executives and board members.

    The Governor’s Task Force on Not-For-Profit Entities is requesting information on executive pay, the reasons the organizations consider themselves nonprofits and whether the boards believe that any of the executive compensation should be recouped.

    Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, is the chair of the task force. “Our task force is conducting a top-to-bottom review, not only to audit current compensation levels, but also make recommendations for future rules to ensure taxpayer dollars are used to serve and support the people of this state, not pay for excessive salaries and compensation,” Lawsky wrote in a letter to nonprofits dated August 25.

Care Organization Replaces CEO Amidst Controversy

    A longtime leader of the Young Adult Institute (YAI) Network serving people with developmental disabilities has left the organization for reasons that remain unclear.

    Dr. Philip Levy had worked at YAI for forty years. He became president in 1999 and chief executive officer (CEO) in July 2009, taking the place of his brother Joel Levy who retired as CEO the month before and stayed on as a consultant.

U.S. Airways Refuses to Fly Wheelchair User

    Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker and author who uses a wheelchair, was refused a flight on US Airways on the way to an event celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

    The incident occurred September 23 at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, where he was leaving for a trip to a conference on self advocacy. 

    Tuitel, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan said an airline employee told him he was “too disabled to fly without someone with him.” Tuitel has cerebral palsy.  A flight attendant had helped him transfer to a chair specially fitted for flight prior to an employee telling him to leave the plane.

    Tuitel, 47, was on his way to Kansas City, Missouri to speak at the 2010 National Self Advocacy Conference. The theme for this year’s event was “Jazz It Up: Celebrating 20 Years of Self Advocates Being Empowered” in commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the ADA. Tuitel missed the event.

    Click here to read the full story on Transportation Access.

Guide Dog Foundation Provides Classes and Assistance

    The Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities has a guide dog whose name holds special significance to the city’s history, and whose training organization has earned international recognition.

    “The name is Downey and he is ironically named after a great NYC FDNY chief who died in 9/11,” explains Sapolin.

Disabilities Network Becomes Volunteer Organization

    The Disabilities Network of New York City, an advocacy organization headed by Lawrence Carter-Long, will be changing due to economic constraints.

    A coalition of disability organizations, DNNYC reverted to the volunteer organization it was at its inception due to the loss of funding from the Fund for the City of New York that precipitated Carter-Long's departure. The network had been funded and supported by United Way and other contributors in the past.

     Click here to read the full story that was published in Able News.

Amputee Organizations Mobilize for Haitians

    National and international organizations that work with amputees are extending their efforts to people in Haiti who were injured in the devastating January earthquake.

    The nonprofit Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) in Tennessee developed a Haiti Relief Action Center (HRAC) to provide information on the relief effort to people who want to help amputees. The organization is raising funds with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to translate limb-loss information such as wound care advice into Creole.

    This article was published in Able News. Click here to read the full article.

Volunteers Build Low-Income Housing

    The Sammamish City Council is requiring 10 percent of the housing units built as part of the 243-acre Town Center project to be available to people with low incomes, which opens the door for the construction of up to 200 affordable units. One of the city’s potential partners in that effort is the East King County branch of the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity homes are available to people making less than 50 percent of the median income, which equates to less than $40,000 per year for a family of four in East King County.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

    Read a related story.

Climbers Raise Money for Breast Cancer Research

    To prepare for her second climb up Mount Rainier, Melinda Gage carried her 17-month old son, Marko Gage-Fugate, up Tiger Mountain in Issaquah.

    “Really the best thing is to put weight in a pack and head uphill,” the Sammamish resident said. Gage was in training for the annual Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, which requires participants to carry backpacks weighing 30-40 pounds. The packs held climbers’ food and water, boot spikes called crampons, ice axes, sleeping bags and down jackets for the summit.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Habitat for Humanity Has its Eye on Sammamish

  

  Governing a city with a median income that is more than double that of Washington State has its downside; creating affordable housing so people who work in Sammamish can live here too is a difficult challenge. But living in Sammamish could get a little easier with the development of Town Center, a 243-acre project that is in the planning stages. A City Council mandate means there could be as many as 200 affordable units in Town Center. They will also offer incentives that may double that number.

    One of the city’s potential partners in that effort is Habitat for Humanity, an international non-profit organization with a chapter serving East King County.

    Tom Granger (pictured), executive director for the Eastside chapter, spoke to the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce July 17 about the importance of building housing units for people with low-incomes in Sammamish.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

    Read a related story.

Sammamish Girl’s Art Gives Back to Children’s Hospital

    Nine-year-old Nicki Wehrs likes to paint rabbits and rainbows, play soccer and go swimming, like many children her age. But Nicki, who lives in Sahelee, has to endure more than most children to stay healthy enough to do those things.

    Since she was diagnosed with a chronic bleeding disorder in 2002 called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Nicki has become a patient at the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, where she travels for intravenous therapy treatments every 6-8 weeks.

    Although her family is well insured, Nicki and her father, Ray Wehrs, are working to raise money for uninsured children who also need the hospital’s services.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.