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- CDHS has been awarded a System of Care Implementation Grant from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SAMHSA and will receive up to one million dollars per year, for four years, to improve and integrate services and supports for children with serious behavioral health challenges and their families across the state. Colorado will...focus on children with serious behavioral health issues from ages birth through 21, who are in, or at imminent risk of, out of home placement.See More
Eight communities were chosen during the planning process to assist the state by developing their own local system of care plans, including: Arapahoe County, Chaffee County, El Paso County, Larimer County, Montrose County, Eagle County, Weld County, and the San Luis Valley. - RecommendationsSee All
- Algernon MoncriefPROOF THAT COLORADO’S GOVERNMENT LIES: COLORADO PERA’S ATTEMPT TO TAKE CONTRACTED RETIREE BENEFITS. When I was young I held the belief that public service in the United States is honorable, that the United States of America was exceptional in the world, that governments in the United States, while flawed, deserved the respect of citizens. Now that I am old, I see that I was naive . . . that governmental entities in the United States will intentionally deceive to achieve their goals, and that over two centuries our soldiers have died for a country that will countenance, and even celebrate, base behavior on the part of its public sector instrumentalities. It saddens me, but if this state of affairs persists in the United States . . . Honor is dead. Some background . . . You may know that an entity of Colorado state government, Colorado PERA, is attempting to breach its public pension contracts with its retirees. Colorado PERA is attempting a retroactive taking, a “clawback” of accrued, fully-vested pension benefits that were earned by retired PERA members over decades. Colorado PERA public pension benefits include a “base benefit” that is set at retirement and a “COLA benefit” that adjusts pensions annually to compensate for inflation. The “base benefit” and the “COLA benefit” are set forth in Colorado statutes with identical force of law and legal status. In its attempt to breach retiree contracts Colorado PERA has created a contrivance. The contrivance that Colorado PERA is using is that somehow the “base benefit” is a contractual obligation, but the “COLA benefit” is not a contractual obligation, in spite of the fact that both pension benefits are set forth in law in an identical manner. What this boils down to is attempted, unabashed, theft by government. Whether or not Colorado PERA’s attempt to take fully-vested public pension benefits from PERA retirees is ultimately successful in the courts, one fact has been incontrovertibly established . . . Colorado PERA, as an instrumentality of the State of Colorado, is an organization that will lie to achieve its policy goals. This is a sad fact for the many employees of Colorado PERA, for the trustees that have served on the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees over 80 years, and for the thousands of PERA members and retirees. And now, the proof of the deceit . . . Colorado PERA has told us, in writing, that the PERA COLA benefit IS a contractual obligation of PERA . . . and then, after initiating their attempt to breach contracts, Colorado PERA has told us, in writing, that the PERA COLA benefit IS NOT a contractual obligation of PERA. Both of these statements cannot be true. Colorado PERA in a written document, to the Colorado General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee on December 16, 2009 states that the PERA COLA benefit IS a contractual obligation of PERA: “The General Assembly cannot decrease the COLA (absent actuarial necessity) because it is part of the contractual obligations that accrue under a pension plan protected under the Colorado Constitution Article II, Section 11 and the United States Constitution Article 1, Section 10 for vested contractual rights.” Link: http://www.kentlambert.com/Files/PERA_JBC_Hearing_Responses-12-16-2009_Final.pdf Colorado PERA on page 23 of its May 6, 2011 “Reply Brief” in the pension case Justus v. State states that the PERA COLA benefit IS NOT a contractual obligation of PERA: “Plaintiffs seek to create a contract right that has never existed—an unchangeable COLA for life triggered (inconsistently) by either the date of their retirement or ‘full vesting.’” Link: http://saveperacola.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/2011-05-06-pera-defendants_-reply-in-support-of-summary-judgment.pdf That is simply unbelievable. In one document PERA writes "the contract right has never existed." In the other they write that the COLA benefit is a contractual obligation protected under the Colorado and US constitutions. When PERA writes that they need "actuarial necessity" to take the COLA benefit, they are not denying that it is a contractual obligation, in fact, it is an admission of the contractual nature of the COLA benefit. For further information regarding Colorado PERA’s attempt to take fully-vested pension benefits from retirees visit saveperacola.com or Friend Save Pera Cola on Facebook.about 3 months ago
- Cheaney BrendaAll citizens of Colorado can benefit here....about 9 months ago
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- Colorado Coalition Against Domestic ViolenceNon-Profit Organization
- The Joint CommissionNon-Profit Organization
- Montrose CountyGovernment Organization
- The ARC of ColoradoDisabled Persons Services · Disability Services
- The Colorado Combined Campaign has kicked off at CDHS. Director Bicha speaks about the campaign in this video.
http://youtu.be/5dEAKW21WWo - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers information about Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence Awareness Month begins October 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/IntimatePartnerViolence/ - CDHS is creating the Office of Early Childhood to streamline the early childhood services to help ensure all children are healthy, valued, and thriving.
CDHS is seeking seasoned executive level managers to lead and develop two new Divisio...ns in this new Office; Director for the Division of Early Care and Learning and a Director for the Division of Community and Family Services.See More
Find announcements for both positions at http://tinyurl.com/Dir-EarlyCare-Learning and http://tinyurl.com/Dir-Community-FamilyServices - The CDHS Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo has received full accreditation from the The Joint Commission. This notable achievement started June 30, 2012. Congratulations!
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