The Blog

PCIL Broadcast – “Age Out Angels”!

i Aug 20th No Comments by

Lottery Placement for Housing Vouchers Announcement

i Jun 18th No Comments by

The Hunterdon County Division of Housing is holding a lottery for placement on the Hunterdon County Division of Housing’s Housing Choice Voucher waiting list.

Click here for PDFS:

01 Important Notice – English- 2018

02 Important Notice  Spanish  2018

02 Spanish Important Notice2018 01 Important Notice

 

Get Help Paying Rent or Utility Bills!

i May 23rd No Comments by

If you are facing eviction or having your power shut off contact 609-393-6480, assistance MAY be available.

 

Rent Assistance Flyer utility assistance flyer

Free Tax Prep Help

i Feb 12th No Comments by

FREE PROFESSIONALLY

PREPARED TAX RETURNS

ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS

Arm in Arm: 121 East Hanover St., Trenton

Walk-Ins, Fri — 9am-3pm Opens 2/2/18

Boys & Girls Club: 1040 Spruce Street, Lawrence

Walk-Ins, Wed — 8:30am-1pm, Sat — 1pm-4pm Opens 2/3/18

Boys & Girls Club: 212 Centre Street, Trenton

Walk-Ins, Mon & Tue — 9am-2pm, No taxes 2/19 Opens 2/5/18

Catholic Charities: 39 North Clinton Ave., Trenton

Walk-Ins, Tue & Thu — 2pm-6pm Opens 2/6/18

Catholic Charities – El Centro: 327 S. Broad Street, Trenton *

By Appointment, Wed — 10am-2pm, 609-394-2056 Opens 2/7/18

Hamilton Public Library — No Phone Calls

1 Justice Samuel A. Alito Way, Hamilton

Walk-Ins, Wed & Thu — 9am-12pm Opens 2/7/18

HomeFront: 1880 Princeton Ave. #3, Lawrence

By Appointment, Wed — 1pm-4pm, 609-989-9417 Opens 2/7/18

Latin American Legal Defense & Education Fund *

669 Chambers Street, Suite B, Trenton

Walk-Ins, Tue — 10am-2pm Opens 2/6/18

By Appointment, Sat — 10am-1pm, 609-688-0881

Walk-In & Appointments, No Taxes 2/19

Call 2-1-1 or Call 609-896-1912

Mon – 3pm-7pm,

Thurs – 3pm-8pm

Opens 2/5/18

UNITED WAY OF GREATER MERCER COUNTY

3150 Brunswick Pike, Crossroads Corporate Center

2nd Floor, Ste 230, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

*Next to Motor Vehicle Inspection Station

* español

@uwgreatermercer

uwgmc.org

facebook.com/uwgmc

For households making less than $65,000

Freetaxprep-Eng

Urgent: Save the ADA!

i Feb 7th No Comments by

House will vote NEXT WEEK on H.R.620

Thirty Years of Holding It Is Long Enough—
Why Disabled Americans Oppose H.R.620 (and You Should,Too)

The House of Representatives will vote the week of Feb. 12 on H.R.620. We need your help to stop it!

Big business is trying to bamboozle the House and the American public into an unnecessary law misleadingly titled the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017” (H.R.620) that would make it even harder for disabled Americans who have been “holding it,” waiting to use the same restrooms, shop at the same department stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends and family members, for almost 30 years!

They say the law is needed to help local “mom and pop” shops, while behind the scenes, powerful trade associations for wealthy corporations—everything from multinational hotel chains to big box stores and corporate coffee shops—are pulling the strings in an effort to gain support for regressive rollbacks to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). This opens the door to not only dismantling the ADA, but other civil rights laws as well.

Please contact your House Representative (and others from your state) and encourage them to stay strong in their opposition to H.R.620 and any “notice and cure” bill, as a rollback of civil rights. SAVE THE ADA!

  • Go to Contacting Congress using your zip code to find out how to reach your House representative via e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter, fax, etc.
  • Call your Representative using the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. They will help you find your Representative’s name, and switch you to their office. If you know your Representative’s name, you can use the House of Representatives phone list.

Sample Script:

“Hello, my name is [your name]. I’m a constituent from [your state], zip code [your zip code]. I am opposed to H.R. 620 and any change to the equal access protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I strongly encourage Representative [add last name] to oppose any reform efforts. Thank you.”

Reasons To Oppose H.R.620:

  • H.R. 620 would weaken the civil rights of people with disabilities, making it harder for us to use the same restrooms, shop at the same department stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends, family members, and peers.
  • Disability rights are civil rights. The ADA is a civil rights law. H.R. 620 would not only rollback important parts of the ADA, it would pose risks for other civil rights laws as well (such as Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars public accommodations such as hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues from discriminating based on race; Title III of the ADA was based on this law).
  • H.R. 620 would not solve the problems its supporters are claiming it would fix. It would not stop fraudulent lawsuits. State courts and state bar associations are already equipped to address those problems, in better ways, without denying anyone equal access, or their civil rights. They have been successfully shutting down those bad practices in many areas.

Three decades of holding it is long enough! Tell your Congressional Representative to OPPOSE H.R. 620.

For more information, see https://dredf.org/hr620/ or write info@dredf.org.

 

Original content found here: https://mailchi.mp/dredf/urgent-save-the-ada?e=e0fa39d88d

Campership 2018 is now open!

i Feb 7th No Comments by

Summer 2018 is right around the corner and PCIL is ready to start giving away Summer Camp Scholarships!  Scholarships are on a first come first serve basis.

 

Please see all the information here: http://pcil.org/campership/

PCIL in Community News

i Jan 6th No Comments by

PCIL provides living plans for disabled adults

Like most college graduates, Steve Gruzlovic wanted out of his parents’ house.

Gruzlovic, a 28-year-old Hamilton native, has cerebral palsy. After graduating from Edinboro University, he couldn’t leave his house without physical help. Most days, he was confined to a reclining chair.

“I didn’t have a job,” he said. “I didn’t have any place to go. I didn’t have aide services to help me. I didn’t want family to have to take care of me.”

The independence he sought was hard to find. Until, that is, he found the Progressive Center for Independent Living.

PCIL, with locations in the Ibis Plaza in Hamilton and in Flemington, advocates for people with disabilities and helps them live and maintain independent lives. The organization offers five core services: information/referral assistance, peer support, independent living skills, advocacy and transitional services. PCIL serves disabled clients of all ages.

Things started to change for Gruzlovic as soon as he reached out to the center—he got a job, moved out of his parents’ house, arranged social security benefits with PCIL’s help. He also discovered a number of adaptive devices through PCIL, like kitchen tools, a device that allows him to put on socks without bending over, different wheelchair modifications, apps and more.

Living in a home where he couldn’t do much on his own was prohibitive, Gruzlovic said. It was hard to make community connections and even harder to feel independent. He currently lives in Robbinsville’s Project Freedom development, which provides independent housing for people with disabilities.

“I’m in a much better, safer and happier place,” he said. “And more independent. Getting assistance for myself, just to function in everyday life, job or no job, that was super hard. Dealing with insurance companies, that was kind of hard. I came out of school, I didn’t know how to use a microwave until my senior year of college because someone always did it for me. Getting that form of independence was a good thing, but it was scary.”

Gruzlovic now serves on the PCIL board—most members are adults with disabilities—and sometimes volunteers out of the Hamilton office helping other teens and adults with disabilities transition to living independently. He also writes emails and works on the center’s quarterly newsletter.

“I would have never thought five years ago that I’d be where I am now,” he said.

That’s what Scott Elliott, PCIL executive director, likes to hear.

Elliott, 54, has muscular dystrophy. He worked for many years in the corporate world, but the disease started to progress when he was in his 40s, and he ultimately decided that retirement was the best option for his health.

But with retirement came boredom, and that’s what first brought him to PCIL. The Lambertville resident saw an advertisement for a part-time job at the center, so he applied and was hired. After a two-year stint as a legislative coordinator with the Division of Developmental Disabilities (while also serving on the PCIL board), he came on full-time at the center.

“I brought the business perspective to the human services perspective,” Elliott said. “Somebody like Norman (Smith, PCIL board president and Project Freedom founder) was able to help me years ago with the whole advocacy thing, the disability perspective. I was kind of living independently. It was such a help as I progressed. You meet people with all different disabilities. I was in this world that was very different.”

Smith, like Gruzlovic, has cerebral palsy. And like Gruzlovic, he desired independence after graduating college in the 70s. Smith graduated from Steinert High School—incidentally, where he knew Gruzlovic’s father, Mark—and went on to attend Long Island University, where he graduated with a degree in journalism.

‘I couldn’t get a job, so I started this organization and created a job for me.’

 

Full Article Here: https://communitynews.org/2017/12/26/pcil-provides-living-plans-disabled-adults/

 

 

 

 

Investors Bank Sponsors PCIL Fundraiser

i Jun 19th No Comments by

IB_Logo_Stacked_tag_RGB_R

We are well underway planning our second A Taste for Success Event.  This year’s event will be held on Saturday, September 23, 2017 but at a new venue with new tastes to serve up!

This year’s venue, The Barn at Gravity Hill, is located minutes from the Lambertville-New Hope area, overlooking Belle Mountain Valley.  This distinctive 1740 English-style barn has a beautiful blend of simple rustic charm and upscale elegance, with a panoramic view of the farm and surrounding park, it is simply breath-taking.
If you attended last year’s event you know all too well this is not your typical non-profit fundraiser.  This year we are hosting the Cork and Keg edition of “A Taste for Success”, and we welcome back 4 time “Brewer of the Year” winner Jeremy Myers co-founder of Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company.  NCBC was award “Brewery of the Year” for the third year in a row, also best in Imperial IPA, Wheat Beer and Pale Ale categories at the 2017 “Best of Philly Beer Scene” Awards. We are also excited to announce the return of the 519 South Band to fill our night with beautiful live music.
A newcomer to this years’ event is local master vintner Sergio and Violetta Neri, of Hopewell Valley Vineyard.  Together they bring
generations of skill and tradition from both Italy and Greece to create their local, national and international award winning handcrafted wines. The Neri’s are also the founders of Project Autism; the project has been offering employment to individuals with autism for more than 10 years.
Also returning for this challenging event, Executive Chef, James Krause of Signature Affairs Catering, he is currently on loan to Cherry Valley Country Club.  Chef is classically trained at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park; over his 26 year career he worked under the tutelage of renowned Chefs from Belgium, Germany, France and Italy.  He uses old world farm to table style since before it was chic, to prepare only the freshest gourmet delicacies paired with both the Cork and the Keg.
We are excited and pleased to announce that last year’s station sponsor, Investor’s Bank will be joining us again, but this year as our main event sponsor!  Please join us in thanking them for their support!
Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to sponsor a station at this fundraising event and put your business in the spotlight.  Email us for sponsorship opportunities.
Save the Date Cork and Keg e-version-01

Election Day Services

i May 23rd No Comments by

Election Day Legal Services for People with Disabilities.

Disability Rights New Jersey is New Jersey’s designated protection and advocacy system for people with disabilities pursuant to federal statutes intended to protect the legal, civil, and human rights of people with disabilities.

Please see this flyer for more details.

ElectionDay

Any person needing assistance can contact DRNJ at 800-922-7233 or 609-633-7106 (TTY) from 7 am to 8 pm.

Participation Needed for Needs Assessment

i May 8th No Comments by
The Hunterdon County Office on Disability Services is conducting a 2017 needs assessment to gather information from County residents with disabilities, their caregivers and disability service providers. They are requesting that interested individuals click on the link below to take our survey and help them identify gaps in services for Hunterdon County residents with disabilities of all ages. Thank you for your participation in this survey.
 
This survey will soon be available on the County website; please encourage others to participate as well.