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The Greater Cincinnati Resource Network (GCRN) provides centralized information and referrals regarding nonprofit agencies and social service organizations.  There may be more than one solution to address your concern.  The GCRN is here to help.


Lifeline - FREE Cell Phone Service! (Currently in Kentucky and Indiana)
Lifeline is a program offering free cell phone services to qualified low-income households.  Lifeline is supported by the federal Universal Services Fund (USF), a government-sponsored program.  If you are partaking in a federal program such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Free Lunch program, and more, you may be qualified to receive a free basic cell phone. There are no contracts to sign, no credit checks, no activation fees, no deposits required and there is no monthly bill!

* The Lifeline program is available to qualifying consumers in every state, territory, commonwealth, and on Tribal lands (Note: the progam is available in Ohio, but with limited providers). You must be eligible to enroll. Eligibility criteria vary by state. For states that rely solely on the federal Lifeline and Link Up program eligibility criteria, subscribers must either have an income that is at or below 135% of the federal Poverty Guidelines or participate in one of the following assistance programs:

- Medicaid

- Food Stamps

- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

- Federal Public Housing Assistance (Section 8)

- Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or

- The National School Lunch Program's Free Lunch Program

If you are interesting in receiving a FREE cell phone and know that you qualify (only one phone per household), then contact Constance McWilliams at (513) 772-2395 for more information.

*From www.lifeline.gov website.


MAKING HOMES AFFORDABLE
President Barak Obama's administration has taken great measures to assist homeowners in keeping their homes today. Makinghomeaffordable.org is the website providing critical information that will allow you to work with your bank or mortgage lender for a loan modification, help you transition out of your home (if this is your choice) without going into foreclosure, or aid you in numerous ways to provide additional assistance.  The organization, Hope Now, provides support and guidance to homeowners by providing you the paperwork and staff help to get the process going immediately.  You can utilize Hope Now to get the loan modification that the government is offering.  The sooner you seek assistance the better your circumstances will be - don't delay!


LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF GREATER CINCINNATI
The Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati is an excellent law agency to make legal services affordable to those in need.  Legal Aid is also a United Way agency partner.  Whether you want to prevent foreclosure on your home, keep from being sued, have services continued that you absolutely need, or other concerns – Legal Aid is there to help you. 

Lower-income residents of Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland, and Warren Counties are eligible for Legal Aid services.

Get the help you need!  For more information, click here for the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati.


 

Affordable Healthcare Act - Health Insurance
 for Young Americans Under 26 Years Old
As of September 2010, the new law for the Affordable Healthcare Act is now in place where health insurance is made available to young people under 26 years old.  If they are of age where their employer does not offer health insurance, they can stay on their parent's health plan until 26.  Additionally, coverage cannot be denied to health policies that include children with pre-existing conditions.  Some people are still in need of additional financial assistance for the children.  And some insurance companies are trying to get around this new law, claiming the playing field is no longer level. 

The good news is that certain health insurance companies have options to assist your healthcare costs for the kids.  Look into United Healthcare Children's Foundation grants that help families pay for children's medical expenses not covered by their commercial health insurance plans.

Learn more at:  Grants for Children's Medical Expenses


    Cincinnati Area Senior Services (CASS)
There is no question that our senior citizens who live at home often need assistance.  This comes in the form of needing meals or cooking services, house cleaning, yard work, laundry cleaning, and more.

There is an organization known as Cincinnati Area Senior Services (or CASS) that offers many of these services plus transportation, socialization, and protection. 

See more details below how CASS can help the seniors you love and care about (or, even you).  Or, go to the CASS website at www.cassdelivers.org.

CASS Delivers for Older Adults in Southwest Ohio    
CASS is dedicated to meeting the needs and promoting independence for older adults throughout Southwest Ohio. Each year, we deliver essential services to over 2,000 senior citizens.

Did you know...An older person who is active - but indigent - may lack transportation to the grocery store or a medical appointment? An older adult in a wheelchair may need help with meals? Older adults who live alone may be able to stay in their home with services and support such as bill-paying, case management and other services?  

Our clients rely on us for...
·     Nutrition - meals delivered to clients' homes and served at our Senior Centers.
·     Protection - services to oversee and coordinate clients' personal and financial matters. 
·     Socialization - programs and activities offered through our three Senior Centers. 
·     Transportation - rides to and from Senior Centers, shopping trips and medical appointments.  

Nutrition Services 

CASS is the largest provider of seniors' Meals-On-Wheels in the area, and the only meals provider delivering to the inner city. Depending on the client's situation, we provide frozen or chilled meals. Each week CASS delivers over 5,500 nutritious, balanced meals to qualified home-bound seniors. Meals are delivered weekdays between 10:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. All meals are low in fat and salt, and special diabetic meals are available. 

For many inner-city seniors, our meals are literally a lifeline. And, with the food comes another form of nurture: daily human contact and support. Private pay meals may be arranged at a fee for non-qualified seniors. For more information about CASS Home-Delivered Meals, contact the meals program staff at (513) 721-0445. 


HomeForeclosure Prevention Tool Kit
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is offering many options to homeowners to greatly aid you in keeping your home.  Consumers facing financial difficulties have a lot of choices to make.  Offers of "help" are everywhere -- in your mail box, plastered on billboards and promoted on the Internet.  BBB has developed this foreclosure prevention tool-kit to provide tips, advice and links to sources that you can trust in this difficult time. 

Top BBB Tips for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
Contact your lender as soon as you realize that you may have a problem making your payments.

  • Beware of unsolicited phone calls and mailers offering you assistance for a fee. 

Healthcare Reform 2010
The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, more commonly referred to as the "healthcare bill", has taken over a year to craft and has been a lightning rod for political debate because it effectively reshapes major facets of the country's healthcare industry.

Here are 10 things you need to know about how the new law may affect you:

1. Your Kids Are Covered
Starting this year, if you have an adult child who cannot get health insurance from his or her employer, and is to some degree dependent on you financially, your child can stay on your insurance policy until he or she is 26 years old. Currently, many insurance companies do not allow adult children to remain on their parents plan once they reach 19 or leave school.
2. You Can't Be Dropped
Starting this fall, your health insurance company will no longer be allowed to "drop" you (cancel your policy) if you get sick. In 2009, "rescission" was revealed to be a relatively common cost-cutting practice by several insurance companies. The practice proved to be common enough to spur several lawsuits; for example, in 2008 and 2009, California's largest insurers were made to pay out more than $19 million in fines for dropping policyholders who fell ill.
3. You Can't Be Denied Insurance
Starting this year your child (or children) cannot be denied coverage simply because they have a pre-existing health condition. Health insurance companies will also be barred from denying adults applying for coverage if they have a pre-existing condition, but not until 2014.

4. You Can Spend What You Need To
Prior to the new law, health insurance companies set a maximum limit on the monetary amount of benefits that a policyholder could receive. This meant that those who developed expensive or long-lasting medical conditions could run out of coverage. Starting this year, companies will be barred from instituting caps on coverage.
5. You Don't Have To Wait
If you currently have pre-existing conditions that have prevented you from being able to qualify for health insurance for at least 6 months, you will have coverage options before 2014. Starting this fall, you will be able to purchase insurance through a state-run "high risk pool", which will cap your personal out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare. You will not be required to pay more that $5,950 of your own money for medical expenses; families will not have to pay more than $11,900.
6. You Must Be Insured
Under the new law starting in 2014, you will have to purchase health insurance or risk being fined. If your employer does not offer health insurance as a benefit or you do not earn enough money to purchase a plan, you may get assistance from the government. The fines for not purchasing insurance will be levied according to a sliding scale based on income. Starting in 2014, the lowest fine would be $95 or 2.5% of an individual's taxable income by 2016. There will be a maximum cap on fines.
7. You'll Have More Options
Starting in 2014 (when you'll be required by law to have health insurance), states will operate new insurance marketplaces - called "exchanges" - that will provide you with more options for buying an individual policy if you can't get, or afford, insurance from your workplace and you earn too much income to qualify for Medicaid. In addition, millions of low- and middle-income families (earning up to $88,200 annually) will be able to qualify for financial assistance from the federal government to purchase insurance through their state exchange.
8. Flexible Spending Accounts Will Become Less Flexible
Three years from now, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) will have lower contribution limits - meaning you won't be able to have as much money deducted from your paycheck pre-tax and deposited into an FSA for medical expenses as is currently allowed. The new maximum amount allowed will be $2,500. In addition, fewer expenses will qualify for FSA spending. For example, you will no longer be able to use your FSA to help defray the cost of over-the-counter drugs.
9. If You Earn More, You'll Pay More
Starting in 2018, if your combined family income exceeds $250,000 you are going to be taking less money home each pay period. That's because you will have more money deducted from your paycheck to go toward increased Medicare payroll taxes (my side note: you better start looking for tax shelters to help you keep more income). In addition to higher payroll taxes you will also have to pay 3.8% tax on any unearned income, which is currently tax-exempt.
10. Medicare May Cover More or Less of Your Expenses
Starting this year, if Medicare is your primary form of health insurance you will no longer have to pay for preventive care such as an annual physical, screenings for treatable conditions or routine laboratory work. In addition, you will get a $250 check from the federal government to help pay for prescription drugs currently not covered as a result of the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole".
However, if you are a high-income individual or couple (making more than $85,000 individually or $170,000 jointly), your prescription drug subsidy will be reduced. In addition, if you are one of the more than 10 million people currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you may be facing higher premiums because your insurance company's subsidy from the federal government is going to be dramatically reduced.
Conclusion
Over the next few months, you will most likely receive information in the mail from your health insurance company about how the newly signed law will affect your coverage. Read the correspondence carefully and don't hesitate to ask questions about your policy; there may be new, more affordable options for you down the road.    
 
     Stress Awareness Month 2010 

 April is “Stress Awareness Month”.  During this thirty day period, health care professionals and health promotion experts across the country will join forces to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic.

 

Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization, Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society. 
                 
  According to Webster, stress is “mental, emotional, or physical TENSION or strain.”  There are two different kinds of stress – the kind that makes you feel overwhelmed (ex: when you have too many things to do), and the kind that gets you feeling excited (ex: when you are looking forward to something).   However, both “positive” and “negative” stress have the same physical effect on your body when unchecked – they deplete your reserves and leave you DRAINED.  The only solution is to either make a conscious effort to spend more time in a lower gear, or take time in between bursts to rest and RECUPERATE.

 


If you do not rest and recuperate on your own, your body will do it for you by shutting you down.  Your body will force you to lay down and take time off, with ill health expressing itself in so many different ways.

 Stress can be brought on by various issues from financial problems that threaten negative life changes, to being caught in a traffic jam  - and everything in between.  You've GOT to learn to manage stress by learning to manage YOU.

 The Greater Cincinnati Resource Network offers quick tips here to help minimize or eliminate stress:

 

- Identify the source of your stress.  Is it people-related?  Try not to take it out on the next person in your path.  Go to the restroom or somewhere quiet where you can think out what’s causing the stress and consider options for how to handle it.

 - If you’re feeling angry, frustrated, or overly excited – change your breathing.  Take slow, deep breaths and after a few moments visualize yourself in the calm, relaxing place of your choosing.

 -  If you can - come home, take a bubble bath, light a candle, have soft music and a peaceful drink.  Let the slower pace ease troubles away in your present time.

 

- Hit the wall and fuss it out.  Get it out of your system.  This is much better than letting the problem fester inside you leading to ulcers and other health issues.

 See our news articles in the side bar that inform you of types of stress, stress-related issues, and how you can combat stress.

 We at the GCRN care about your well-being.

 

 HELPING HAITI! 
On Tuesday, January 12, 2010 a horrendous earthquake struck Haiti. Over 200,000 people have died and more than 3,000,000 are directly affected by this major catastrophe.  The Greater Cincinnati Resource Network (GCRN) made its volunteer contribution to the Haitian Earthquake Relief Effort by giving non-perishable food and cases of water to Matthew 25: Ministries.  Ongoing trips are being made to deliver much-needed supplies of food, clothing, personal items, cleaning products, and more to the people of Haiti.  We ask God to bless the Haitian children, individuals, and families in their time of need.  We ARE our brother's keeper and very glad to assist. 



ANNOUNCEMENT!
The Greater Cincinnati Resource Network (GCRN) is proud to announce the IRS Department of the Treasury has bestowed the organization with its tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) status as of October 28, 2009.   With this honor, your contributions to the GCRN are now tax-deductible. 

We express our gratitude for the ability to continue to serve the people of the TriState region; Cincinnati & surrounding communities, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana.  Our clients are individuals and families facing home foreclosures, rising health issues, in need of senior services, youth services and more.

Our purpose is to provide information, education, and advocacy services to the residents of the Tri-state region when solutions are needed for life’s challenges. 

We disseminate information to clients from our databank and library of several nonprofit agencies, support groups, and other organizations.  Our unique service brings a host of available assistance into one location, in a format most useful to our clients.

There may be several solutions to address your problem; not just one.  The GCRN is here to help.

We also advocate for our people by providing consultation services to help follow through on the information given.  We are a "liaison" between the client and the targeted source.  We want to ensure that no one has to go without the help they need.

It's time to help our community get back on its feet, accomplish their goals, and feel pride & dignity once again.





Greater Cincinnati Resource Network -
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