Archive for the ‘Health and Human Services’ Category

Dallas County voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved replacing 54-year-old Parkland Memorial Hospital with a larger, modern facility.

The $747 million bond election will cover about 60 percent of the cost of a new $1.3 billion public hospital. The 862-bed facility will be constructed across Harry Hines Boulevard from the current 675-bed hospital.

When the hospital is completed in 2014, it will add $52.50 in annual property taxes for owners of a home valued at $150,000. That represents a 13.7 percent increase in the Dallas County Hospital District’s tax rate.

Other voters said they supported the new public hospital because they might need to use it someday.

The bond election represents the first time in 28 years the hospital district has asked voters to fund a construction project. About $500 million of the cost will come from private donations and revenues the hospital has on hand.

Individuals in Texas whose employment or self-employment was interrupted due to Hurricane Ike can file for disaster relief unemployment assistance from the state.

Applications must be filed by Oct. 15.

Texas counties included in the disaster declaration are Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Cherokee, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris, Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller and Washington.

Applicants must be able to show that they can no longer work or perform services due to physical damage or destruction of their place of employment as a result of the hurricane, or cannot work due to injuries directly related to the disaster.

They must provide their Social Security number, a copy of their most recent federal income tax form or check stub, or other documentation to support they were working or self-employed when the disaster occurred.

Applications for disaster-related unemployment assistance may be made online at www.texasworkforce.org. Houston region residents can also call the Texas Workforce Commission local office at 281-983-1100 or toll-free at 800-939-6631 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Many of 3,600 hurricane evacuees in the Dallas area finally heard what they’ve been waiting to hear: FEMA will pay for their hotel rooms.

Most evacuees will soon be able to move from shelters to hotels. The City of Dallas says it would like to transition evacuees from shelters to hotels by next weekend. And for those already in hotels, it brings some order to a very confusing day.

Late Monday, FEMA announced it will pay the hotel bills for evacuees who live in hard-hit counties; however, those evacuees have to stay at participating hotels.

FEMA’s coverage began on Sunday night and will run for 30 days.

Dallas is among the leaders in Texas cities in recycling.

While Houston thinks 2% is impressive (bless their hearts), we are at a whopping 12% after just 18 months of utilizing the city-wide recycling program. The amount of recycled material has doubled since the city began its curbside blue cart program a year and a half ago. Initially the city anticipated 50k requests for the 96 gallon blue bins but were gobsmacked to receive 90,000 requests.

If you don’t have your recycling bin yet, you can order one at this link.

In order to participate, residents now call the city for a cart. A white truck with the words “Too Good to Throw Away” scrawled on its side picks up the recycled goods every other week. In a few locations, this now occurs once a week. The items are then transported to a recycling facility in Garland, compressed and resold.

The city gets 67 percent of the proceeds.

Dallas may never take up San Francisco’s Styrofoam ban or use all hybrid cars, but we could become Texas’ surrogate green city.

Dallas has the largest alternative-fueled fleet of city vehicles in the state. And it passed an ordinance in April that mandates environmentally-conscious buildings.

Watch out Austin – we’re coming up fast. And since this is a “Texas thang” you know we are gunning for the top spot!

This post is taken verbatim from an email sent in. AmeriCorps is a wonderful program and let’s see what the Dallas community can do to help them out with their new person!

A much needed opportunity has come PEP’s way, and we need your help to make it happen.
As many of you may know, PEP is an AmeriCorps sponsored program. Our three full time staff members are all AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers placed with PEP under the Corporation for National and Community Service. For many months now PEP has been actively seeking a forth VISTA to assist the organization with fundraising, grant writing, and program development.

The good news, we have found a qualified applicant. Her name is Nicole Pena and she has had experience with both grant and lesson plan writing, and is a firm believer in civic responsibility and community service.

The bad news, the next AmeriCorps VISTA training is not until June 17-19. This means that Nicole is unable to start working for PEP as a VISTA until after she takes her Oath of Service on June 19.

Just as many nonprofits go, additional help is always needed. PEP needs another qualified individual, such as Nicole, to help further the mission of personal responsibility, community service, and good citizenship. We would like Nicole to come on board as soon as possible, but we are financially unable to provide her with a salary.

Our goal is to raise $5,000, which will provide a salary, and meet any additional expenses incurred, until she is officially sworn in as a VISTA, wherein her salary will then be provided for by the Department of Treasury.

Please help PEP bring onboard another helpful hand to make the organization stronger and more effective! Any amount of support is greatly appreciated.

Donations can be made online by visiting www.governmentbelongstous.org and clicking on the support button on the main menu, or simply mail a check to:
People Empowerment Project
P.O. Box 192402
Dallas, TX 75219

Since PEP is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, your donation is entirely tax deductible! Thank you in advance for your help.

People Empowerment Project
P.O. Box 192402
Dallas, TX 75219
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 9:30am-5:30pm
Phone: 214-824-3107

PEP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization

MISSION STATEMENT:
To educate, promote, and demonstrate to school children and adults the importance or personal responsibility, community service, and good citizenship.

December 1 is World AIDS Day.

While AIDS isn’t as scary now as it was 20 years ago, there are still far too many people suffering from the ravages of this disease.

Many organizations in Dallas provide services for those battling from AIDS complications. Learn how you can do more to raise awareness by getting involved with these organizations:

If you are wanting to protect yourself against a possible bout with the flu, the Dallas County Health & Human Services site provides a listing of locations offering immunization.