Time to Renew Your AIRS Membership
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Alliance of Information & Referral Systems December 2006 Volume XXXI No. 11 Time to renew your Time to renew your AIRS membership.....1 AIRS membership The mission of AIRS is “to provide tently impact local change and pro- Accreditation Committee makes leadership and support to our vide local support as effectively as progress in 2006.................................................2 members and affiliates to advance a state/regional affiliate. And for the capacity of a Standards-driven that to happen, our Affiliates need See if you qualify for the federal tele- Information and Referral industry to be stronger and this is what is phone tax refund..................................................2 that brings people and services being created through the new together.” membership structure and fee-shar- Message from the AIRS Board ing arrangements. President.................................................................3 Noble words, found with minor variations, in most mission state- In 2007, in addition to further AIRS secures project support from Dammann Fund.....................................................3 ments. In reality, as with the agen- strengthening the core, AIRS is cies of our members, it often boils providing additional funding and 211s in the news across the country....4-6 down to a small number of people human resources to its Committees working very hard trying their best concerned with issues such as Make a New Year’s resolution: Join an to do the right things in the right Public Policy, Disaster, Technology AIRS committee.....................................................7 way. And usually the list of proj- and Training in order to support ects completed, is a shadow of the I&R on a broader front and in spe- Updated list of AIRS Affiliate roster.......8-9 list of projects that people would cific areas. like to see completed. Note from the editor.........................................9 There are many tangible reasons to 2007 AIRS Conference details being Over the past two years, AIRS has renew your membership of AIRS finalized..................................................................10 been engaged in attending to our in terms of products, services, dis- core services. Significant work has counts, cost savings, information Standards Corner: The Standard of taken place within the Standards, and communication. For each indi- Hiring........................................................................11 new accreditation criteria have vidual member, the most intangible been created, certification has reason is probably the most impor- Child abuse hotline connects with expanded along psychometrical tant -- because the membership callers......................................................................12 principles, the ABCs of I&R have pledge of each agency allows AIRS undergone a major revision and to provide an international infra- AIRS certifies new specialists.............13-14 online training is coming around structure of I&R that everyone can the corner. draw upon. The Alliance of Information & Referral Systems 2007 Affiliate Agreement....15-16 The most significant change has If you have not done so already Certification Test Dates..................................17 been with the integration of our (and thank you if you have), please membership with our 28 state and go to the AIRS Web site at Contact Us regional Affiliates. As a national www.airs.org and return your organization, AIRS cannot consis- membership renewal forms! www.airs.org Officers of the Accreditation Committee Corporation makes progress in 2006 Faed Henry, Caty Jirik, President Accreditation Committee Chair Kathy O’Connor, President-Elect The AIRS Accreditation Committee has been busy on several Georgia Sales, Secretary fronts. The two new AIRS Standards, Crisis Intervention and Jamie Moore, Treasurer Disaster Preparedness, have been written in to the new accreditation criteria and will come into effect on January 1st, 2007. The Alliance of Information & Referral Systems, Inc., was The Committee is also exploring ways to conduct the Accreditation incorporated in 1973 to improve Questionnaires online by using SurveyMonkey. This is a tool that access to human services for all will allow AIRS to design the survey, collect responses and analyze people through the mechanism of results in a more efficient manner. This will also make it easier for information and referral. It is a staff, board and community organizations to fill out the question- member organization serving I&R naire and increase the response rate. interests. To date in 2006, 23 organizations have joined the growing family of The AIRS Newsletter is provided as AIRS Accredited organizations from both the United States and a benefit to all AIRS members. For Canada. There are 72 organizations/programs that are currently information about annual dues for accredited and another 59 in varying stages of the process. Three both agencies and individuals, new site reviewers were recruited from accredited organizations. contact us at (703) 218-AIRS (2477). AIRS accepts paid advertising for See if you qualify for the federal inclusion in its publications for products and/or services which are telephone tax refund related to the purposes of AIRS and Last spring, the Internal Revenue Service agreed to stop collecting its members. The products and the 3% federal excise tax assessed on long-distance telephone calls. services advertised in AIRS The money will be returned to people via the 2006 federal income publications do not necessarily tax return. imply endorsement by AIRS or its membership. The telephone tax refund will be a one-time payment and it will be available to anyone who paid long-distance taxes on landline, cell For more information about placing phone or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. For those an ad or article in the AIRS people who do not otherwise have to file a tax return, there will be Newsletter, contact: a new simple form (1040EZ-T) that can be used to get the refund. Nonprofits must fill out the new Form 8913 and base their refund requests on the actual amount of tax they paid. The IRS is consid- Hannah Newton, ering an estimation method that businesses and nonprofits could use AIRS Newsletter Editor for figuring the tax paid and is asking for public suggestions on PO Box 33095 potential methodologies that are both accurate and relatively easy Portland, OR for taxpayers to use. [email protected] For more information: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161506,00.html December 2006 Alliance of Information & Referral Systems 2 Message from the AIRS Board President Another While much progress has been Their collective talent, creativity, year has made, there is still much to do. commitment and innovation are come and Since this is a season of thanks, I unsurpassed and the field owes almost want to take this opportunity to them a great deal. gone, with thank the membership for all of a whirlwind your continued contributions of Finally, as we all count our bless- of activity time, talent and resource to AIRS. ings, I know we are all thinking and seem- The level of commitment in this about the men and women serving Caty Jirik, ingly end- organization is extraordinary and in Iraq and Afghanistan, of all of AIRS Board President less chal- to be applauded. All of the hard the families living in those coun- lenges for the world of Information work that goes on locally, positive- tries and around the world, torn and Referral and Assistance and ly impacts, leverages and compli- apart by war and violence. It is Crisis. Along with those chal- ments the work being done nation- truly difficult to celebrate the holi- lenges have come opportunities. ally. It’s like voting - your voice day season without feeling deep Our field is now, more than ever, really does count! sadness about the state of our very engaged and visible as a critical vulnerable and fragile planet. Yet, service system in communities. As I want to take this opportunity to this is a season of hope and renew- our membership continues to grow, deliver a very special thank you to al. We can pray for peace, for tol- AIRS continues to raise the bar on Maribel Marin of 2-1-1 LA erance, for the alleviation of quality standards for the industry. County and her extraordinary staff, hunger and poverty and disease. The credentialing and training two in particular, Marianne And we can renew our collective tools are ever expanding to meet Galleon and Georgia Sales. These commitment to a better world for the needs of a changing field, and folks have contributed endless our children to inherit. On this, we those tools have really become the hours to AIRS, but also have been can all agree. benchmark for establishing the integral to putting AIRS at the public’s expectations for high qual- forefront of the industry, including I wish you all a safe and happy ity I&R systems and services, developing the InfoLine Taxonomy and peaceful holiday season. including 2-1-1. and forwarding the work of the XML protocol, among others. AIRS secures project support from Dammann Fund Two new online training courses -- one focusing on The New York City-based foundation has supported providing I&R for individuals with mental health I&R in the past and, through connections with former issues and one for improving I&R services for young 211 New York State Director, Linda Daily, was aware people -- will be created over the next 15 months with of the AIRS Standards and the importance, particular-