United CONNECTICUT ACTION
FOR NEIGHBORHOODS

Accomplishments:

• UCAN assisted in the development of over twenty community organizing groups in Connecticut.

• UCAN established several state wide coalitions including United Seniors in Action, Caring Families Coalition and Create Change.

• UCAN’s United Seniors in Action (USA) coalition won several victories at the state legislature including:

Passage of ConnPACE, a state program to assist seniors pay for prescription drugs. ConnPACE is one of the best state administered prescription drug assistance programs in the country;

Passage of ConnMAP, a state program that mandates physicians accept “Assignment” for eligible seniors. This program saves seniors in Connecticut over $40 million annually;

Passage of a uniform discharge planning policy for all hospitals in Connecticut.

Action by state legislature insuring that Connecticut elders and people with disabilities would not lose prescription coverage after the start of the Medicare Part D plan;

Action by the legislature mandating community rating for all Medicare Supplement policies sold in Connecticut.

Return of over $8 million to Connecticut’s elderly Blue Cross/Blue Shield policyholders for overcharges in one year.

• Caring Families Coalition has achieved several successes in its short history:

In the 2004 legislative session CFC succeeded in restoring health care benefits for several low-income groups that had been cut in the budget compromise of June 2003. Specifically:

1. CFC removed the asset and the estate recovery provisions that had been put in the ConnPACE program, a state program to assist low-income seniors pay for prescription drugs. These victories mean that tens of thousands of low-income seniors will be able to enroll in ConnPACE.

2. CFC restored state health care benefits to legal immigrants, low-income adults without children and low-income families who had lost their health care coverage under the state’s SAGA and HUSKY programs.

3. CFC increased the amount of dollars available for home care in Connecticut;

In 2005 CFC's Create Change project succeeded in drafting and passing legislation that removed the discriminatory sentencing in Connecticut’s Crack and Powder cocaine law. Previously, only .5 grams of crack cocaine led to mandatory sentencing while it took 28 grams of powder cocaine. This law led to longer and more frequent prison sentences for members of the Black and Latino communities.

In June 2005 Connecticut’s Legislature passed a bill to “wrap” Connecticut’s ConnPACE program, a state administered prescription drug program, and Connecticut’s Medicaid prescription drug benefit for people who are dully eligible for Medicare and Medicaid around the new Medicare Part D program. The wrap around would have left seniors who are dually eligible and ConnPACE members worse off than they were before Medicare Part D. CFC and its member group, United Seniors in Action, forced a Special Session to fix the problems with the wrap around. This legislation will save Connecticut’s poorest seniors over $50,000,000 per year.

Members of CFC’s Create Change project met with staff from Governor Rell’s office in April 2005 to protest the fact that the State would not pay for treatment for cocaine addiction. This meeting resulted in forcing the Commissioner of the State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) to remedy this situation. DMHAS has agreed to expand its Access to Recovery program to provide clinical, recovery support and housing to cocaine addicted individuals.

In 2003 St. Francis Hospital sold its substance abuse treatment programs to Hartford Hospital. This would have resulted in forcing residents of North Hartford to travel to the south end of the city to continue their treatment. Create Change, a CFC member group, successfully organized a campaign that resulted in an agreement with Hartford Hospital not only to maintain the services in the North End, but to expand the amount of services offered.

• UCAN formed a partnership with Trinity College in 1994 to create the Trinity Center for Neighborhoods (TCN).  For over ten years TCN served as bridge between the academic endeavors of faculty and students and the needs of the community.

• UCAN designed and provided technical assistance to the City of Hartford’s Comprehensive Community Partnership project.  This project mobilized Hartford residents to work in partnership with the Police Department and other city departments to address priorities chosen by the neighborhoods.

• UCAN assisted in the design and creation of Hartford’s Community Court. The Community Court grew out residents’ concerns about quality of life issues.  When the police said they had very ineffective tools to curb these violations, the community and city undertook a problem solving approach and created the Community Court as vehicle to address these concerns.