Next month, ACL is moving to a new email subscription service. The new ACL Updates will offer more options for customizing your subscriptions, making it easier for you to subscribe and share the updates you are most interested in. There’s just one catch. In order to keep receiving ACL Updates, you need to re-subscribe. Subscribing is easy – just enter your email address and check the boxes to tell us which subscriptions you want to receive. (Options are limited for now, but will be expanding soon.)

Veterans who served in Afghanistan may be experiencing a range of challenging emotions related to the U.S withdrawal from the country and the events unfolding now. Veterans who served during other conflicts also may be feeling strong emotions, as they may be reminded of their own deployment experiences. This blog post from the Department of Veterans Affairs talks about some of the common reactions and strategies for managing ongoing stress.

In the fall of 2020 the ACL launched a competition to strengthen the direct support professional (DSP) workforce to increase the overall stability of home- and community-based services (HCBS) for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). The 

The United States has been experiencing intense wildfires and is expecting an increase in hurricane activity during the coming months.

 The Latest from CDC: As we learn more about the Delta variant, CDC has updated its masking guidance for people who are vaccinated. Here is what you need to know:

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). This annual observance highlights the importance of receiving recommended vaccines throughout your life.

Communicating clearly and effectively about a community-based organization’s capabilities removes one of the biggest barriers to health care contracting for aging and disability community-based organizations (CBOs), allowing for successful cross-sector partnerships and healthier communities. A new toolkit guides aging and disability CBOs seeking partnerships and conducting outreach with potential health care partners.

The ACL Policy Round Up is a new blog feature intended to help the aging and disability networks stay informed about new policies (and policy changes) that impact our work, and to ensure our networks are aware of opportunities to provide input on issues that affect older adults and people with disabilities. Please let us know what you think! This first round-up includes some highlights from the last few weeks.  

ACL's

ASPE/BHDAP Announces $1.5 Million Investment in ID/DD Data Infrastructure