I want to thank all of our members, who despite these difficult times, continue to focus on serving the most vulnerable in our communities. Our members have persevered and kept focused on providing professional services while contending with natural disasters (fires), an unmanageable increase in criminal justice cases, limited placement options, working remotely (in many cases), and dealing with other impacts of the pandemic overall. You are all amazing public servants and the staff of the Executive Office is proud to support you anyway we can.

During 2021 our Association tackled some critical issues on behalf of our members and provided a very robust virtual training program. We could not have done our work without the support of our wonderful board members, industry partners, and Association member volunteers. Thank you for helping us accomplish the following during this past year:

  • Presented 51 virtual training classes for a total of 101.5 credit hours to help members maintain certification
  • Developed a strong coalition of community partners to create a $200 million Budget Ask for PA/PG/PC programs to be introduced in 2022 during the 2022 legislative session
  • Hired Public Relations firm, Pascal/Roth, to assist us with developing communication and social media strategies to promote the positive work our members do and elevate our profile with the legislature and the public
  • Met with Dr. Ghaly, Secretary Health & Human Services to discuss support for our Budget Ask
  • Our Association was asked to sit on the newly formed CA Elder & Disability Justice Coordinating Council
  • I testified on our Association’s behalf at the 12/15/2021 Assembly Information Hearing on the LPS Act
  • Our Member 365 Association Management system was upgraded with a New Chapter Management process that gave counties more control over managing their staff’s certification records and invoicing (click here)
  • Revised our Standards and Certification Protocols (click here)
  • Revised our Bylaws (click here)
  • Our Legislation Committee was unusually active contributing input for the Department of Aging’s Master Plan on Aging
  • I represented our Association as a member of the State Department of State Hospital’s Workgroup formed to address the crisis surrounding the LPS related Incompetent to Stand Trial cases
  • I participated with the CA Department of Aging regarding development of the Personal Representative program
  • I represented our members at the monthly Judicial Council meetings

As for the Executive office, we hired a new Training Coordinator, Catalina Carapia-Aguillon, and said goodbye to our legislation analyst, Kirsten Barlow who is pursuing other career opportunities. We are currently recruiting for her position. Vanessa Spiron and Deborah Hunt continue to support our training program and I.T. upgrade as consultants, respectively and Janelle Quick continues to serve our members as our Office Administrator. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful team!

And finally, if you are looking for a new year’s resolution, what could be better than volunteering to participate in one of our many committees that help shape the work we do. It is a great way to get involved and to see if a board position could eventually be right for you. Please feel free to reach out to me at shughes@capapgpc.org to learn more.

Our Executive team is looking ahead to new challenges and ways in which we can continue to serve our members. We are planning our first in-person conference in two years. The conference will be held at the Sacramento Sheraton during the week of March 21-24, 2022. It is going to be fabulous! Thanks to our CDSS Training Grant we have the opportunity to bring in some high level professional speakers, provide more advanced level topics and still offer some of the needed basics. We hope you can join us for these quality trainings, and for some fun and fellowship. It will be great to see old friends and new ones in person. The details regarding the specific classes and registration will be coming out in an email the third or fourth week in January 2022.

Again, we thank you for exemplifying all that is great about the work we do as we wrap up the year. The Executive Team and I wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy and joyous new year!

Scarlet Hughes, Executive Director
CA PA|PG|PC