Kimberly Overvold won the Twins Tickets for our direct support professional appreciation give away!!! We are stoked about your hard work! As a reminder we will be giving away another set of tickets next month!!!

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Annually, Twin Cities Pride brings the greater GLBT community together to commemorate diverse heritage, foster inclusion, educate and create awareness of issues, and celebrate achievements in equality. They create events that are open and inviting to everyone in the community, providing a safe environment in which individuals can feel free to celebrate their relationships. The event is free to attend.

     Date & Time: June 23 – 24; 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
     Place: Loring Park, 1382 Willow Street, Minneapolis MN, 55405

For more information, please visit the Twin Cities Pride website.

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Pinnacle Services is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building.  So…what does that mean? LEED is an internationally recognized certification that measures the performance of a building or community against metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, emissions reduction, and indoor air quality, among others.

When we renovated the building, over 95% of the Pinnacle building’s structure and more than 55% of its non-structural interiors were reused in the new design.  Of the new materials used, more than a quarter were regional products including the floors that are reclaimed wood flooring from Duluth buildings of the same era. Other environmentally friendly building components include daylight and motion sensors to reduce electricity costs, low-emitting adhesives, sealants, paints, wood and agrifibers to improve air quality and water fixtures that use 36% less water than standard fixtures.  In addition, over 76% of the construction waste was diverted from landfills.

Pinnacle’s Core Purpose is: To support the wellbeing of others and build stronger communities. That purpose extends to being good stewards of our planet.

Reduce.  This is often cited as the most important step in “going green”.  Reducing the (seemingly endless) consumption of products and moving closer to conservation has real impact. How many pens, half used post it pads and notepads do you think are lingering around our offices?  Using less and reuse is the topic of a recent, popular Ted Talk To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift found here: https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_dent_to_eliminate_waste_we_need_to_rediscover_thrift/up-next

Pinnacle is committed to employing efforts to reduce wherever we can.  This is evidenced by the reuse of office furniture, supplies and equipment; and the dishes which stock our kitchens have largely been purchased from Good Will or similar thrift shops or left over from catered events.  We will further reduce our consumption by eliminating the ongoing purchase of plastic flatware and cups for daily use.  According to a recent National Geographic article ( Here ), “…by midcentury, the oceans will have more plastic waste than fish…” we don’t want to be a contributor to that.  Please plan accordingly for your lunch and snack needs.

Reuse. Reusable shopping bags are growing in popularity.  These can be easily stuffed into a purse or backseat of a car for quick and easy access.  Some stores also provide a discount to customers who bring their own bags. Some other reusables: lunch bags, thrift store furniture (Pinterest project, anyone?), shoe boxes as drawer dividers, baking sheets become magnet boards, remove ink from plastic containers (like sour cream or butter) with acetone and never by Tupperware again.

Recycle.  Pinnacle provides recycling bins throughout our offices.  Our recycling is picked up by Walter’s Recycling and Refuse.  Items that can be recycled include: magazines, mixed paper, shredded paper, newspaper, aluminum cans, paper and plastic products #1-, box board, glass bottles and jars, eye glasses, ink cartridges, textiles, cardboard.  Walter’s also accepts bicycles which are collected and then donated to a program called Bikes4Kids. For more information about how to recycle with Walter’s go to their website: https://waltersrecycling.com/recycling-center-services/

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In late February, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) received notification from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of a problem with Minnesota’s rate setting policy for Minnesotans receiving home and community-based services (HCBS). If the problem is not fixed by the state legislature, the issue will result in a 7% cut to the reimbursement rates for services received by several thousand Minnesotans with disabilities.

Act to stop the cut

Minnesota’s State Legislature and Governor can stop these cuts from happening by passing simple legislation and returning the tens of millions of dollars in assistance to funding for supportive services, where it was before the cuts were announced. They need to hear that stopping the cut needs to be a top priority before they adjourn to start campaigning for re-election on May 21.

Do your part by taking the following steps:

• Subscribe to get updates and alerts from the Best Life Alliance , a coalition of providers and advocates who support direct care staff and are leading the fight on this issue: Click here to subscribe
• Email or call your legislators to deliver the below message (please consider adding a line or two about why this issue is important to you. Every contact lets them know how important this issue is to their constituents, which matters to them! Click here to look up your legislators
  

  Sample email text: This past February, the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) informed the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) that CMS denied Minnesota’s legislatively approved investments in the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS), the system that determines service rates for Minnesotans with disabilities accessing community based disability services. This will result in a cut of 7% to the rates for community based disability services across the state for Minnesotans with disabilities. A cut of 7% will prove devastating to affected individuals and that staff that serve them, and affect me personally. Please support Best Life Alliance Legislation (SF2889/HF 3191) to stop this cut to individual service rates and target these investments specifically to workforce competitiveness.

  • Volunteer to author a letter to the editor to your local paper (someone with the Best Life Alliance can contact you with guidance). Click here to volunteer

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Jaelynn Blenkush is making the move from Program Director to Training and Development Specialist.  The Training and Development Specialist position was created at the request of the Case Management Captains to focus training efforts and streamline onboarding within the department.  Jaelynn shared, ” I am excited to learn a new role and expand my knowledge within Pinnacle and the social services field and combine it with my passion and excitement for training!”  Welcome Jaelynn to your new role!

Annalie Nelson has been promoted to Program Director.  “I am very excited to start in my new role as Program Director. I am looking forward to overseeing additional sites and taking part in starting up our new site in Hennepin County this year!”  Annalie will oversee the MDH residential programs (Briarwood and Jackson Square) as well as oversee new developments within the department.  Her experience as a Program Manager with the agency prior to this promotion makes Annalie well suited to step into the role.   We are very excited to see her take this next professional step.

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A big thank you to Katy, Trent, Stephanie, Jerrica and Ashley in HR for their fantastic work in planning this event!

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Last month our employees joined together in the fight against hunger by participating in food packing at

Hunger Facts

1 in 10 = The number of households in Minnesota affected by hunger. Hunger is an urban, suburban and rural problem. There is no corner of the state where hunger does not exist. The Feeding America Missing Meals Map illustrates the problem at a state and county level.

80 million meals = the equivalent number of meals distributed by Second Harvest Heartland in 2016 to nearly 1,000 food shelves, pantries and other partner programs. Enough to feed a mid-sized city of 73,000 people, three meals a day, for a year.

532,000 = The number of people Second Harvest Heartland serves each year.

• More than 33% are under age 18.
• 10% are seniors age 60 and up.

Source: 2014 Hunger in America Study

To learn more, volunteer or make a donation, click here: Second Harvest Heartland

We would like to thank each and every one of you who came out to volunteer on September 8^th. Below are a few pictures from our experience.

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Our communication efforts have been strengthened with social media, monthly updates via our office information displays, the agency’s monthly newsletter, Q&A sessions and our comment submission boxes! In addition to looking at our communication strategy, we decided to change our management meeting strategy. For all of 2017, we have decided not only to communicate our agency goals at these meetings but to make them more interactive and allow for some team building. At our May’s management meeting, we provided employees with the opportunity to connect through a good ol’ fashioned kickball game!

In addition to these efforts we have also implemented an employee events calendar that comes out each month with weekly events! In July, we will participate in “National Ice Cream at Work Day”, “Hat Day” and “Breakfast at Work Day”. In addition to these efforts, our employees can nominate each other for adhering to our core values. Each month, two nominated employees are chosen at random to have lunch with Human Resources; this seems to be a hit among many of our employees.

We are committed to providing a strong, engaged workforce where hard work and fun can coincide. If you have an idea or suggestion for our next management meeting or our monthly events calendar please submit your idea to hr@pinnacleservices.org

To join our team, visit our careers page!

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Jaelynn Blenkush, Program Director of the Jackson Square program, made sure our client’s had a great time and it worked!  Thank you Jaelynn!

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