Lifting People With Disabilities Out of Poverty

Income inequality

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Research informs us that having access to a stable source of monthly money is vital for an individual's overall health, security and well-being, yet many of the almost 400,000 people with disabilities in LA County who receive SSI live in fear of going over the $2,000 resource limit with an unplanned inheritance or legal settlement. For people of color with disabilities, getting and keeping government benefits is even more of a challenge. And we work hard to help this population; with a majority Latinx population in LA County, we have several staff members who are bi-lingual (including one who grew up in Mexico City) and our entire website was translated into Spanish, the first of any pooled trusts in the country to do so. We have also targeted our outreach efforts to African American and AAPI potential clients, holding virtual presentations during and after the pandemic, and our enrolled clients reflect the magnificent diversity that is LA County.

We would use the grant funding to provide for enrollment fee scholarships ($1,300 each) for persons with disabilities in the Latinx, African-American and AAPI communities, as well as marketing to government social workers, case managers and trust attorneys and other community leaders who serve those populations, along with direct to client ads.
This will help us enroll more POC clients with a wide range of physical/mental and I/DD disabilities in our affordable 1st and 3rd party special needs trusts, which open the doors to a higher quality of life by ensuring that all government benefits are maintained while also able to access funds from an inheritance or legal settlement.
Here's an example: Twin sisters Arlene and Mary Beth are African-American 67 year old's who each received an inheritance of $280.000 after their father died. They are both physically disabled and they count on their SSI funds for their food and utilities and their Section 8 Voucher from the local Housing Authority for their housing expenses. If they didn't place their inheritances into our 1st party pooled special needs trust, they would have lost their SSI funds and their monthly housing expense would have been increased (based on 30% of income). But by enrolling in our pooled trust, they were able to keep getting SSI and the Section 8 monthly rent stayed the same. Arlene used her money to replace her old clunker of a car and Mary Beth purchased a new computer tablet and cell phone.

There will be more POC and LGBTQIA2S+ who have a wide range of disabilities who are able to enjoy greater health, safety and well-being by keeping their SSI monthly checks. They will also receive the best form of Medi-Cal because people who get SSI have an automatic linkage to Medi-Cal without co-pays or share of cost.
We currently have close to 200 enrolled clients and $12 million in total pooled assets, and with focused outreach to these populations, we can double our numbers in a few years. This means that more Latina middle-aged women with serious mental health condition can receive the high-quality evidence-based therapy they need to leave the house and rejoin the community. It means that more LGBTQ+ young adults with autism will be able to move into their own apartments with the individualized support they need to thrive. And it means that more seniors with physical disabilities can have access to new technology that will help them stay in touch with grandchildren and friends.

We will measure success by the number of new enrollments in our pooled trusts, along with annual client satisfaction surveys.
As indicated earlier in this application, we are now only serving a small fraction (close to 200) of the estimated 400,000 people who receive SSI benefits in LA County. Based on our Business Plan, we know that there are hundreds, or even thousands more people who could use our services. But few professionals have heard about "pooled special needs trusts" which by law are operated by nonprofit agencies, and we need to identify and recruit more community workers who can in turn help us reach this vulnerable population who live with poverty and deprivation.
With additional funding, we will be able to scale up our proven model of providing low-income clients with the same high-quality and individualized attention usually reserved for the very rich, who hire private professional fiduciaries or corporate trustees to manage $1 million plus special needs trusts.