Advocate
Stay Informed and Take Action!
Advocating for people with disabilities starts with staying informed and using your voice to influence change. Your involvement and your voice make a difference!
If you want to take action or share your perspective with your legislators, we can help. Contact Mike Siebenaler at Michael.Siebenaler@hammer.org.
Mike can guide you on the issues, help you find your legislators, and provide tips on how to make your voice heard effectively. Every message counts, and your participation helps ensure that lawmakers hear from constituents who care deeply about accessibility, inclusion, and quality care.
Your involvement doesn’t just raise awareness; it drives real change. Together, we can shape policies that improve services, protect rights, and strengthen support systems for individuals with disabilities and those who support them.
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Get Involved
With your help, we continue to advocate for home and community-based services.
Together, we can help implement change in legislation for caregivers to make it possible for people with developmental and other disabilities to live their best life. People with disabilities deserve to be supported by well-trained and compensated staff, along with the opportunity to be engaged and active in their communities. You can help make that difference.
Advocate for the people we support by making phone calls to your representative, sending emails, and letters, and/or joining us at Disability Day at the Capitol. We also have partnerships with ARRM, Arc, This Is Medicaid, and many other national and state advocacy groups.
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Our Partners
Advocate
We know that when our staff, volunteers, board members, families, and community partners come together, we are a powerful force to advocate for change. Together, we can impact legislation that improves the lives of the people we support, as well as the broader disability community.
Our advocacy efforts aim to bring together our main stakeholder groups (including self- advocates) to support and bring change that improves the lives of the people we support. We all must advocate for people with disabilities because they have the right to receive quality services to maintain their dignity to live their best life.
Self-Advocacy: Zaimah’s Story
This is the story of Zaimah, who lives in Plymouth, MN in a Hammer Residence apartment building.
Read her letter, and watch her video below!
Dear Minnesota Legislators,
My name is Zaimah. I live in the city of Plymouth, MN in an apartment supported by Hammer Residences because I have an intellectual disability. I am a good mom to my daughter and a hard worker. I feel proud when I can work and help provide for myself and my daughter.
Because of my disability I cannot drive. There are some resources available to me (like Metro Mobility or Dial-A-Ride) but they are not always reliable or predictable and they have many restrictions. I have lost several jobs because of being late to work or for not being able to work a shift that occurred at a time when Metro Mobility is not in operation (they aren’t operating after 8:30 at night or before 6:30 am.) Sometimes, I took the city bus but I have to pay for that and I have a very limited budget. Also it is not practical or safe for me to travel all the way downtown in order to catch a bus that will take me back to this area. There aren’t any direct routes.
When I worked at HomeGoods in Plymouth, MN, it could take me an hour to get to work. Sometimes I was late, because the bus came within a half-hour window time frame. I live less than five miles away from HomeGoods. In a car, it takes only nine minutes to get from my apartment to HomeGoods. I was terminated because my transportation was limited and unreliable and that did not help me build a good reputation as the worker I would like to and can be. It was very frustrating.
Sometimes, my staff can give me a ride. However, if a staff person gives me a ride somewhere that means they will be short staffed back at the apartments where I live and where my daughter is also served by Hammer (she lives with me.)
Please support any efforts to improve transportation issues for people with disabilities. Thank you!