By Taylor Ware “We fight the same legislative battle year after year,” said Empower: Abilities CEO Shannon Porter. Empower: Abilities is a not-for-profit striving to remove barriers and empower independent living for all people with disabilities. The needs of these individuals vary from person to person, but generally, they include assistance with household chores, cooking, shopping, correspondence and transportation. Assistance in this capacity is often performed by loved ones like friends and relatives. However, this dynamic is a complicated one. It crosses the wires between helping out a loved one and working a full time job. The financial implications are distressing as well. That is why Medicaid reimburses caretakers of this sort via institutional vendors like Empower: Abilities. In more recent years, minimum wage and inflation have continued to rise while rates for these caretakers were stuck in the mud. It is getting increasingly difficult for individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes because of a lack of funding for their caregivers. To worsen … [Read more...] about How service-learning can impact state policy for the better