You may have already heard by now but May 12 was announced as the start date for the Emergency Broadband Benefit program.   This morning, the FCC announced that on May 12, 2021, eligible households will be able to apply for the Emergency Broadband Benefit. In announcing the official launch date, Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel stated:  “Families in every corner of the country have been struggling to get online throughout this pandemic. For those families, we now say help is around the corner. In less than two weeks, we will have a new way for disconnected Americans to access the internet to carry out their day-to-day life, so they can reach the virtual classroom, take advantage of telehealth, and seek new employment opportunities.” …

by Andy Rausch and Joe Reinecker As a young man with autism, basketball gave Will Fried confidence. Today he’s hoping to share that confidence with autistic high school students. He’s also having fun along the way. Fried started playing basketball in his backyard at the age of six after his father put up a goal. However, Will wouldn’t feel comfortable playing on a team or competing (due to his disability and the social anxiety that comes with it) for another two years. Then, at age eight, he began playing in a youth league. “I remember scoring my first basket in a game,” Fried recalls, “and I enjoyed it so much…

COVID-19 vaccines give us our best shot at beating the virus. Concerned about what’s in them? These facts may give you peace of mind. No live coronavirus in the vaccine None of the current vaccines use the real coronavirus to build immunity. Instead, they deliver instructions to your cells to make a harmless piece of the virus called the spike protein. This teaches the immune system to fight the real virus. But there’s no way the vaccines can give you COVID-19. Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) to deliver those instructions. Janssen’s vaccine uses another harmless virus to deliver the coronavirus’s DNA into your body. And it can’t…

Written by Nancy Holman PARSONS, Kan.—The SKIL Resource Center recently held mandatory diversity training for its entire staff, said SKIL President/CEO Shari Coatney. Staff at the Independent Living Center’s downtown Parsons headquarters, six branch offices, the Assistive Technology for Kansans and K-Loan offices participated in the formal training on April 20 and 21, 2021. The training, which lasted approximately two and one half hours, was held virtually via ZOOM due to COVID-19 concerns, Coatney said. Coatney’s executive assistant Adina Harrison, who is a member of SKIL’s Diversity Team, led the virtual training assisted by Coatney, which included education on racial bias and systemic racism, information about the LGBTQ community, gender…

Safe Haven is doing an Adopt-A-Room fundraiser to help with maintenance refreshing and renewing! To help with this we are asking local businesses to make a donation to purchase the supplies needed in each area of the house. Living room – $500.00 (Paint, replace rotten door frame, clean carpet and furniture and new curtains that fit) Kitchen- $1500.00 (Repair kitchen floor and replace flooring, repair chairs for table or replace, paint) Bedrooms (3) – $700.00 (New dressers, paint, new curtains and bedding, clean carpets) Bathroom (2) – $500.00 (Replace sheetrock around shower, paint, new curtains and shower curtain and rugs) Laundry room – $2500.00 (New updated washer and dryer, curtains…