A new County-wide initiative entitled, “Respect the Space,” was designed to raise awareness about the proper use of accessible parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities. The initiative was suggested by the County’s Commission on People with Disabilities. The members were concerned about non-disabled people parking in reserved accessible spaces and the abuse of disability parking placards.  The County increased its enforcement of illegal parking in accessible spaces, but needed the assistance of the MVA to better enforce placard abuses. MVA Administrators joined Montgomery County Executive and Montgomery County Police Chief to announce changes to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s (MVA) vehicle registration database to provide law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Maryland with information regarding disability parking privileges. With this state-wide expansion of informational access, Maryland law enforcement agencies have a new, state-of-the-art tool against the illegal use of disability parking placards.  For more information about the Respect the Space initiative, go to the County’s website atwww.montgomerycountymd.gov and click on the Respect the Space icon on the homepage.

10/04/2011  Brought to you by the US Federal government, the Lifeline program provides discounts on monthly telephone charges, and Link Up provides a discount on the cost of commencing telephone service for qualifying low-income households. Lifeline and Link Up are supported by the federal Universal Service Fund (USF).

10/04/2011  Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, unveiled March 16, 2010, is a FCC (Federal Communications Commission) plan which deals with improving broadband Internet access throughout the United States.  Part of the plan, Comcast's program Internet Essentials, began at the start of the school year and is available in 39 states, offers Internet service for a monthly fee of $9.95 plus tax to families that have at least one child in the National School Free Lunch Program.   AT&T's plan offers similar services through the nonprofit organization, One Economy, which has enabled eligible families to receive free and affordable broadband access, plus the related training that enable them to improve their lives.

For more information visit these links: http://www.broadband.gov/ and http://www.internetessentials.com/  

10/04/2011  "Any resident of Maryland who is retired from the workforce by reason of total and permanent disability as defined by the Social Security or Railroad Retirement Act, and who enrolls in any class at Montgomery College, which is eligible under Md. (Educ.) Code Ann. Section 16-305 for State support, which has at least 10 regularly enrolled students, shall be exempt from the payment of tuition, but not required fees." (MC BOT Policy 43003, Modification No. 057)

For more information visit this link: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/admissions/StudentForms/waiver.pdf

For more information visit this link: https://www.disability.gov/benefits/social_security_disability_benefits/