Advocating for Public Policy Change
Grassroots advocacy activities to improve and enhance services and supports for people with developmental disabilities and their families is the fo us of these grants. Advocates in eight areas of the state will educate policymakers about state level issues, such as reduction of waiting lists, Olmstead initiatives, restructuring of the family support system, and Ohio's participation in Medicaid Buy-In. Each of the following sites receives $28,000:
Easter Seals Society of Northwest Ohio, Toledo, The Advocates for People with Developmental Disabilities, Dayton The Arc of Hamilton County, Cincinnati The Arc of Portage and Summit Counties, Akron Brain Injury Association of Ohio, Dover Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio, Columbus HAVAR, Inc., Athens Linking Employment Abilities and Potential (LEAP), Cuyahoga County
Benefit Innovators-Project WISE
Designed to help people with disabilities, family members, and service providers gain increased access to information regarding federal and state employment benefits, the project will develop training materials on federal and state employment benefits, Social Security Work Incentives, Medicaid Buy-In, and systems advocacy. Project will demonstrate innovative ways to use federal and state benefits to allow individuals with significant disabilities to have more income and assets. Successful methodologies and recommendations for activities to change systems will be presented in a final product. Cerebral Palsy Association of Ohio, Columbus, $136,550.
Collaboration, Coordination, and Outreach to Unserved and Underserved Council staff and members will continue to collaborate with other councils, committees and interagency bodies in order to advocate for Council's positions on public policy issues, and to strengthen and expand services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Through their involvement with more than 100 other entities, Council members and staff also gain information about the service system that assists them in their planning and advocacy. In addition, Council is addressing the issue of those who are unserved and underserved by reaching out to build connections between diverse communities and service providers.
Those who are unserved/underserved include individuals from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, disadvantaged individuals, individuals with limited English proficiency, individuals from unserved geographic areas and specific groups of individuals within the population of individuals with developmental disabilities.
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Project Reach
Project Reach is a grant that works with high school and college students with disabilities from unserved and underserved populations. This project will use several methods of information dissemination and use professionals in the rehabilitation community to conduct presentations, job fairs, job-shadow coordination, and summer intern placements. The project also will use various high schools and colleges around the Ohio for training and recruiting students.
Understanding the wide variety of employment areas within the MRDD field, in the first year of Project Reach, the scope will be narrowed to focus on the areas of service coordination, residential care, rehabilitation and vocational habilitation opportunities.
Wright-Choice Internship, Inc., Columbus, $7,500
Triple Jeopardy II-African American Women with Disabilities
The African American Women with Disabilities Report was the first outreach effort by Council staff in collaboration with a community agency that dealt with a specific minority population.
The purpose of this report was to educate, and make the public aware of specific issues in a minority community s it related to African American Women with Disabilities, and to give these women a platform through support groups so their concerns could be heard.
The project will take the report to the next level. The project director will increase possible systemic change by capacity building efforts with Urban Leagues throughout Ohio. She will increase community awareness by providing training to Urban League staff about developmental disabilities so they may educate the community as part of the services they provide in the area of health. She will develop guidelines for future collaboration with other agencies, and a research data component will be added to the report that various state universities will contribute to. Cassandra Archie, Columbus, $12,000
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Working for Our Kids
Centro Esperanza Latina (CEL) Family Services Program is a project that will help families in the Hispanic Community that have children with developmental disabilities receive qualified care from community agencies. CEL will serve as an agent in the community by linking with key community partners to implement this program. As the community becomes diverse, including the increasing Latino population, more children with developmental disabilities will need to be identified and screened.
CEL will recruit and screen families of children with developmental disabilities in the Latino community, and that will include any ethnicities, provide the disability assessment, link families to existing community services, evaluate project outcomes, and make recommendations to the Oho Developmental Disabilities Council Outreach Subcommittee. Centro Esperanza Latina (Center for Latin Hope), Columbus, $10,000
Planning for Informal and Formal Caregiving-Safe Harbor
Phase Two Demonstration Coordinated Project
This project is assisting parents over 60 years of age to develop a long term care plan, which includes an emergency plan. The project is currently working with more than 20 families in various stages of this process. . PLAN of SE Ohio in conjunction with Elder Care of the Ohio Valley, $40,000
Development and Replication of a Regional Dental Program for People with Disabilities Individuals with developmental disabilities in previously unserved and underserved areas of Ohio will receive continuous, appropriate dental care resulting from the development and/or replication of regional models of dental care for patients with unique needs. The project director will facilitate and implement a plan to introduce the model throughout Ohio and encourage replication. Community Action Organization of Scioto County, Inc., Portsmouth, $100,000
Educational Options for Children
To maximize the educational potential of children with disabilities, parents will be assisted in understanding the educational options and rights available to them. The project will provide services to parents of preschool children to expand their knowledge, skills and acquire tools to establish an informed advocacy base that will effect positive systems change in the education system in schools. The grantee will report numerical changes in inclusionary practices of the districts involved and compare to baseline data collected at the onset of project. REACH (Referral & Educational Association for Child Health), Portsmouth, $50,000
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Employment Collaborative
This project is a collaborative effort involving Governor's Council on People with Disabilities, U.S. Department of Labor: Office of Disability Employment Policy, and the National Organization on Disabilities. Programs in the project include:
* Business Leadership Network-businesses in Ohio will explore methods
to more effectively recruit and market the talents of job applicants with disabilities;
* Youth Leadership Forum-students with disabilities will receive
leadership and career training; and
* Start on Success-high school students with developmental
disabilities will have opportunities for paid internships. Families and school personnel provide training, guidance, coaching, and supports in all aspects of career planning. Ohio's Governor's Council on People with Disabilities, Columbus, $50,000
Empowerment Fund
The ODDC will enable individuals with developmental disabilities and family members to serve on policy and program planning bodies and to gain knowledge and skills by attending conferences and meetings. A committee of Council members will approve applicant requests in accordance with the policies governing the fund. Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council, Columbus
Family Support Act
The project continues ODDC's initiative to increase statewide availability of individualized supports to families of children with developmental disabilities. The project will support the passage of the Family Support Act and establish the Family Support Board. The Family Support Act will establish a simple, streamlined application/eligibility process, create a single point of entry to find out about, apply for and evaluate supports and link data bases among agencies to generate unduplicated information. The Family Support Board will change the support system for families in Ohio by developing a family-centered and family directed system, coordinating efforts with local and state agencies, making recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly, testing and piloting initiatives, and reviewing any other issues with regard to development of a family support system. Ohio Legal Rights Services, Columbus, $50,000
Fannie Mae//HomeChoice: Homeownership for People with Disabilities Project
Low income people with disabilities and/or their families will be assisted in renting or becoming homeowners. The goal is to provide homebuyer counseling services to 12 or more low-income individuals with disabilities and/or their families who want to become homeowners. In addition, six homebuyers can receive down-payment assistance. Project is using Housing Trust Funds and multiple cash matches from both corporations and nonprofit organizations to meet the goals of the Special Needs Homeownership Assistance Program. LADD, Inc., Cincinnati, $15,000
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Funding for the Arts
Emerging artists with disabilities will move to a higher level of artistic career development. Funding can be used for any artistic discipline to assist artists with disabilities develop the materials and skills necessary to begin marketing their art for profit. Funding is available yearly for public and private nonprofit and for-profit organizations and individuals in Ohio that have a commitment to promoting artists with disabilities. Recipients for 2005, $12,000
Art on Main, Urbana
Artist's Open Studio, Norwalk
We Care Arts, Kettering
Gallery Arts Center, Columbus
Joining the Arts Community, New Philadelphia
Art Bridge Studio, Columbus
The Purple Cat, Youngstown
Hocking County Board of MRDD, Logan
Improving Quality Assurance for Services and Supports
My Voice, My Choice Project This project will continue to pilot the provider report card statewide. In 2005, the project will be expanded to include a day program report card. This "Provider Report Card" allows customers with disabilities and their families and/or guardians to have a voice in stating how they feel about the services they receive and to assist them in making an informed choice about services and supports. Norwich Consulting Services, Ltd., Columbus, $90,000
Infant and Toddler Mental Health
Mental health assessment tools for children, age birth to five, at risk for developmental disabilities or who have developmental disabilities, will be evaluated. The project will assess the tools' overall effectiveness and promote their use by professionals through education, training, and technical assistance. In addition, the project will work to raise the awareness of programs and service providers who work in early intervention and infant child care. The project will advocate, first at the local level and then expand to all of Ohio, for an effective and coordinated service delivery of mental health services to assure better outcomes for children. Children's Resources Center, Bowling Green, $50,000
Offenders with Developmental Disabilities Partners in Justice Project
The Action Committee will continue to address statewide issues relating to offenders with mental retardation and developmental disabilities and to educate individuals working in the justice system and the field of mental retardation on the critical issues facing both systems and to identify ways in which the systems can work together to resolve some of those issues. The Action Committee will continue to allocate mini-grants to those counties participating in the project in order to conduct training tailored to their county's needs. This Action Committee will continue to advocate and develop interest and support (financial and political) for creating a treatment center.
Cincinnati Children's Division of Developmental Disabilities, Cincinnati, $25,000
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Partners in Policymaking
Partners in Policymaking is an educational program created by the Minnesota DD Council and currently offered in 46 other states and foreign countries. It is an innovative, competency-based, leadership training program for adults with disabilities and parents of individuals with developmental disabilities. During the first year of the project, 20 participants will receive training. Half will be individuals with a developmental disability and half will be parents or other family members. Participants will be recruited from seven counties in northwest Ohio, and from DD Council membership. Partners become competent to change their own lives, and then to work for changes that will affect others with disabilities at local, state and national levels. The Ability Center of Greater Toledo, Toledo, $50,000
People First of Ohio
Self-advocates will learn to advocate for themselves to have the same rights, responsibilities, choices, and lives as other community members. They will learn how to be active in making Ohio's communities more inclusive of people with developmental disabilities. Each year, project will set up at least four new chapters and provide self-advocacy training. People First of Ohio, Mt. Vernon, $109,000
Personal Assistance Services Cooperative
This project will continue to establish a Personal Assistance Services Cooperative as a pilot in Cleveland, Ohio. It will be owned and operated by people with disabilities and family members. In 2005, the project also will focus on children with disabilities and families of people with dementia. LEAP Attendant Training Program, Cleveland, $25,000
Professional and Teacher Development Task Force
This project will staff a task force whose members will be a statewide representation of educational stakeholders, including members and staff of DD Council's Children's Issues Committee. The task force will ensure that educational needs of students with disabilities are met in Ohio's implementation of No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 by ensuring there is language in the State's Consolidated Application Plan and its guidance to local education agencies to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities with respect to professional and teacher development in all educational settings.
The project will educate public policy makers at all levels (state and federal legislators as well the Oho Board of regents, boards of directors of colleges and universities, and local school boards) as to the need for better-prepared professionals and teachers to educate students with disabilities in all educational settings. Memorial Inc., Cincinnati, $50,000
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Public Awareness-AXIS
Project will increase awareness of the capacities and needs of people with developmental disabilities and their families, and issues related to the provision of services and supports for these individuals. Activities will
include: production of a quarterly DD Council newsletter and a variety of awareness materials; presentations and trainings; participation in organizations; developing and implementing DD Council's public relations plan; producing Council's Annual Conference, and maintaining a toll-free help line. AXIS Center for Public Awareness of People with Disabilities, Columbus, $238,000
Public Awareness-OPI
Council will be cosponsoring the annual media and awareness awards luncheon hosted by Ohio Public Images. Awards recognize outstanding efforts by the media, organizations, consumers, and private entities to create positive awareness of people with developmental disabilities. Project also will create a poster contest encouraging students to recognize their classmates with developmental disabilities as full participants in school and community activities, and will revise selected products developed under previous ODDC grants. Ohio Public Images, Inc., Toledo, $25,000
Self-Determination in Employment: Employment Outcomes and Micro-enterprise
Innovative and unique ways to access employment for individuals with disabilities will be demonstrated by expanding the Employment Outcome project, piloted in Delaware County, to all counties in Ohio. People with disabilities will receive "Challenge Grants" that can be used either to pay an "Employment Agent's" commission that is based on earnings of the person with a disability, or to start a business. The person with a disability and those he or she chooses to help will be in control of their resources. Robert Morgan, Delaware, $100,000
Solidarity Conference
Scholarships will be provided for 160 individuals with developmental disabilities to attend the Solidarity Conference in 2005. Solidarity is Ohio's largest conference planned by and for people with disabilities. Participants gain knowledge and skills from workshops, keynote speakers, health and wellness fairs, technology displays, and exhibits. Many agencies, corporations, and individual contributors also support the conference. Disability Network of Ohio-Solidarity, Inc., Dayton, $25,000
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Technical Assistance and Training Benefiting People Who Have Mental Retardation or Other Developmental Disabilities, with Co-occurring Mental Illness
Centers of Excellence will be developed as a base for extensive training, technical assistance, and mini-grant incentives to counties throughout the state. ODDC, Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and Ohio Department Mental Health are funding this project. Wright State University, Dayton, $75,000
Volunteer Credentialing Program for Direct Support Professionals-PATHS Project
Professional Advancement through Training and Education in Human Services (PATHS), recipient of the Moving Mountains Award, will continue to develop and implement a volunteer credentialing program for direct support professionals working with people with disabilities in selected regions of the state. Currently, it is being implemented in Hamilton, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. In 2005, the West Central region will enroll 24 candidates in their Certificate of Initial Proficiency (CIP) classes.
Activity will include identifying specific problems and best practices related to the recruitment and retention of direct support professionals to provide in-home family support. Grantee will continue to develop an advocacy plan to address issues related to providing in-home family support services. They also will continue active and ongoing dialogue with the Department of Labor and the Ohio State Apprenticeship Council. Ohio Alliance of Direct Support Professionals and Ohio Provider Resources Association, Columbus, $75,000
