Oct. 1, 2018
Contact: Beth Swedeen, (608) 266-1166; beth.swedeen@wisconsin.gov
Wisconsin Receives $2 Million Federal Grant Over 5 Years to Improve Home and Community-Based Long-Term Care Services
(Madison) – The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) has received notice from the federal Administration on Community Living that it has received a 5-year “Living Well” grant totaling $2.132 million over 5 years to improve the health and safety of people with the most significant disabilities by improving the home and community-based services they use to live, work and participate in their homes and communities, rather than institutions.
The grant is a statewide partnership that includes the Department of Health Services, The Arc Wisconsin, The Waisman Center, Disability Rights Wisconsin, People First Wisconsin, InControl Wisconsin, Inclusa, Inc. managed care organization, The Management Group IRIS consulting agency, The WI Coalition for Independent Living Centers, WI APSE, multiple local and statewide service providers, and the national Council on Quality Leadership.
“Nationwide, both in local and federal policy, there is a recognition that people with disabilities are healthier and safer when they can live and work in their communities. But that takes training and support on all levels: for people with disabilities and their families, the service providers who support them, and the community at large,” said Beth Swedeen, BPDD Executive Director.
Swedeen said the outcomes from this project include increased ability for people with disabilities and their families to self-assess and monitor their own health and safety, increased use of evidence-based practices among providers and state agencies to improve safety, better community awareness, better training and support to providers, and more self-advocacy and family-to-family networking,
The Living Well project will be offering a pilot site grant competition within the next few months to identify 5 communities that will receive a set of supports to improve the health and safety of people with disabilities using long-term care.
Swedeen said the grant will provide funding to increase BPDD’s existing efforts on supported decision-making, self-advocacy training, and its Building Full Lives effort to work with service providers to learn strategies for supporting people with disabilities in a wide range of community settings.
For more information on BPDD projects, visit wi-bpdd.org.