As you may know, in 2016 SDMNY was originally funded for 5 years by the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC). Although we basically “lost” the fifth and final year because of the pandemic, DDPC was unable to continue the grant for a sixth year. Without funding for a “bridge year” to allow us to finish our work, SDMNY would have closed down on March 31 of this year. But…
We got incredibly lucky when the value of our work was recognized by the Ford Foundation, and then by The FAR Fund and The Taft Foundation. Together they made it possible for us to continue through April of 2022. Their generosity and faith in SDMNY means that we will be able to reach the goals we had set for the project, including 100 signed SDMAs, and which we’re right on track to do. It also means that we will still be around to provide information about SDM and SDM facilitation to legislators as they consider the SDMA law that the State Senate passed last session. But…
A while ago we were contacted by OPWDD to see if we would be interested in applying for grant money that they had as a result of Covid relief funds and, of course, we were! We thought about what might be the most important way to move SDM facilitation forward, and to make it available for everyone in the state who wants it, regardless of ability to pay. We put that all in the grant proposal, and on Wednesday we got the incredibly good news…
SDMNY has been funded for three more years!
The model is going to be a little different; we’ll be telling you more as we move forward on the contract. We will, however, continue to provide facilitation and advance SDM as a way in which people with I/DD can make their own decisions, with the support they choose, and have those decisions recognized just like everyone else! We are enormously grateful to OPWDD, and especially to the new Acting Commissioner Kerri E. Neifeld, not only for this generous grant, but for recognizing the value of SDM and how it can lead to better, more autonomous, self-determined and inclusive lives for people with I/DD.
To read the official announcement, click here to visit the OPWDD website.