Model Communities

On May 25, 2004 representatives from seven Connecticut towns gathered at the University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in Farmington to share ideas and experiences related to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the life of their communities. In attendance were representatives from the Model Communities of Bridgeport, Groton and New Haven, as well as four other community representatives from municipalities not selected for funding.

The Community Partnerships for Older Adults fosters community partnerships to improve long term care and supportive service systems to meet the current and future needs of older adults. This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program website features a resource center, which showcases the issues involved with creating, maintaining and sustaining a community partnership. Under the section on inclusion and diversity, you can find several resources on developing a culturally competent workforce.

The Formative Evaluation of the Real Choice Systems Change Grants evaluates how the Systems Change grantees are progressing towards meeting their goals. The Formative Evaluation identifies problems faced by the grantees and ways that they deal with the problems. This document provides summary information about each of the FY2003 Grantees.

In fiscal year (FY) 2004, Congress appropriated approximately $40 million in funding for a new round of Real Choice Systems Change Grants. With this solicitation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites proposals for grants totaling approximately $31 million of these funds.

How would a system of supports look if people with disabilities and their circle of friends, or network, were truly in charge of their own needs, if they truly achieved self-determination? This paper is a call to action and an illustration of the depth of change required if we are truly to become responsive to people with disabilities.

The Inventory of Community Services & Supports was designed by the Texas Nursing Home Transition project as a comprehensive profile of the requirements of an individual seeking to relocate from a nursing facility to a community residence. It was intended to be a working document, developed over time as decisions are made about the services and supports for an individual.

The Compendium contains basic information about each of the Real Choice Systems Change Grantees. The Compendium will help you learn more about how these grants will be used to allow more people of all ages with a disability or long term illness to live and participate in their communities. Real Choice Systems Change Grantees will also find the Compendium useful to identify other Grantees with similar goals and activities. This edition of the Compendium replaces all previous editions.

These documents describe the Littleton Model Community Project. Included is a description of the project, a list of expectations, a a questionnaire for Advisory Council Members and a definition of what a model community is.

This link to the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)website contains the presentations from the 2004 CMS Conference held March 2-3, 2004.

This presentation addresses a recent pilot study of the implementation of Rider 37 in Texas, the six pioneers and their support network that facilitated in the transition process from a nursing facility to the community, and the stakeholders in Texas who participated in the interviews.