NOTICES
PENNSYLVANIA DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COUNCIL
State Plan for Fiscal Years 1999--2003; Suggestions from the Public
[28 Pa.B. 1605] Under the provisions of the Federal Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, as amended, Pub.L. No. 103-230 (The 1994 DD Act), this announcement serves to notify the public of the planning activities of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council (Council).
The Council is currently forming its State Plan for the Federal Fiscal Years of 1999--2003, provided that the Federal funds for these years continues intact for Council activities.
This State Plan is to be submitted in August of 1998, updated each subsequent August, and reported on each January. The State Plan is submitted to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for approval to expend the Commonwealth's allotment of Federal funds under Part B of the 1994 DD Act. As Section 101(b) of the 1994 DD Act states, the Council shall ''assure that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families participate in the design of and have access to culturally competent services, supports and other assistance and opportunities that promote independence, productivity, integration and inclusion into community.''
The composition of the Council and its working committees includes individuals with developmental disabilities, parents and relatives of persons with developmental disabilities, representatives of the principal state agencies that administer funds serving people with disabilities, the State's university affiliated program, the State's protection and advocacy system and persons associated with local agencies, nongovernmental agencies and private nonprofit organizations concerned with services for individuals with developmental disabilities. It is these individuals who have developed the plan thus far.
Through this notice, the Council makes its 1999--2003 Plan, as developed thus far, available to the public in order to ''take into account and respond to significant suggestions'' that may be offered. Suggestions for the Plan will be welcome until April 30, 1998 and must be submitted in writing to:
The Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council
Attention: Rosemary Barrett
Room 561--Forum Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
The remainder of this announcement delineates the 33 initiatives and activities in which the Council expects to engage over the next 5-year period. Unless otherwise indicated, the Council's approach to fulfilling these initiatives is to issue a competitive bid, called a Request for Proposals (RFPs), to fund one or more entities to carry out the work as will be described in the RFP. The Federal fiscal years (FFYs) for which funding is planned and the total amount to be expended over the 5 years are indicated after each description. The descriptions are arranged per six Federally defined ''life domains'' plus an ''other state selected'' domain.
Health Domain
1. Managed Care. To fund an entity that will educate persons with disabilities and their families on managed care services, particularly with respect to their rights, responsibilities and options, including the appeal process; and to develop and disseminate position papers on managed care and people with disabilities including appropriateness, access, legal rights, responsibilities and how managed care technologies and protocols are best applied to this population. FFY 99-03; $475,000
2. Health Care Professionals. To fund one or more entities to provide continuing education and training to a full range of health care providers and organizations so that they accord people with developmental disabilities and their families the same respect in selecting and receiving their health care treatments as patients without disabilities. FFY 99-03; $300,000
Housing Domain
3. Citizen Owned Housing. To fund an entity to provide intensive technical assistance, and to replicate known, successful methods, whereby citizens with severe disabilities are assisted to own their own homes. FY 99-03; $475,000
4. Long Term Care. To fund one or more entities that will advocate for community based services to provide alternative living choices to traditional long term care residential placements such as, but not limited to, nursing homes, personal care boarding homes, pediatric care homes and intermediate care facilities for persons with mental retardation. (ICF/MRs). FFY 99-01; $210,000
5. Personal Assistance Services. To fund an entity to advocate for the expansion of personal assistance services to people with all types of disabilities, including physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities, and to promote regulatory change that will realistically meet the every day needs of people who rely on personal care service systems. FFY 00-02; $150,000
Employment Domain
6. Business Leaders Network. To fund an entity that will support the development of a Pennsylvania Business Leaders Network to proactively engage local employers in the issues of disability hiring, advancement, work force diversity, and access to customers with disabilities. FFY 99-03; $200,000
7. Entrepreneurship. To continue to support entre-preneurship activities begun in the Council's 96-98 Plan cycle. FFY 99-01; $120,000
8. Employment. To support activities related to improving opportunities for the employment of people with developmental disabilities. FFY 99-03; $200,000
Education Domain
9. Monitoring Outcomes for Children. To fund an entity to research what are the valued outcomes for children and families using early intervention and early childhood services; and to implement best practice models while continuing the long range study. FFY 00-03; $320,000
10. Leadership on School Inclusion. To fund a Statewide leadership institute on school inclusion that supports and networks teachers, families, school personnel and community members around inclusion practices. FFY 99-01; $75,000
11. Teacher Preparation. To continue to fund Council's current three ''Teacher Preparation'' projects in FFY 99 and 00 which are establishing model teacher preparation programs in universities, and to reserve funds in FFY 01-03 to solidify these systemic changes and/or to influence standards around formal teacher certification. FFY 99-03; $650,000
Community Inclusion Domain
12. Minority Outreach/Cultural Competence. To fund an entity that will train Council funded projects around the issues and values of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity and inclusion; and that will provide information to minority communities about the Council and its work. FFY 99-03; $90,000
13. Parent Supports. To fund several local entities which engage parents of children with disabilities of all types and of all ages to promote inclusion concepts and activities in both generic settings and specialized service settings their children use; and to continue to fund Statewide support to and coordination of this work. FFY 99-03; $750,000
14. Building Inclusion Capacities in the Community. To fund a series of entities, using a variety of proven approaches which promote inclusionary practices, to work in nondisability related community settings and to educate and build alliances among such groups and between such groups and specialized services so as to broaden their efforts toward inclusionary practices; and to continue to fund the Statewide support to and coordination of this work as well as to continue to refine and disseminate information pertaining to these approaches. FFY 99-03; $1,075,000
15. Formal Citizen Advocacy. To continue to support and ensure that the Citizen Advocacy Consortium of Pennsylvania is firmly established in the State. FFY 99-02; $680,000
16. Inclusion in Faith Communities. To fund a variety of small scale efforts that will promote inclusion and full access to a fulfilling spiritual life for people with developmental disabilities and their families in faith communities of their choice. FFY 99-01; $90,000
17. Personal Forms of Advocacy. To reserve funds for demonstrating and promoting new forms of personal, one-to-one advocacy. FFY 01-03; $100,000
18. Citizen Monitoring. To fund an entity to facilitate and provide technical assistance to people with developmental disabilities, their family members, and a full range of county service system providers to develop realistic citizen monitoring programs of the full range of local services upon which people with disabilities rely. FFY 99-03; $240,000
19. Family Support. To continue to fund the development of state legislation for a cross-disabilities, noncategorical, comprehensive, inclusive family support system. FFY 99-01; $240,000
Self-Determination Domain
20. Legal Advocacy. To fund one entity to conduct specified legal advocacy and legal education activities that will assure service protections for children and adults with disabilities and their families; to disseminate and encourage the implementation of relevant case law; to affirm and support the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights legislation related to people with developmental disabilities. FFY 99-03; $725,000
21. Leaders Development. To fund one or more entities to engage in specified leadership development, training and technical assistance activities on behalf of the Council. FFY 99-03; $375,000
22. Local and Collective Advocacy. To fund many entities engaged in local, collective, grassroots and/or self advocacy efforts across the State; to establish networks of these groups; and to continue to fund the Statewide effort that provides technical assistance and coordination to the local efforts. FFY 99-03; $875,000
23. Fellowship. To continue to fund, on an every other year basis, the Council?s Fellowship Program. In FFYs 99, 01, 03; $150,000
24. Voucher Viability. To fund a 1-year study and the preparation of position papers on the viability of using vouchers in a full range of disability service systems in order to inform the Council's next steps in this area and to consider possible collaboration with others about this type of service system change. FFY 99; $30,000
State Choice/''Other'' Domain
25. Public Information/Relations. With oversight by the Council regarding content and vision of the materials, to fund one entity to provide a variety of technical services assisting the Council in all forms of its public information services. FFY 99-03; $240,000
26. Project Evaluation. To fund an entity to provide on-going evaluation of all Council funded projects in this Plan cycle and to analyze the collected data for purposes of Federal reporting and for the Council's public information and quality improvement purposes. FFY 99-03; $180,000
27. Transportation. To fund up to two entities that will develop and support local efforts to improve transportation services around the State for people with disabilities not served by fixed route systems, particularly those in rural areas. FFY 99-03; $480,000
28. Provider Practice Training Model. To fund an entity that will establish a model training institute for agency personnel, particularly direct care staff, in the values and practices of the field that the Council espouses and in establishing networks and mentoring opportunities for such personnel. FFY 99-03; $210,000
29. Criminal Justice System Change. To collaborate with and partially fund efforts to design and provide training to professionals in the Criminal Justice system about persons with developmental disabilities in that system. FFY 99-01; $15,000
30. Sustainability. To continue to support the Council's organizational sustainability efforts begun in the 96-98 Plan cycle. FFY 03; $25,000
31. Informing Policymakers. To fund an entity to provide assistance and consultation to the Council regarding its development of position papers to inform policymakers about issues important to people with developmental disabilities and their families, and to facilitate communication between the Council and policymakers at all levels. FFY 99-03; $360,000
32. Meeting Coordination. To fund an entity to coordinate the regular, annual meetings called by the Council and up to 20 other special events, conferences, gatherings or round table discussions to be designed and sponsored by the Council over the 5-year Plan. Thus far, two types of special events are planned: a) Cross-disabilities round-table discussions on current, selected issues; and b) Regional dialogues and exchanges among families who have members residing in a range of residential settings. FFY 99-03; $273,000
33. Special Projects. To continue to fund three or more small special projects each year that support the Council's basic goals and objectives. FFY 99-03; $115,000
GRAHAM MULHOLLAND,
Executive Director
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 98-511. Filed for public inspection March 27, 1998, 9:00 a.m.]
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