Five Year Strategic Plan (2017-2021)

In the fall of 2015, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) set out across the State to hear what people with developmental disabilities, families, caregivers and other stakeholders had to say about the issues most important to them when it comes to services and supports. Through an online survey and 11 forums held in nine cities throughout the State, GCDD heard from over 1,000 people.

“People told us about the need for work. They told us about the need for school systems that are more responsive. This population of kids coming out of school today is not the same population that came out in previous years. The expectations are higher therefore the systems have to be better in place,” said Eric Jacobson, executive director of GCDD. “And we heard there are too many people on the waiting lists. Those three things drove a lot of what you see in the plan.”

The Council members and staff used that information to create five goals that GCDD will work on over the next five years. They include:

1. Education
2. Employment
3. Formal and Informal Supports
4. Real Communities
5. Self-Advocacy

The goals then laid the framework for the Council’s work from 2017-2021 that will address services and supports across the State. Charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members through advocacy and capacity building activities, the outcomes for all GCDD efforts aim to ensure that the disability community is more interdependent, has greater economic self-sufficiency, is integrated and included in respective communities, and allows for self-determination.

In August 2016, the Five Year Plan was submitted to AIDD for approval, and the plan officially kicked off on October 1, 2016. It embraced the idea that addressing complex problems requires a collective impact approach involving many actors from different sectors committing to a common agenda, a common vision, a common understanding of the problem and agreed upon rules of engagement to make the disability community across Georgia inclusive, integrated and successful.

To download a pdf of the new Five Year Strategic Plan, click here.  To read a blog about the new Five Year Strategic Plan, click here.