Council Kicks Off Five Year Strategic Planning Process

This spring, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) will kick off planning for its next Five Year Strategic Plan that will lay the framework for the Council’s work from 2022-2026. The Five Year Strategic Plan determines how the Council will allocate funding to create systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members through advocacy and capacity building activities.

“All GCDD efforts aim to ensure that people with disabilities are independent and interdependent, have greater economic self-sufficiency, are integrated and included in their respective communities and self-determined in their lives,” said GCDD Executive Director Eric Jacobson.

The Council will reach out across the state to hear what people with developmental disabilities, families, caregivers and other stakeholders have to say about the issues most important to them when it comes to services and supports. GCDD will initiate this work with an online survey and statewide forums, and details of each will be announced soon.

“The Five Year Strategic Plan is the foundation of how the Council does its work across the state,” said Jacobson. “We need to hear from individuals with disabilities, family members, caregivers, siblings and the community-at-large about what issues are important to them. This feedback will set the course of what the Council has to work on for the next five years.”

Currently, the Council is working off the 2017-2021 plan that focuses on five goals: Education, Employment, Formal and Informal Supports, Real Communities and Self-Advocacy.

Driven by the plan, various projects emerged and were expanded by GCDD in partnership with organizations across the state. Through a grant from GCDD, Sangha Unity Network (SUN) is working to promote, create and sustain an advocacy movement for individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities. With University of Georgia's Institute on Human Development and Disability, GCDD launched Advancing Employment to improve employment supports and outcomes for individuals with disabilities who want to work through a technical assistance center that supports Provider Transformation. Additionally, the Supported Decision-Making partnership seeks to lay the foundation for widespread adoption of supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship in Georgia, among so many more.

“The strategic plan is the driver for the Council. We do our jobs by putting into action ideas that create community impact and ultimately change systems in ways that ensure the disability community has access to meaningful lives of their choice,” added Jacobson.

Learn more about GCDD’s Impact in the state of Georgia.

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