The
DD Network consists of three partners in each state and territory authorized under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (the DD Act) and administered by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD): University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), State Developmental Disabilities Councils (DD Councils), and State Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As).
Georgia's DD Network includes:
The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is the state's leader in advancing public policy on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities. Our mission is to promote public policy that creates an integrated community life for persons with developmental disabilities, their families, friends, neighbors and all who support them. We achieve this mission by sharing information, coordinating public outreach and implementing strategic legislative advocacy.
The Center for Leadership in Disability (CLD) is a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at Georgia State University (GSU) since 2008. CLD is located within the Center for Healthy Development and the School of Public Health. Our mission is to translate research into sustainable community practices that contribute to independent, self-determined, inclusive, and productive lives for people with disabilities and their families.
The Institute on Human Development and Disability (IHDD), designated as a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), is part of a national network of 68 university centers. IHDD operates with the support and advice of our Community Advisory Council. IHDD can be envisioned as stretching across Georgia, with educational programs and outreach projects touching every corner of the state. IHDD core funding is provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. IHDD projects are funded by multiple grants, contracts, and private scholarships.
Georgia Advocacy Office, Inc. (GAO) is a private nonprofit corporation. Our mission is to work with and for oppressed and vulnerable individuals in Georgia who are labeled as disabled or mentally ill to secure their protection and advocacy. GAO’s work is mandated by Congress, and GAO has been designated by Georgia as the agency to implement Protection and Advocacy within the state.
New Five Year Strategic Plan
(2022-2026)
Last year, many of you participated in our townhalls to help GCDD develop its next Five Year Strategic Plan (2022 - 2026). Based on your input, GCDD drafted its Five Year Strategic Plan with three goals and their objectives to determine what GCDD will work on to build a more inclusive, integrated state for people with disabilities.
Goals & Objectives
Goal 1: Systems Change
With support from allies, advocates, stakeholders and communities, people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families, will have increased access to and benefit from equitable quality supports and services that increase self-determination and meet their needs and preferences.
Objective 1: By 2024, GCDD will conduct four assessments of different ecosystems comprising housing, employment, transportation, and healthcare in urban, suburban and rural Georgia and produce reports with recommendations for plans with outcomes that reflect equitable access to services and healthy communities. (“Ecosystem” refers to groups of people, organizations, government, geography and systems that either live in a specific area or work together around a specific issue.)
Research should include:
- Gather baseline data for housing, employment, transportation and healthcare.
- Determine existing barriers to access, quality and equity in housing, employment, transportation and healthcare.
- Identify which barriers to address and in which order.
- Outline agency/division to contact for information/support.
- Outline services provided in each agency and eligibility for services.
- Explore intersection of systems, legal pathways, data collection, and planning around certain issues.
- Design program evaluation to determine how to build upon federally mandated data that GCDD collects.
Objective 2: By 2027, GCDD will increase the number of rural and historically marginalized communities that bring people with and without disabilities together to address housing, employment, transportation and healthcare.
Objective 3: Annually, GCDD will increase identification, advocacy and/or sponsorship of legislative, regulatory, policy, procedure and/or practice changes at state and local levels that build capacity in in four areas of the publicly funded systems of housing, employment, transportation, and healthcare to produce outcomes that reflect equitable access to services and healthy communities.
Objective 4: Annually, GCDD will increase the numbers of new state and local advocates to at least 2000 by 2027 who build efforts around housing, employment, transportation and healthcare to produce outcomes that reflect equitable access to services and healthy communities.
Goal 2: Self-Advocacy
GCDD will provide more opportunities for the voices of individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities to be heard by strengthening capacity among Georgia self-advocacy organizations and initiatives, supporting cross disability coalitions and leadership development programs for and by people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Objective 1: Annually, GCDD will increase the number of state and local self -advocacy organizations led by people with intellectual/developmental disabilities, focusing on the development of two local self-advocacy organizations in regions four and five by 2027.
Objective 2: By 2027 GCDD will increase the number of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities who participate in leadership trainings led by people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Targeted Disparity and Diversity Goal: The Council’s activities and those done in collaboration will be conducted with a focus on equity that increases the access of marginalized communities with particular emphasis on racial and ethnic minorities and those in rural areas.
Objective 1: By 2027, GCDD will partner with the DD Network, civil rights, and other organizations throughout Georgia to increase the number of counties that develop and implement activities that addresses the School to Prison Pipeline in four counties.
Objective 2: By 2027, GCDD will increase access to technology for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in rural and underserved areas which impacts access to employment, housing, transportation and healthcare.
Objective 3: By 2027, GCDD will partner with state and local civic engagement organizations so that people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in rural and historically marginalized communities will have increased access to opportunities to participate in civic engagement including voting.
Goal 3: Effective and Efficient Organization
GCDD will continue to improve its operations while meeting the requirements of the Developmental Disabilities Bill of Rights and Assistance Act
Objective 1: Annually, GCDD members set the strategic direction of the organization, recruit and orient new members, and assess implementation of the strategic plan.
Objective 2: GCDD members and staff will participate in training and learning journeys on the local, state and national levels.
Objective 3: By 2023 GCDD will perform an internal audit to ensure that both Council internal and external operations adopt diversity, equity and inclusion best practices.
Objective 4: GCDD will continuously examine and make recommendations about emerging trends.
About the Five Year Strategic Plan
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.
The plan is the foundation of how the Council does its work across the state. By hearing from individuals with disabilities, family members, caregivers, siblings and the community-at-large, it set the course of what the Council has to work on for the next five years.
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.
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.
COVID-19 Resources for People with Developmental Disabilities
The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) joins local, national and international communities in acknowledging the COVID-19 pandemic, also known as coronavirus. As a trusted resource for Georgians with developmental disabilities and their families, GCDD aims to continue educating and informing our community.
Please see below for a list of vetted and accessible resources and materials for the most up-to-date developments. This list includes regional, statewide, national and international information regarding the outbreak of COVID-19 from trusted sources in one central location. As more verified resources become available, they will be added to this list.
For the most current national information contact the Centers for Disease Control.
Georgia-Specific Resources:
Global Agencies:
Federal Resources:
Community Organizations:
Additional Resources:
A Message from GCDD's Executive Director Eric E. Jacobson
To members of the GCDD community,
Only a week ago, COVID-19 was likely not something most of us worried about and did not expect to impact our lives. Today, COVID-19 has changed our routines around work, transportation and even going out to eat. For each of us, COVID-19 has become a challenge, and for some it may be scary because we can’t see the virus or always identify who has it. For some people with disabilities and health issues such as heart conditions or diabetes, COVID-19 can cause added hardships and illness. Other questions many of us might have include, “What will happen if my direct care staff are unable to come to work because everyone is at home trying to stay safe or have contracted the virus? If this happens, who will help us get up in the morning or make sure we get our medications?”
GCDD wants you to know that the State of Georgia is still open for business. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities is working to make sure that direct care staff are able to do their jobs and that people have access to the funds necessary to continue providing supports. The most important thing is for us to remain patient and (as much as is possible at this time) come together as a community to support each other.
GCDD staff will be working remotely for the foreseeable future, but we will be returning emails and phone calls. We think our job is to get you to the best, most trusted resources available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health are the two best places to receive updates on COVID-19 and how developments may impact you. We have listed these resources and more below. We will be updating this as new information becomes available.
Like you, we at GCDD are continuing with a new “business as usual” mentality. From all of us at GCDD, we are committed to you and the important work that we have been doing, and we wish you the very best as you navigate these challenging times.
