Leadership and Community Support

CT Family Support 360: A Planning Grant

OVERVIEW

The Family Support 360: A Planning Grant was a one year project funded by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities. The purpose of the Family Support project was to plan multi-agency partnerships to design a one-stop Center to assist poor or underserved families with a child or adult member with a developmental disability to preserve, strengthen and maintain their family unit. The objectives of this project were to (a) formalize partnerships, (b) assess information technology, (c) assess existing resources, (d) conduct an analysis of eligibility across agencies/programs, (e) assess training needs, (f) conduct strategic planning, and (g) develop an implementation plan.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • Participants in the planning process included the Connecticut Real Choice Steering Committee, the consumer advisory board for the Center, and the Bridgeport Real Choices Steering Committee.
  • Consumers and target families had meaningful involvement in all project planning and activities.
  • The statewide workgroup was a collaboration among the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Mental Retardation, the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Labor, as well of many private providers.
  • Meetings were held and a target population, parents with cognitive limitations, was identified to serve with the one-stop Center.
  • Gaps were identified in serving this target population and ideas were generated on how to meet their needs and effect change in a state system.
  • A local task force was created to develop an implementation plan to specifically target this population in the city of Bridgeport.