IDHD - The Community Support Program

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The Community Support Program

The Community Support Program focuses on ways to improve the community for people with disabilities. This program provides support to meet the needs of the disability community throughout Illinois. Some ways we are currently supporting the community:

Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative -Helping people with disabilities and organizations find and keep quality direct support professionals, or personal assistants (with funding from ICDD). http://www.rtc.umn.edu/ildspworkforce/index.asp

An exciting new resource has been developed through the DSP Initiative for individuals with disabilities and their family members! Access a copy of the toolkit designed to provide easy-to-use tips and strategies to help people to find, choose and keep high quality Direct Support Professionals: http://www.ildspinitiative.com/

Workforce Development Plan for Illinois Direct Support Professional Initiative
The Initiative's Steering and Advisory Committee have created a comprehensive plan to address direct support workforce issues in Illinois. The following are three versions of the Workforce Development Plan with varying details about these workforce issues. For more information, please visit: http://www.rtc.umn.edu/ildspworkforce/index.asp

One Page Summary - 1.5 MB (PDF file)
Executive Summary - 3.3 MB (PDF file)
Full Version - 3.4 MB (PDF file)

Family Support 360 Project - A Collaborative Project of the Institute on Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, Community Support Services, families of Berwyn and Cicero, community leaders, and local and state organizations to develop a family-driven plan for a one-stop family support center. This project is for families of persons with developmental disabilities in the primarily Latino communities of Berwyn and Cicero.

Caldwell, J., Lopez, E., DeBrine, E., Factor, A., Heller, T., & Ennis, D. (2006). Future planning resource guide for families and adults with developmental disabilities in Illinois. (PDF file, MS Word). Spanish version (PDF file, MS Word)

Family Support 360 Flyer - English version (Word doc)
Proyecto de Apoyo a la Familia 360 - En Espanol (Word doc)

Prioritization of Urgency of Need for Services (PUNS) -Training individuals, families, and service providers about the states' PUNS database. This database will collect information on the needs of people with developmental disabilities in Illinois.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) -Coordinating training and conferences and giving continuing education units to professionals (Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Nursing Home Administrators, Speech Language Pathologists, QMRPs).

Employment Collaborations -Helping to create improved partnerships between services providers and businesses in order to increase the employment of people with disabilities.

Institute on Disability and Human Development
Department of Disability and Human Development
College of Applied Health Sciences
1640 W. Roosevelt Road, MC 626
Chicago IL 60608