The DC Supporting Families Community of Practice (SF CoP) is a group of family members, advocates with disabilities, government leaders, disability advocacy and services professionals, and other interested community members who are thinking together about how to create policies, practices and systems that better support families that include a member with an intellectual or developmental disability across the life course.

Some of the activities the SF CoP has initiated or been involved in include:

• Development of a Parent to Parent organization in DC – Parent to Parent will provide emotional and informational peer support to parents of children with disabilities across the life course.
• Identifying opportunities and strategies for advocacy – The SF CoP Advocacy Committee has developed an Advocacy Guide that will assist people with disabilities and their families to participate in advocacy about disability issues in DC.
• No Wrong Door efforts – Several agencies of DC government looked to the SF CoP to provide input on creating a coordinated, District-wide No Wrong Door system that supports all DC residents in need of long-term services and supports, and their families regardless of where they enter the system.
• Person Centered Thinking – The SF CoP is integrating the core concepts and skills of person centered thinking into all that it does.
• Ongoing outreach efforts – The SF CoP is always thinking about ways to include more people with disabilities and their families in this work!

If this interests you or you have any questions, contact Emily Ornstein at [email protected] or 202-730-1687 for more information.

The District of Columbia Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (CoP) partners include the DC Department on Disability Services, DC Developmental Disabilities Council, Project ACTION!, Advocates for Justice and Education, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, and the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities. This project is funded by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and is managed by a partnership between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), University of Missouri Kansas City Institute for Human Development (UMKC-IHD), Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), and the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD).

• Supporting Families State Team Meeting Resources (meetings notes and presentations)
• Supporting Families Other Resources (Important links, important webinars and other resources)
• OSSE Self-Determination Film Series
• DC SF CoP Annual Mtg 5-26-2015