Community Living Technical Assistance Exchange at ILRU

2004

On September 28, 2001, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded two grants for implementation of the National Technical Assistance Exchange on Community Living, one to Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU), a program of the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation Research (TIRR), the other to the Center for Health Policy (CSHP) at Rutgers University. The goal of the grants is to provide, a program of technical assistance for grantees implementing programs under the CMS National Community Living Initiative. The Community Living Technical Assistance Exchange directs it’s support toward systemic changes to enable children and adults of any age who have a disability or long-term illness to live as fully integrated into the community as they wish, to exercise meaningful choices about any and all aspects of their lives and to obtain quality services consistent with their preferences. The Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE) was established in March of 2001 as part of the Institute on Disability/UCEDD at the University of New Hampshire. CHANCE's mission is to improve and increase access to integrated, affordable, and accessible housing coordinated with, but separate from, personal assistance and supportive services. CHANCE's purpose will be to offer alternatives to approaches that segregate, congregate, and control people with disabilities. The IOD will work in partnership with ADAPT in all aspects of the Center. ADAPT is a national organization that focuses on promoting services in the community for people with disabilities. The development of community housing and services for people with disabilities has been a major national policy direction for the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the administrative structures supporting community services typically promote congregate and agency controlled approaches to housing and personal assistance services. While the number of people living in institutions and large facilities has decreased, the vast majority of individuals residing "in the community" live in residences owned and controlled by someone else. Housing and personal assistance services are dictated far more often by government and agency preferences than by the needs and desires of persons with disabilities. Current approaches have not assured that people with disabilities are afforded control over, or even a voice in, the most basic decisions regarding where they live, with whom they live, the nature of the assistance they receive, and how they spend their time. ADAPT and the IOD intend to collaborate with a broad coalition of people and organizations concerned with housing, economics, personal assistance services, and advocacy. The coalition will include people with disabilities and their families, as well as people from federal, state, and local agencies. Collaboration between the private and public sectors will be encouraged and facilitated. CHANCE will partner with ILRU to manage its activities on the Exchange Collaborative, with a major focus on working with states and other groups to implement Nursing Facility Transition grants. CHANCE will also work with grantees and others on systems change as it relates to transition and housing issues.

Real Choice Systems Change, Housing, Nursing Facility Transition

Training Trainees, Performing Technical Assistance and/or Training, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information

Health-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities, Housing-Related Activities, Quality of Life, Other

Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, General Public

Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Empowerment Zone, Renewal Community, Reservation, Rural/Remote, Urban, Territory

Regional, National

N/A