UCEDD-CIL Partnerships: Key to Long-Term Services and Supports for People with Disabilities (MD UCEDD)

March 7, 2016

The Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) are now under the same Administration on Community Living. Together they are working on strategic partnerships to maximizing the capacity for the delivery of long-term services and supports in the community. One such program is Maryland CIL-Ready, a partnership between the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute and the seven Centers for Independent Living across Maryland. Maryland CIL-Ready assessed and addressed CIL sustainability and capacity development. The partners have developed strategies to address systemic themes such as funding diversification and outcomes measurement, which are key to achieving long-term sustainability.

Pattie Tingle, executive director of Bay Area Center for Independent Living, which provides independent living services across all nine counties on Maryland's Eastern Shore, said, "The CIL partnership with the MCDD has given us useful tools to respond to new and changing needs that we are seeing in our local community. Because CILs are organizations led by and for people with disabilities, they are able to connect people with disabilities across systems and organizations like UCEDDs."

The Maryland CIL-Ready project is supported by funding from the Administration on Community Living through the Maryland Department of Aging in partnership with the Maryland Department of Disabilities.

Photo caption:
Christine Schoenberger, MHS, and Pattie Tingle discuss succession planning strategies on a recent site visit. Schoenberger is with the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities and oversees the Maryland CIL-Ready project; Tingle is executive director of Bay Area Center for Independent Living.