1. You are here: AUCD Home
  2. News
  3. Publications
  4. Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) (ME UCEDD)

Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) (ME UCEDD)

August 28, 2017

Does your state's self-advocacy organization have questions about things like fundraising, getting people involved or leadership development? The Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) can help: its mission is to strengthen the self-advocacy movement by supporting self-advocacy organizations to grow in diversity and leadership. SARTAC is a one-stop resource for organizing and supporting self advocacy groups!

SARTAC is the first-ever national resource center for self-advocacy and was developed by Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), the oldest national self-advocacy organization in the country, with funding from the Administration for Community Living, Administration on Disabilities.

SARTAC project partners include the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN); Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA); the Southwest Institute for Families and Children (SWI); TASH; and the University of Missouri Kansas City Institute for Human Development (MO UCEDD).

The activities of the Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center include the following:

  • Create and manage a website where self-advocates can learn about the best ways to organize and support the self-advocacy community;
  • Communicate with the community through social media like Facebook and Twitter;
  • Share best practice tools created by the Regional Self-Advocacy Technical Assistance Centers and by self-advocacy organizations and allies from across the nation;
  • Work with a 12-person Advisory Committee to review information created by the Center;
  • Write a paper, make a video and lead a webinar about the history of the self-advocacy movement;
  • Interview self-advocacy and civil rights leaders about the things that are the same or different about our struggles for our rights;
  • Share success stories in self-advocacy through webinars and video blogs;
  • Provide training and assistance to local, self-advocacy organizations and partners;
  • Provide a planning grant for the state organization who hosts the 2018 and 2020 SABE conference; and
  • Provide 24 self-advocates with policy leadership opportunities.

Recently, Stirling Peebles, Max Barrows and David Frye from Green Mountain Self-Advocates hosted a 30-minute Facebook Live discussion on a wide variety of topics related to self-advocacy and self-advocacy organizations. The archived video of their conversation is available here. This is one example of the creative methods self-advocates will use to provide technical assistance to their peers from across the country as part of this project.

Six self-advocates have been selected to be SARTAC Fellows for 2017-2018. The SARTAC Fellowship is a year-long opportunity for self-advocates to develop and grow their skills as leaders in the self-advocacy movement. The 2017-2018 Fellows are working at host organizations on policy issues or a project that can help develop their leadership skills. Host organizations include:

  • Project ACTION!
  • Ann Storck Center, Inc,
  • University of Illinois Chicago UCEDD (Institute on Disability and Human Development)
  • Self-Advocate Coalition of Kansas
  • University of Idaho UCEDD (Center on Disabilities and Human Development)
  • Self-Advocacy Association of New York State
  • VOICE Buffalo

Please visit the SARTAC website for featured resources on topics such as Medicaid, sexuality, technology, and tips for writing your story and making a newsletter.