Wisconsin’s Living Well project aims to increase health, safety, independence and well-being of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in the community. The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) received a 5-year federal grant from the Administration on Community Living to develop and test approaches for improving home and community-based services (HCBS) for people with developmental disabilities.

Did You Know? Individuals with I/DD who report having friends are 6 times more likely to participate in their communities

Main Parts

• A Consortium designed as a peer leadership network with a variety of perspectives including individuals living in diverse settings, families, employment experts, advocates, service providers, teachers, etc.  The Consortium drives the project and focuses on policy implementation and strategy.
• Pilot sites in 5 communities will be selected to implement a set of intervention strategies and awareness building activities with a minimum of 20 individuals with  disabilities receiving services.
• A coaching team that provides regular and intense training and technical assistance from coaches with expertise in a variety of topics such as self-advocacy, Supported Decision-Making, personal futures planning, community-based services to build a meaningful life, and competitive integrated-employment.
• A policy team that takes the policy recommendations from the Consortium and puts them into action

Project Goals

• To improve coordination of consortium partners on community capacity building and community monitoring as evidenced by shared goals, resources, and measurement
• To increase the perceived capacity among all five stakeholder groups to self- assess, monitor, report, reduce and/or remediate situations and environments for health, safety and quality of life
• To increase the number of communities, organizations, and systems implementing recommended policies and practices
• To increase the number of communities, organizations, and systems implementing a comprehensive community monitoring system
• To increase the health, safety, independence, and well-being of people with I/DD as measured by CQL’s 21 quality of life indicators measurement tool between baseline and follow-up measures

BPDD’s collaborators on the project include:

• Waisman University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
• Disability Rights Wisconsin
• WI Department of Health Services Division of Long-Term Supports and Services
• Managed Care Organizations
• IRIS Consultant Agencies
• Service providers
• Self-advocates
• Families

Other Resources:

• Grantor: Administration for Community Living
• Other Recipients:
  • The Curators of the University of Missouri on behalf of Missouri-Kansas City
  • Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
  • The Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education—Alaska
  • The Regents of the University of Idaho

Fact Sheet