Family Support 360 Grant
Kokua I Holomua
To Come Together To Progress … To Move Forward
In October 2004 the State of Hawaii was awarded a Project of National Significance Family Support 360 grant by the federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities. Funded at $250,000 annually for five years, the grant is focused on serving more than 250 families over its tenure, and develop, implement, and evaluate criteria for certifying one-stop centers. These centers will specialize in serving individuals with development disabilities and provide families with a 360 degree perspective of available services, ensuring that “every door is the right door” when seeking services in Hawai‘i.
Collaborating Partners: The Office of Community Services(OCS), Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) in collaboration with the State Council on Developmental Disabilities (DD Council), the University of Hawa‘i Center on Disability Studies (UH-CDS), the Hawai‘i Disability Rights Center (HDRC); and the Developmental Disabilities Division, Department of Health (DOH), and other state agencies is submitting a proposal to implement a pilot project of collaborative systems change to design and implement a One-Stop Center process in Hawai`i for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.
Statement of Need: Hawaii’s students with developmental disabilities who are transitioning from an environment of entitlements to the adult’s service system of eligibility are faced with navigating a fragmented service system. Due to lack of coordination and agreement of each department’s roles and responsibilities, families with members with developmental disabilities are seeking information about programs and services without having to be referred from one agency to another.
Goals and Objectives:
· Organize a collaborative community partnership to oversee the activities of the grant.
· Analyze existing State and Federal laws, programs, and resources impacting the lives of transitioning youth with developmental disabilities.
· Develop eligibility criteria, intake and referral procedures, family plan guidelines and process to track family successes.
· Utilizing Real Choices as a virtual one-stop center, develop a system to track pilot project families through the service system.
· Identify and provide services to fifty individuals with developmental disabilities and their family members who will participate in a one-stop center system that will deliver the needed information and resource to provide a seamless transition from school to the adult service system.
· Develop curriculum, training and collateral materials to inform/educate stakeholders, families, agencies, and service organizations regarding the development of a One-Stop Center system for persons with disabilities and their families.
· Design, develop, and implement a certification process for state agencies and non-profit organizations to become certified one-stop centers.
· Identify the promising practices in a one-stop center system and disseminate information.
Methodology: The priority target group for the project will be fifty (annually) youth with developmental disabilities who are 16 year or older and their family member; transitioning from the education system to adult service system; and who need assistance in identifying and obtaining social services. The goals and objectives will be accomplished through three strategies. The first, community partnerships will be built through an advisory council established to oversee the implementation of the project. In addition to key agencies, more than half the Advisory Council will be composed of youth with developmental disabilities or their family members. Target families will be identified, needs assessed, curriculum developed, and effectiveness evaluated. Collaborating agency partners will work to define the elements and implement a certification process that will ensure individuals a streamlined service system; this will include using the www.RealChoices.org website, as a basis for information and referral system that will track the social services obtained by all members of the pilot families.
