VIUCEDD - Partners in Policy Making
Partners in Policy Making
(PIP) provides information, training, and skill building to individuals so that they may obtain the best services for themselves and others. The program consists of five day and a half sessions, over a six-month period. During each of the sessions, experts in specific areas will present and interact with participants.
Parents in Partners in Policy-Making involves and empowers people with developmental disabilities and their families in the policy-making arena. It acquaints and connects people with organizations, opportunities, and possibilities in the area of developmental disabilities. It educates participants about current issues and trends. It familiarizes participants with the policy making processes in local communities and nationally. The overall intent is to achieve a productive partnership between people using or needing services and those in a position to make policy or deliver services.
Who should participate?
Family members of individuals with disabilities and individuals with disabilities.
Costs:
There is no fee for participation. Air transportation, hotel accommodations, and meals are
provided. Limited funds are available for childcare reimbursements.
Training Sessions
The following table breaks down what is accomplished during each session.
Topics
1. History
2. Inclusive Education
3. Family Support, Supported Living, and Employment
4. Legislative Process , Advocacy, and Vision
5. Community Organizing Using the Media, where do we go from here?
Graduation
Goals and Principles
Partners in Policy-Making is an innovative leadership training program for parents of young children with disabilities and for adults with disabilities. It was designed and created in 1987 by Colleen Wieck, Ph.D., Director of the Minnesota Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Ed Skarnulis, Ph.D., of the Minnesota Department of Human Services.Partners is the answer to the question, "What would happen if individuals with disabilities and family members had the training necessary to make them leaders in positive change efforts?" The quality model of Partners in Policy-Making responds to the paradigm shifts in the disability field. The quality principles have been refined over time after being proven and documented.
Partners in Policy-Making is designed to educate and empower its participants to achieve systems change at the local, state, and federal levels. This is a unique training program designed to encourage its participants to alter the future. It is designed for the next generation. Partners in Policy-Making is not about perpetuating the status quo of today's systems; it's about creating new possibilities for the future. Through state-of-the-art training from leaders in the field, Participtants learn histories, philosophies, and concrete strategies for creating systematic change in disability areas.
Curriculum
The Partners in Policy-Making curriculum includes:
History of services for and perceptions of people with disabilities
The honory and significant contributions of the Parents' Movement, the Independent Living Movement and the Self-Advocacy Movement. People First Language, Inclusive Education, Person-Centered Planning and Inclusive Community Living.
Service coordination and/or state systems.
Assistive technology and positioning techniques for people with severe physical disabilities.
Identifying critical disability issues at the local, state, and federal levels, and designing strategies for effective systems change.
Parliamentary procedure, community organizing, advocacy, and working with the media.
Competencies:
Upon graduation, partners will be able to:
1. Describe the history of services for, and perceptions of, people with developmental disabilities.
2. Describe the significant contributions of the parent, self-advocate, and independent living movements.
3. Note important ways in which self-advocacy (People First Movement) differs from advocacy for others and why the difference is important.
4. Describe People First Language and why its use is of critical importance.
5. Describe the reasons for quality inclusive education.
6. Outline specific strategies to achieve inclusion and quality education.
7. Demonstrate how to be assertive in team meetings.
8. Understand the concepts of person-centered planning and what supports are necessary to be fully included in the community.
9. Understand the types of supports necessary for creating a positive home environment, such as family support, natural supports, and/or Medicaid waivers.
10. Understand that a flexible, responsive system of supports for the families of children with disabilities is the cornerstone for a true system of community supports for people with developmental disabilities.
11. Demonstrate an understanding of the need for all individuals to experience changes in lifestyle across their life span.
12. Describe the importance of home ownership/control as one of the defining characteristics of adult life in our culture.
13. Outline the basic principles and strategies being used to support people with developmental disabilities in their own homes across their life span.
14. Understand the concepts of supported and/or competitive employment, including the use of natural supports.
15. Demonstrate knowledge of the service coordination system and/or the state service system and describe what services may be available.
16. Describe the importance of positive approaches to behavior change.
17. Describe how a bill becomes a law at the state and federal levels.
18. Draft and deliver testimony for legislative hearings.
19. Identify critical federal issues and the process by which one can personally address concerns.
20. Demonstrate how to meet a public official and express views and concerns.
21. Describe a vision for the year 2010 and beyond for people with disabilities.
22. Understand the reasons for and the importance of proper positioning techniques for people with disabilities.
23. Describe examples of assistive technologies for people with disabilities.
24. Demonstrate knowledge of parliamentary procedure and appropriate methods for running a meeting.
25. Demonstrate successful techniques for advocating for services to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and their families.
26. Identify strategies for beginning and sustaining grass roots level organizing.
27. Identify how to use the media to effectively promote issues.
From the Partners in Policy making Coordinator's Handbook 1995
Please contact Dr. Sandra Ross at 340-692-1919 for more information.