Palo Alto, CA, June 3, 2021— The WITH Foundation is pleased to announce that more than $250,000 will be awarded to three organizations as a result of our previous open cycle. These grants will fund a variety of programs that promote comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities.
“It is a privilege to support these efforts as they work to enhance curricula that improves the capacity of the healthcare community to address the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, address end-of-life planning for adults with ID/DD, and develop intentional conversations and education about the experiences of people of color with ID/DD.” said Ryan Easterly, Executive Director of the WITH Foundation.
The following projects were selected for funding:
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), Washington, DC
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) seeks to enhance equitable access to healthcare and vaccine distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic for Black, Indigenous & people of color with developmental disabilities. In partnership with Foundations For Divergent Minds and the John Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, the project will review current research, case studies, and first-person accounts related to inequitable COVID-19 healthcare policies, hospital procedures, and statewide vaccine distribution processes. The project will also conduct interactive workshops designed to decode discriminatory language around disability and race within COVID-19 healthcare policies, hospital procedures, and the rollout of statewide vaccination processes and develop a video series that features 4 or 5 COVID-19 related experiences from self-advocates of color with the expressed intention of deepening developmental disability competency among healthcare practitioners.
St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York
Rush University, in partnership with St. John Fisher College, University of Illinois at Chicago, Villanova University, and University of Minnesota received an ACL grant to launch a national consortium, PATH-PWIDD, to develop an inter-professional (medicine, nursing and other healthcare professionals) curricula to improve the capacity of the workforce to address the health and healthcare needs of persons with ID/DD. This four-year grant from WITH Foundation will amplify the PATH-PWIDD’s outcomes by supporting the effective dissemination of the work of the consortium.
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, Sacramento, CA
The Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC) will partner with regional center staff and advocates to develop and pilot test advance care planning (ACP) tools, training, and resources for regional center staff to utilize with clients as a regular part of the IPP Individual Program Plan process. Using CCCC’s “Thinking Ahead: My Way, My Choice, My Life at the End” (Thinking Ahead) workbook as a foundation, the resources and training will be designed to empower adults with developmental disabilities to explore, express and record their wishes regarding medical treatments during serious illness and at end of life.
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WITH Foundation promotes comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities in the United States.
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Press Contact: Laura Shumaker
Director of Communications, WITH
communications@withfoundation.org