San Mateo, CA, October 25, 2023 – The WITH Foundation is pleased to award over $445,000 across seven organizations as a result of the March 2023 grant open cycle. These grants will fund a variety of programs that promote comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities.
“We are delighted to support these organizations that are advancing comprehensive healthcare for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities” said Ryan Easterly, Executive Director of the WITH Foundation.
The following seven organizations will receive this funding:
Activating Change / Vera Institute of Justice, Wilmington, DE
The Survivor Advocacy Project from the Activating Change project of the Vera Institute of Justice is working to remove barriers to services related to violent victimization and create new pathways to healing by helping disability organizations become more survivor-centered. The project also helps victim services organizations and criminal legal, health care, and other systems integrate a disability lens, bringing these fields together.
Consumer Technology Association Foundation, Arlington, VA
The Consumer Technology Association Foundation will create a two-part Hackathon for Healthcare Technology: Accessible Care for All, beginning with a virtual accessibility roundtable and concluding with a hackathon onsite at CES Conference. The event will bring together disability advocates and nonprofit organizations with the consumer healthcare technology industry to identify and begin to solve healthcare challenges for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Fort Wayne Medical Society Foundation Inc, Fort Wayne, IN
The Fort Wayne Medical Education Program will be Enhancing Inclusive Educational Experiences for Primary Care Learners in a Safety Net Clinic. The project will focus on expanding an educational curriculum to enhance resident education regarding adults with developmental disabilities.
Institute for Exceptional Care, Washington, D.C.
The IDD Advocate Corps is a grassroots advocacy movement anchored by the Institute for Exceptional Care with a goal of creating a dynamic community to empower and grow disability leaders within healthcare organizations. In this community, self-advocates, healthcare professionals, and healthcare professionals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are co-developing values, goals, and infrastructure needed to influence organizations across healthcare sectors to make the system safe and inclusive for people with I/DD. Intersectional identities and perspectives are represented in Corps membership. The movement will equip change agents with resources, shared learning, tools and training for I/DD awareness and inclusion across the healthcare industry.
Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
The Institute on Disabilities at Temple University will map a strategy to improve healthcare for sexual and gender minorities with disabilities with a qualitative needs assessment in collaboration with a community advisory board to identify barriers to healthcare access for sexual and gender minorities with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The assessment will also identify areas for quality improvement and community-generated priorities for change. The assessment will inform the content of a novel training for healthcare providers who work with sexual and gender minorities with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
New Disabled South, Atlanta, GA
New Disabled South is working to expand HCBS waivers for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. New Disabled South is the first and only regional disability organization in the United States. Through direct actions at the state capitol, story collection and amplification, comprehensive media campaigns, and targeted outreach to elected officials, New Disabled South is working to draw attention and support to this crisis, expand the number of intellectual and developmental disability Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver slots funded and eliminate or decrease the waiting lists.
Ohio University Foundation, Athens, OH
The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM) in Athens, Ohio will Build Disability Competency in Osteopathic Medical Students in Rural Ohio. The overarching goal of the project is to improve future healthcare professionals’ disability competency through education and training. This will be accomplished by training first and second year medical students to improve stigma and bias towards people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who are seen in clinics. Medical students will also learn more about social policy research and barriers to quality healthcare access during training sessions.
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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: Sofia Webster
Director of Communications, WITH