The Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council is made up of over 30 members, with the majority being individuals with developmental disabilities, and parents and guardians of people with developmental disabilities who are appointed by the Governor of Ohio. By the direction of our members, the Ohio DD Council funds grant projects that aim to enrich the lives of people with developmental disabilities with an emphasis on self-determination, diversity and inclusion. Our mission is to create change that improves independence, productivity and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities and their families in community life.

Learn more about the Ohio DD Council

The Impact - Grantee Highlights

Project TREES (Tools & Resources for Engaging, Empowering & Supporting Families) is an Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council grant initiative with a goal to increase support for families of children with disabilities through activities that build capacity and systemic change.

They accomplish this through outreach, training, research, technical assistance, supporting and educating communities, interagency collaboration and coordination, demonstration of new approaches, informing policymakers, system design and redesign.

The grantee, the Ohio Association of County Boards of Developmental Disabilities (OACB), began its work in 2017 by selecting Early Intervention (EI) Teams from seven county boards of developmental disabilities to participate in the project.

“Supporting families is a constellation of beliefs, values, strategies, and relationships that strengthen families during their time in Ohio Early Intervention, enhancing their capacity to flourish and face the future with increased resilience, self-efficacy, well-being and optimism,” explained OACB’s Project TREES grant consultant, Susan Jones.

The EI Teams are from Erie, Highland, Knox, Licking, Miami, Scioto, and Williams counties. Grant funding ends December 31, 2021.

Grant accomplishments include:

• Creation of a multi-level stakeholder advisory committee. Members included state, regional, and county providers of early intervention services and family members who had received early intervention (EI) services. This made for rich sharing of ideas and in the end, a contract from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities was given to continue the work on several priorities of this project. This group met quarterly throughout the past five years.

• Development of a cohort of local county EI teams. In this design, local Early Intervention providers could test new ideas and share their work with their colleagues, with the data to support the efficacy. Grant consultants provided the foundational training and ongoing support needed to begin, implement, revise, and produce new practices to improve the EI experience for families. An evidence-based implementation science approach called the IDEAS framework out of the Harvard Center of the Developing Child was used for this body of work. A padlet is being used to share the work of these teams, which you can view here: https://padlet.com/susanjonesgrant/eawq4hchz60eyd63.

• An addition of State level professional development and advocacy. Each year, grant consultants offered many opportunities to enlighten the Early Intervention field by presenting at state level conferences, webinars and facilitating book studies.  Grant consultants also joined committees and advisories to collaborate on and support other initiatives that benefitted EI families to facilitate implementation with the cohort teams as well as the statewide field of EI.

In the five years during this grant, family support and family-centered practices were fundamental components of Early Intervention in Ohio. Families were able to leave the EI system with deeper connections and roots to navigate their next journey with increased confidence, competence, and self-efficacy, according to the Project TREES team.

SAVE THE DATE for the 2022 DD Awareness & Advocacy Day!

Mark your calendars! The annual DD Awareness and Advocacy Day is scheduled for Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

People with disabilities and their family members are their own best advocates when it comes to educating members of the general public and policymakers. Advancements in public policy are due to advocacy by individuals with disabilities.

The DD Awareness and Advocacy Day is an organized event at the Ohio Statehouse for people with disabilities and family members and others. The event will be on the Internet for those who cannot attend in person. Speakers will be invited to talk about different disability issues. Everyone who comes to the Statehouse and wants to talk with their legislator will have a meeting scheduled for them. 

Registration will be announced at a later date on this website. You can also follow DD Awareness & Advocacy Day on Facebook for updates.