Look Beyond My Developmental Disability
Anti-Stigma Campaign Launched
 On the 33rd Anniversary of the ADA, we officially launched a new Anti-Stigma campaign called “Look Beyond My Developmental Disability.” The campaign was informed by a diverse group of people with and without disabilities and unveiled at a special ceremony held at the Empire State Plaza’s Concourse in Albany. The “Look Beyond” anti-stigma campaign was spurred by legislation Governor Hochul signed in 2022 directing OPWDD to develop and implement a public awareness campaign that combats discrimination, stigma and stereotyping of people with developmental disabilities. The exhibit in the Concourse will be on display throughout August. OPWDD will also be featuring the campaign at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, which runs from August 23-September 4. Visit the OPWDD display in the Science & Technology Building if you're visiting the State Fair. Learn more about the campaign and use our social media toolkit to help spread the campaign's important message on your own social media channels. Visit opwdd.ny.gov/LookBeyond
Strategic Plan Forums
 This summer OPWDD has provided many initiatives and stakeholder engagement opportunities to honor our commitment to work in partnership with our stakeholders to move our system forward. To share updates on the progress we are making toward reaching our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan goals and objectives and hear feedback on our work, we planned several in-person and virtual forums. There is still time to register for a virtual forum on August 15. OPWDD is also conducting a brief online stakeholder survey that will allow people to share their thoughts.
New on the Website: Updated Medicaid Data Book & New Regional Data Dashboards
 Last month OPWDD released on its website an updated OPWDD Medicaid Data Book as well as the new feature, Regional Data Story for Strategic Planning. This release includes an additional year of data on OPWDD services, providing data through the year ending June 2022.
The form and format of the Medicaid Data Book, featured on the By The Numbers page of the OPWDD website, remain largely unchanged, however some race data is more precisely reported, making the data more directly comparable to census information and compliant with recent legislation. New tables have been added to identify provider agencies and the number of service recipients each supports, by service category. The added Regional Data Story for Strategic Planning section features a series of data dashboards that share Medicaid expenditures and usage of services and supports by OPWDD region and other categories.
Providing detailed data on OPWDD’s supports and services and the people who receive them helps keep our service system initiatives grounded in solid information and helps stakeholders stay informed. Improving our technology systems and data access is a key objective within OPWDD’s five-year Strategic Plan. The updated By The Numbers can be found here on the agency website: https://opwdd.ny.gov/data.
OPWDD Leaders Make Visit to Upstate Caring Partners in Utica
 OPWDD Executive Deputy Commissioner Willow Baer was among the OPWDD leaders who visited Upstate Caring Partners (UCP) in Utica recently. Baer and other OPWDD staff toured the provider's school and residential programs, spoke with program participants and visited an on-site store where UCP students build vocational skills and confidence. Learn more about UCP.
Grants Awarded to Expand Housing Services
This summer, OPWDD has awarded grants to 17 non-profit service provider agencies to advance innovation in our menu of housing services. The grants will help providers address barriers that have often kept people from pursuing options that do not provide 24/7 staffing. As people with developmental disabilities choose these less restrictive options, their existing opportunities will become available for others who do require 24/7 staffing. Service providers will help people who want this type of opportunity to prepare for the transition by teaching them skills to help maximize their independence.
The 17 grants will support increased use of technology, improved staff training, skill building trainings for people with developmental disabilities, and use of staffing hubs and paid neighbors to support successful residential experiences. The program will afford service providers the opportunity to determine how new technologies can help people rely less on staff and how new staffing strategies can alleviate some of the current workforce challenges in the service system.
Awardees will participate in a Community of Practice network that will allow grantees and other interested service provider agencies to share their experiences in supporting people in more independent settings and exchange ideas on innovative ways to address obstacles that have prevented people from living more independently. Expanding OPWDD’s menu of housing supports is a commitment within the agency’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan. This investment is supported by funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act. See the list of providers who received these grants.
Commissioner Neifeld Visits Camp HASC
 OPWDD Commissioner Kerri Neifeld made a special trip to Camp HASC in Sullivan County where she was given a tour of the campgrounds and the opportunity to meet with HASC leadership. For more than forty years, Camp HASC, a part of the Hebrew Academy for Special Children, has served the Jewish community as a summer program for children and adults.
OPWDD Partners with SUNY to Offer New Microcredential for Direct Support Professionals
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Commissioner Neifeld was on hand at Niagara County Community College (NCCC) to join with State University of New York Chancellor John B. King, Jr. in announcing the start of the direct support microcredential program which will provide training that leads to national certification in the field of developmental disabilities. NCCC was the first college in the SUNY system to launch their curriculum.
"Elevating the direct support workforce through training and credentialing will encourage more people to join its ranks and experience the personal satisfaction that comes from supporting others to live their lives with dignity and independence," Commissioner Neifeld said. "OPWDD is excited to see this partnership with SUNY and the National Association of Direct Support Professionals succeed." |
New Administrative Memoranda & Regulations
In recent weeks, OPWDD has released the following new guidance documents and draft or final regulations.
Administrative Memoranda (ADM)
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June 9, 2023 - OPWDD issued a new ADM, ADM #2023-04, setting forth the requirements of OPWDD’s Choking Prevention Initiative (CPI) which ensures continuity of training for food and liquid consistency terminology and definitions for all applicable staff statewide. This ADM replaces OPWDD’s previously issued ADM on choking that was issued in 2012.
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July 7, 2023 - OPWDD released new training and Administrative Memorandum (ADM) 2023-03, “Right to Sexual Activity and the Role of Consent” that will help service providers support people with developmental disabilities to understand their rights and responsibilities related to sexual activity. With the ADM, OPWDD has provided a package of online, recorded training that offer caregivers/direct support staff, program planning team members, and clinical staff detailed information on the importance of self-advocacy, how to support people with developmental disabilities regarding sexuality, sexual rights and right to affection, what consent really means, consenting vs. nonconsenting determinations, and other key topics that will support providers with implementing the guidance as they work with New Yorkers with developmental disabilities.
Informational Letters
Regulations
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July 13, 2023 - OPWDD issued a proposed regulation amending 14 NYCRR 635-10 and 635-99 to update the Supported Employment (“SEMP”) service regulations. These updates include information related to new allowable services under SEMP, updated staff training requirements, expanded the number of service hours that can be approved per request, increased the amount of time to plan and assist a person to regain employment before they transition to Intensive SEMP, updated documentation and reporting requirements, and allowing rounding for billable service units.
Georgetown University and OPWDD: Partnering to Enhance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In its 2023-2027 Strategic Plan OPWDD made an important commitment to cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity, and inclusion for all New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. Through a 3-year project with Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC), OPWDD is engaging diverse stakeholders, community partners, providers and CCOs to help the agency better understand and meet the cultural and linguistic needs of people with developmental disabilities and their families.
In June, OPWDD and NCCC held six virtual community forums to inform a wide range of interested stakeholders about the project. A total of six languages, including Spanish, Korean, Urdu, Chinese, Russian, and French, were interpreted, as well as American Sign Language and closed captioning. Participants noted the need to include in the project religious minorities, small to medium providers, autistic pride, rural communities, immigrants, new Americans, low-income families, refugees, non-English speaking and sign language communities, and other minoritized groups with developmental disabilities.
Later this year, NCCC will host listening sessions for people with developmental disabilities and their families to hear how they define equity and what it means in their lives and in the developmental disabilities service system.
For more information about the project and the feedback received through the listening sessions, visit the NCCC website.
Liberty ARC Direct Support Staff Graduate and Earn E-Badge Credential
 OPWDD Associate Commissioner Alison Pingelski was on hand together with NADSP NYS E-Badge Academy Administrator Kathy Brown, New York State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, and City of Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti when 16 Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) from Liberty ARC were recognized for achieving National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals - NADSP credentials. Congratulations to all the graduates on this accomplishment!
CSIDD and Resource Centers to be Available Throughout New York State
In July OPWDD executed a contract with service provider YAI to provide Crisis Services for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities (CSIDD) in OPWDD’s Region 3, which includes the Capital Region, the Taconic area and the Hudson Valley. YAI will take over provision of these services from OPWDD and also establish a Resource Center program for this area, fulfilling an important objective within the agency’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan of making critical crisis services available to people from all regions of the state. CSIDD provides crisis prevention and response services to people who have both developmental disabilities and complex behavioral needs, as well as to their families and those who provide supports. Referrals can be made by people seeking services, families, service providers, hospitals, psychiatric centers and other crisis services. To make a referral or for more information, please contact the provider in your area or reach out to a CSIDD Regional Liaison.
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