2001 Real Choice for Systems Change Grants

IOWA

Grant Information

Name of Grantee
Iowa Department of Human Services, Division of MH/DD
Title of Grant
Iowa's Real Choice Program
Type of Grant
Real Choice Systems Change
Amount of Grant
$1,025,000
Year Original Funding Received
2001
Amount of Supplemental Grant
$360,000
Supplemental Award Received
2002

Contact Information

Jim Overland, Project Director
515–281–8908
joverla@dhs.state.ia.us

Lila P. M. Starr, Olmstead Coordinator and Adult Mental Health Specialist
Hoover State Office Building
1305 E Walnut, 5th Floor
Des Moines, IA 50319–0114
515–281–7270
lstarr@dhs.state.ia.us

www.dhs.state.ia.us


Subcontractor(s)

University of Iowa, Center for Disabilities and Development, Iowa City, IA
Primary Contact Person: Bob Bacon, Director, Iowa's University Center for Excellence on Disabilities.

Target Population(s)

Persons with disabilities and long-term illnesses currently living in institutional settings and those at risk of entering institutions.

Goals

Activities

Abstract

The grant will be used to develop and improve community support systems by establishing a flexible, consumer-centered, individual assessment process emphasizing consumer preferences and by developing a coordinated system of transition and community support services.

The project will use the expertise and experiences of numerous state agencies, local governments and providers, consumers and their family members, and advocates of the disability system as part of The Oversight and Implementation Committee for the Iowa Plan for Community Development. A steering committee was developed in January of 2001. The "Olmstead Real Choices Consumer Taskforce," as it has been known since a name change in 2002, has been operational since June of 2001 and has been involved in development of the original and amended grant applications. More than 50 percent of the membership is made up of people with disabilities who are also consumers of disability-related services or family members of adults and children with disabilities.