Integrating Long-Term Supports with Affordable Housing

MISSISSIPPI

Grant Information


Name of Grantee

The University of Southern Mississippi, Institute for Disability Studies

Title of Grant

Project BRIDGE

Type of Grant

Integrating Long-Term Supports with Affordable Housing

Amount of Grant

$720,000

Year Original Funding Received

2004

Contact Information


Royal Walker, Jr., JD
Associate Director and Project Director
3825 Ridgewood Road, Suite 723
Jackson, MS 39211
601–432–6261
rwalker@ihl.state.ms.us

Subcontractor(s)

None.

Target Population(s)


Medicaid-eligible individuals with disabilities and/or long-term illnesses requiring long-term supports and housing services.

Goals


  • Prepare consumers and other key shareholders to set an agenda by developing a comprehensive plan for systems change resulting in the building of an infrastructure that integrates and coordinates long-term supports and housing services.
  • Adopt an action plan that will guide systems change efforts to develop the State's infrastructure in meeting the needs of individuals requiring long-term supports.
  • Field test the action plan by supporting two community-based pilot demonstration projects.
  • Design and implement a program and outcomes-based evaluation system for defining data needs and purpose; defining audiences for data reports; identifying sources of data; defining research methodology and instrumentation for both quantitative and qualitative measures; establishing a data storage system; and collecting, analyzing, and reporting data.

Activities


  • Establish a statewide BRIDGE Action Council to guide the development of an agenda for systems change.
  • Provide ongoing training and technical assistance to members of the BRIDGE Action Council regarding best practices on affordable and accessible housing, long-term support, the coordination and integration of long-term support and housing, community inclusion, quality of life issues, self-determination and person-centered planning, transition, and exemplary models of community housing programs from across the United States that provide for long-term support.
  • Hold community forums and conduct focus groups with Medicaid-eligible consumers in each region to solicit input from individuals with disabilities and other stakeholders regarding plans developed by the BRIDGE Action Council and to hear directly about the need for integration and coordination and other issues on accessible, affordable housing and long-term support.
  • Analyze information from the forums and focus groups.
  • Develop a statewide action plan that outlines recommendations for interagency coordination of policies, resources, and services that result in the development of infrastructure in meeting the needs of individuals.
  • Select two regional communities to serve as model sites to test the action plan and serve as office locations for housing support coordinators.
  • Develop local action plans (which support the statewide plan) that result in the development of local infrastructure that meets the needs of individuals requiring long-term supports.
  • Transition individuals from institutional settings to affordable housing and stable long-term supports in the community by implementing the Home of Your Own (HOYO) model.
  • Develop and implement program evaluation measures to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of Project BRIDGE in meeting designated goals and objectives.
  • Design a quality of life, outcomes-based evaluation system.

Abstract


The Institute for Disability Studies (IDS), Mississippi's University Center for Excellence located at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been endorsed by the Executive Director of the Governor's Office, Division of Medicaid for the State of Mississippi as the lead agency for the Real Choice Systems Change Grant in the area of Integrating Long-term Supports with Affordable Housing. IDS will work with the Division of Medicaid and other key stakeholders, including Medicaid-eligible individuals with disabilities (and their families) requiring long-term supports who want to live in their community in the housing arrangement of their choice.

Project BRIDGE is designed to prepare consumers and other key stakeholders to set an agenda through the development of a comprehensive plan for systems change resulting in the building of an infrastructure that integrates and coordinates long-term supports and housing services.