NOT-FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES WITH EXPERIENCE IN PROMOTING POST-SECONDARY INCLUSION OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, INCLUDING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, COMMUNITY-BASED NOT-FOR-PROFIT AGENCIES, STATEWIDE REPRESENTATIVE ORGANIZATIONS, AND/OR PARTNERSHIPS OF SUCH ORGANIZATIONS

One grant of up to $75,000 per year for up to years will be funded by the DDPC to develop and facilitate a statewide learning community to evaluate and promote promising practices relating to engaging persons with developmental disabilities in inclusive post-secondary opportunities. The applicant’s program and budget narratives must provide the justification for the amount requested.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act enacted in August 2008 contained several provisions that improves the access to post-secondary education for youth with intellectual disabilities. For the first time, students with intellectual disabilities are eligible for Pell Grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants and the Federal Work Study Program. In NYS, there are approximately 30 post-secondary access programs being administered by service providers and/or post-secondary institutions themselves. The Office of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) has been funding post-secondary access through certified day habilitation and OPTS (Options for People Through Services) initiatives.

The timing is right to build on the national support and initiatives that are occurring in the post-secondary arena. A statewide “learning community” is needed to bring funding entities, service providers, and post-secondary institutions together with families and individuals interested in this type of life-learning and educational opportunity. This plan of action will help to maintain a focus on preparing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities for adult life through opportunities for higher education coursework, career exploration and preparation, self-awareness, personal improvement, community engagement and socialization.

The successful applicant will:

• Establish a Post-Secondary Learning Community in NYS that engages all developmental disabilities related post-secondary programs, as well as other key stakeholders, such as family members, post-secondary students with and without disabilities, State Education (vocational rehabilitation, higher education, special education, etc.), secondary school representatives (guidance, pupil personnel services, etc.), providers, post secondary representatives, etc., to be a part of this learning community;

• Conduct statewide and/or regional learning events through multiple direct and electronic venues, that provide an opportunity to bring together key stakeholders to dialogue about issues, barriers, success and strategies;

• Establish a NYS specific web-based resource center and list-serve that is a share point for information on post-secondary opportunities and resources in NYS and provides a forum for profiling NYS services and supports, provides an opportunity to dialogue around key issues and raises the level of awareness and access to such opportunities;

• Conduct an analysis and profile of general and NYS specific successful components and key elements of inclusive post-secondary programs, and successful strategies for addressing barriers to successful programs;

• Identify successful strategies and approaches in building self-advocacy skills in a post-secondary setting;

• Highlight personal success stories and what such opportunities have meant to people in terms of facilitating positive life-changing “value added” outcomes including employment, integration, community connections, lifelong learning, skill building, etc., as well as any impact that programs have made on the college and their policies itself;

• Conduct a data analysis of post secondary programs and resultant outcomes, and maintain data on such value added outcomes for both the individuals and the educational institutions;

• Compile and disseminate information as to how post-secondary inclusion programs help colleges meet their educational/community missions, as well as promoting self-assessment and inclusion evaluation measures;

• Outline successful strategies for building relationships to ensure successful programs including detailing the roles that parent/family allies, college administrators, faculty, other students, can engage in to facilitate inclusion;

• Conduct collaboration and systems building activities including improving the opportunities for training, information and resource sharing via online and print media for program coordinators, the NY Disability Services Council (the statewide association of college disability services coordinators) and other involved stakeholders. Specific emphasis on systems building (information sharing, training, etc) would include cultural sensitivity, diversity and disability awareness & inclusion which promotes the benefits of people with disabilities participating in post secondary settings;

• Connect and network with the national Consortium for Post-Secondary Education for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities, and serve as a point of contact and information dissemination for NYS stakeholders;

• Develop and disseminate model approaches for coordinating Individual Education Plans (IEP) with Individual Service Plans (ISP) and possibly VESID/CBVH Individual Plans for Employment (IPE) related to facilitating post-secondary services and supports; and

• Assist in promoting strategies to make post-secondary education an option that is offered and available to young adults with developmental disabilities in NYS.

All interested applicants are requested to submit a one-page letter of intent by June 1, 2010 to Nicholas Rose, Program Planner at the address above. Letters of intent are preferred, but not required for applications to be accepted for this RFP. All final grant applications should be sent to Sheila Carey, Executive Director, and must be delivered to the DDPC office by close of business (5:00 pm) on June 30, 2010.

NOT-FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES WITH EXPERIENCE IN SUPPORTING PEOPLE AND FAMILES WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES IN END-OF-LIFE CARE DECISIONS, HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE ORGANIZATIONS, ORGANIZATIONS WITH EXPERIENCE IN END-OF-LIFE CARE TRAINING, AND/OR PARTNERSHIPS OF SUCH ORGANIZATIONS. APPLICANTS AND PARTNERSHIPS MUST ALSO DEMONSTRATE THE CAPABILITY TO PROVIDE SUCH TRAINING ON A STATEWIDE BASIS

One grant of up to $40,000 for 15 months will be funded by the DDPC to develop and to develop and implement an end-of-life care decision-making curriculum designed specifically for people with developmental disabilities. The applicant’s program and budget narratives must provide the justification for the amount requested.

The DDPC has previously supported the development of end-of-life care curriculum and supported cross-systems training between the developmental disabilities and hospice and palliative care support systems. These curricula have been used to educate hundreds of hospice and developmental disabilities service professionals across the state on general end-of-life issues, including those particular to people with developmental disabilities and their families. The DDPC also recently completed a technical assistance grant to support both hospice and DD systems practitioners on continuing to build cross-systems relationships and quality end-of-life care support services. All of these DDPC grants have helped to create an environment of enhanced understanding, caring, and support for individuals, families, and caregivers as they deal with this inevitable and difficult time of life and its resulting issues and impacts.

Building on the success and information of the previous grants funded through DDPC, the activities contained in this proposal are designed to make information about end-of-life planning and decision-making more accessible to people who have developmental disabilities. Grant support from the DDPC will allow an organization with statewide capabilities to develop or modify end-of-life care training and decision-making materials to meet the learning needs of people with developmental disabilities.

The successful applicant will:

• Develop or adapt an end-of-life care curriculum and supporting training materials that is intended to be delivered by people with developmental disabilities (self-advocates) primarily to their peers, but also intended to engage their families and other caregivers;

• Recruit at least 12 regional training teams comprised of self-advocates who will be paired with support co-trainers which may include members of the applicant organization, people identified by self-advocates or committed family members;

• Implement Train the Trainer sessions which include methods to assess the knowledge and training readiness of the regional training teams;

• Deliver at least 8 regional trainings by Training Teams to at least 200 peers;

• Provide an evaluation component intended to assess the level of success of this curriculum and training model in knowledge transfer and other performance criteria;

• Commit the Training Teams to assist and support individuals in end-of-life care needs within their regions; and

• Commit to sustain this peer-based end-of-life care and hospice training agenda, beyond the availability of DDPC funding.

All interested applicants are requested to submit a one-page letter of intent by May 1, 2010 to Nicholas Rose, Program Planner at the address above. Letters of intent are preferred, but not required for applications to be accepted for this RFP. All final grant applications should be sent to Sheila Carey, Executive Director, and must be delivered to the DDPC office by close of business (5:00 pm) on June 1, 2010.

STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY (MUNICIPALITIES); PRIVATE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS; FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS; OPERATORS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, INCLUDING; PRIVATE OPERATORS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) formula program funds available:

FTA Website: www.fta.dot.gov/funding/grants_financing_ 263.html

• Section 5316 - Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC)

• Section 5317 - New Freedom (NF)

Applications will be accepted through May 14th, 2010 by New York State Department of Transportation's, Public Transportation Bureau, for the JARC and New Freedom programs for non-urbanized areas of the state (population less than 50,000) and several small urban areas (population 50,000 to 200,000 population): Binghamton, Glens Falls and Utica - Small Urbanized Areas.

Eligible sub recipients to apply for the JARC and New Freedom funding, are municipalities, non-profit agencies, and operators of public transportation services, including private operators of public transportation services, as well as federally recognized tribal governments. It is anticipated that applications will be released in March 2010 with an application deadline of May 14th, 2010.

The goal of the JARC program seeks to improve access to transportation services to employment sites and employment related activities for welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals and transport residents of urbanized areas and non-urbanized areas to employment opportunities. Such services may include, but are not limited to: mobility management, expansion of current transportation services.

The New Freedom program seeks to reduce barriers to transportation services and expand the transportation mobility options available to people with disabilities beyond the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Eligible projects may include; expanded service beyond current ADA limitation, projects that fund non-key station improvements and support of mobility management and other mobility supports to improve access to transportation.

Both funding sources require that projects be derived from and identified in a Coordinated Human Service and Public Transportation Plan (PTB) and be coordinated with other federally-assisted programs to ensure efficient use of federal funds. Coordinated Plans can be viewed on PTB website: https://www.nysdot.gov/modal/bus

For an application, please visit the NYSDOT website: https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/policy-and-strategy/public-transportation/federal-transit-funding -OR- Contact: Denise L. Watso, Program Administrator, Public Transportation Bureau, Department of Transportation, at the above address or phone (518) 485-7834, e-mail: [email protected], fax: (518) 485-7563