Past Grant Projects
Projects that ended in the past year:
Leadership and Advocacy
Syracuse University
Project Director: Steve Taylor
805 S. Crouse Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244
(315) 443-3851
Advocacy U Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Advocacy "U" Resource Center (Statewide). Advocacy U (www.advocacyu.org) was created as an interactive, accessible and user-friendly website of training events in Texas, training programs developed by TCDD grantees and subject-specific resources. Advocacy U seeks to support and promote persons with disabilities, their family members, and allies as leaders and active participants in the disability rights movement; provide access to a wide variety of advocacy training material, resources, and information; and serve as a clearinghouse for collecting, organizing, and sharing advocacy information from contributors located within and outside of Texas.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Texas
Project Director: Robin Peyson
2800 S. IH 35 Fountain Plaza, Suite 140
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 693-2000
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Specialized Advocacy Training Project: Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Training. NAMI collaborated with groups in six urban and rural areas across Texas (Austin, Amarillo, Houston, East Texas, San Antonio and El Paso) to teach people how to become strong advocates for change.
The Arc of Texas
Project Director: Amy Mizcles
8001 Centre Park Drive
Austin, TX 78754
(512) 454-6694
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - October 31, 2011
Specialized Advocacy Training Project. This project was designed to build local advocacy collaborations (LACs) in El Paso, Brownsville and Houston, as well as train individuals in basic systems advocacy and advanced systems advocacy for public policy. The LACs worked with a local community organizer to determine issues, priorities, strategies and timelines for attaining their local goals on how to affect public policy.
Parents Anonymous, Inc.
Project Director: Sandra Williams
675 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite 220
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-6184
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Statewide Advocacy Network Development. This project assisted regional networks work together and support each other in their efforts to promote leadership and advocacy and in improving developmental disabilities systems in Texas.
SER – Jobs for Progress
Project Director: Francesca Garcia
201 Broadway St.
Houston, TX 77012
(713) 773-6000
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Local Basic Advocacy Training Project (Houston). Individuals from minority communities in Houston and the surrounding area received training in self-advocacy and other topics, and individuals with disabilities and other advocates received support in practicing their advocacy skills.
Brighton School, Inc.
Project Director: Lorene Dillard
14207 Higgins Road
San Antonio, TX 78217
(210) 826-4492
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Local Basic Advocacy Training Project: Parent Alliance for Learning and Support. Over a three-year period, 950 people from Bexar, Comal, Bandera and Kendall counties received training in special education advocacy. In 2011, training was provided to 90 community partners. In addition, 73 individuals received training in Building Bridges curriculum and 18 people attended Admission, Review and Dismissal clinics.
The Arc of Greater Tarrant County
Project Director: Richard E. Garnett
1051 Haskell, Suite 106
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 877-1474
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2011
Local Basic Advocacy Training Project (Greater Tarrant County). Training in leadership, self-advocacy and self-determination was provided to 126 individuals with developmental disabilities and their family members in Tarrant, Johnson, Hood, Wise and Parker counties. Participation in various activities included a rally at the Texas Capitol and a March for Respect. In addition, participants learned how to write letters to Texas legislators and make phone calls to elected officials; people attended a legislative town hall meeting; and elementary students took a pledge to stop saying the "R-word."
Texas A&M Research Foundation
Project Director: Dalun Zhang
3578 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3578
(979) 862-6514
Website
Project Period: September 1, 2006 - August 31, 2011
Youth Leadership and Advocacy Project (Statewide). This project helped to increase the leadership and advocacy skills of Texas youth with disabilities. Thirty students from regional youth leadership and advocacy projects in East Texas, West Texas and Far West Texas attended a four-day intensive training session in Austin.
Goodwill Industries of Central East Texas, Inc.
Project Director: Nikki Roberts
301 Hill Street
Lufkin, TX 75904
(936) 632-8838, Ext. 241
Website
Project Period: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2011
YouthWorks! Leadership and Advocacy Project (East Texas). Over a five-year period, 212 youth in Angelina and Nacogdoches counties received training in leadership and advocacy. In FY 2011, 21 students attended training.
Imagine Enterprises
Project Director: Angela DeLeon
1402 Spring Cress Lane
Seabrook, TX 77586
(281) 474-7887
Website
Project Period: June 1, 2006 - May 31, 2011
Youth Leadership and Advocacy Project (West Texas). Youth with disabilities from 43 school districts in the Abilene/West Texas area worked with adult mentors to increase their leadership and advocacy skills.
Education Service Center - Region 19
Project Director: Ricardo Razo
6611 Boeing Drive
El Paso, TX 79925-1010
(915) 780-1919
Website
Project Period: July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2011
Youth Leadership and Advocacy Project (Far West Texas). This project provided leadership and advocacy building activities for students with disabilities in 12 independent school districts and charter schools in the far west Texas counties of El Paso and Hudspeth.
Parents Anonymous
Project Director: Sandra Williams
675 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite 220
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-6184, ext 220
Project Period: September 1, 2010 - August 31, 2011
African American Family Support Conference: Houston; Aug. 4, 2011. This conference, modeled after the Central Texas African American Family Support Conference hosted annually by Austin Travis County Integral Care, had 121 participants. The conference was designed to closely follow the Central Texas model to strengthen the knowledge and skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, their families, community members and professionals on available health care services (behavioral and physical) through culturally sensitive education supports and partnerships. It also promoted the development of supports and services necessary for individual with disabilities to be fully integrated in their communities. Parents Anonymous, Inc., worked in partnership with local organizations and community partners from both the public and private sector in Houston and the surrounding areas. TCDD released a Request for Proposals in January 2012 to continue the conference by awarding funds to an organization that was involved in planning and coordinating the 2011 event. The conference was free to individuals with disabilities and their family members. Attendance was also open to professionals and other individuals, including people of other ethnic and racial groups besides African Americans, especially people from the most underserved and rural communities in the region.
Formal and Informal Community Supports
Easter Seals
Project Director: Jean Langendorf
1611 Headway Circle - Building 2
Austin, TX 78754
(512) 478-2581
Website
Project Period: October 1, 2008 - October 31, 2011
ASSET (Active Service Solutions for Economic Transition) AmeriCorps: Statewide. This project assisted people with disabilities across the state learn how to be more independent. Over a three-year period, AmeriCorps members conducted training and provided one-on-one support to 4,087 individuals. This included assisting 1,956 individuals with housing; 680 with assistive technology; and 1,451 with financial literacy. Members also conducted 64 presentations on assistive technology to employers, educators, civic groups and others.
Cultural Outreach and Development
Seeking to better understand the impact of cultural issues on services and to build relationships with organizations that are working to improve the lives of individuals from ethnic minority cultures, in fiscal year 2011 the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities awarded grants to organizations for activities designed to help their communities provide culturally competent support to people with disabilities.
Apalachicola Creek Indians
Project Director: Mary Sixwomen Blount
113 N. First Street, Mabank, TX 75147
(903) 880-0240
Project Period: January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011
Outreach and Development Project. Persons with developmental disabilities who used Tribal Referral and Information Services completed 25 satisfaction surveys. Based on the findings, individuals who are waiting for Home and Community-based Services (HCS) independent living services received classes in nutrition and cooking. The project also increased community inclusion through participation in a community choir and a reading program at the local library.
The Arc of Greater Houston
Project Director: Myrta Torres
P.O. Box 924168
Houston, TX 77292-4168
(713) 957-1600
Website
Project Period: January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011
Parents as Partners in Special Education: Spanish Speaking Outreach and Development Project. The Arc provided culturally appropriate training to 62 persons with developmental disabilities and family members regarding special education advocacy, Medicaid waivers and guardianship. The project also hosted a Spanish Resource and Advocacy Conference with 171 participants.
Friends and Families of Asians with Special Needs
Project Director: Chung-Ying K. Chen
P.O. Box 421766
Houston, TX 77242-1766
(281) 840-8435
Website
Project Period: February 1, 2011 - March 31, 2012
Outreach and Development Project. This initiative educated 101 Asian families to be more effective advocates for their children and to promote awareness concerning the barriers facing Asian families with children with developmental disabilities.
