Build Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

OPWDD will leverage its ongoing work with the New York State Community of Practice (CoP) on Cultural and Linguistic Competence to develop and implement a comprehensive strategic initiative to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion, inclusive of culture, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability, within the OPWDD service system. Through this initiative, OPWDD will invest $30 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to advance equity, diversity and inclusion. OPWDD will examine policies and programs that impact equity, diversity, inclusion and linguistic and cultural competence. The initiative will engage people with developmental disabilities, their families and community partners directly in defining their interests and needs and partnering with OPWDD to provide supports and services to the state’s culturally and linguistically diverse populations. OPWDD will share the results of these investments broadly to ensure transparency and to document service system achievements over time.

Georgetown University Partnership

In May 2022, Governor Hochul announced that OPWDD and Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) would partner to conduct a three-year project.  The project was officially launched on November 30, 2022, in Albany, NY, during a full-day forum with the OPWDD Commissioner and staff. The goal of the partnership is to advance policies and practices of cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity and inclusion in all components of New York State’s developmental disability service system. This partnership has four components that will focus on (1) OPWDD, (2) persons with lived experience of intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, (3) New York State’s developmental disabilities provider network and (4) an OPWDD-administered grant program focused on cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, the NCCC will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all activities to determine the impact and inform future OPWDD cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

OPWDD Component

Throughout the three-year partnership, the NCCC will provide ongoing consultation to OPWDD. The NCCC will provide an array of technical assistance and professional development activities that include:

1. Engaging OPWDD to create a cultural and linguistic competence action plan.
2. Conducting an audit of OPWDD’s policies and practices to determine the extent to which they advance cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion.
3. Conducting an assessment of the professional development interests and needs of designated OPWDD staff specifically focused on cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion.
4. Implementing a series of custom-tailored professional development activities for designated OPWDD staff.
5. Adapting and conducting the NCCC’s Leadership Academy for Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence for designated OPWDD staff.
6. Supporting OPWDD in developing standards, benchmarks and metrics to assess cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion within the New York State developmental disabilities service system.

Persons with I/DD and their Families 

The NCCC will:

1. Convene a series of virtual forums that engage people with developmental disabilities and their families to define equity and what it means for their interests, needs, the communities in which they live and the developmental disabilities service system in New York State.
2. Provide consultation to OPWDD to create a statewide leadership group composed of people with developmental disabilities and their family members across diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups to inform the work of cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity, inclusion and system change.
3. Conduct a Leadership Academy pilot for people with developmental disabilities that emphasizes their essential role in advancing cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity and inclusion in the New York State developmental disabilities service system.

Developmental Disabilities Provider Network

The NCCC will:

1. Engage the developmental disabilities providers in a process to differentiate and define cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion and what they mean for the developmental disabilities service system.
2. Provide technical assistance to the New York State Community of Practice on Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Developmental Disabilities.
3. Offer an instrument and provide technical assistance and consultation to assist the developmental disabilities provider network to conduct cultural and linguistic competence organizational assessment processes, which is foundational for diversity, equity and inclusion in the developmental disabilities service system.
4. Develop a report on the findings of the statewide process to build capacity for cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion in New York State.
5. Provide consultation to the developmental disabilities provider network to develop cultural and linguistic competence action plans, including how to plan for and manage organizational change.
6. Conduct a series of webinars on key practices of cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion in the context of developmental disabilities supports and services.
7. Create a password-protected website for developmental disabilities providers to access professional development materials and resources.

OPWDD-Administered Grant Program

OPWDD will develop an Innovation Grants Program to support eligible organizations that are implementing innovative strategies to enhance cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion of the developmental disabilities service system. The grant funding will support improved cultural and linguistic competence and diversity, equity and inclusion through sustainable changes in policy and practices. Additional information on the Innovation Grants will be forthcoming.