DEI Strategic Plan and Vision-to-Action
Vision for Cultural Competence, Linguistic Competence, and Equity
OPWDD’s vision for cultural and linguistic competence is to create a service system where the needs of people with developmental disabilities from all cultures and backgrounds are met, and all people are respected and understood.
OPWDD celebrates and embraces diversity and fosters a sense of inclusivity and belonging for all. Through awareness, education, and collaboration, we promote mutual understanding and break down barriers to a more equitable and inclusive community.
As part of NYS Executive Order 187, OPWDD will be releasing a 5-Year DEI Strategic Plan for 2026-2031.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Definitions
Equity
Equity is providing opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to access supports, services, and resources in a fair and just way that best meets a person’s specific needs. Equity reduces barriers to access often experienced by under-served and under-represented groups. OPWDD seeks to foster a culture of inclusion and to address imbalances among the people, employees, providers, and organizations that we work alongside.
OPWDD will be engaging in a process to gather input from providers, staff, family members, and people with developmental disability to modify the definition.
Cultural Competence
Cultural competence is the understanding, appreciation, and support of the cultures and perspectives of the people we engage with in our system, especially people we serve and people with whom we work. A culturally competent organization creates and implements policies, programs, and services in a way that is self-reflective, data driven, and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. This process helps us to: understand what influences our decisions and policies; engage with the entire service system community; and review our definitions and interpretations on an ongoing basis.
A person’s culture includes but is not limited to:
- Appearance and expression
- Communication styles (spoken and unspoken)
- Disability
- Food & musical choices
- Gender identity
- Home or community
- Language (American Sign Language, Spanish, Mandarin, etc.)
- Nationality/race/ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexuality
- Values, beliefs, customs, practices, attitudes, perceptions, and preferences of a particular group of people
Linguistic Competence
Linguistic competence is the ability of OPWDD and its staff to communicate in ways that are easily understood by diverse groups. OPWDD will be responsive to the language and literacy needs and preferences of people with developmental disabilities and their families. This includes but is not limited to:
- people who have difficulty speaking, reading, or writing in English and/or their native language,
- people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people who have low vision or are blind.
OPWDD will strive to respond effectively to the cultural values and languages of the populations it serves. OPWDD is committed to continuously review and improve its policies and operations, and to dedicate resources, wherever feasible, to support these actions
OPWDD will be engaging in a process to gather input from providers, staff, family members, and people with developmental disability to modify the definition.
Limited English Proficiency and Language Access
Language Access Services
OPWDD is committed to ensuring language access for all people with limited English proficiency accessing services, including their family members, advocates, and designees. Language access plays a key role in moving DEI priorities forward for OPWDD. By investing in language access, we incorporate Cultural and Linguistic Competence best practices into everyday delivery of services.
OPWDD provides language access services, including translation (written communication) and interpretation (oral or visual communication), in more than 60 languages across NYS.
Learn more about Language Access at OPWDD
Contact Language Access at OPWDD
For questions or additional assistance with language access, please contact [email protected]
Language Access is part of OPWDD’s Regulatory Agenda (more information coming soon)
Data and Research
Asian American Pacific Islander Demographic Information
NY State Senate Bill 2021-S7821
The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) collects disaggregated information on Asian American and Pacific Islander identities for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. OPWDD expects comprehensive public reporting on disaggregated Asian American and Pacific Islander identities to take place in 2026-2027 to the degree that the data quality is sufficient.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Demographic Information
NY State Senate Bill 2023-S3225
The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) collects information on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) for people with developmental disabilities. We collect this information through the Uniform Assessment System – New York (UAS-NY)/Coordinated Assessment System (CAS).
The UAS-NY is a web-based application that enables users to enter and maintain information about an individual and to conduct a home and community-based long-term care assessment using one of the assessment instruments. It is a secure, web-based software application housed in the New York State (NYS) Department of Health’s (DOH) Health Commerce System (HCS). The UAS-NY contains electronic adult and pediatric assessment instruments for individuals being served in New York State’s Medicaid home and community-based long term care setting.
The CAS is OPWDD’s comprehensive assessment and interview process through which a trained assessor works with the person to identify their unique skills, abilities, needs, and more.
OPWDD is working with NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) to understand how the UAS-NY might be utilized to support collection and reporting about gender identity, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.
OPWDD is working to ensure that people understand the importance of collecting this information and that there is a process for people to consent to the collection and sharing of this sensitive information.
OPWDD expects comprehensive public reporting on demographic characteristics to take place in 2026-2027 to the degree that the data quality is sufficient.
Middle Eastern and North African Demographic Information
NY State Senate Bill 2023-S6584B
Newly signed legislation requires New York State to have separate collection categories for White, Middle Eastern and North African. This legislation is effective July 2026.
All updated demographic data can be found on OPWDD Data Page.
OPWDD and Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence (GU-NCCC) Partnership for Systems-Change – Reports and Findings
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 was 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.
OPWDD Component
OPWDD leadership worked with GU-NCCC on many approaches to integrate Cultural and Linguistic Competence (CLC) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles into policies, practices, and professional development for staff. OPWDD created a vision-to-action plan that involved many different areas:
- Communications
- Community Engagement
- Contracts and Procurement
- Internal Infrastructure
- Provider Capacity
- Service Access
- Workforce
People with Developmental Disabilities and their Families Component
GU-NCCC held listening sessions for people with developmental disabilities and their families across diverse groups. The following reports will be made available once the listening sessions are completed:
- Report on Listening Sessions with Family Members
- Report on Listening Sessions with People With Developmental Disabilities
Provider Network Component
GU-NCCC conducted 12 public forums for providers. Providers were asked questions about their ability to provide services to culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Results of the forums are published.
Strategic Partnerships
OPWDD has a strong partnership with the NYS Council on Developmental Disabilities. Through this partnership, OPWDD supports, implements, and expands community-based pilots that meet the needs of diverse populations with developmental disabilities.
NYS Community of Practice for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Developmental Disabilities
OPWDD joined and co-launched the NYS Community of Practice for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in 2017. This was a 5-year initiative coordinated through Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence. New York was one of 10 States and Territories who were a part of this national initiative. OPWDD aimed to increase access to information about developmental disabilities supports and services through outreach, training, and education. The Community of Practice held focus groups, public forums, and multilingual sessions to learn about the needs of families and people with lived experience of developmental disabilities who have limited English proficiency. Data from these research activities are published in a Community Needs Assessment.
Ensuring Access to Front Door Services
OPWDD worked with a Minority and Woman Owned Business Enterprise and two community-based organizations to help make accessing services more accessible for people from different cultures and whose primary language may not be English. Focus groups with Chinese-American families and Spanish-speaking families resulted in several recommendations. Results indicated the need to make Front Door information, OPWDD’s eligibility process, more accessible and understandable. Community members also wanted greater representation of diverse families with lived experience of developmental disabilities, including on the public website and other promotional materials.
Community members and OPWDD staff also co-created Front Door Videos. The videos provide easy-to-understand information about OPWDD services and how to get started with eligibility for services. The videos are currently available in English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. If you require a different language, please contact [email protected].
Project Impact: Front Door Videos | Office for People With Developmental Disabilities
The Office for New Americans (ONA) Ramirez June Initiative
Since 2019, OPWDD has worked closely with the NYS Department of State Office for New Americans through the Office for New Americans Ramirez June Initiative. The ONA Ramirez June Initiative was funded by the NYS Council on Developmental Disabilities. This partnership has strengthened the developmental disabilities network’s capacity to serve new American families with developmental disabilities.
Project Impact: Informational Video | Office for New Americans Ramirez June Initiative
The Office for New Americans (ONA) Bilingual Coordinator Program
OPWDD is a partner on the ONA Bilingual Coordinator Program. This is a pilot program in Brooklyn, NY. In the program, a full-time bilingual case manager works directly with OPWDD and ONA staff to connect the Mandarin and/or Cantonese-speaking new American families to OPWDD services, care coordination, and other disability and mental health services.
NYS Community of Practice on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Developmental Disabilities
OPWDD is an advisor to the NYS Community of Practice on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Developmental Disabilities. The Community of Practice is led by an OPWDD provider and aims to provide quality culturally competence services and supports to people with developmental disabilities and their families.
Resources
A project hub with resources on Cultural Competence, Linguistic Competence, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is available to OPWDD staff, service providers, and people with developmental disabilities and their families. The website will be available to you until 2031.
To access resources on the website:
- Register on the site with an email address
- Register for specific project hubs designed for staff, providers, and people with development disabilities and families to access resources geared to your needs, such as archived training videos, presentations, templates to help you implement best practices for cultural and linguistic competence
- Check out the Resource Bank that can be searched by topic area, resource type and key word for a wide range of helpful resources on CLC and DEI.