A National Environmental Scan of the Disability, Systems Change Advocacy Landscape

Initiated in fall 2023 with funding from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Grassroots Project: Engage. Connect. Advocate. was created to help build disability grassroots advocacy and to support the development of advocacy skills and capacities in a new generation of grassroots advocates. To inform the activities of the project, Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) conducted an environmental scan mapping the current disability, systems change advocacy landscape. The focus of this process was to assess current disability advocacy infrastructure, existing disability advocacy resources, and gaps in disability advocacy, and to identify state and local advocacy and action coalitions with whom to partner. The scan included a search for gaps in advocacy and their impact on independent living, person-centered thinking, planning, and practice, and funding models. This environmental scan will guide efforts that expand engagement of disability advocates with the implementation of major policy priorities such as the HCBS Settings Rule of 2014 and the Medicaid Access Rule of 2024.

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