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APD Wins Three-Year Grant

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) just received notification that it won a three-year grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) within the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The $455,419 grant will be used for a statewide initiative called Person-Centered Planning Implementation. The first phase of the grant will be to provide training to Waiver Support Coordinators and other stakeholders on how to improve the involvement of APD customers in setting goals and planning for their future.

In the second phase, APD will be holding community meetings in its 14 regions. The goal of the workshops will be to create a community network with lasting ties for each person with a disability. All stakeholders in the community will be included, such as Florida Vocational Rehabilitation and other employment resources, Department of Health, private providers, housing agencies, and transportation providers.

APD Director Jane Johnson said, "We are thrilled to have been selected to win this federal grant to focus on giving APD customers even greater voice in planning their future. APD wholeheartedly supports enhancing choice and options for people, and it is extremely important to intimately involve the local community in that planning process."

In accepting this Real Systems Change Grant for Person-Centered Planning Implementation, APD is agreeing to contribute about $22,000 in employee time toward this process for a total investment of $478,190.

APD currently serves about 35,000 Floridians with developmental disabilities of mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and Prader-Willi syndrome. For more information on the agency, call 1-866-APD-CARES or visit www.apd.myflorida.com.