COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR IMPACT-

A VIEW FROM THE FIELDJULY 20TH,2016

NCE Summer Leadership Institute

Palm Springs, CA

You will learn:Arc Connecticut achieved critical legislative

success and your Arc can too. We continue to

build a family movement based on strong

relationships between families and legislators

through community organizing and our idea

to create a state level Intellectual and

Developmental Disability Legislative Caucus

to champion the I/DD Arc political agenda.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Organizing means building and growing

meaningful relationships with people in

our communities based on shared values

and common concerns. By developing

these local relationships, you can build a

constituency that is organized and able to

demand change from policy makers and

holding them accountable.

ISSUES, LEADERS, EXPECTATIONS

WHY ORGANIZE?

I was a group home worker turned community, political

and labor organizer and started with The Arc almost 10

years ago. I was an outsider to The Arc movement but

being an outsider gave me a unique perspective.

Looking from the outside in I noticed The Arc Connecticut

had strayed from its roots since the early 80’s. By

focusing on filing and monitoring 4 class action lawsuits

and spearheading the creation the private provider

system of support, we lost touch with families and their

power.

As a result, The Arc’s power both politically and with DDS

had diminished.

WHY ORGANIZE AN I/DD LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS?

We had fewer victories and less impact on systems

change.

Our issues were not a priority for the Connecticut

legislature. A state budget is a list of priorities and our

issues kept ending up on the bottom of that priority

list!

The political and fiscal realities changed and an

increase of funding and political will to properly fund

supports for people with I/DD ceased to exist.

WHY ORGANIZE AN I/DD LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS?

o We had not had a real legislative champion in years.

o Advocates and Providers had not been able to reverse over

20 years of slow starvation and chronic underfunding of the

private system of support. Providers were struggling and

nothing was changing.

o It was the time for families and individuals with I/DD to

shift the political landscape and force policy makers to

make those we advocate for become a priority!!!

THE ARC CONNECTICUT

FAMILIES FOR FAMILIES

ELEMENTS OF THE 2011 ORGANIZING PLAN

Our Goal: To build a movement that will mobilize

hundreds of families and individuals with

intellectual and developmental disabilities around

preventing harmful changes, as well as promoting

helpful changes, to the DDS private system of

support.

Our Message: With supports that reflect goals and

personal aspirations, individuals with I/DD can grow

and thrive in the community of their choosing

Our Audience: Families, Policy Makers & the Public/Media

To Families - Families must join their strengths

together to stand up for a brighter future for their

children and themselves.

To Policy Makers - The needs of people with

intellectual and developmental disabilities and the

ability of state and federal programs to meet those

needs are in stark contrast. The harmful impact of this

on families is tremendous.

To Public/Media-There is a great unmet need and it is

time to insist that our policy makers stand up and

support public policy which ensures that the

infrastructure, resources and vision necessary to support

our families is in place.

THE THREE E’S

Educate: Inform families about the crisis the system

is facing so that they in turn can educate policy

makers and the media.

Empower: Empower families to believe they can

make a difference because they can. Provide

families with the training, tools and organizational

support needed to get their message out to allies,

policy makers and the media.

Engage: Engage families and self advocates in

getting the word out and sharing their personal

stories of both challenges and successes.

ORGANIZING SUCCESSES

Since 2011, families and individuals with I/DD have

come together in unprecedented numbers and their

efforts have changed the political landscape in

Connecticut.

After 3 years of community organizing, individuals and

families working with The Arc created a Legislative I/DD

Caucus whose mission and goal is to focus on and

promote good outcomes for individuals with I/DD and

their families.

Our caucus was formed because families took the time

to share their stories, educate and develop relationships

with legislators.

ORGANIZING SUCCESSES

Because of organizing families, The I/DD Caucus

members designated funding specifically to providing

supports to individuals & families on the residential

waiting list for the first time in over 20 years, without

a law suit.

Because of the I/DD Caucus the Governor created the

Working Group on Intellectual and Developmental

Disabilities. The Waiting List became a priority at least

for one legislative session.

Because of our I/DD Caucus, we were able to elevate

our issues on the legislative priority list.

ORGANIZING SUCCESSES

And this year, during the most devastating budget crisis in my

lifetime, the DDS budget lines that impact families,

individuals and those who support them the most, The DDS

Community Provider line and Day & Employment lines, were

not cut!!!

We started seeing a shift in resources and less cuts to the DDS

budget.

CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY

Community organizing is slow moving at best!

Not always measurable outcomes, especially in the

beginning.

It takes organizational buy-in and that can be a difficult

and long process.

It takes money and resources. And when chapters

struggle keeping the lights on, shifting precious

resources to community organizing it is a challenging

rope to walk across

CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY

Legislative leaders change, constant struggle to

“wrangle” policy makers.

Legislators have the attention span of a gnat. Just

when you think they agreed to do something, they get

200 equally important requests and yours suddenly gets

forgotten.

ADVICE FOR STARTING A COMMUNITY

ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN

Start slow with realistic goals.

Create a goal, develop a message, define your

audience, set a timeline and work backwards to create

an action plan.

Use Social Media to your advantage. Don’t be afraid to

embrace new technology to get you messaging across.

Patience, patience, patience….

Invest in hiring a community organizer, at least part

time.

And the most important……

“If You Build It They

Will Come”

“BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CRAZY

ENOUGH TO THINK THEY CAN CHANGE THE

WORLD, ARE THE ONES WHO DO.”

THINK DIFFERENT CAMPAIGN

APPLE, INC.