September 16, 2026
Grant Highlights
The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council (MODDC) funds projects that create and strengthen systems change. Projects are prioritized, designed, and awarded to grantees by council members. MODDC is excited to start its new five-year state plan with these funded projects.
Project Title: Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) Fiscal Analysis
Grantee: University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) in collaboration with University of Kansas City – Institute for Human Development (UMKC-IHD)
Timeline: One-year project
Project Description: The project will look at how job programs in Missouri help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The project will study four job types:
- Competitive, integrated employment (CIE)
- Supported employment
- Sheltered work
- Self-employment
What the project will do: The project will use numbers and data to explain:
- How much do these job programs cost
- How these programs help people with IDD in Missouri, like how much they earn and how many hours they work
- How these programs affect government benefits, like whether people need less help from SSI
Learn more about MODDC’s competitive employment position statement.
Tell us your employment story! Your story can help others understand why inclusive employment matters and how it helps everyone – people with and without disabilities. Share what you do, what you enjoy about your work, and the strengths you bring to your workplace. Submit your story today. And remember to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October!
Project Title: Medicaid Advocacy
Grantee: University of Kansas City – Institute for Human Development (UMKC-IHD)
Timeline: Two-year project
Project Description: The Missouri Voices Collective is a project that helps people get clear, easy-to-understand information about Medicaid. It teaches people what Medicaid is, how changes might affect them, and what they can do if they need to take action. It also gives self-advocates, families, and community partners chances to share their stories and help improve future learning and advocacy.
The project follows a Learn–Talk–Do model. First, people learn about a Medicaid topic. Next, they talk about what it means for them and their families. Then they find out what they can do, like getting resources, knowing their rights, sharing their experiences, or taking part in advocacy.
To do all this, the project offers monthly trainings, makes printed materials, creates a Medicaid alert system, gathers feedback from individuals and families, and builds a statewide network of self-advocates, families, and partners. Check out MODDC’s website for recordings of the trainings starting January 2027.
Overall, this helps people in Missouri understand Medicaid better and feel more confident speaking up for themselves and others.
Project Title: Power of Choice
Grantee: University of Massachusetts Boston
Timeline: Three-year project
Project Description: This project will create a 12-week online class for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The class will teach them about choices they have instead of guardianship. Professionals will also get special training. Each youth participant will be matched with a mentor, and every youth participant will make their own project. The goal is to train at least 20 youth with IDD and complete at least four training courses for professionals.
Project Title: Partners in Policymaking
Program Coordinator: Courtney Leader
Timeline: Annual project
Project Description: Partners in Policymaking is a leadership and advocacy training program provided at no cost to Missourians with developmental disabilities and parents of young children with developmental disabilities.
This program is based on the belief that the most effective and enduring public policy decisions are made by the people who need and use services in partnerships with policymakers. It’s about people becoming confident in themselves and comfortable in sharing their life experiences with policymakers.
The 2027 class of Partners in Policymaking will take place from January 2027 through September 2027. MODDC is currently accepting applications for the 2027 class. Apply for Partners in Policymaking.
Member Spotlight: Dr. Tony Taylor
What is your why?
I want decisions about developmental-disability services to be shaped by the people and families most affected by them.
What is your call to action to readers?
Speak up. Share your story. Your voice matters.
What is your favorite MODDC project or initiative?
One of my favorite MODDC initiatives is Partners in Policymaking because it turns lived experience into leadership. The program gives people with developmental disabilities and their family members the knowledge, connections, and advocacy skills to participate meaningfully in policy decisions. I appreciate that it does more than provide information—it builds long-term capacity and helps ensure that people most affected by the system have a voice in changing it.
What year did you graduate from Partners?
2022
How would you like to be described? For example, Lisa was described as a mother to an adult daughter with developmental disabilities.
A proud father to two adult children with developmental disabilities.
MODDC Welcomes Four New Council Members
Governor Kehoe appointed four members to the Missouri Council on Developmental Disabilities (MODDC) on Friday, September 11, 2026. Council members serve three-year terms, and the Council meets every other month to make important decisions about projects and policies that impact people with developmental disabilities. Please join us in welcoming our newest members!
Christian Powers is a self-advocate from Pacific, MO. His interests include voting rights advocacy, transportation, and equitable employment. He is passionate about building communities.
Michkeal Cross is a self-advocate from St. Louis, MO. His passions include disability rights, social justice, leadership, and helping create more inclusive communities.
Elise Moore is a parent from Wildwood, MO. Her interests include working toward policies that make a long-term impact and improve Missourians’ lives throughout their lives.
Kristin O’Brien is a parent from Booneville, MO. Her interests include improving accessibility in recreation and playgrounds, and improving the quality of special education.
Learn more about MODDC’s Council Members
Policy Watch: Issues You Need to Know
MODDC advocates in many ways. We meet with policymakers in our local communities, at the capital in Jefferson City, and even in Washington, D.C. We also submit public comments online and work with state and federal departments.
Here are some proposed federal legislations that we are watching and plan to engage in this fall while in Washington, D.C.
HCBS (Home and Community Based Services) Access Act: This bill is meant to help more people get care in their homes and communities instead of having to move into nursing homes. It wants Medicaid to cover home and community-based services for everyone who needs them.
The bill would:
- Make sure people don’t have to wait years to get home-based care.
- Help people with disabilities and older adults live at home with the right supports.
- Give states money to improve their care systems and track who needs services.
- Improve pay, training, and working conditions for caregivers so more people want these jobs.
- Support family caregivers with training, help, and resources.
- Make it easier for people to choose home care instead of being forced into institutions.
- It also creates grants to train and support care workers, builds a national center to help states improve care, and requires studies to make sure people are getting the help they need.
Keeping All Students Safe Act: It says schools cannot use dangerous ways to control students, like locking them alone in a room or using restraints that can hurt them. Schools can only use safe physical restraint when someone is in immediate danger, and only trained people can do it. Schools must tell parents right away if restraint is used. States must create plans, train school staff, and report how often restraint happens. The bill also gives money to states to help them make schools safer and teach better ways to support students.
Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals (DSP) Act: It would allow the government to create a special job code for DSP. The job code will allow better data collection on the DSP workforce. Data is necessary for future advocacy.
- Review MODDC’s recommendations regarding the DSP workforce by reviewing our Olmstead White Paper.
- Tell your Congressperson and US Senators why DSPs are important to you. Send your message to them.
