State Grant Provides Free Future Planning for Disabled

There’s a little known gem that’s been available in the Chicago area for the last five years. 

Those in the know have been picking Teri Steinberg’s brain for her expertise in the disability community.  She has been a free resource for those that were lucky enough to hear about her grant from the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities.  She will come to your home and guide you through the alphabet soup of agencies and tools that you need to know about if you have a child with a disability.

She will come do a PATH Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope.  This tool is where she will facilitate forming a Circle of Support and resources around the person with a disability.  She will guide you through brainstorming sessions designed to form a Board of Directors, filled with family, friends, neighbors and people in the community.

Teri can connect you to PAS Pre Admission Screening Agencies, PUNS Prioritization of Needs List, HCBW Home and Community based Waiver info, therapists, CILA Community Integrated Living Arrangements, and guiding you through Discovery for Employment options to create or carve out jobs and even create housing opportunities with varying levels of support and funding.  Whew, that is an alphabet soup!! Fear not, and don’t be overwhelmed by these terms that may be unfamiliar to you.

Teri will do all of this for free as long as her grant lasts.  The grant was renewed at least for another year, so families who are interested should call to get on her schedule.  She can help guide you toward a person-centered life in the community. Her territory is Chicago and all surrounding suburbs.  Teri is able to connect you with all the areas you need to work on when developing a plan for the future.  You can call her at 847-831-4540. Let her help you bring it all together into a workable plan for your child’s future.

As Teri says, “a life changed for the better is practice-based evidence.”

Teri L. Steinberg

Chicago Regional Organizer, Illinois Association of Microboards and Cooperatives, www.iambc.org

The Illinois Association of Microboards and Cooperatives is intended for those who want to explore possibilities of alternative services for themselves or their loved ones.  The project assists persons with disabilities and their families and friends to create non-profit corporations that allow them to live self-directed lives through the use of person-centered planning, community supports and resource management.