California releases Master Plan to better support people with developmental disabilities

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the release of the Master Plan for Developmental Services: A Community-Driven Vision (Plan). The Plan makes recommendations on improvements for the service system, including reducing barriers to service access statewide for the growing developmental disabilities community. The Plan reflects extensive and diverse input from the community, capturing what Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families want to see in employment, education, transportation, health, behavioral health, developmental services, and other programs to live and thrive in community.

 “California succeeds when ALL communities succeed. Our Administration has prioritized transparency, accountability, and equity in supports that make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities. We are proud to receive this Master Plan from the people who are most impacted by our services and look forward to getting to work.”

Governor Gavin Newsom

The Committee responsible for the development of the Plan was appointed by the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) Secretary in early 2024 and included five workgroups, all of which were made up of a diverse group of individuals with disabilities, family members, advocates, service providers, direct support professionals, and representatives from the state’s 21 regional centers. The Committee and its workgroups convened to develop the recommendations with public input through a robust year-long, statewide process. Additionally, more than 45 listening sessions were held with various diverse communities, service providers, policy experts, advocates, individuals and families.

The Plan’s recommendations

• Systems Serving People Are Centered in Equity: Addressing disparities in service delivery for underserved communities by standardizing services statewide and removing language, cultural, and location barriers. 
• People Making Their Own Life Choices: Providing tools and resources needed to support individuals in decision-making.
• People Get Services They Need and Choose: Streamlining and simplifying processes to reduce wait times and provide timely access to critical services, as well as building stronger bridges across state service systems.
• People Being Part of and Being Served by a Strong Workforce: Investing in training, compensation, and recruitment of direct support professionals.
• Accountability and Transparency in All Systems That Serve People: Equipping individuals, families, advocates, and professionals with resources and information needed to understand how the state is providing services to individuals and families.
• Data Guides the Future of the Developmental Services System: Establishing and implementing clear metrics to assess whether needs are being met effectively and where improvements are needed.

“This would not have been possible without the collaboration of community members committed to making California a place where everyone is valued and can thrive. We are deeply grateful for their contributions. These recommendations will inform the future for our State that meets the needs and goals of each person with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families, and the workforce that supports them.”

Kim Johnson, CalHHS Secretary.

Bigger Picture

The Newsom Administration has made historic investments in recent years for California’s system of community-based services supporting more than 500,000 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

California provides the only life-long entitlement to services in the nation, funded with over $15 billion annually. The evolving needs of the community and access challenges highlighted the need to re-examine how the state delivers services locally to individuals with I/DD and to identify where stronger bridges can be built across employment, health, and social services systems.

Many initiatives and policies already are being implemented by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS). The plan will inform this work and new and future efforts.

Key initiatives include

• Enhancing individual and family experiences and access to information by replacing the current case management and fiscal systems for developmental services with a more modern and streamlined system called the Life Outcomes Improvement System (LOIS), developing standardized information packets for regional center services, implementing a language access plan for vital documents, and standardizing the processes that all regional centers use for intake and respite service assessment (SB 138).
• Building strong career pathways for people with I/DD by ending sub-minimum wages (SB 639), investing in special education, creating inclusive higher education opportunities (AB 447), and encouraging earlier career planning (AB 438).
• Making communities safer by training law enforcement on best practices for interacting with people with I/DD (SB 882) and wandering (AB 2541).
• Workforce Investments maintaining and expanding the service provider network with rate reform and developing opportunities for training, certification programs, and competitive wages for direct support professionals (DSPs) representing our diverse communities.
• Accountability Improvements to improve understanding and trust by requiring the State’s 21 regional centers to follow public record laws and anti-nepotism policies (AB1147), statewide standardization of some processes and assessments, and improvements to data collection. The DDS is sharing more data with the community through new dashboards on how money is spent and how services are delivered and creating more equitable access to standardized information with guides for Early Start and Lanterman Act programs.

“Every Californian should have the opportunities and tools they need to achieve their life goals. These recommendations capture what our communities have said they want and need to realize a future for our State that uplifts and empowers everyone to attain their desired goals and outcomes. We look forward to continued partnership with the community for the path onward, together.”

Pete Cervinka, DDS Director

 What Comes Next

• Continued community engagement: Focus groups and public engagement sessions will continue across a variety of topics to gather input. These topics include employment, rate reform, early intervention, autism, and more.  The Plan will guide these conversations for ongoing measurements, evaluations, policy changes, and fiscal investments.  Opportunities to join the conversations will be shared by the DDS newsletter and events webpages as they become available.
• Accountability Steps: Legislation codified the Master Plan for Developmental Services in 2024 and requires annual reports to the Legislature through the next ten years.  In preparation for those reports, bi-annual meetings of the Plan’s committee will be held to review recommendations and share updates.

What They are Saying

“So many people have different thoughts, beliefs, opinions, backgrounds, but we’re brought together with this very same common core purpose of how can we improve this system? It’s impacting our families, and this really touches home for so many of us that are involved in this process. We have this calling to get this right and knowing that we’re going to put as much effort into this process to make the best changes possible, hopefully our families across the state will see the fruits of this labor and the love and passion that went into it,” said Season Goodpasture, Founder of Tribal non-profit Acorns to Oak Trees, and Committee Member.

“I want to see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live their most authentic lives with the supports and services they want and live a self-determined life,” said Sascha Bittner, Disability Advocate, and Committee Member and Workgroup Co-Chair. “I think it’s been really fruitful, and I think we’ve had really good collaboration and that we have tried to listen to the community and their concerns. It hasn’t been perfect, but I think overall we have worked collaboratively to solve the issues in our state.”

“I want these recommendations to bear good fruit, and I want them to benefit everybody who is served within our system, especially our most vulnerable population,” said Oscar Mercado, Self-Advocate and Committee Member and Workgroup Co-Chair.

“My hope is that the developmental services system begins at infancy for the participant and continues uninterrupted to the person’s end of life, that quality services are person-centered, self-directed, and based on the person’s actual needs, and that services are provided by a dedicated, well-paid, well-trained staff who respect the people that they serve. And that’s one of the reasons why I’m hoping that this master plan, which is just the beginning. This is not the end. It will continue to evolve,” said Joyce McNair, Parent, Committee Member, and California State Council on Developmental Disabilities Councilmember.

“I’m his voice, here in the Master Plan, for my son. And not just for my son, but for the hundreds, thousands of individuals that we serve in the state. I’m proud of the work that we’re doing. I can’t wait to see the outcome, once it’s officially done, and just to see over time the progress we’re going to make through the Master Plan,” said Norma Ramos, Parent and Committee Member.

“I want change for my community,” said Alexander Taua Brown Omoto, Disability Advocate and Activist.

“Whatever we can do to make a change, what we call person-centered change, in his life and also in my life as a parent and caregiver, that will make things better, and also the lives of people around him as well,” said Marty Omoto, Parent Advocate, Committee Member, and California Disability Community Action Network (CDCAN) Founder.

“As we continue to support the entitlement, which is unique to California, my hope is that we really take the lessons we’ve learned through this process and apply those in a very thoughtful way. One of those, and probably the most important, that I’ve taken from this is that we’ve heard loud and clear from our self-advocates that they want and can be active participants in these discussions, and that for too long, professionals and others that support our self-advocates have minimized their voices. And we need to find ways to amplify their voices and to recognize that they really are the service drivers and that they deserve to be, and that their input is far more valuable than really anybody else’s,” said Amy Westling, Executive Director of the Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA).

Available Media

About DDS

The Department of Developmental Services is responsible for overseeing the coordination and delivery of services and supports to over 500,000 Californians with, or at risk for, developmental disabilities including cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, autism, epilepsy and related conditions.  Services are designed to meet the needs and choices of individuals at each stage of their lives and support them in their communities, reflecting lifestyle, cultural and linguistic preferences.

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