Dear Independent Living (IL) Community,

We had been eagerly anticipating sharing some exciting news with you all. Recently, The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (The Partnership) was awarded the contract by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to serve as the new Independent Living Training and Technical Assistance (IL T/TA) Center. We are honored by this opportunity to support the Independent Living (IL) community in this important role supporting your work grounded in the independent living philosophy.

Our mission is to promote equity for people with disabilities before, during, and after disasters and emergencies, and we have had the privilege of working with many of you in carrying out this mission that is rooted in the IL Philosophy. While our organization will continue this important work, we plan to establish through this opportunity a T/TA center that allows us to work even more closely with Centers for Independent Living (CILs), State Independent Living Councils (SILCs), Designated State Entities (DSEs), and all stakeholders within the IL Network in this new role.

However, before we could officially announce this development and how you may engage in training and technical assistance with us, we became aware of a notice of protest filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the contract award. As a result, we have been directed by HHS to stop all work related to this contract until further notice.

We are disheartened by this turn of events, as we have invested significant time, energy, and commitment into preparing to serve you in this capacity. Our dedication to the CILs, SILCs, and DSEs across the country – and the disability community we collectively serve – remains unwavering.

While we navigate this unexpected situation, please know that we will continue our ongoing work and collaborations related to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery – we are here for you anytime. Our commitment to promoting equity for people with disabilities before, during, and after disasters and emergencies remains undeterred.

We understand that this news may raise questions, and while we have limited information at this time, we wanted to be transparent with you—our IL family and colleagues. We are hopeful that there will be a prompt resolution of this matter so that we can perform the critical work under the contract. We will keep you informed as we learn more, and we thank you for your patience as you await supportive training and technical assistance during this time.

During this interim period, please do not hesitate to reach out to your ACL program officer for support. You can contact them by clicking here to access their contact information on the ACL website.

Thank you for your understanding and for your continued dedication to empowering people with disabilities to live independently. We value our relationships with each of you and look forward to continuing our work together in whatever capacity we can.

In community,

Staff and Board (Learn about us here)

The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies

 

You can contact the Co-Executive Directors directly at directors@disasterstrategies.org