Welcome to the Community Living Policy Center!

People with disabilities and older adults in the United States have the right to live in the community, but systemic barriers and inconsistent federal, state, and local policies can prevent them from exercising their rights. The Community Living Policy Center, or CLPC, at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University, conducts research on the provision and quality of home- and community-based service programs for people with disabilities in the United States.

The Community Living Policy Center receives grant funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

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Happening Now at the CLPC

Introducing an interactive dashboard to learn more about people with disabilities

Disability Data Dashboard. A graphic of a black woman interacting with the data dashboard.

Historically, data about people with disabilities and their experiences has been difficult to access, navigate, and understand. Our interactive data dashboards offer a solution for advocates, policymakers, and researchers, portraying information about parents with disabilities and community living services in visually engaging and easy-to-use ways. We hope these dashboards can serve as an effective tool for disability advocates to further the rights, access, and inclusion of the disability community.

Access the Disability Data Dashboard

Webinar: Unlocking Potential: Social Housing as a Catalyst for Accessible, Affordable Living

Unlocking Potential: Social Housing as a Catalyst for Accessible, Affordable Living. December 5, 2024 3:00-4:00pm ET Panelists: Mary Lou Breslin, Hanneke van Deursen, Morgan Tweed. Register now! Community Living Policy Center Logo. Lurie Institute for Disability Policy logo.This exciting and timely webinar explores the burgeoning movement for social housing in the United States and the untapped opportunities it presents to increase permanent, affordable, accessible housing for disabled renters. Social housing embodies the growing view that private, for-profit housing development has failed to meet the nation’s growing affordable housing crisis. Shielded from the market, rent-stabilized, and sustainable, social housing holds the potential to help solve the housing shortage for renters with diverse incomes, including very low-income disabled people.

Access the accessible PowerPoint file.

Recording coming soon

Webinar: Olmstead 25th Anniversary Panel: The Progress and Promise of the Olmstead Decision

Olmstead 25th Anniversary Panel: The Progress and Promise of the Olmstead DecisionThe Community Living Policy Center held a timely and important panel event on Tuesday, June 18th on key milestones of Olmstead advocacy and future directions for community living policy. We were extremely fortunate to be joined by Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, Professor Jasmine E. Harris, law and inequality legal scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Teresa Nguyen, Director of the Community Living Equity Center, and Mike Oxford, community living advocate.

Access the OLMSTEAD Webinar Recording

Webinar: Looking at HCBS Equity at a State Level

Looking at HCBS Equity at a State LevelHome- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are essential for individuals with disabilities to live and participate in their homes and community. Little is known about how HCBS, impacts disabled people of color, and the Community Living Equity Center was thrilled to feature three states and organizations that are beginning to examine equity within their HCBS systems. Attendees heard from our CLEC stakeholders—New Disabled South, Colorado Department of Healthcare Financing and Policy, and the University of Minnesota—about how each of them got started on identifying HCBS inequities within their state, which data sources were used, and what themes have emerged from their work. The Community Living Policy Center was pleased to co-host this webinar.

Access the webinar Recording for Looking at HCBS Equity at a State Level

Needs and Priorities for Community Living Policy Research: Summary of Stakeholder Roundtables and Community Living Policy Survey

Needs and Priorities for Community Living Policy Research: Summary of Stakeholder Roundtables and Community Living Policy SurveyIn the Fall of 2022, the Community Living Policy Center (CLPC) convened a series of roundtables with key stakeholders to gain their insights about needs, opportunities, and priorities for future Community Living Policy Research. Stakeholders included disability and aging advocates, state officials and associations representing states, providers and health plans, and individuals with disabilities, including individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, and other backgrounds. In June of 2023, in conjunction with the CLPC’s State of the Science convening, we also distributed a Community Living Policy survey to further enhance community input.

Read the Summary

Disability Identity and Pride in Equity Research: Community Living Equity Center webinar

Disability Identity and Pride in Equity Research webinarThe Community Living Equity Center's first webinar, Disability Identity and Pride in Equity Research, centered the voices of members of CLEC's Community Advisory Committee. With a brief introduction of the CLEC mission and guiding principles, researchers discuss gaps in equity research and self-advocates shared their perspectives on disability, identity, and representation within research.

Access the ReCORDING of Disability Identity & Pride in Equity Research

Community Living Policy Center State of the Science 2023

State of the Science: Community Living Policy | Virtual discussions hosted by the Community Living Policy CenterThis virtual event consisted of 3 webinars that brought together researchers, advocates, and other disability community stakeholders to discuss current research, gaps in knowledge, needs of the community, and opportunities to advance community living policy. These discussions will help inform our work and the work of other researchers and research funders to help shape access to equitable and person-centered home and community-based services in the future.

Visit our information page to access webinar recordings and slides

Let us know your views by taking the survey on community living policy.

 

CLPC in the News

Links between Unmet Needs & Adverse Outcomes

Our study highlights links between unmet needs for home and community-based services and adverse health and community-living outcomes.

Read about the Study

Henry Claypool

The Better Care Better Jobs Act

Henry Claypool, a national policy expert for CLPC, is cited in a widely republished story for his expertise on the BCBJ Act, which would provide much-needed investment so disabled people and the elderly may receive better care in their homes.

Read the news story

 

A related new CLPC brief explains why people with disabilities and older adults need home and community-based services and how the BCBJ Act will help them get in-home care.

Read the brief

Feature Story on the CLPC

The critical research work of the CLPC and its partners to advance community living policies is featured in the Heller Magazine's summer 2021 issue. The story underscores how the COVID-19 pandemic shows why disability communities must be a part of research and policy development. 

Read the profile

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