As 2023 nears end, I am so grateful to be part of the team at CPCIDD. We have accomplished so much in just under a year since we received our initial funding in April 2022. We established ourselves as a non-profit organization, conducted a strategic planning process, identified core values and strategic priorities, and launched an employment pilot project supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the retail sector. In developing our strategic plan, the Board of Directors, and the team at CPCIDD identified employment of people with disabilities, the direct support workforce, housing, and early start services as the four strategic focus areas that CPCIDD will focus on. Needless to say, those four focus areas give us with a lot to work on in the upcoming year.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the team at CPCIDD – Don Perata, Dave Manson, and Jennifer Minnehan – because we certainly would not be where we are today without all the hard work we all put into getting us where we are today. I would also like to thank the CPCIDD Board of Directors – Rachel Michelin (President), Olwyn Brown (Vice-President), Chip Robertson (Treasurer), Kathy Van Osten (Secretary), Michael Bernick (Board Member), Willie Duncan (Board Member), Barbara Firestone (Board Member), Bob Giroux (Board Member), Darin Lounds (Board Member), and Marjorie Solomon (Board Member) – for their passion and dedication to seeing CPCIDD come to fruition. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank all of you (our readers) who have supported the concept and the development of CPCIDD and see the value that we as a think tank can bring to the IDD community in California. I look forward to all the promise that 2024 holds for us as a think tank dedicated to delving into some very complex issues that impact the IDD community.
Teresa Anderson
