Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), the oldest national self-advocacy organization in the country, has been awarded a grant from the Administration for Community Living to establish the first-ever National Resource Center for Self-Advocacy (NRCSA). The resource center will be funded through a $2 million, five-year cooperative agreement funded as a Project of National Significance by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities under the Administration on Disabilities.

SABE’s mission since its formation in 1990 has been to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in speaking up for themselves on issues that impact their lives.

“SABE is thrilled to lead this initiative while engaging a diverse group of partner organizations to strengthen self-advocacy skills and knowledge of advocates across the nation,” said Tia Nelis, President of SABE. “We see this important work as expanding on civil rights movements by supporting the voices of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Chester Finn, former SABE President, said: “We are thrilled to work with self-advocacy groups across the country, because this has been our guiding purpose as an organization for many years!”

The National Resource Center for Self-Advocacy will:

• Share best practices in promoting self-advocacy;
• Form an advisory committee that represents the diversity of the self-advocacy community;
• Research the history of the self-advocacy movement and compare to other civil rights movements;
• Provide training and technical assistance to local, statewide and regional self-advocacy organizations;
• Create Leadership Policy Fellowship experiences for self advocates; and
• Develop a web-based resource clearinghouse.

The outcome of the center’s efforts will result in a stronger, more diverse self-advocacy community, leadership and employment opportunities for self-advocates, and a more powerful collective voice of self advocates across the nation.

The full list of partner organizations that will help produce the outcomes and products of the center includes:

• Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN),
• Green Mountain Self Advocates (GMSA),
• Heartland Self-Advocacy Resource Network (HSRN),
• North East Advocates Together (NEAT),
• Our Communities Standing Strong (OCSS),
• Pacific Alliance,
• Project ACTION!,
• Southwest Alliance,
• Southwest Institute for Families and Children (SWI),
• TASH, and
• University of Missouri Kansas City Institute for Human Development (UCEDD) (UMKC-IHD),

Additionally, the Georgetown University National Center on Cultural Competence will provide guidance and support to ensure the tools promoted by the new resource center respect, honor, and represent the beliefs and values of people from diverse cultures and linguistic backgrounds.

For more information about the project, please contact Tia Nelis at 630-808-8883 or Teresa Moore at 602-725-3117 or email sabenation@gmail.com.