Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities (“Quality Trust”) is pleased and proud to submit this Annual Report for the period from September 2014-August 2015.
Quality Trust is an independent, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that people have the supports and services they need to live full and meaningful lives in the places and ways they choose. Our mission is to act as an independent catalyst for change, partnering with people, families, advocates, professionals, and providers to create a community where everyone is respected and valued, belongs and contributes, and shapes their own present and future. To that end, we have supported thousands of people and trained thousands of individuals, families, attorneys, advocates, guardians, practitioners, and providers on diverse policy and practice topics including guardianship and Supported Decision-Making.
In September of 2014, we were honored to receive Cooperative Agreement Number 90DM0001 to establish the National Resource Center for Supported Decision-Making (“National Resource Center”). Our project partners include the Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University (BBI), The Kansas University Life Span Institute (KU), The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging (ABA), the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), Family Voices (FV), and Parent to Parent USA (P2P).
In partnership with older adults, people with disabilities, attorneys and judges, health care and financial professionals and providers, the National Resource Center conducts groundbreaking research, creates educational programs, and develops multidisciplinary best practices with the goal of advancing policy and practice to establish Supported Decision-Making as a recognized, viable alternative to guardianship, a means of increasing self-determination, and a way to improve life outcomes.