The Minnesota Olmstead Plan is organized into 13 topic areas that cover different aspects of improving the quality of life for people with disabilities as indicated in the list below. 

​Topic Areas
Why are these Topic Areas important?

Person Centered Planning
(we will be adding Strength-Based)
This topic area supports all other topic areas with goals that increase the use of practices that begin with listening to individuals about what is important to them in creating and maintaining a community life that they personally value.

Transition Services
Housing and Services
Employment
Peer Services
Peer-Run Services
Lifelong Learning and Education
Waiting Lists
These topic areas contain goals that will focus on increasing the movement of people with disabilities from segregated to integrated settings.

Transportation
Healthcare and Healthy Living
Positive Supports
Crisis Services
Assistive Technology
Preventing Abuse and Neglect
(we will be specifying that in many cases homelessness amounts to Abuse & Neglect, although not all cases)
 
These topic areas contain goals that will focus on building capacity of programs, practices and resources that will support people with disabilities as they live, work and learn in the settings that they choose.

Community Engagement
This topic area contains goals that focus on engaging people with disabilities in multiple aspects of community life and decision making.

Criminal Justice
This is not included as a separate topic in the Minnesota Plan; although the Director of the Minnesota Dept. of Corrections is part of the Minnesota Olmstead Sub-Cabinet.

Many of the issues are in common, but there are issues specific to criminal justice that we are breaking out for their own separate goals.  This also might be a good place to put some of the goals the State is currently working on with various Stakeholder groups and specifically identifying those groups and goals.

When we talk about "meaningful community engagement" it is really important to engage people with disabilities who are subject to involvement in the Criminal Justice System in reforming it and have significant quantity and quality  participation in stakeholder groups.  Some of these groups are more inclusive than others, all are well intentioned -- BUT NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US.

Mental Health Intensive Services Wait List Including Substance Use Services

We Need A Waiting List for Intensive Community Mental Health & Substance Use Services and a process for responsibly eliminating it by providing necessary services.  

         We are starting our editing efforts with "Measurable Goals" which is really the heart of the plan.

          Minnesota didn't come to this willingly, and now they "seem" to be converts.

            From our perspective, Colorado has just really resisted doing what's legally required, AND Colorado has done a lot of great things.

             Colorado needs to comply with the Law.  People with Disabilities need Colorado to comply with the Law.

               We've got a template in the Minnesota Court-Ordered Olmstead Plan that should be customized and individualized to Colorado and improved.

                 We'd like to be able to work with the State to identify the data we have and that we may need to get.