State Data B

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Supporting Families Community of Practice Evaluation

Alabama State Data Brief

Evaluation Overview

In 2012, the Administration for Community Living (ACL), through the Administration on 

Disabilities (AoD)1, awarded the five-year National Supporting Families Community of Practice 

(CoP) grant to the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services 

(NASDDDS), which partnered with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Institute on Human 

Development (UMKC-IHD). In the first year of the grant, 15 states applied and five were selected 

to participate, including Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and

Washington, with Missouri serving as the mentor state. Given growing interest in the work of the

CoP, NASDDDS and UMKC-IHD decided to expand and sustain the CoP outside of the initial 

grant. A second cohort, known as the expansion states, joined in 2016, including Alabama, 

Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. 

With interest continuing to grow around the nation, the CoP welcomed five new states—

Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, and New Jersey—in 2019 and created 

opportunities for participating states to adjust their level of participation.

Three project outcomes guide the work of the 

National Supporting Families CoP:

¡ State and national consensus on a national 

framework and agenda for improving supports

for families with children with I/DD

¡ Enhanced state policies, practices, and 

sustainable systems that result in improved 

supports to families

¡ Enhanced capacity of states to replicate and 

sustain exemplary practices to support 

families and systems

To examine progress toward federal project 

outcomes and identify which activities are leading 

to success, ACL funded the National Supporting 

Families CoP evaluation. The evaluation team 

gathered data that align with the three project 

outcomes to determine how the CoP is producing 

outcomes of interest to ACL, which reflect the five AoD priority areas (Exhibit 1). Findings will 

provide ACL with outcomes data and recommendations to improve supports to families of 

individuals with I/DD. They will also provide information on how the CoP and CtLC framework 

improve support and systems delivery of services to families and individuals with I/DD.

 

1 The Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) initiated the evaluation in 2017. The 

Administration on Disabilities (AoD) now oversees the evaluation.

Exhibit 1. AoD Priority Areas

The Five AoD Priority Areas

§ Ensure the continued protection of rights of 

individuals with I/DD and prevent their abuse, 

neglect, and exploitation

§ Improve and maintain effective and responsive 

management of responsibilities under 

Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of 

Rights Act of 2000 (the DD Act)

§ Promote Employment First as a key strategy for 

individuals with I/DD to be contributing and 

productive members of society participating in 

the competitive integrated workforce

§ Empower individuals with I/DD and their families 

to access home and community based (HCBS) 

and supports that are self-directed and ensure 

opportunity for community participation

§ Support advocacy efforts of individuals with I/DD 

in order to ensure their participation in system 

and service delivery design
State Data B

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The evaluation includes all 16 states that participated in the National Supporting Families CoP for 

at least two years between 2012 and 2018. For evaluation purposes, evaluators stratified states into 

three groups based on their stage of development, as described in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2. Evaluation Participants

Group One Group Two Group Three

The six original CoP states:

§ Connecticut

§ District of Columbia

§ Missouri (mentor state)

§ Oklahoma

§ Tennessee

§ Washington

States with previous exposure to 

the CoP and CtLC framework before 

joining the expansion state cohort:

§ Maryland

§ Ohio

§ Pennsylvania

§ South Dakota

States with little or no exposure to 

the CoP and CtLC framework before 

joining the expansion state cohort:

§ Alabama

§ Delaware

§ Hawaii

§ Indiana

§ Kansas

§ Oregon

Evaluators collected data from states using four tools:

¡ Reporting tools (one for each state grouping) gathered descriptive data about CoP structure, 

activities, and impact.

¡ Telephone interviews (informed by the reporting tools) collected contextual data about CoP 

activities and accomplishments specific to each state.

¡ Site visits (to select states) with CoP leadership and other stakeholders provided data on the

relationship between CoP activities, outputs, and outcomes.

¡ Materials review (on an ad-hoc basis) collected needed data on areas of interest.

Evaluators analyzed the collected data using a conceptual framework developed by Wenger, 

Trayner, and de Laat2(Exhibit 3), which assesses value creation in communities. Adapted for 

evaluation purposes, the framework considers five different cycles of value creation to capture the 

richness of value created by communities of practice. The following page describes the value 

generated from CoP activities and the CtLC framework within the Alabama CoP.

 

2 Wenger, E., Trayner, B., and de Laat, M. (2011). Promoting and Assessing Value Creation in Communities and 

Networks: A Conceptual Framework. Rapport 18, Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open University of the Netherlands.

Exhibit 3. Value Cycle Framework
State Data B

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A Look into Alabama’s Community of Practice

Alabama (AL) is one of the expansion states to join the National Supporting Families CoP in 2016. 

The AL CoP is led by the State Department of Mental Health. The timeline below (Exhibit 4) 

provides detailed information about AL’s participation in the CoP over time.

Exhibit 4. Timeline of Alabama’s CoP Participation

Using data from the most recent Residential Information Systems Project Report developed by the 

University of Minnesota, the number of people with I/DD known to or served by the Alabama 

Department of Mental Health Division of Developmental Disabilities (ADMHDD) in 2016 was 

8,904. Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) recipients include people with I/DD who receive 

Medicaid or State-funded supports and services. In 2016, 38% of 5,602 LTSS recipients in AL

lived at home with a family member. The report also shows annual Medicaid Waiver expenditures 

for recipients with I/DD, which amounted to $64,719 per recipient in 2016.3

Understanding the current state of I/DD services and supports in AL is important in better 

understanding how CoP activities and the CtLC framework impact families and individuals with 

I/DD. The evaluation team gathered valuable data from AL through administration of the reporting 

tool, telephone interview, and materials review. After careful analysis of the data using the value 

cycle framework, the evaluation team noted the following key achievements by AL’s CoP during 

evaluation year one:

¡ In February 2019, ADMHDD began a pilot with six agencies to introduce support coordinators 

and case managers to the CtLC framework.

¡ Four family members from the AL CoP completed the LifeCourse Ambassador Series this past 

year.

AL’s continued participation in the National Supporting Families CoP shows their commitment to 

the CtLC framework and advancing supports for families of individuals with I/DD. The following 

table includes a more comprehensive list of AL’s achievements from evaluation year one.

 

3 Larson, S.A., Eschenbacher, H.J., Anderson, L.L., Taylor, B., Pettingell, S., Hewitt, A., Sowers, M., & Bourne, M.L. 

(in press, 2018). In-home and residential long-term supports and services for persons with intellectual or developmental 

disabilities: Status and trends through 2016. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Research and Training Center on 

Community Living, Institute on Community Integration.
State Data B

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Exhibit 5. Alabama’s Achievements in Evaluation Year One, 2018-2019

Value Cycle CoP Activities and Achievements

Cycle 1: Immediate Value

Value of Activities and 

Interactions Themselves

§ Stakeholders share information about the CtLC framework to promote 

increased involvement, peer-to-peer support among families, and 

collaboration with other organizations.

Cycle 2: Potential Value

Changes in Knowledge 

Capital

§ The AL CoP employs diverse strategies to build knowledge, such as providing 

Ambassador Series training, maintaining a Facebook page for family 

networking, and conducting family outreach in schools.

Cycle 3: Applied Value

Changes in Practice

§ ADMHDD implemented call centers through which staff used the CtLC 

framework to inform the way they interacted with families seeking information 

and services.

Cycle 4: Realized Value

Performance 

Improvement

§ No activities reported during this evaluation period.

Cycle 5: Reframed Value

Redefining Success

§ In the past, the state facilitator and co-facilitator felt pressured to make 

statewide changes on their own, resulting in a lack of overall buy-in. Now, the 

CoP focuses on spreading the CtLC framework and sharing responsibilities 

amongst a larger team.