Build A Movement 2025 - 2026

This year has brought on a lot of changes to our funding and services. We as a community have felt the impacts on a federal and state level. Build A Movement started 8 years ago and was developed by John Griffiths and community partners. This project is meant to connect legislators to people with disabilities and the issues impacting our community. The project supports adults with disabilities to learn about the state legislative system, who the decision makers are, and how state legislators control parts of our funding and rules around our services, and many other services our community accesses.

This year Oregon had its short session where state legislators focused on budget changes and concerns. Oregon was looking at budget cuts to agencies that were funded through state dollars, which includes intellectual/developmental disability (ID/DD) services. We often think our services only come through Medicaid (federal funding) but the state of Oregon also provides funding for our services. We were very concerned because ID/DD services were looking at a lot of cuts, and many of them are already under funded and life saving. After the budget cuts were announced John Griffiths and community members worked on getting donations from brokerages in the tri-county area and making a plan on rallying advocates.

Preparing our message and working together:
In the fall of 2025 we had a session where we talked about the budget cuts and identified the 5 we wanted to focus on. Then when 2026 hit we started to work together and prepare for the legislative session to start. We prepared our message for legislators and identified who we needed to speak to about the budget cuts to make the biggest impact. Then in 2026 when the session started we went down to Salem a few times to speak with the legislators about the cuts and how this would impact our community. We focused on K-plan ancillary & waiver services, SACU, supported living and provider rate increases (see below for what those services do). We met with 20 legislators and had 9 advocates travel to Salem for a total of 3 days! We will continue to work on the next phase of Build A Movement and are hoping to expand the project to more advocates and more contributors this year. Thank you for everyone who participated and donated.

We are getting ready the legislative session for 2027. There is a lot on the line, a lot to focus on, and we hope to see you there! Please reach out to connect if you would like to join us or donate to our efforts.

Budget Cuts we focused on:

• K-plan ancillary and waiver services

  • Assistive technology

  • Environmental modifications

  • Transition services

  • Chore services

• SACU (Stabilization and Crisis Unit)

• Supported Living

• Provider Rate Increases

Thank you to this years sponsors:

Community Pathways

Independence Northwest

Self Determination Resources Inc.

UCP Mentors

UCP Connections