First In Families Of North Carolina

Programs: Fif chapters providing family support through alliance for behavioral health (abh): the abh funded programs include three local fif chapters, serving residents in wake, johnston, and durham counties. All the fif local chapters help people with developmental disabilities to create the lives they want now and for the future. Families or individuals apply for assistance to meet a short or long-term goal or obtain needed goods or services. Families are offered opportunities to give back to other families at the time that they apply for assistance. Fif partners with the business community and other families previously served, to meet the need of the applicant at the lowest possible cost. Through such assistance, the need is met, and public awareness is developed as well. Each chapter is governed by a grassroots (cont'd) local management team comprised of people with disabilities, their family members, and invested community members. The durham, wake, and johnston chapters met 628 requests from 457 families last year, including 54% of whom were completely new to fif (never previously assisted). Wake county also provided funding specifically for camp tuition to wake fif children with disabilities.

the statewide cross-area special program includes the quality assurance and technical assistance program (qata), the lifeline project, and the lifetime connections program. Qata provides oversight and guidance, technical assistance, strategic planning, maintenance of strong management teams, new staff training, an annual assessment through core indicators of chapter health, and a comprehensive family support database to all 13 fif chapters statewide, including the 7 managed directly by fifnc. This assistance ensures high-quality, customer-led family support and adherence to the fif model. Qata support in fy 13 included 15 on-site chapter visits to meet with staff and management teams (policy-setting group), 12 monthly calls with all chapters, three annual training events, quarterly webinars, (cont'd) and an information line for immediate questions about eligibility, policies and procedures, the salesforce database, community outreach, etc. The lifeline project provides family support to individuals and families who live in the 53 nc counties not covered by an fif chapter. In fy 13, lifeline project helped 118 families with 129 requests, statewide. Lifetime connections provides future planning support to families who are planning for their child's well-being when they are no longer able to provide the support and advocacy needed for successful community life. This includes two core services, future planning workshops, and a personal network for each member family. Families are assisted to put a comprehensive plan in place, including a will(s), special needs trust, and letter of intent, and to develop personal networks for current (and future) quality of life and peace of mind. In fy 13 lifetime connections program provided three future planning workshops including information sessions with a special needs attorney, and personal networks for each member family.

triad chapter of first in families assisted 194 families last year, fulfilling 251 requests, 45% of these were completely new to first in families. Triad chapter assists residents of davie, forsyth, and stokes counties, to create the lives they want now and in the future, and meets requests through the matching of public funding with additional support from private local businesses, foundations, or private citizens.

other fif local chapters: in addition to the wake, johnston, durham, and triad chapters, fifnc directly manages and operates the central carolina chapter, the five county chapter, and the gaston/lincoln/cleveland chapter. Altogether these additional chapters cover 9 nc counties. Their purpose and operation is identical to those described in section 4a. In 2013, these chapters met 348 requests for goods or services from 291 families, 62% of whom were completely new to first in families. Aging grant: in year one of this project, fifnc provided 3 cross-training activities between the aging and intellectual disabilities communities in recognition of the reality that 71% of all individuals with intellectual disability in nc live with their families, and that families are aging and increasingly challenged in caring for their loved ones. Cross-training ensures that services and resources for both aging and disability communities are available to people needing them. This grant also provided wills and estates planning workshops to families, policy recommendations to local and state policy-makers, and assisted with the start-up of a new aging and disabilities resource center in durham, nc. Lifetime connections for people with traumatic brain injury and military: 2013 was the 4th and final year of a grant to provide wills and estates planning workshops, and personal networks, to injured military and other nc residents with tbi. This year the grant provided peace of mind workshops, and personal networks, for all eight participants, 100% of whom attended three or more community outings each quarter as a result of this grant, and 100% reported that they have a better life now compared to one year ago. 100% of their family members reported that their loved one has set goals for his/her life this past year. Lifespan respite: 25 families in underserved regions of nc were provided 1-3 days of respite from caregiving responsibilities for their loved ones (between ages of 18 and 59) who experience significant developmental disability or traumatic brain injury. The total expenses and related revenue for all of the "other program services" is: