Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Ending the oppression of people with disabilities and all of their identities.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Assistive Technology
Michigan Assistive Technology Program
The Michigan Assistive Technology Program (MATP) is a program for people with disabilities, by people with disabilities.
This program provides people with disabilities, community members, family members and businesses trainings, demos and loans of assistive technology.
Her Power
Her Power works directly with teen girls with disabilities through a unique, four-day event designed to promote critical thinking about society’s messages, eliminate shame, develop leadership skills and encourage self-acceptance. This event is built on the best practices of the disability justice community and emerging research in female development, and goes beyond self-esteem programming to provide a venue for real self-empowerment.
Leadership
Provide trainings on a variety of topics relating to leadership development, disability pride, inclusion, and more.
Ending Violence Against Women with Disabilities
Partners Against Violence and Injustice in Michigan (PAVIM) project partners represent organizations that provide statewide leadership in the areas of domestic and sexual violence, disability advocacy, and anti-oppression work. This group came together to improve the accessibility and responsiveness of organizations and service providers for people with developmental disabilities who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault.
BIPOC Focused Leadership Programs
The LEAD program provides communities of color with increased access to disability education and resources to account for the significance of institutionalized oppression and white supremacy on their outcomes.
Strategic Priorities
- Build the efficacy and capacity of MDRC to be a leader in the development and implementation of work to dismantle institutionalized white supremacy and cultivate a culture of equitable transformation for the sector.
- Cultivate and strengthen individuals, through relationship-based activity and topic-based workshops, to serve as advocates for themselves and others.
- Enhance the visibility of people of color in disability rhetoric, training, and storytelling.
Where we work
Awards
Community Partner Award 2017
The Firecracker Foundation
Affiliations & memberships
Society for Human Resource Management 2018
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of training workshops
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, Economically disadvantaged people, People with disabilities, At-risk youth, Immigrants and migrants
Related Program
Leadership
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
A number of individuals viewed training virtually,.
Number of phone calls/inquiries
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with hearing impairments, People with physical disabilities, People with vision impairments
Related Program
Assistive Technology
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Calls on how to access and acquire Assistive Technology to support people with disabilities to be able to function as desired
Number of customers reporting satisfaction with program
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities, People with intellectual disabilities, People with learning disabilities
Related Program
Leadership
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
People with disabilities and family members who participate in our programs report satisfaction with program activity.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Participation:
The right of free participation in all that affects the community interest.
Customer Driven:
The best use of resources available for supports is the free choice of what is needed by the customer. Forcing people to receive services that are not needed, because of bureaucratic requirements, teaches people that they are dependent and that they must "game" the system to get what they need. The best way to assure efficient use of supports is to focus on the use of supports for full citizenship, instead of trying to build bullet-proof entitlements.
Grass Roots Initiative:
People with disabilities must organize locally to achieve full citizenship in their chosen communities. Facilitated skill-building, at the direction of local groups, can support effective grass roots advocacy; but, ultimately, people with disabilities must take responsibility for their own futures.
Economic Self-sufficiency:
The best support for the disability community in achieving full citizenship is the creation of personal and community economic self-sufficiency. Disability benefits are not an adequate substitute.
Technology as Tool:
Michigan's disability community must seize technology as a critical tool in its fight for full inclusion. The Internet and other collaborative strategies must be a key part of our common struggle. We must lead this effort, not wait for the rest of society to deem our technology issues a priority.
"Nothing about me, without me."
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Build the economic and political capacity of local groups to effectively participate in communities of choice and issues advocacy .
Create a state-wide collaborative technology infrastructure to foster long term communication between local disability groups.
Sponsor events and activities that promote sharing of best practice, collaborative planning, and the building of consensus around policy impact goals.
Find and develop economic and political resources, independent of the existing government and funding sources, that can be allocated according to the plans of Michigan's disability community, instead of bureaucratic priorities.
Mold a staff team, with a long term commitment to Michigan's disability community as a customer base—a team capable of working anywhere in the state, focusing on the uncertain and rapidly evolving disability policy future, and using collaborative technologies to supplement face-to-face networking.
Forge a partnership between board, staff and constituents for strategic development and strategic priorities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
While carrying out these projects, MDRC developed several capacities and areas of expertise :
Building meaningful partnerships with a variety of diverse organizations
Managing staff and interns working from virtual offices around the state
Flexibility and creativity
Adult and active learning style facilitation
Public policy advocacy
Linking existing projects to achieve maximum outcomes
Valuing interdependence
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Informed Communities: Hosted forums around the state bringing up-to-date information on public policy issues to people with developmental disabilities and their families. Forum attendees also received training and technical assistance in developing an action plan to influence the policy issue in their community.
Connections for Community Leadership: Supported emerging leaders with disabilities through trainings, curriculum development, and peer-learning activities. Additionally, CCL provided funding to leadership development initiatives around the state and worked with both generic and disability-specific organizations to improve effective facilitation of leadership development in Michigan.
Proud of Myself: Assisted Iosco RICC members with developing a sense of disability identity and pride through a variety of interactive educational sessions. Participants shared what they learned with their Community Mental Health agency and with their local community at the annual Fourth of the July parade.
Her Power, Her Pride, Her Voice: A retreat for high school girls with disabilities that explores what it means to be a teen girl with a disability in today's world. Interactive art-based activities are used to help the girls learn from each other and teach the world how they see themselves. A large focus of this retreat is on disability identity, history, pride, and self-determination.
Including Our Neighbors: Provides training for community organizations around the state regarding inclusion and self-determination for people with disabilities, including people with high and complex support needs. MDRC provides support, technical assistance and distribution of funds to various local community-building initiatives for both people with and without disabilities.
Grassroots Organizing Workshops (GROW): Provided technical assistance to several sites around the state in community building and asset mapping. This included helping local teams of people with disabilities and non-traditional community partners working together to meet community needs.
Many Faces, One Voice: Taught people with disabilities to produce digital stories using free software and assisted them in using the stories for advocacy.
Other Programs Include:
Reforming Michigan's Long-Term Care System
Connections for Community Leadership
Finding Our Way Home: Statewide Housing Advocacy for People with Disabilities
Building Bridges with the LGBT community
Building Your Financial Future
ATXchange
Michigan AT Loan Fund
Partners Against Violence in Michigan
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person),
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Michigan Disability Rights Coalition
Board of directorsas of 12/27/2022
Sarah Slocum
Altarum
Term: 2020 - 2024
Sarah Slocum
Altarum Institute Center for Eldercar and Advanced Illness (CECAI)
Christopher Wardell
Community Economic Development Association of Michigan
Alan Hejl
Dalia Smith
Lucia Rios
Yuself Seegars
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/21/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.