Welcome to Meet The Need NC’s monthly newsletter featuring what the initiative is up to and how you can join our efforts to meet the service and supports needs of North Carolinians with intellectual or other developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families.
Meet The Need NC MAY 2025 Check In
Current Number of People on the Innovations Waiting List =
18,771
https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/reports/dashboards/innovations-waitlist-dashboard
Checking in from LAND, the backbone of Meet The Need NC
Extending the Messages from our I/DD Caucus Listening Session:
People with Lived Experience, Please use your Voices
It has been quite a chaotic last two months for our I/DD Community since the I/DD Caucus Listening Session at the NC General Assembly (NCGA) at the end of March. We wanted to check in with you all about the issues (Innovations Waiver Slots, Direct Care/DSP Wages, Medicaid) we educated legislators on to ensure you continue to use that day as a catalyst for your advocacy. To inspire you and reach back to the positive energy from that day, please see the links below of photos, videos, and media coverage from that day.
I/DD Caucus Day
Where Are We Now?
The NC House and NC Senate have each passed their versions of the two-year NC budget. Both budgets include NO new Innovations Waiver slots and No Direct Care/DSP workforce wage increase money. The Governor’s Budget has suggested 200 Innovations Waiver Slots and $5 million for DSP initiatives.
Our NCGA members vote on how money for those with developmental disabilities is allocated in our state. They determine how many Innovations Waiver slots we get and how much DSPs are paid.
We have heard from people on the Innovations Waiver waitlist and their families. They feel unheard and frustrated.
What Can People with I/DD Lived Experience Do?
LAND and Meet The Need NC do not lobby; that is, we cannot tell you what to do but we can provide you with the resources if you want to reach out to your policymakers and educate the public about the needs of our I/DD Community. Here are some ways you can get your voice heard – and continue educating and informing about key issues that impact the I/DD Community so we can extend the reach of what we all started with the NC I/DD Caucus Listening Session.
- See LAND’s Talking to Policy Makers lived experience presentation from their March 2025 Policy Education Institute
- Find your State or Federal Legislators (NC/U.S. House of Representatives and Senate) by clicking on this link https://www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegislators and putting in your address and selecting who you want to contact. Call them, send them emails or visit them.
- Reach out to NC House and NC Senate Health Appropriations members, the ones who work closely on budgets relating to people with disabilities.
- Keep in touch with the legislators you met with or were in contact with about the I/DD Caucus Listening Session – relationships develop over time with repeated contact.
- Visit our Meet The Need NC Facebook and Instagram (pages Share these stories with others on your own social media. Visit our Meet The Need NC website for I/DD resources and information.
- Talk to everyone you know about the issues that impact you/your family.
- Remember to keep using your voice. Systems change can take many years to happen. We must not let the lack of change deter our efforts. We are in this together, and together we will see this through to the end.