Summer is a wonderful and special time of year. And nothing represents the joy of summer more than camp. Camp provides children with recreation, socialization and the opportunity to grow. During those special weeks, you can enhance your social skills, improve self-esteem, practice communication with peers, and simply enjoy the warm weather. At The Arc of NJ, we know how important camp is to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That is why we advocated for an increase in the Department of Children and Families camp rate for Fiscal Year 2025. This rate had only increased by $2 over the past 10 years. In response to our advocacy, the Legislature added $1.25 million to the FY25 Budget that will address the DCF camp rate and will help to ensure children with IDD living across New Jersey can partake in the many benefits of attending camp.

And as we enter the month of August, The Arc of New Jersey is using this time to plan our advocacy for the new fiscal year. We are celebrating our 75th anniversary this year and we are not taking our foot off the gas as we gear up and engage lawmakers and the Administration on the priorities we care about. If you haven't already signed up, make sure you're on our Action Alert list so you too can join our grassroots network and be a part of our advocacy work.

Thomas Baffuto - Executive Director, The Arc of NJ

The Rutgers Developmental Disabilities Planning Institute (DDPI) is conducting a research study to identify areas of the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) NJ Comprehensive Assessment Tool (NJCAT) that might benefit from improvements. The first step of the Rutgers DDPI study was completed last fall and involved collection and analysis of stakeholder feedback about the NJCAT through a series of small focus groups and a system-wide stakeholder online survey.

Using the collected feedback to inform the process, DDPI has drafted a revised NJCAT, referred to as the Study-NJCAT, and will begin testing of this draft tool with a stratified random sample of about 5,000 individuals served by DDD. (Please Note: the NJCAT currently in use remains unchanged.)

The DDPI will begin emailing selected individuals or their legal guardian(s) in early September 2024, in small groups of 100 – 500 people at a time over a 12-to-18-month period, to invite them to voluntarily participate in testing of the Study-NJCAT. The support coordinators for the selected individuals will be copied on those invitation emails.

For the Study-NJCAT testing to be successful, it is critical that iRecord has the most up-to-date contact information for the selected individuals and their legal guardian(s). Therefore, beginning next week and every 4 – 8 weeks thereafter, DDD will email the support coordinators of the upcoming group of randomly selected individuals/legal guardians.

The DDD email will instruct the support coordinators to reach out to the selected individuals/legal guardians to obtain updated contact information within 30 days of receipt of the email. Support coordinators can relay that the updated information is being requested in relation to a research study of the NJCAT being conducted by Rutgers DDPI. (Support coordinators may want to share this Division Update communication with them as well.)

Participating in the Study-NJCAT is voluntary and responses are confidential.

Participation will not affect a person’s DDD services and will not change a person’s tier. The Study-NJCAT will be done the same way NJCAT assessments and reassessments are done now – facilitated by DDD staff who have received specialized training, and completed in-person, virtually, or over the phone.

Thank you to everyone who supported The Arc of New Jersey through our 75th Anniversary Gala and Ad Journal. The funds raised enable us to make tremendous progress as we continue to grow and expand our advocacy and support services for people with IDD and their families.

But the need still exists. From now until December 31, 2024, The Arc of New Jersey's 75th Anniversary Campaign is looking to raise $75,000 to support our information, resources and advocacy for individuals with IDD and their families. Your donation, no matter the size, will contribute greatly to our ability to help the increasing numbers of individuals and families who call upon us for assistance. Click here to donate today and thank you for your support!