ORA's Advocacy Priorities
Legislative Priorities:
ORA’s legislative priorities are developed each year to address the evolving needs of community provider organizations and the people they support. These priorities are developed collaboratively by the ORA Board with guidance from Amanda Dalton of Dalton Advocacy and the ORA Legislative Committee. All ORA members are encouraged to join the committee and contribute their perspectives.
Given the historical under-funding of services for this population, ORA’s primary advocacy focus is on rates, and wages for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who form the cornerstone of these essential services. Each year, specific strategies and requests are tailored to meet current needs. Over the past five years, these efforts have resulted in historic rate increases. However, funding still falls significantly short of covering the true cost of providing services so our work continues.
Beyond rates and wages, ORA actively identifies additional advocacy opportunities during each legislative session. This includes assessing the needs of community provider organizations and tracking legislative bills to address emerging priorities.
ORA is committed to driving Oregon’s IDD System towards innovative, personalized services that support people with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities to thrive as valued members of their communities. This lens is the focus of our legislative advocacy.
We also collaborate with our national partner, ANCOR, to stay informed on federal developments and provide our members with opportunities to engage in national legislative advocacy efforts that support our work.
Policy Priorities:
ORA is an active advocate for rules, policies, and practices that give people access to the innovative and individualized services of their choice. This vision centers on fostering a robust network of community provider organizations dedicated to offering an array of quality services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. It means focusing on achieving positive outcomes for people, and not getting buried in bureaucratic minutia that threaten this goal. ORA provides a unified voice for community provider organizations focused on supporting people to live the lives they choose.
Specific policy initiatives are developed through collaboration between the ORA Board and service-specific committees and discussion groups. ORA facilitates dedicated groups for each type of service and encourages all members to actively participate, ensuring their voices help shape the direction of advocacy and policy development.
Getting Involved:
ORA hosts monthly Legislative Committee meetings, comprised of members seeking to stay up to date on policy action, stakeholder updates and legislative campaigns. Attendees can be from any ORA member provider organization and are encouraged to engage with ORA’s advocacy efforts and offer insights and experiences during meeting discussions and email communications.
ORA also has grassroots advocacy campaigns where we call upon the membership and the greater community to email key legislators or state partners. Using our easy-to-use advocacy tool, Votervoice, we craft vital messages and offer participants a chance to customize with their own story. Any open campaigns will be posted on our ORA Advocacy page. Everyone is encouraged to participate!
Another way we seek to involve ORA members (including their staff, Board members, people they support, family members and more) is through testimony during the Oregon legislative session. This takes many forms, from adding short written testimony to support or oppose bills and concepts, speaking up at town halls or legislator road shows, or joining an Oregon legislature committee meeting to share a planned verbal testimony.
If you have any questions about how you can get involved or would like to learn more about these engagement opportunities, please contact Kim Mintrone at kmintrone@oregonresource.org.
