Public Policy OverviewLeadership & Advocacy

A.N.D. staff meets regularly with legislators and state agency leaders to build collaborative partnerships and address systemic issues affecting all of our members. A.N.D. staff also testifies at hearings in Dover to serve as the voice for provider agencies on issues and legislation affecting the supports and services they need to provide quality services to their consumers. Collectively, we advance our mission of improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, their families and the people who support them.

Throughout the year, we host major events to connect our members to current issues and decision makers. A.N.D. provides our members with budget updates by providing a review of the DHSS request to the governor, the governor’s recommended budget issued in January and the fiscal year budget issued in June. We alert members to proposed changes in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid regulations, and we voice collective concerns to appropriate decision-makers.

In July 2015, A.N.D. and the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA) began to discuss the need to represent the nonprofit sector in Dover as a collective. We know from years of doing more with less that Delaware cannot sustain the level of services nonprofits provide in our state without addressing the need to increase revenues. Thus, A.N.D. and DANA, along with The Delaware Community Foundation (DCF), Delaware Grant Makers Association, United Way of Delaware, the University of Delaware Center for Community Research & Service and the Brandywine chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals formed the Delaware Revenue Solutions Coalition (DRSC).

The DRSC collectively represents over 400 nonprofits in the Delaware budget process. As we move ahead into the new budget cycle, the DRSC will continue to advocate on behalf of the Delaware nonprofits and the Delawareans we serve.