Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ombuds (IDDO) program...

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Last year, the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ombuds (IDDO) program, headed by Community Service Society of New York, launched and began accepting calls from people with developmental disabilities and their family members in need of assistance resolving concerns, navigating barriers to services and making the right connections.

After its first year in operation, the Ombuds program has issued its inaugural annual report, covering the period January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025. If you’d like to review the full report, you can find it on their website here: 2025 Annual Report - iddony.org

The Ombuds program operates independently of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and was developed to provide education and help people better understand their rights, to provide advocacy and support for people navigating the OPWDD service delivery system, and to assist people with developmental disabilities and their families to resolve concerns related to service access and quality.

OPWDD is continually striving to improve the customer experience for the people we support and everyone who interacts with our service system. The feedback provided by the Ombuds report along with the feedback we continue to receive directly from families and people we support through our own outreach is valuable and will help us continue to improve our system and simplify service access.

For more information about the program, you can visit https://www.cssny.org/programs/entry/iddo.

Best Regards,

Willow Baer
Commissioner