Program | Registration | Exhibitors | Sponsors | State Teams | Hotel/Travel State Teams State Teams Overview State Teams Contacts State Teams Priority Reports Overview - What is a State Team? The Founders of the 2005 Summit, "Many Voices, One Vision", recognize that far more than a two-day meeting will be required to hammer out achievable strategies for helping persons with developmental disabilities become valued, contributing members of their communities. To succeed, a long-range social reform agenda must be rooted in the realities of the state and local policy environment. That's why the State Teams are so important State Teams are a vehicle to build state-wide coalitions that will mirror the work of the national summit. State Teams will also bring the voices of the developmental disabilities field on the state level to the organizers of the 2005 summit. And finally, State teams will bring the results and action items from the Summit back to the state, so that that the agenda and vision created in September can become a reality. State Teams should be composed of representatives of the various constituencies within the developmental disabilities community and, thus, should include the voices of families, policy makers, providers, self-advocates, researchers and community builders. These teams will be called to think deeply about supports for people with developmental disabilities as they are now and as we hope they will be in the future.     What is the Mission of the State Team? State teams will anchor the Summit discussions in the regional and grass roots concerns and successes of families, consumers, policy makers, researchers and advocates within their respective states. The teams are critical to helping the Summit achieve its larger goals of building consensus within states about necessary actions and policies at the state and national level to improve the lives of people with disabilities.     How Will the Teams Achieve this Mission? State teams will be led by a liaison who will bring together or strengthen an existing representative group of people. This State Team will work on the broader goals which include 1) preparing for the Summit, 2) participating in the Summit and 3) carrying actions forward within the state following the summit. Teams will meet approximately three times prior to the Summit to provide input into the AFP Summit and to help build a common national and state public policy agenda on developmental disability issues. Team members will participate in the conference to bring themes, issues and ideas from states to the Summit in response to the common Summit agenda. Teams will meet during the Summit to refine their state plans, integrate conference ideas and make plans for bringing Summit information and resolutions back to the state and for carrying out specific actions in their state plan.