Lives in Progress Collective is a national collective of leaders with disabilities focused on transforming self-direction and defining what's possible in their lives. Their systems alignment challenge is to enable BIPOC people with disabilities to be visible, essential members of their local communities and to influence the systems that they interface with such as health care, educational institutions, public health, and social services. Lives in Progress uses the term “self-direction” for people with disabilities as the freedom to pattern their own lives, which can be a matter of life and death. They were awarded $40,000 through the Equity Capacity Building Grant program and their grant activities will include:

• Supporting dedicated networks of leaders in adult services, education, and health services working to advance health and medical equity for people with disabilities.
• Convening and facilitating meetings with a committee of BIPOC research advisors who will provide input into what is needed to research the experiences of racism amongst disabled communities in the social, public health, and medical sectors, how to successfully offer integrated care across these sectors of this population, and how to measure self-direction of these populations.
• Developing a rough research framework for future grant opportunities.