November 2025 Council Meeting Recap

TCDD held quarterly Council and Committee meetings from Nov. 5-7 in Houston. During the meetings, Council members awarded grant funding to continue ongoing projects and discussed important disability issues and TCDD initiatives. Here are some highlights from the meetings.

Funding Awards and Stipends

TCDD invests in grant projects to strengthen service and support systems across Texas. Our projects build community capacity to help people with developmental disabilities (DD).

This quarter, Council members awarded funding to continue three projects:

• Culturally Inclusive Family Support (Texas A&M University Health Science Center): Provide support and training for Chinese American families of people with DD in the Greater Houston and Brazos Valley areas to enhance family advocacy and leadership skills.
    
• Health Equity for People with DD (Baylor College of Medicine): Ensure health care professionals provide people with DD with competent, inclusive, and patient-centered care without assumptions about patients’ abilities or goals.
    

• Treatment for Substance-Use Disorders (University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth): Develop clinical practice guidelines and promote improvements in the prevention, identification, and treatment of substance-use disorders among people with DD.
    

TCDD provides stipends to increase access to disability information and advocacy opportunities. Organizations can apply for stipends for conferences and events, disability-related speakers, and translation and interpretation services.

This quarter, TCDD provided stipends to the following organizations:

• Autism Community Network
• Providers Alliance for Community Services of Texas
• Team Mario
• The Texas Tribune

Council Business

Council members received updates on the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission’s review of TCDD, which is required by the Texas Sunset Act. As part of its review, the commission is accepting public comments on TCDD’s mission and performance. After evaluating TCDD, the commission may make recommendations to the Texas Legislature on ways to improve TCDD’s efficiency and effectiveness.

The Council also approved minor revisions (PDF, 6 pages, 191 KB) to sections of the Texas Administrative Code that apply to TCDD. Texas law requires the Council to review the code at least once every four years.

Discussions and Presentations

The Council approves and monitors TCDD’s strategic state plan, which guides projects and policy work. This quarter, Council members discussed future strategic activities, including statewide support for high school juniors and seniors with DD who want to increase their knowledge and skills in self-advocacy and leadership.

Council members continued their ongoing conversation and development of TCDD’s next statewide strategic plan, which will guide statewide activities from 2027-2031. The Council also reviewed disability policy issues to consider as interim charge recommendations to the Texas Legislature. The recommendations suggest topics for lawmakers to study before the next legislative session in 2027.

Along with discussions, Council members engaged with guest speakers on presentations covering important disability issues:

• Adaptive Fitness and Sports: Gloria Suarez and Victor Ventura of Bee Abled shared information about their Houston-based nonprofit organization, which supports adaptive athletics and fitness activities for people with disabilities.
    

• Adaptive Food Handler Certification: Dr. Morgan Foster, Rosa Guel, and Alexandra Venegas shared information about an adaptive food handler certification program for people with DD. Foster, Guel, and Venegas are TCDD disability community coordinators, an initiative of TCDD and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
    

• Children with Autism or DD: Dr. Sandra Vanegas with the Texas Center for Disability Studies shared Texas-specific information from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that collects data to better understand the characteristics of children with autism or DD.
    

• DD Services and Support: Dr. Evanthe Collins with the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD shared information about the center’s DD-related services and initiatives.
    
• Neuro-Inclusive Housing: Dr. Amy Wood with Project Beacon shared findings from a 2024 neuro-inclusive housing market study in Montgomery County, which is part of a broader effort to address the housing and support needs of people with autism or DD.

Next Meetings

TCDD’s next quarterly meetings are scheduled from Feb. 4-6, 2026. To receive updates about future meetings, subscribe to our email alerts.