Live, Learn, Work and Play

Discover how the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities empowers residents in our community.

Since 1967, the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD) has proudly supported Cuyahoga County residents with developmental disabilities (DD) as they live, learn, work and play in the community. Over the last 56 years, Cuyahoga DD’s work has grown to include a robust set of supports and services, two-thirds of which are funded by Cuyahoga County taxpayers through a continuous levy that was last passed in 2005.

Today, with services that support people and families from birth through adulthood, Cuyahoga DD serves more than 13,000 county residents with DD annually with one primary goal in mind: helping them live their best possible lives.

Whether working with our county’s youngest residents through early intervention or connecting adults to the community through employment and innovative housing, Cuyahoga DD works with each person and family to create a plan that tailors programs and services to meet their needs.

With physical and occupational therapy, speech language pathology and assistive technology offerings, Cuyahoga DD addresses a wide range of mobility, daily living and communications needs.

Cuyahoga DD is one of the only county boards in Ohio with a comprehensive behavioral health team that includes nurses and psychologists, as well as a human sexuality specialist who provides consultative clinical support to families.

In the community, Cuyahoga DD partners with school districts to support students with DD and helps them prepare for life after high school, including postsecondary education and employment. Cuyahoga DD actively prepares young people for competitive employment opportunities that are created through its partnership with the Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County.

With a goal of inclusion for all, Cuyahoga DD’s community outreach team develops relationships with businesses and organizations in the community, consulting on ways they can be more accessible and inclusive in terms of physical spaces and programming and providing grants to organizations as they make changes that support community inclusion.

Cuyahoga DD does not do this important work alone, though. A network of 1,700 agency and independent service providers that is vital to supporting people with DD has experienced the same unprecedented staffing shortages seen in other sectors over the past few years. Cuyahoga DD works closely with the providers in Cuyahoga County, supporting them through grants that help them attract and retain high-quality, professional caregivers.

The pages that follow introduce you to some of the services and supports Cuyahoga DD provides and the impact they have on families.

For more information about Cuyahoga DD, visit cuyahogabdd.org.