Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

Mission Statement

What we do

• Design and execute mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) process and outcome evaluations.
• Develop survey and interview instruments, informed by scientific literature and practice experience.
• Provide content expertise in Iowa’s behavioral health system, disability policy, population health, the criminal legal system, Medicaid, and workforce issues.
• Conduct collaborative and comprehensive data collection, prioritizing the perspectives of people with lived experience with policies and programs.
• Perform environmental scans to synthesize setting context, scientific literature, and secondary data sources.

• Offer technical assistance to community-based practitioners to support the implementation of evidence-based practices.

   

How we work 

• We bring our authentic selves to work and approach challenges with creativity and collaboration.
• We uphold accurate, accessible, and contextualized reporting.
• We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in both our work and workplace.
• We reject the under-valuation of people with disabilities and advocate that a person’s inherent worth and contributions to society extend beyond employment and income status.
• We center people with lived experience in research design and reporting.
• We recognize that systemic barriers—like the criminalization of mental illness and oppressive asset limits—undermine access to care, stability, and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

Our work advances universal design and disability-affirmative, intersectional (anti-racist, anti-classist, and LGBTQIA+) approaches. We drive meaningful systemic and cultural change beyond compliance,  toward true equity and justice.

Executive Summary - 2020 Community Employment Outcomes Evaluation