Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Quality and the Baldrige Framework

Bill Harreld, President and Founder of QCI Quality Culture Institute

Quality is excellence in everything we think, say, and do, continuous improvement and innovation to be the best we can be. Always striving for "world class," the best of the best. This video presentation is a documentation of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities' Quality journey since 1997. The Council wanted to share samples of their work with others to encourage adoption of continuous quality improvement techniques and thinking.

  1. Quality and The Baldrige Framework 5:15
  2. Customer Feedback and Customer Satisfaction 5:17
  3. Customer Segmentation 4:02
  4. Customer Experience 2:28
  5. Actionable Items, Pareto Charts, and Fact-based Management 3:20
  6. The Process Diagram and Root Cause Analysis 3:38
  7. The Process Improvement Team and Plan-Do-Check-Act 4:15
  8. The Business Organization Profile, Alignment, and Supplier Management 5:33
  9. Business Results, Benchmarking and ROI 4:38
  10. Quality in the Public Sector 8:49

Bill Harreld is the President and Founder of QCI Quality Culture Institute. His 34 year career with IBM was instrumental in IBM winning the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1990. Since 1998, he has worked with the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities on quality improvement, and the application of the Baldrige Framework to the Council's work.

Quality Resources

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program

Baldrige Excellence Framework

Malcolm Baldrige, Jr (Wikipedia)

ASQ (American Society for Quality) is "a global community of people dedicated to quality who share the ideas and tools that make our world work better. ASQ provides the quality community with training, professional certifications, and knowledge to a vast network of members of the global quality community."

DD Council Compliance Checklist (2003)

PIT (Process Improvement Team) Focus

GCDD Grant Activity Processes (Process Diagram 9-29-2011)

GCDD ROI Samples

Performance Excellence Network

Council Receives the Hervey B. Wilbur Historic Preservation Award

At the June 1-4, 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD, the Council received the Hervey B. Wilbur Historic Preservation Award for Parallels in Time and Parallels in Time, Part 2. Nearly twenty years ago, the Council decided to embark on a major archiving project that would trace the history of disabilities, the attitudes and treatment of people with developmental disabilities; and the leaders and movements (parent movement, independent living movement, and self advocacy movement) that were instrumental in bringing about dramatic changes in service delivery systems, and the services and supports available for individuals and families. Videos, photos and images, and a vast collection of historical documents , spanning more than 3,500 years are contained in Parallels in Time and Parallels in Time, Part 2.

Hervey B. Wilbur Historic Preservation Award

Council Receives the Star of the North Award

At the Department of Administration's Fall Festival on November 6, 2014, the Council received the Star of the North Award for its ongoing education and training efforts with individuals with developmental disabilities and their families through the Partners in Policymaking® program, the "Telling Your Story" app, and the Independence to Inclusion documentary that was co-produced with TPT public television.

Star of the North Award

Autism 5-Point Scale EP App Receives Digital Government Achievement Award

iPad App Telling Your Story

The Autism 5-Point Scale EP app, designed and developed as an emergency planning and preparedness tool for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, has received a Digital Government Achievement Award (DGAA), in the Government-to-citizen State Government category. This app can help facilitate communications and interactions between individuals with ASD and first responders in a broad range of emergency situations.

We extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to the Autism Society of Minnesota for their leadership with the Emergency Planning and Preparedness Project that included the development of this app.

Department of Administration Press Release
DGAA announcement
Free download at the iTunes Store

August 24, 2012


2012 MHT Tekne Awards

The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities has been named a 2012 Tekne Award finalist by the Minnesota High Tech Association for the Autism 5-Point Scale EP app. The finalist nomination is in the Mobile & Communication Technologies Award category that recognizes innovation in mobile applications and electronic communications.

Read the complete press release (PDF)

September 19, 2012


Honoring Government Innovation

SGI Award

Congratulations to the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, winner of a 2014 State Government Innovation Award for the "Telling Your Story" policymaking app.

See all the award details at http://sgia.umn.edu.

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The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center, the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.

This project was supported, in part by grant number 2301MNSCDD-02, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.

This website is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,120,136.00 with 83 percent funded by ACL/HHS and $222,000.00 and 17 percent funded by non-federal-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.