Advocacy Groups

Area Board VIII

The role of Area Boards is to:

• Protect and advocate the legal, civil and service rights of persons with developmental disabilities
• Conduct information programs to increase public and professional awareness and eliminate barriers to integration
• Monitor the practices of publicly funded agencies toward compliance with local, State and Federal laws
• Conduct activities designed to improve the quality of services, and
• Plan, coordinate and develop new and expanded program opportunities

Area Board VIII serves Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern counties, those counties that are served by Central Valley Regional Center and Kern Regional Center.

Area Board VIII can be reached at (559) 222-2496.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (PAI) is a federally-mandated nonprofit organization established to protect and advocate for the human, civil and service rights of Californians with developmental disabilities, and California's identified as mentally ill. PAI provides a variety of advocacy services for people with disabilities, their families and advocates. They include:

• Information and materials about legal rights
• Referral to other advocacy services
• Technical assistance
• Advocacy training

Direct representation, including investigation, negotiation and representation in administrative hearings in court.

For more information, contact the office located nearest you:

Fresno: (559) 476-2000
Sacramento: (916) 488-9950 or Toll Free: (800) 776-5746
Oakland: (510) 839-0811
Los Angeles: (213) 427-8747

You can also visit PAI's website here, http://pai-ca.org.

Primary Advisory Committee (PAC)

Rebecca Donabed was elected Chair of the Primary Advisory Committee (PAC) July 2, 2009 and will serve as such through June 30, 2010 when election results identify its new Chair. This committee is comprised of regional center clients who meet every other month with the agency's Executive Director, Robert Riddick, to cover a variety of topics that are of interest to the group. This year the committee is planning a Self Advocacy conference November 5, 2009. The theme of the conference is "Hand in Hand, Helping Each Other".

Rebecca invites you to consider attending the committee meetings and/or provide input and suggestions for topics to cover. She can be reached by email at: rdonabed@hotmail.com 

Below are dates for upcoming PAC meetings

If you have questions about the PAC, call Elvira Ocean at 559 276-4335. All clients are welcome to attend. Refreshments are served.