Funded Projects

Children with Disabilities IEP Advocacy

Project Year

2026

City & State

San Francisco/Oakland, California

Program Name

Resident

Topic

Advocacy

Program Description

This project will advocate for children with disabilities by guiding parents and community members through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process for pediatric patients involved in Best Buddies San Francisco. This goal of this project is to address issues with difficulty updating IEPs and ensuring all the requests of the IEP are seen through. One major problem preventing parents from advocating for a stronger, more detailed IEP for their child is the fact that a lot of individuals in this target population do not speak English as their primary language and do not have time to meet during school hours as they are working to financially provide for their family or provide child care services to other siblings that live in the household. The proposed intervention for this project would involve a space for around 20 families to consult and discuss with providers to fine-tune their IEP proposals, learn about what they can specifically advocate for in a school setting, and discuss any specific systemic barriers to implementing an IEP as requested. Twenty parents will be interviewed and surveyed prior to this intervention, as well as after, to determine if matched responses show subjective improvement in understanding of IEPs and effectiveness of IEPs. There are a significant number of individuals with disabilities that I have met through Best Buddies that are low-income, have limited English proficiency, and their parents immigrated from another country and thus are not familiar with the IEP process. This project outcomes would be to address this lack of familiarity from the parents to open a space to talk about goals and ideas to support their children to the best of their ability outside the home. This project is unique as it involves the medical system with the public school system to achieve better learning opportunities to help children with disabilities to develop their social and developmental skills.

Project Goal

The main goal of this project is to partner with Best Buddies International organization to create an intervention including 1-on-1 IEP supports and coordination with community to create toolkit resources to promote equity, inclusion, and success for the development of children with disabilities in the public school system.

Project Objective 1

Support at least 20 families with children with disabilities involved in Best Buddies find inclusive resources, develop community networks, and provide individualized IEP support by December 2026. 

Project Objective 2

Increase participation in currently existing community organizations including Best Buddies NorCal and by 10% by January 1, 2026 

Project Objective 3

Hold at least one public community forum every 3 months (total of 4) for parents to discuss gaps in the IEP process, struggles with public education accommodations, accessibility to community events, and ideas for new events to continue into the following school year 

AAP District

District IV

Institutional Name

UCSF Pediatrics Residency

Contact 1

Nicole Jacobs, MD