COCO FACT SHEET

Coalition of Californians for Olmstead
433 Hegenberger Road, Suite 220
Oakland, CA 94621-1448
Telephone: (510) 430-8033 Fax: (510) 430-8246
Toll Free: (800) 776-5746 TTY/TDD: (800) 649-0154

COCO FACT SHEET

What is COCO?

Founded in May 2000, the Coalition of Californians for Olmstead (COCO) is a coalition of disability consumer, legal and advocacy services organizations. COCO's mission is to work towards community inclusion of all people with disabilities in California, through implementation of the Olmstead decision. COCO does this by working with people with disabilities to get the commitments of public resources needed for people to move into community living options with quality supports.

COCO's values are:

That anyone who is living in an institution, or is at risk of living in an institution, should be provided with the services that will support them living in the community, such as housing, support services, work and leisure opportunities.

The empowerment of people with disabilities through means that include consumer directed services.

That money and other resources need to be moved from institutions into community options.

COCO believes in the Community Imperative, which states:
In Terms of Human Rights
:

All people have basic human and legal rights,
These rights must not be taken away just because a person has a mental or physical disability,
Included in these basic rights is the right to live in the community.

In terms of education and support services:

All people are valuable,

All people have strengths and abilities,

All people have the right to services in their lives that support these ?

strengths and abilities,

These supports are best provided in the community.