Access to Services for New Americans with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Building Capacity Through the Ramirez June Initiative

New Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are a significantly underserved community in New York State (NY) facing complex barriers accessing IDD services and fully integrating into their communities. New American communities lack connections with IDD service systems and struggle to find culturally and linguistically accessible information about disability services and resources. New Americans may be fearful of engaging with service providers, especially if they lack lawful immigration status and are undocumented. In acknowledgement of these barriers, NY implemented an initiative to create a navigator model that is the first of its kind in the nation. The Initiative is named the Ramirez June Initiative (Initiative) which was created in 2019 to build capacity at the local and state level to better serve new Americans with IDD. In this article, we outline the background, context, and key components of this navigator model. By providing a comprehensive and detailed overview of the Initiative, we hope to support the model’s replication across the nation, while considering local strengths and needs.