California Regional Centers Direct Fewer Resources To Minority Youth With Disabilities

California’s 21 regional centers for developmental disabilities direct fewer resources to minority children than White children, according to service purchasing data released by the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) and the regional centers. Regional centers that authorize the lowest amounts of per capita “purchase of services” (POS) are those with larger minority populations (Hispanic and Black). Eleven regional centers have higher-than average percentages of Hispanic and Black children, and during 2015 to 2016, eight of these centers had lower than average per capita POS authorizations. DDS funding allocations do not address POS disparities among the regional centers . . .