California Deaf Blind Services (CDBS) at risk of being defunded!

The California Deafblind Services (CDBS) is a discretionary grant that is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). CDBS has received OSEP funding since 1987 and we have been proud to have this grant located at SF State, managed by the SF State Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. This grant is currently directed by our own Adam Graves and coordinated by Julie Maier, a long-standing member of our department team in the role of alumni, instructor, supervisor, project coordinator and more.

The FY 2026 proposed budget seeks to completely defund on OSEP-funded activities under one of the designations (Part D) which includes CDBS as of 10/1/25 or earlier. While the budget offers special education block grants to states to continue this work, there is no requirements that it be used towards deafblind services. There is no doubt that this will result in a gap in services and no accountability as to the type of services and supports that this population will receive in California and the country as a whole.

Adam and Julie have kindly compiled a CDBS Fact Brief that I have attached to this email that lays out the impact of CDBS and the negative impact that this decision could make. They have also provided a video (linked below) that gives an overview of what deafblindness is and illustrates the importance of deafblind state projects for this small and diverse population of learners. Video link: https://dcmp.org/media/24635

In the current news stream, it is understandably overwhelming. However, it feels important as a community to engage, acknowledge, and advocate. This is one of those situations as the impact of the loss of funding will result in a significant loss in support for the students, families and professionals within the deafblind community. It will also likely result in job loss for some highly-valued employees here at Sf State.