The primary mission of the Rose F. Kennedy UCEDD is to improve the quality of life of persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Specifically, this involves four major functions.
- To serve national, regionally, and locally as a model and an innovative developmental disabilities service agency functioning within an ethnically diverse, largely poor, distressed and needy community.
- To receive input from consumers and families in order to create, implement, and evaluate consumer-oriented and professionally valid family-oriented strategies, making it possible to; deal with a needy and underserved population, promote inclusive, person-centered services and enhance access to care in the community.
- To both work within an academic medical centers and as a service "center without walls," providing extensive interdisciplinary training that is responsive to local, state and national priorities, including the training of future leaders and other professionals, as well as individuals with disabilities, especially those from minority-group backgrounds.
- To support other agencies in the local region through direct technical assistance, and nationally through enhanced program development supported by effective demonstration, and basic or applied research.