Ensuring that all children, youth, and adults with disabilities, and those receiving educational supports, are valued by and contribute to their communities of choice. |
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Higher Ed Grants Coming Soon
Aiming to boost college options for Minnesota students with intellectual disability, the Institute on Community Integration’s new Inclusive Higher Education Technical Assistance (TA) Center is collaborating with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education
as it implements a competitive grant process this spring. The grants will provide up to $1.425 million in the first two years of the program (fiscal years 2024 and 2025) to eligible Minnesota higher education institutions that create or enhance postsecondary education programs providing meaningful credentials upon graduation to students with intellectual disability.
“Universities want to increase enrollment of students from diverse backgrounds, and there is nobody more excluded from higher education than people with intellectual disability and people with disability of any kind, for that matter,” said ICI Director Amy Hewitt.
Established by state statute in the 2023 legislative session, the TA Center is coordinating and providing expertise on Minnesota’s inclusive higher education opportunities and providing information to students with intellectual disability and their families, educators, and state agency staff. It is also collaborating with state education officials on the grant program. Mary Hauff, director of ICI’s Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium (MIHEC), is director of the new TA Center.
“We’re optimistic about the enthusiasm we’ve seen thus far for bringing substantially more opportunities for higher education in Minnesota for students with intellectual disability,” Hauff said. “There are a number of colleges and universities that are, in fact, now pursuing inclusive higher ed initiatives on their campuses. And in conversations with the existing programs, we know there is interest in improving and expanding their offerings.”
Learn more about college options for Minnesota students with intellectual disability. |
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Support Work: Realizing Inclusion
Despite decades-old federal law and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) receive support services in the most integrated possible setting, crisis-level worker shortages have made inclusive community living unachievable for far too many people.
Compelled by U.S. Department of Justice consent decrees or buoyed by American Rescue Plan or other new funds, or a combination, states are now boosting pay and benefits for direct support professionals (DSPs), who provide a range of services for people with IDD, from job coaching to personal care to fighting loneliness and depression.
“We’re seeing more action in states than ever in terms of identifying the need for a strong direct-care workforce,” said Amy Hewitt, director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration.
ICI’s Direct Support Workforce Solutions (DSWS) group is working with service provider agencies, state officials, and related stakeholders in several states to improve recruitment and retention of DSPs. Using robust hiring and retention strategies and new methods for evaluating workforce data, Hewitt said DSWS and partner organizations around the country are beginning to see promising results.
“Through these consent decrees, the DOJ is starting to connect the dots between the dream of inclusion and the reality of making it happen. Whether it’s competitive, integrated employment or any other promise of equity that was made to people with disabilities, these consent decrees are ensuring our promises are kept,” Hewitt said.
“The great promise of the Disability Rights Movement and the federal legislation that followed was that people with disabilities would be freed from institutions, that they would live and work in the community and have real relationships with friends and family in the least restrictive settings possible. Those were the goals of the law, and the outcomes we are paying for in the requirements of the legislation, but they can’t be realized without competent, and stable, professional support staff.”
Learn more about resolving the direct support workforce crisis. |
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Transforming the Landscape of Behavioral Health Access for Geographically Dispersed and Military-Connected Children and Families across the Midwest
Accessing and navigating services for children with developmental, emotional, or behavioral health (D/E/B) concerns has greater complexity for military families, geographically-dispersed families, and families who are highly mobile or lack providers near their homes. University of Minnesota’s Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB) has received $3.5 million to lower these barriers as a partner in the Department of Defense Child Collaboration Study “A Research Collaboratory to Explore Best Practices for Expanding Access to Care Through Expansion and Support of Telehealth Care for Children and Families with Behavioral Health Needs.”
Led by Jessica Simacek (pictured), PhD, who serves as principal investigator of this award, the MIDB TeleOutreach Hub
—a collaboration with the University’s Institute on Community Integration—will develop the Minnesota Telehealth Innovation site for training; technical assistance; and evaluation with providers, educators, and families to improve access to services and overall outcomes for children and adolescents with D/E/B needs.
“Families wait far too long to access high quality care and support, particularly when they relocate often or live in geographically-dispersed areas,” says Simacek. “Telehealth and related flexible models of care and provider training hold promise for changing the care landscape in Minnesota. In this project, we are improving how we provide care to families and how we build provider capacity to meet the unique needs of these populations.”
Learn more about reaching families through telehealth. |
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Meredith Kujala writes in Impact about living with her physical disabilities, mental health challenges, LQBTQ+ status, and discrimination. But she is used to standing up for herself and values her family and friends. Recently, she started an organization that promotes civil rights, #inclusion, and equality for all. https://bit.ly/3vUpKX6
#civilrights #equalityforall |
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A Closer Look: Episode 4: Michelle Murphy on Becoming an Interviewer
Presenter: Chet Tschetter
Michelle Murphy left the corporate world 19 years ago and became a direct support professional (DSP) when her sister strongly suggested she come to work with her at her workshop job. Michelle is now a DSP Certified-1 at The Arc Mid-Hudson in Kingston, New York.
In this podcast episode of A Closer Look, Michelle talks about her article in Frontline Initiative
and how she uses the NADSP Code of Ethics Tenet 5: Justice, Fairness, and Equity to improve the quality of life for the people she supports. She dives deeper into how she gets to know them as people and how that and the COE help her navigate sensitive topics that might affect their quality of life.
Listen on Captivate or anywhere you get your podcasts. |
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RISP Data Byte: Jails, Prisons, and Large State Institutions
Authors: Sheryl Larson, Jon Neidorf, and Brian Begin
This brief notes that many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who live in state-run facilities of 16 or more people have had previous criminal involvement. In 2019, 29% of people admitted to these facilities came from jails and prisons and 17% of people leaving these facilities went to jails and prisons. In order to best support people with IDD and criminal backgrounds to leave institutions, they will need skilled support workers to ensure they remain safe and can thrive in their communities. Published by ICI’s Residential Information Systems Project (RISP). |
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NCEO Brief 33: The Basics of Accommodations and Modifications
Authors: Andrew R Hinkle, Sheryl Lazarus, Kascinda Fleming, and
Martha L Thurlow
The purpose of this Brief is to clarify what accommodations and modifications are for both instruction and assessment for students with disabilities. We also disentangle the use of the term “alternate or modified curriculum” from the meaning of modification used for instruction and assessment. Published by ICI's National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO).
Other NCEO publications released in the past month include: |
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Charting the LifeCourse Online Session
February 28
10:30 a.m. – 12 pm Central Time
Charting the LifeCourse helps you plan a good life with your child or young adult and develop supports that help them live the life they want. Join us in this Zoom session and learn to use the Charting the LifeCourse framework to balance safety, support, and the dignity of risk and respect. Learn more about Charting the LifeCourse and register. |
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Measuring Home and Community-Based Services
February 29
1 pm Central Time
ICI’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on HCBS Outcome Measurement (RTCOM) is hosting a webinar on measuring outcomes of Medicaid’s home and community-based services. Titled ”Measuring Home and Community-Based Services: Exploring RTCOM’s Outcome Measures and Resources for Improved Outcomes,” this Zoom webinar will also discuss resources and share opportunities to use these new measures. Register. |
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2024 Moving Mountains Awards: Best Practices in Direct Support Workforce Development
Applications due April 3
The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, ICI, and ANCOR are seeking nominations for the 2024 Moving Mountains Award, which recognizes organizations using leading practices in direct support workforce development to improve outcomes for people being supported in their communities. Organizations applying for the award must demonstrate how their workforce practices and philosophy align with the key principles of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. The winning organization(s) will be honored and will share their initiatives during the 2024 Reinventing Quality Conference on September 15–17 in Baltimore, Maryland. For further information,
visit the awards webpage. |
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Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
August 5–8
Chicago
The 17th World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD 2024) will be held in Chicago from August 5–8, 2024. This is an exciting opportunity to learn about recent research findings and major advances in the biological, behavioral, humanities, and social sciences related to intellectual and developmental disabilities. IASSIDD looks forward to welcoming self-advocates to the conference, benefiting from their expertise and learning from their lived experience. Visit iassidd2024.org for more information. |
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Reinventing Quality Conference 2024
September 15–17
Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel
Baltimore, Maryland
A sponsor and exhibitor prospectus is now available for the 2024 Reinventing Quality conference. Established in 1991, RQ is a biennial conference showcasing best practices in person-centered supports from across the nation. The conference has an average attendance of 700 participants, representing a wide spectrum of human service professionals, policymakers, self-advocates, family members, direct support professionals, and advocates from all over the U.S. Participants represent a variety of organizations, including service providers, advocacy, and county, state, and federal government.
Read more about the conference. |
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Jennifer Hall-Lande. On January 8, Hall-Lande
presented “Help Me Outreach and Impact” to the Minnesota Act Early and Help Me Grow Partnership. That same day, she also presented “LTSAE and Minnesota Department of Health Follow-Along Project Partnership” to the Minnesota Act Early Network. On January 17, Hall-Lande presented on Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network data and community partnerships to the Minnesota Autism Interagency Committee. |
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Julie Bershadsky and Sandra Pettingell. On January 9–11, Bershadsky (pictured) and
Pettingell delivered an in-person SupportWise Data Portal Boot Camp for human resources and administration staff from Rhode Island agencies that provide support and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. SupportWise
Data is part of ICI’s Direct Support Workforce Solutions, a national consulting group addressing the workforce needs of organizations providing community-based supports for individuals with disabilities. |
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Sheryl Lazarus and Andrew Hinkle. On January 30, the National Center on Educational Outcomes’ Lazarus (pictured) and
Hinkle conducted a webinar for parent center staff titled “Educating Families of Students with Disabilities About Assessments.“ The webinar was hosted by the Center for Parent Information and Resources. |
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To Survive, and to Laugh
Air-raid sirens interrupt classes and rip through other aspects of daily life in western Ukraine.
For Sergiy Sydoriv, an education professor at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, life outside the heavy bombardment area comes with blaring reminders that life is still far from normal. “We still pursue inclusive education, but at the same time, many schools in my country are closed or destroyed,” he said. “There is no inclusion where there are no buildings.”
The war has also ravaged the country’s finances, so there are far fewer resources for students with disabilities who remain in the country. Many have left under laws permitting people with disabilities and their families to leave during war, said Sydoriv (pictured second from right, with his students), who must stay in the country in case he is called to fight.
“Many reforms happened before the invasion as a result of our 2017 inclusive education law, so many parents and students and educators helped to change public opinion and raise awareness of the importance of inclusive education,” said Sydoriv. He is one of 28 professionals from around the world who completed a six-week Americans with Disabilities Act fellowship at the University of Minnesota and Arizona State University in 2017. The Institute on Community Integration’s Renáta Tichá and
Brian Abery, co-directors of ICI’s Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education, led the experience and still collaborate with Sydoriv.
He has spoken out forcefully against the bloody Russian invasion that began in 2022, carried on teaching university education courses, and is working on a forthcoming monograph on inclusive education titled, The Space of Inclusive Education: Voices from Ukraine. Tichá provided feedback on the publication.
Read more about inclusive education in Ukraine. |
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This email was sent to ICI staff by Institute on Community Integration, 2025 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, USA. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
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The University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the rightful homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. ICI recognizes that the U.S. did not uphold its end of these land treaties. It is the current and continued displacement of the Dakhóta Oyáte
that allows the University to remain today. At ICI, we affirm our commitment to address systemic racism, ableism and all other inequalities and forms of oppression to ensure inclusive communities. |
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