The Institute on Community Integration’s Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Related Disabilities (MNLEND) program has received funding for another five-year cycle.

Since 2008, MNLEND has been improving the health and well-being of children, adolescents, and young adults who have, or are at risk of developing, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other neurodevelopmental and other related disabilities (NDD), by expanding interdisciplinary training opportunities for graduate-level and community trainees from 14 or more disciplines.

Beginning this month, MNLEND will receive a total of $3,565,000 over the next five years from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The University of Minnesota supplements this federal funding by committing $864,480 in matching/cost share resources to the 2021–26 program and providing the new Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB) building that will unite researchers and clinics focused on ASD/NDD and open new opportunities for MNLEND fellows, including a new TeleOutreach Center and teaching facilities. The TeleOutreach Center is part of MNLEND’s expanded outreach to Greater Minnesota. Combined with MNLEND’s new hybrid cohort model and new potential collaborations within the MIDB, the program looks forward to an exciting five-year funding period.