Youth with disabilities, in particular, youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD), are overrepresented in correctional facilities across the U.S. They also have a high rate of recidivism. In response to the need to support these youth to make a lasting transition out of the corrections system, the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is partnering with area organizations and agencies on a new project, Making a Map: Finding My Way Back.
The project brings together ICI, Ramsey County Community Corrections, the non-profit organization Amicus, St. Paul Public Schools, Twin Cities postsecondary programs, and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to carry out a comprehensive, evidence-based project supporting juvenile offenders with disabilities who are transitioning from Ramsey County juvenile justice facilities into secondary and postsecondary education, employment, and community programs. The four-year project, funded by a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, began January 1, 2013, and is directed by David R. Johnson and Jean Ness.
Read more.
Poetz honored by The Arc Minnesota
Cliff Poetz of the College’s Institute on Community Integration is one of several people being honored at a “Heroes of The Arc Minnesota Luncheon” on December 7. The Arc Minnesota promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes. Cliff has been one of the most visible and vocal advocates for people with developmental disabilities in Minnesota for four decades. He has a long history of building the self-advocacy movement and serving The Arc locally, statewide, and nationally.
Karen Stout on MPR
Karen Stout of the College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) was a panelist for the program “High school dropouts: Should we let them go?” on The Daily Circuit, a news program aired by Minnesota Public Radio on November 5. She is a researcher at ICI and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Her work at ICI includes efficacy studies on the Check & Connect student engagement model, as well as its postsecondary applications. To hear the broadcast, visit http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/11/05/daily-circuit-high-school-dropouts/.
Kristin Dean appointed to NADSP board
In August, Kristin Dean of the Institute on Community Integration was appointed to the board of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and to the Alliance’s Education, Training and Workforce Development Committee. The Alliance’s mission is to promote the development of a highly competent human services workforce that supports people with disabilities in achieving their life goals.
ICI receives $4.2 million for four projects
The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) has received over $4.2 million in new funding for four projects that build on its earlier work and reach across the lifespan. The newly-funded projects are in the areas of juvenile justice, wellness, residential services, and English language learners. Learn more.
ICI staff presentations at international conference
On July 9-14, eight staff members from the College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) were presenters and/or moderators at the 2012 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities World Congress in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The staff and their topics were: Brian Abery, self-determination; Angela Amado, social inclusion; Amy Hewitt, family support; David Johnson, postsecondary education for individuals with intellectual disabilities; Sheryl Larson, predictors of outcomes, and health and wellness; Derek Nord, staff training, employment and economic self-sufficiency; Lori Sedlezky, self-determination; and Renáta Tichá, self-determination and participation in activities.
Moore serves on panel at Association for Behavior Analysis International convention
Tim Moore of the College’s Institute on Community Integration was an invited panelist at the annual convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in Seattle on May 27; the panel was titled “The Application of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Variables From a Practitioners’ Perspective.” On June 1, Moore presented a poster titled “Functional Analysis of Self-Injurious Behavior in an 18-Month-Old Child with Traumatic Brain Injury” at the Gillette Pediatric Neurosciences Conference in Minneapolis.
Nord Elected to National APSE Board
Derek Nord, PhD, Research Associate at the Institute on Community Integration, has been elected to the Executive Board of APSE, a national organization focusing on integrated employment and career advancement opportunities for individuals with disabilities. APSE works at both the national and state levels to ensure everyone is afforded the right to work; earn commensurate wages, benefits and opportunities to advance their careers; contribute to society; and move out of poverty. He begins his 3-year term in June.
ICI launches new college prep service for students with disabilities
Students with disabilities often need extra support and advocacy to become college-ready. A new service has been launched at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) to provide that support and advocacy for high school and college-age students with disabilities and their families in the Twin Cities area. It is called College Prep/ICI.
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Hewitt named Vice President of AAIDD Board of Directors
In March, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) named Amy Hewitt as vice-president of its 2012-2013 board of directors. The board of AAIDD is elected by its membership in annual elections. She and her fellow board members assume their new duties on July 1, 2012. Hewitt is director of the Research & Training Center on Community Living at the College’s Institute on Community Integration.
Connecting Students to Learning: ICI’s Check & Connect Expanding Its Reach
To prevent school dropout among K-12 students, in 1995 the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) launched Check & Connect, a research-based intervention to increase student engagement at school and with learning. Now, Check & Connect has launched an expanded suite of training and consultation options, its staff are conducting new large-scale research studies on its efficacy, and its new Web site has been unveiled (http://checkandconnect.umn.edu). Read more.
Lazarus elected secretary-treasurer of AERA SIG
Sheryl Lazarus of the Institute on Community Integration has been elected secretary-treasurer of the Inclusion and Accommodation in Educational Assessment Significant Interest Group (SIG) of the American Education Research Association (AERA).
Rutzen participates in White House briefing
Kurt Rutzen, Institute on Community Integration staffer, was one of 150 leaders from The Arc organization who met with a variety of senior White House officials at a Community Leaders Briefing on February 10 in Washington, D.C. Kurt, as an Arc of the United States board member, was among those invited to ask questions and discuss issues facing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the session. Held exclusively for The Arc, a national organization that advocates for and serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, the meeting included an unannounced visit from President Obama, during which he spoke of his commitment to people with disabilities.
Moore serves on Minnesota Department of Human Services committee
On January 25, Tim Moore, Research Associate at the Institute on Community Integration and a LEND post-doctoral Fellow, was selected to serve on the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) advisory committee charged with re-writing Rule 40, which governs the use of aversive and deprivation procedures in licensed facilities in Minnesota that serve persons with developmental disabilities.
ICI staff speak at conferences
Staff from the Institute on Community Integration presented at three conferences around the country this past month. On November 8, Amy Hewitt and Kelly Nye-Lengerman spoke on understanding and building socially inclusive communities in the African nation of Zambia at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) annual conference in Washington, D.C. Jean Ness co-presented on The Young American Indian Entrepreneur curriculum and culture-based arts integration at the National Indian Education Association conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 29. Sharon Mulé co-presented a workshop on internships and e-mentoring for persons with disabilities at the Arc of Minnesota Conference on November 4-5 at Breezy Point Resort. She also facilitated panel discussions on innovative postsecondary education options for students with disabilities, and parent perspectives on friendship-building for young children with disabilities.
ICI collaborates on study of autism in Minneapolis Somali community
The Institute on Community Integration (ICI), the University’s Department of Pediatrics and Department of Educational Psychology, and the Minnesota Department of Health are collaborating on a project to determine whether there are true differences in the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) between Somali and non-Somali children in Minneapolis. The year-long study is one effort to provide answers to reports from advocates in the Somali community that children of Somali descent living in the city have, in the past few years, been classified as having ASD at a higher-than-usual rate. To learn more, see the November issue of the Institute’s staff newsletter, FYI.
Global Resource Center supports inclusive education around the world
Serbia, Macedonia, Bangladesh, and Tanzania are just some of the places in which the Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education at the Institute on Community Integration has been working to support inclusion of all young people, including those with disabilities, in their nation’s educational systems. Since 2006 the center has assisted education agencies around the globe to make “Education for All” a reality and work toward systemic improvement of their education programs, practices, and policies that affect underserved and disadvantaged populations. To learn more, see the September issue of the institute’s staff newsletter, FYI.
Film about self-advocates wins international awards
Jerry Smith, filmmaker and media director in the Institute on Community Integration, has won two awards for We Have Choices, the documentary that RTC Media produced with the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State.
Smith received the highest honor from the Silver Telly Council, a judging and oversight body that receives over 13,000 competition entries from around the world every year. In May, We Have Choices received a second award, this time a Platinum Award at the 2011 Hermes Creative Awards (another international competition), in the documentary category.
The film, which is about people with disabilities who advocate for themselves, can be viewed at http://rtc.umn.edu/rtcmedia/wehavechoices/.
Hewitt new director of Research and Training Center on Community Living
Amy Hewitt, Ph.D., has been selected as the new director of the Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC) in the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI). She will assume the new role effective August 15, 2011, succeeding Charlie Lakin, Ph.D., who has been appointed director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in the U.S. Department of Education.
Hewitt has worked at the RTC for the past 20 years and has an extensive background of research, publishing, and training in the areas of services, supports, and policies impacting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has served as coordinator of the College of Education and Human Development’s Certificate in Disability Policy and Services, jointly offered through ICI and the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, and is also co-director of the Minnesota LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Disabilities), a joint program of the Department of Pediatrics and ICI. She and her many colleagues within the RTC look forward to continuing to build upon the strong foundation for the center’s internationally-respected work developed under Lakin’s decades of leadership.
Altman, Christensen, and Vang present on Universal Design at conference
Jason Altman, Laurene Christensen, and Mai Vang of the Institute on Community Integration presented at the Minnesota Council for Exceptional Children conference on March 3. Their session was titled, “Universal Design and Accommodations in Classroom Assessment.”