As a 2019-20 fellow in the Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MNLEND) program, Carl Luepker spent time with Hold Your Horses, a Greenfield, Minnesota provider of occupational and physical therapy and mental health services using hippotherapy. The practice employs the gait and movement of horses to assist people with neurological and developmental disabilities or mental health issues.

Winning a state government award last month for getting a food assistance program up and running during the pandemic was an impressive achievement for Mia Donley, (MN-LEND 2015-16). What makes it even more impressive was the timing. Donley, a registered dietician who received a master's degree in public health from the University of Minnesota, joined the Colorado Department of Human Services in March 2020 as an education and outreach coordinator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

As the New Mexico LEND cohort liaison to the Emerging Leaders Community, I had the opportunity to interview Una Vicenti and Laura Hawkey of the FOCUS program. Vicenti is an Occupational Therapist and Director of Early Intervention Services and Laura works as a Family Service Coordinator and developmental specialist within the program. Hawkey is a current LEND trainee and Vicenti is a LEND fellow. Vicenti reported that 3 other employees at FOCUS, including the program director, are LEND fellows.

Jules Edwards was 32 when she was diagnosed with autism, along with her children. Tom Cox was in his 40s when one of his employees suggested he might look into Asperger syndrome. Those turning points, they say, led both of them to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Today, Edwards and Cox are leaders in Minnesota's autism advocacy community.And as April brings the annual shower of stories about autism - it is called Autism Awareness Month by some groups and Autism Acceptance Month by others - they are hoping a similar understanding breaks through the messaging.

Pursuing work in the community during a global pandemic most certainly can pose unique challenges; however, this did not stop trainees in Cincinnati, Ohio from promoting positive change in their local homeless community. Trainees Sue Ram (occupational therapy), Emily Witt (social work), Julius Freeman (psychology), and Nora Lascell (speech-language pathology) are a part of the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) training program in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence (UCEDD).

AUCD's Autism Special Interest Group (SIG) is sponsoring a series of three webinars for Autism Acceptance Month. Topics will range from telehealth to cognitive behavioral therapy to caregiver coaching strategies. We will also host an open house for AUCD network members to learn more about activities of the Autism SIG.

April is widely recognized as Autism Acceptance Month. AUCD, our members, and partners have used this as an opportunity to share information relating to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

AUCD is excited to announce that recruitment is now open for the 2021 AUCD Emerging Leaders Map! This year's theme is "Promoting Health Equity: Identifying Access Barriers and Protecting Rights to Services for People with Disabilities."

Striving to train the next generation of child and maternal healthcare leaders is more than a slogan for Va-LEND (Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities). It is an ideal, which includes innovative ways to make training more effective. One such example is the collaboration between another LEND program.

Emily Costello, a UCEDD Trainee from the Munroe-Meyer Institute in Omaha, NE outlines elements of best practice for care coordination, based on a review of recent literature, and compares national standards to that of Nebraska.