COVID Recovery Iowa Project Responds to Changing Needs
In the spring of 2020, near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa Compass received funding from the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) to participate in the COVID Recovery Iowa project. Iowa Compass is the state’s disability-related information and referral service, based at the Center for Disabilities, Iowa’s UCEDD. Read more...
Waisman Center UCEDD Partners with Community to Address Health Equity for Latino Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities with Funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Padres e Hijos en Acción and the Waisman Center University for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), University of Wisconsin-Madison announced a $330,000 grant to improve local health care responsiveness to the needs of Latino families of children with developmental disabilities and other special health care needs in Dane County. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the three-year campaign is part of the Community Solutions for Health Equity program led by Community Catalyst, a national non-profit health equity advocacy organization. Read more...
A Commentary from Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Applied Behavior Analysis Therapist, TRIAD Co-director on ABA Controversies and the Need for Substantive Community Engagement

This opinion piece is shared by A. Pablo Juárez, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA, co-director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD). This commentary is not meant to be a definitive resource documenting numerous issues surrounding the use of applied behavior analysis, but to instead provide a surface-level overview of conversations currently being held among self-advocates and disability support professionals. Read more...
MI-DDI, Wayne State receives $7M grant to address equitable access to vaccines for Michigan residents disproportionally impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

The Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute (MI-DDI) at Wayne State University (WSU) recently received a 3-year, $7 million grant to address the need to ensure greater equity and access to COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, and other vaccination needs in Michigan. The goal of the project is to increase the number of vaccinated people with disabilities, along with their family members and caregivers; people who are homebound or isolated; people with transportation limitations; and people living in communities with high social vulnerability index. Read more...
State of State Moves to KUCDD

The State of the States in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a federally funded project that collects and analyzes data on public funds used to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has moved to the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD). This project is led by KUCDD Associate Research Professor Shea Tanis. Read more...
The Center for Learning and Leadership Oklahoma's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) Distributes over 150,000 Masks Across the State

The Center for Learning and Leadership Oklahoma’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (CLL/UCEDD), at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, received a large donation of KN-95 masks to offer to our community affiliates and academic partners at no cost thanks to their partnership with OU Health. Read more...
Think College Awarded US Department of Education Grant to Increase Access to and Visibility of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Programs Nationwide
Congratulations to ICI’s Think College and partners for accepting a $5.9 million three-year award from the US Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education to expand their remarkable work of translating and disseminating research and best practices on inclusive post-secondary education for colleges and universities across the US. Read more...
Employment First Missouri: Expanding Community Employment Efforts for People with Disabilities in Missouri

Employment First Missouri believes that everyone has the right to earn a living wage in a job of their choosing, based on their unique talents, gifts, skills, and interests. Employment First promotes integrated employment as the primary goal for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Missouri. Through the ICI, Employment First Missouri provides free training, coaching, and technical assistance (TA) to service providers and staff who contract with the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Division of Developmental Disabilities to provide individuals Medicaid Waiver Employment Services. Read more...
COVID Vaccine Public Service Announcements

To address the significant health risks for people with IDD and direct support workers, the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with NADSP and support from AUCD, is producing a series of public service announcements encouraging direct support workers to get vaccinated. Please share these captioned videos across your networks. Read more...
Jake's mice: Searching for answers to the puzzle of autism

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are using stem cells to study a rare form of autism linked to a specific gene mutation. To do that, scientists have bred mice that mimic a 16 year old boy name Jake's exact gene mutation in order to better understand the disorder. Read more...
iGROW - New Funded Grant

iGROW aims to provide students with disabilities pre-employment training and workplace readiness activities that will produce at least 20 students with disabilities within the rural area with pre-employment skills. In addition, the iGROW project will serve as a demonstration and model of pre-employment training for rural areas that can lead to change while advancing pre-employment training for rural youth at the state level. The first cohort will be in Lee County, Texas. Read more...
Team for Infants Exposed to Substance Abuse: Supporting Families at Risk for Over 30 Years

In 1990, the United States was experiencing dual and often inter-connected epidemics: Crack cocaine and HIV/Aids. Across the nation, women with substance use disorders gave birth to infants who’d been exposed in-utero to myriad drugs, including crack, the free base form of cocaine. Babies exposed to substances like crack cocaine, alcohol, or other drugs are at risk for premature birth and learning, behavioral, and attention difficulties as they grow. As a result of HIV risk behavior, including needle sharing with drug use, some of the same women who were pregnant and had substance use disorders also had HIV, which meant their babies were also at risk for HIV. Read more...
Dr. Dalun Zhang Awarded Funding for the Capacity Building Project from the Texas Workforce Commission

The purpose of the project is to expand transition services to students with disabilities from age 14 to 16. Traditionally, student have not been eligible to receive pre-employment transition in the vocational rehabilitation system until they reach 16 years of age. The goal of the project is to provide seamless transition planning and pre-employment skills training to students with disabilities before reaching 16 years of age when they will receive more formal transition services that prepare them for life after high school. Read more...
Dr. Stough Presents Research at Leadership Symposium with the Emergency Management Association of Texas
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Dr. Laura Stough presented her research on the psychological and educational effects of wildfires on children with disabilities. Together with Dr. Elizabeth Ducy at Sonoma State University, their research describes the challenges and barriers families of children experienced during the Tubbs and Nuns wildfires in Northern California. Dr. Stough presented these results and their implications at the Leadership Symposium at the Emergency Management Association of Texas on February 9th. Read more...
Our Journey To Success: A Conversation on Disability, Inclusion, and Diversity

To be used as a resource for families of color who have a children with disabilities. Oftentimes, having a child with a disability comes with challenges and obstacles, but with families of color with children with disabilities another layer is added to the stack. Hopefully, this video series will serve as information and encouragement to those families. Read more...
Alaska LEND Program Update

The University of Alaska in Anchorage-Center for Human Development LEND program started its second semester with didactics on Policy and Advocacy. This is in preparation for the 2022 Key Campaign and Legislative Priorities to be held in Juneau. We tracked down the movement of legislation of interest to the Alaska Mental Health Trust and partner advisory boards. Read more...
Community and Academic Partners Collaborate on Kindergarten Readiness and Graduation Rates in Neighborhoods Served by Mailman Center

Key indicators of child wellbeing have improved in East Little Havana and Overtown since these South Florida communities began community-academic partnerships (CAPs) with the Mailman Center for Child Development at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, a new study reveals. Read more...
The University of Cincinnati UCEDD Awarded Grant with the WITH Foundation
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The WITH Foundation awarded a total of $250,000 to five organizations, including the University of Cincinnati UCEDD as a result of their joint RFP with the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). The RFP provided a unique funding opportunity for organizations to support projects that address the intersections of racial equity and healthcare equity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Read more...
The ND Center for Persons with Disabilities Collaboration with the Morehouse National COVID - 19 Resiliency Network

Because of our participation in the regional community coalition meetings through the Morehouse National COVID Resiliency Network (NCRN), the ND Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD) became increasingly aware of health inequities related to COVID-19 among vulnerable populations in our state Based on this increased awareness, NDCPD has established a variety of partnerships and launched several initiatives. Read more...
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