ESPA Trainee Partnership

AUCD-ESPA Mini-Grant Recipients Announced

About the ESPA/AUCD Partnership

Easter Seals Project ACTION (Accessible Community Transportation In Our Nation), ESPA, in cooperation with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), announces an opportunity to conduct research that relates to transportation for people with disabilities.

Through this program, ESPA awards a selected group of AUCD LEND or UCEDD trainees with awards ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 per award to expand upon current transit-related research from a disability community perspective, particularly in regard to quality of life issues related to transportation services. The products of research conducted under this project this research are used to contribute solutions to the transportation challenges people with disabilities encounter in their communities, and are nationally distributed through the Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) clearinghouse. In addition, these projects seek to increase the involvement of university students in the issues that surround accessible transportation and the impacts and implications on the lives of people with disabilities.

ESPA is a national technical assistance program funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration. Established by Congress in 1988, ESPA facilitates cooperation between the transportation and disability communities and works to increase the availability and use of accessible transportation for people with disabilities of all ages. ESPA provides a variety of training, technical assistance, and products, and supports research opportunities and projects.

AUCD is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that promotes and supports the national network of university centers on disabilities, which includes University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Programs and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (DDRC). AUCD envisions a future where all persons, including those living with developmental and other disabilities are fully integrated and participating members of their communities and where culturally appropriate supports are available across the life span to individuals and families that leads to independence, productivity and satisfying quality of life.

Read more about the AUCD-ESPA partnership on the ESPA website.