Three Institute on Community Integration (ICI) staff presented at Minnesota's 2009 Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) event in Duluth on October 13th. Chris Bremer spoke to young adults with disabilities about how to exercise their right to vote; Joe Timmons, presented strategies young people with learning disabilities can use to succeed in the workplace; and Sharon Mulé spoke to parents about focusing and building on students' strengths to enhance employability.

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Sheryl A. Larson, Ph.D., of the Research and Training Center on Community Living in the Institute on Community Integration, was recognized by the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities for her five years of service on the council at an October 7 event for outgoing members. The Council promotes independence, productivity, self-determination, integration and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities and their families throughout Minnesota.

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An engaging symposium focusing on strengthening opportunities for children, youth and adults with disabilities to participate in the arts will be held at the University's Weisman Art Museum on October 30. "Changing Landscapes: Symposium on the Arts & Disability" is being sponsored by a coalition of University and community organizations to bring together artists with disabilities, disability service providers, arts instructors, arts advocates, University faculty/staff/students, and others from around the state to share ideas for supporting and increasing involvement of individuals with disabilities in the arts. Registration is now open at the symposium Web page.

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On July 1 the University of Minnesota became home to the state's first-ever federally-funded LEND program (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities), coordinated by the Department of Pediatrics and the Institute on Community Integration (ICI). Funded by a two-year, $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, to the Department of Pediatrics, the Minnesota LEND is an interdisciplinary training program preparing future leaders who will serve children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, other neurodevelopmental and related disabilities, and their families in health care, education, human services, and policy settings.

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Jeffrey Nurick of the Institute on Community Integration was featured in a July 8 Fox9 News story in which he talked about what he's learned about doing a successful job search as a person with a disability.

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The Changing Landscapes Committee at the Institute on Community Integration, co-chaired by Megan Dushin and Pat Salmi, has received a $10,000 grant from the University’s Imagine Fund (supported by a generous donation from the McKnight Foundation), plus a $3,500 grant from the University’s Innovation, Diversity, Equity, and Achievement (IDEA) fund, to produce an arts and disability symposium and exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum in fall 2009. The print shown was painted by Richard Brown, an artist with Partnership Resources, Inc.

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The College’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is part of a national consortium developing “Think College,” a set of resources to support access to, and success in, postsecondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The consortium includes ICI, the Institute for Community Inclusion (University of Massachusetts, Boston), Center on Disability Studies (University of Hawaii at Manoa), Center for Disability Studies (University of Delaware), Nisonger Center (The Ohio State University), Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (Vanderbilt University), Center for Disability Resources (University of South Carolina), Tarjan Center (UCLA), and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. To learn more, see the story in the April issue of the ICI staff newsletter.

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On March 30-31 the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is presenting training on the Minneapolis campus for representatives of school districts and youth organizations from across the U.S. and Canada desiring assistance in implementing the school engagement intervention, "Check & Connect." Initially developed through a federally-funded research project in 1990 to address the high rate of dropout among secondary students with disabilities, "Check & Connect" has been continuously revised and expanded over the past 19 years to be effective with students with or without disabilities in elementary, middle, and high school. Today it is one of 22 dropout prevention interventions rated by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse and the only program found to have strong evidence of positive effects for staying in school. To learn more "Check & Connect" see http://ici.umn.edu/news/fyi/dec08.html.

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On March 1, the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) and the Department of Educational Psychology launched "Making the Connection: Engaging and Retaining Young Adults in Postsecondary Education," a two-year research project funded by a $727,237 grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES). The project will study adaptation of Check & Connect – a K-12 school engagement intervention developed at ICI – to community college settings for use with students ages 18-30 who are at risk of leaving school. To learn more, see http://ici.umn.edu/news/fyi/mar09.html.

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