Projects and Progress
Introduction | National
CIL Management Database | Alternate Funding
for CIL Operation | Transition Programs
for Youth with Disabilities | Resource Guide
for the Elderly Disabled | I L
Management Research | Cultural Competency
| I L and V R Collaboration Models | Management
Improvement
The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living Management is a collaborative program with 6 research areas or sub-projects. Within the sub-project areas are additional research topics and investigations. The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the performance effectiveness and success of independent living centers and IL management. The primary research strategies of the various projects combine survey research methodologies involving questionnaires, interviews and focus groups and descriptive research methodologies involving case studies and replication of best practice models.
The RRTC-ILM has recruited project partners who have demonstrated research and application expertise in the topic field for each of the sub-project areas.
Sub Projects
Project Progress – The following list of resources have been developed.
The
Compendium of Resources for Independent Living Management
Imagine the benefit of web-based resources for operating an independent
living center. Being able to review job descriptions, by-laws, policies
and procedures and program descriptions of CILs from across the US. CILs
peer mentoring CILs, sharing experience and expertise. That is the philosophy
of the Compendium of Resources for Independent Living Management. Over
300 independent living centers have responded to our national Independent
Living Organizational Survey, providing information about their size,
budget, programs / services, management structure and funding sources.
The RRTC-ILM website will allow access to the Compendium to look up information and copy resources to assist in operating centers. You participate in this resource by going to the Compendium page, completing a survey and sending it to the RRTC-ILM. We will e-mail you a password to access the Compendium.
The National CIL Directory – a directory of independent living centers in the US and territories searchable by center name, state, city or directors last name.
The SILC Compendium – Similar to the Compendium of Resources for CIL Management, this resource contains information about the State Independent Living Councils across the US.
CIL Organizational Profiles – A collection of data snapshots listed by budget size, this organizational profile presents - consumer service levels, center structure, sources of funding, types of programs and staff salary structure
2 - Alternate Funding for CILs.
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Project Partner - James L. King MBA
Jim King has served as the State Director of The New York State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) since 1984. He authored and developed the SBDC program under the sponsorship of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the State University of New York, and the State of New York. Mr. King has a MBA in Finance and Marketing from Bowling Green State University. As Director, Mr. King has helped thousands of New York businesses to invest well over $1.5 billion in the state’s economy.
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Project Progress |
The project staff have successfully completed three small business development models that are in the process of being documented. Two additional centers are developing small business ventures which will be added to the models. To read more about the application of SBDC process to non profit CILS click here.
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Identifying the best practices and developing test programs for CILs, to expand their services to youth with disabilities and their families.
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Project Partner - Mike Wehmeyer PhD
Michael Wehmeyer is Director of Self-Determination Projects at University of Kansas Beach Center on Families and Disability, and Research Associate Professor at KU’s Schiefelbusch Institute on Life Span Studies. Dr. Wehmeyer received his Ph.D. in Human Development at The University of Texas at Dallas, holds a MSc degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sussex, England, and undergraduate and graduate degrees in special education from Tulsa University. He has published more than 80 journal articles or book chapters on self-determination, student involvement, and transition, and is the co-editor or co-author of 5 books or monographs on these topics.
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Project Progress |
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Examining the role of centers for
independent living in the transition
of youth from secondary education to adult life. RRTC-ILM Newsletter,
2 (1) 6-10.
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3B - Resource Guide Elderly Disabled -There is a significant need among older persons for the type of services offered through Independent Living Centers, including services related to transportation, housing, and information about assistive devices.
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Project Partner - William C. Mann,
OTR, PhD
Bill Mann is presently professor and Chairman of the Department of Occupational Therapy College of Health Professions at the University of Florida, and directs the Ph.D. Program in Rehabilitation Science. As Professor Emeritus, he remains Principal Investigator for the RERC on Technology for Successful Aging at the University at Buffalo, now in its ninth year of funding. Dr. Mann founded the Center for Assistive Technology, University at Buffalo. He has authored over fifty peer-reviewed papers on issues related to helping seniors maintain their independence as they age with or into disabling conditions. Dr. Mann received his doctoral degree in Higher Education from the University at Buffalo. He will research CIL programs that make independent living possible for individuals who become disabled in old age, and will identify successful practices that can be applied to the population.
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Project Progress |
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Centers for Independent Living (CIL) Pathfinder for
Services & Programs for Older Americans
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4A - Management Practices of CILs.Identifying and prioritizing critical management practices of Independent Living Centers and developing and testing new strategies to enable CILs to benefit from management models of other successful community-based organizations. |
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Stakeholder perceptions of an effective CIL
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4B - Improving the Cultural Competency of IL Staff.Develop and test training models to improve the core competency skills in geographically dispersed, culturally and linguistically diverse CIL staff. Evaluate strategies for improved recruitment and retention of CIL staff from diverse backgrounds;
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| Project Partner - John Stone, PhD and John Moffat -
John Stone holds a M. S. degree in Public Administration and a PhD in Education (Instructional Design and Development) from Florida State University. Dr. Stone is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Buffalo, and Director of the NIDRR funded Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE). Dr. Stone has 25 years of experience in training and instructional technology. Having served a Peace Corps assignment in India, and a 17-year career in Brazil, he is especially well qualified to interpret “culture brokering” theory for use in CILs. Under Dr. Stone’s guidance, staff trainers will adapt the workshop that CIRRIE has been successfully presenting to other rehabilitation service providers that assist foreign-born individuals with disabilities. Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange
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| Project Progress | Culture Brokering training is presented in two formats. A two day face-to-face workshop version is available for groups of 20 – 25 CIL staff. This program is offered at minimal cost to IL centers, state independent living councils or state associations for staff development. Culture Brokering Workshop – “Successful Outreach to Foreign-Born Consumers through Culture Brokering” The second is an individualized instruction format also available as a computer CD Rom tutorial. Culture Brokering Tutorial CD
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5 - Successful Collaborations between CILs and State VR ProgramsInvestigating CIL and vocational rehabilitation agency policies related to collaborations, and designing strategies for innovative partnerships to promote employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
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Project Partners - Brenda Premo and Susan Stoddard, PhD Brenda Premo, MBA is the Founding Director of the Center for Disability
Issues and the Health Professions (CDIHP) of Western University
of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. She was previously a Deputy
Director and then Director of the California State Department of
Rehabilitation during the 1990’s. For fourteen years she headed
the ILC serving Orange County. A two-time President of the California
Foundation for Independent Living Centers, Ms. Premo served on a
variety of professional boards, conferences, and committees, including
the National Organization on Disability and the National Council
on Disability.
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6 - Management Improvement and Development ResourcesDisability Rights Timeline - Highlights important historic events in the disability rights movement in the US. An Interview with Judy Heumann - Judy Heumann being interviewed in her home talking about her life as an independent living pioneer. Consumer
Profiles
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