10.18.05

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education
Phone: (804) 827-2415 or (804) 647-2715
E-mail: mdfronti@vcu.edu
www.soe.vcu.edu

VCU TO HELP PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WORK FULL TIME
$2.5 million grant will build training programs & business collaborations for people in Va., W.Va., Md., De., Pa., D.C.

RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 18, 2005) – Thousands of people with disabilities in six states could earn higher wages and start their own businesses, under a $2.5 million U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education’s Rehabilitation Research Training Center.

“The success of this project will lead to better employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities,” said center director Paul Wehman, Ph.D. “Most of them are on government assistance or working below minimum wage, but with better training we know they can hold competitive paying jobs.”

Over five years, the center’s staff will collaborate with community organizations and nationally-recognized consultants to design continuing education programs and build business connections in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

The project will involve counselors, trainers, and teachers at community-based, non-profit, agencies – known as Community Rehabilitative Providers – that provide employment services to adults with disabilities.

“The need for quality training and technical assistance is compelling,” said the project’s director Katherine J. Inge, Ph.D. “Many Community Rehabilitative Providers have limited knowledge of workplace supports, employer and business relationships, funding issues, and self-employment.”

The “Regional Rehabilitation Continuing Education Project: Region III” will:

1. establish a leadership network of trained Community Rehabilitative Providers who will provide training and technical assistance to other providers
2. develop individual training plans for providers in each state and the District of Columbia
3. use mentoring to increase the number of trained providers
4. create Web-based continuing education and training programs
5. build a network of business relationships to increase employment of people with developmental disabilities in the region

More than six million people in the U.S. have developmental disabilities, which include autism, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation.

Editors Note: To identify Community Service Providers in your area, see www.vadrs.org/essp/dbconn/map/map.htm, click your region on the state map, select a locality, and click the “Display ESOs” button.

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About VCU and the VCU Medical Center: Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, Va., Virginia Commonwealth University is ranked nationally by the Carnegie Foundation as a top research institution and enrolls more than 28,500 students in more than 181 certificate, undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral programs in the arts, sciences and humanities in 15 schools and one college. Forty of the university’s programs are unique in Virginia, and 20 graduate and professional programs have been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the best of their kind. MCV Hospitals, clinics and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University compose the VCU Medical Center, one of the leading academic medical centers in the country. For more, see www.vcu.edu.

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  Mike Frontiero
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  mdfronti@vcu.edu
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  Richmond, Va. 23284-2020