Community Engagement: Projects and Initiatives
An alphabetical listing of current CCIDS projects and initiatives appears below. Click on the project or initiative name for additional information.
EChOS – Early Childhood Opportunities Scholars
The University of Maine’s Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies and the College of Education and Human Development are collaborating in this four-year project to support the preparation of highly qualified early intervention professionals serving children with disabilities in Maine. The EChOS project represents Maine’s only graduate study designed with an emphasis on young children ages birth-5 with disabilities and their families, including children who live in poverty, are homeless, are in foster care, are English language learners, or who reside in rural, remote, and sparsely populated areas with limited access to resources.
Ensuring Higher Education Opportunity for All – Replication Grant
The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies has been awarded a grant to replicate Ensuring Higher Education Opportunity for All, a demonstration project that advances the message of “disability as diversity” in Temple University’s undergraduate core humanities curriculum and diversity training for new faculty and staff. The Center’s replication efforts will include curriculum transformation in the humanities or social sciences; faculty capacity-building in principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL); and instruction or co-instruction by instructors with a disability using the transformed curriculum in at least three humanities or social science classes.
Equity and Excellence in Higher Education (E&E)
Equity and Excellence in Higher Education (E&E) is an ongoing initiative with a broadly-based coalition of University representatives involved in diversity initiatives concerned with teaching and learning, professional staff who support student access and success, educators infusing and disseminating the ideals of equity, inclusion and access across the curriculum, and other stakeholders.
Graduate Specialization in Early Intervention (GSEI) – Training Opportunities for Personnel (TOP): Birth – 5
GSEI offers graduate study in early intervention/early childhood special education for practicing professionals in early intervention, early care and education, and related fields. Supported by a U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs grant, participants in the TOP project can pursue programs leading to an endorsement as a Maine Teacher of Young Children with Disabilities–Birth to School–Age Five or to a master’s degree. Both options emphasize an interdisciplinary, family-centered, developmentally, and individually appropriate and inclusive perspective.
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Maine Commission for Community Service Collaboration
This project promotes the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in national and community service.
Maine EPSCoR: Increasing Access and Success in the STEM Disciplines
By law, all students, including students with disabilities, should have equal access to and benefit from postsecondary education. Unfortunately, students with disabilities are accessing postsecondary education, especially in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas, at a rate far below that of other students. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, in collaboration with Maine EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), will develop and evaluate a model for supporting the transition of Maine students with disabilities into STEM-related postsecondary educational opportunities within the University of Maine System (UMS).
Maine’s Expanding Inclusive Opportunities Initiative for Children, Families and Communities
Maine’s Expanding Inclusive Opportunities Initiative for Children, Families and Communities is part of a federally funded initiative designed to build on existing state efforts to improve inclusive opportunities for young children with disabilities and their families. Maine’s cross-agency state leadership team includes representatives from the Maine Department of Education – Child Development Services, the Maine Department of Health and Human Resources, the the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. The focus of the work is state team/systems level collaborative planning to support current and future efforts to expand inclusion for young children in the state. Technical assistance support is provided by the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC).
National Collaborative on Disability, Religion, and Inclusive Spiritual Supports
For many people with disabilities and their families, faith communities can be a powerful source of natural community support and connection, as well as a doorway to other important outcomes in the areas of relationships, work, community living, recreation, and service. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) is one of ten University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) that will serve as collaborating partners on a new initiative, the National Collaborative on Disability, Religion, and Inclusive Spiritual Supports.
New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program Partnership
The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies has joined the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Institute on Disability, and Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth as a partner in the New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NH-LEND) Program. The NH-LEND Program provides graduate level interdisciplinary training for students and professionals from diverse disciplines, including developmental pediatrics, early childhood education, social work, psychology, occupational therapy, health management and policy, and speech language pathology. Through the use of eLearning and videoconferencing technology at UNH, University of Maine trainees participate remotely in the weekly NH-LEND seminar. Ultimately, this new partnership will reach an area not currently served by a LEND training program, develop infrastructure, and address regional needs, particularly in rural underserved regions of Maine.
Prevention Center of Excellence
The Prevention Center of Excellence will identify communities in Maine that are underserved by existing substance abuse prevention programs and will provide the information necessary to craft prevention strategies relevant to these communities.
Students with Disabilities as Diverse Learners (SDDL)
Institutions of higher education are becoming increasingly diverse and more students with disabilities are pursuing postsecondary education. This increase in diversity may require new teaching pedagogy and instructional strategies. Students with Disabilities as Diverse Learners (SDDL) is a federally funded project administered by the University of Hawai‘i Center on Disability Studies. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies is participating in a replication study of this postsecondary professional development training, with the goal of improving student retention and matriculation rates of all students, including students with disabilities and other diverse learners.
Sustainable Implementation of Family-Centered Transition Planning for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders
The University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability and the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies are collaborating on this NIDRR-funded project to develop a sustainable process for implementing a Family-Centered Transition Planning model for youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorders. Based on research demonstrating the effectiveness of Family-Centered Transition Planning in increasing student and parent expectations for adult life, student career decision-making, and student participation in employment and postsecondary education, this project develops an implementation package to embed this method of independent transition planning into the existing service and funding system on a long-term basis across multiple states.
