Two women seated next to each other, looking at a computer screen. The woman on the left has short brown hair, glasses and a pink sweater. The woman on the right has Down syndrome, long brown hair and is wearing a yellow denim jacket.

Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Receives a $3.1 Million Five-Year Grant from Administration for Community Living

September 26, 2023 CCIDS News

The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) has been awarded a total of $3,155,366 in administrative core funding for the five-year grant period 2023–2028 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living. FY2024 represents CCIDS’ 32nd year of continuous federal competitive core funding as Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD).

As Maine’s UCEDD, the center is part of a national network ​of university-based centers that are federally designated under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000. There are currently 67 UCEDDs; at least one in every U.S. state and territory.

CCIDS is a partnership of people that brings together the resources of the community and the university to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. To achieve this mission, the center offers interdisciplinary pre-service preparation and continuing education of students; provides training, technical assistance, and consultation to the community; conducts research, including evaluation and policy analysis; and creates and communicates accessible and culturally competent information relevant to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

The center’s five areas of emphasis for the 2023–2028 grant period are education/early intervention, health, child care (informed by social emotional and trauma-informed approaches), employment and quality assurance.

Four facts about people with disabilities in Maine:

  • Rate of Disability — Among people in Maine under age 65, 11.6 percent have a disability — a rate of 1.3 times the national average of 8.7 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).
  • Students with Disabilities — In Maine, 13 percent of students age 6–21 are identified as a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), versus 9.5 percent nationwide (US Department of Education, 2022).
  • Poverty Rate — Among people age 16–64 with a disability, Maine’s poverty rate of 32.8 percent is about one-quarter higher than the national average of 26.0 percent. Among people age 16–64 with a cognitive disability, Maine’s poverty rate of 42.0 percent is one-third higher than the national average of 30.8 percent. (Winsor et al., 2021).
  • Employment — In Maine, people age 16–64 with any disability have an employment rate of 34 percent versus 37 percent nationwide. The gap is even wider for people in Maine age 16–64 with a cognitive disability, whose employment rate is 27 percent versus 28 percent nationwide (Winsor, 2021).

Photo credit: Cliff Booth (pexels.com)