Senator Collins with NH-ME Lend
NH-ME LEND trainees meeting with Sen Susan Collins. L-R: Social work trainee Alyssa Limeburner, speech-language pathology trainee Abigail Morrow, early childhood trainee Sarah Peters, Sen Collins, CCIDS director and NH-ME LEND co-director Alan Cobo-Lewis, seminar lead and LEND faculty Marnie Morneault, self-advocacy trainee Ivy Foster. Photo credit: Office of Sen Susan Collins.

LEND trainees and two LEND instructors met with Maine’s congressional delegation on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC

April 25, 2025 CCIDS News

On April 9, as part of their capstone project for NH-ME LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities), LEND trainees and two LEND instructors met with Maine’s congressional delegation on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to present the trainees’ policy brief on Medicaid-funded Home and Community Based Services that support people with disabilities and to discuss related issues facing the disability community. Writing and presenting the brief is the culmination of a 300-hour two-semester training experience for professionals, students, people with disabilities, and family members funded by a grant from US HHS Maternal and Child Health Bureau and authorized by the federal Autism CARES Act. NH-ME LEND is a collaboration among University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability, Dartmouth-Geisel School of Medicine, and UMaine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS).