Community Services, Training and Technical Assistance
Collaborative partnerships are developed with local and
state organizations to assist people with disabilities to become fully included
in their communities. Partners provides community-based training and technical
assistance on topics such as:
Improving communication between parents and health
care providers
Supporting children in child care settings
Preventing violence and sexual abuse
Preventing and treating substance abuse
Accessibility and assistive devices
Federal regulations (i.e. IDEA, ADA)
Age-related disabilities
Stress and memory
Person-centered planning
Specific disabilities and health issues (i.e. autism,
traumatic brain injury, sickle cell disease, breast cancer)
Cultural diversity
Second language acquisition
Developing healthy lifestyles
Currently funded projects are listed below with links to separate project
websites shown in blue:
ADD Core Grant Provides federal
funding from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities for core activities of
Partners for Inclusive Communities including the Consumer Committee, some
administrative costs and operating funds for the infrastructure of the program. David Deere, M.S.W., M.Th.
deereglend@uams.edu
Arkansas ADA Roundtable
Partners participates with numerous organizations and
individuals to promote voluntary compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act through the provision of training, technical assistance, education and
resource provision. Roberta E. Sick,
M.Ed., C.R.C.
sickrobertae@uams.edu
Arkansas Disability and
Health Program
The Arkansas Disability and Health Program is one of 14 state projects funded by the National Center on
Birth Defects and Disabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) in Atlanta, GA. The goals of this project are to promote good health of
Arkansans with disabilities, to increase access to health care for persons with
disabilities and to identify interventions to reduce or eliminate secondary
conditions. Vanessa Nehus, M.A.
nehusvanessar@uams.edu
Safety and Sexual Violence Prevention Project The overall goal of
this project is to promote efforts that help prevent the critical problem of
rape and sexual assault among people with disabilities. This effort was expanded
to include children from our previous Prevention of Sexual Assault of
Individuals with Disabilities Project. This is done by networking with other
rape prevention programs, through the provision of safety information for
persons with disabilities, families, disability service providers, school
personnel and interested others. Information for people with disabilities is
typically provided through multi-session workshops and includes such topics as:
characteristics of healthy relationships, understanding and developing
boundaries, privacy awareness and recognizing abuse. Project is supported by
funding from the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence. Roberta E. Sick, M.Ed.,
C.R.C., L.P.C.
sickrobertae@uams.edu
Crime Victims with Disabilities Project Partners, in conjunction with collaborators, numerous state agencies, and
nonprofit organizations, has worked to establish a network of education and
technical assistance information to better serve victims of crime.
The goal of
this project is a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to improving the
criminal justice system's response to violent crimes, and addressing the needs
of people with disabilities. This project serves crime victims with disabilities
through a training and co-advocacy initiative. This
project is a subaward through the Arkansas Department of Finance and
Administration’s Victims Justice and Assistance Project with funding from the
Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
Direct Support Professional (DSP) Training Program The DSP Project is federally funded through the Arkansas
Governor's Developmental Disabilities Council. Project Activities will address
workforce issues (including recruitment, training, certification and retention)
as they relate to the provision of direct supports for persons with
developmental disabilities in Arkansas communities. A uniform curriculum for
training Direct Support Professionals (DSP) working in the community has been
developed and is being utilized. The primary focus of the current project is on
editing and finalizing digitally enhanced DVDs to correspond with each module of
the curriculum. The intent is to support community-based agencies in providing
quality training to DSPs in emergency situations (such as staff turn over) until
"live" training is available. Other areas of focus include voluntary
certification, career ladder opportunities, criminal background checks,
wages/benefits, and a professional organization (National Alliance of DSPs). Vanessa Smith,
LMSW
smithvanessal@uams.edu
Developmental Outreach Clinics Assessment clinics held across the state in conjunction
with local professionals and hospitals, AHECs, and the State Departments of
Education, Health, and Human Services. Assessment of children is done in an
"arena" setting. Families are linked to community agencies for intervention. Eldon Schulz, M.D.schulzeldon@uams.edu
MELD (Minnesota
Early Learning Design)
Provides information and support to new parents in Southeast Arkansas by
establishing small long-term teams using a peer self-help approach. Helps
young, primarily African American, parents in the Delta through critical periods
of transition in parenthood. Ruby D. Brown
brownrubyd@uams.edu
Sickle Cell Project
Develops support groups for people with sickle cell disease
who live in the Arkansas Delta. Provides education about sickle cell disease and
technical assistance for group leaders. Ruby D. Brown
brownrubyd@uams.edu
Welcome the Children Provides training to childcare providers and early
childhood educators to better serve children whose primary language is Spanish.
Two 7-hour training modules
– (1) Cultural Diversity and (2) Working
with Latin American Families and
Second Language Development and Working with Families - comprise the
core training. Condensed versions (3 hours each) of the two core modules are
available as well as several specialized training sessions relating to cultural
competency and oral language developmentin early childhood settings. The Welcome the Children project
also hosts an annual professional conference, Celebrating Cultural Harmony, which
includes presentations on a wide range of topics related to various ethnic and cultural
communities, families who have immigrated to Arkansas, people with disabilities,
migrant and seasonal workers,
families who are homeless or economically disadvantaged, and other marginalized
communities. Visit
www.uams.edu/welcomethechildren to view a list of available training
sessions and information on the conference.