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.

Roberta E. Sick, M.Ed., C.R.C., L.P.C. sickrobertae@uams.edu

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 development in 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.

Brenda Reynolds, B.A.  reynoldsbrendak@uams.edu