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Do you teach 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade? Help your students develop career awareness with Future Quest Island-Explorations

Do you teach 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade? Help your students develop career awareness with Future Quest Island-Explorations

August 4th, 2021

Your students are learning and growing in an ever-changing world. Join the Institute for Community Inclusion’s (ICI) research program for elementary school teachers to help your students develop career awareness, self-concept, and social-emotional…

30 years of Community Inclusion for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Opportunities, Strengths, & Challenges

30 years of Community Inclusion for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Opportunities, Strengths, & Challenges

July 22nd, 2021

How have advocacy efforts and policy changes in the last 30 years impacted people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in our communities? “People with disabilities deserve to live in the community without being segregated. When we are…

The latest ThinkWork StateData Blue Book is here! What’s happening in your state?

The latest ThinkWork StateData Blue Book is here! What’s happening in your state?

July 22nd, 2021

What does the data say about employment and economic self-sufficiency for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in your state? Since 1988, the ICI has collected data from state intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD…

ICI partners on two US Department of Labor awards to expand inclusive apprenticeship opportunities

ICI partners on two US Department of Labor awards to expand inclusive apprenticeship opportunities

July 20th, 2021

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) will partner with Jobs for the Future and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to modernize and diversify registered apprenticeship programs. Both organizations received…

Professors share perspectives on inclusive college learning experiences for students with intellectual disability

Professors share perspectives on inclusive college learning experiences for students with intellectual disability

July 20th, 2021

How can instructors provide inclusive college learning experiences to all students? As more students with intellectual disability (ID) enroll in college, instructors are learning about how to create inclusive classroom experiences. Researchers…

Help Us Pilot a Scale of Community Life Engagement

Help Us Pilot a Scale of Community Life Engagement

June 22nd, 2021

Does your organization provide day services and supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities? We need your help testing our new Guidepost Fidelity Scale (GFS)! Our aim with the GFS is to help service providers better understand…

Juneteenth: A Brief History of the Freedom Celebration

Juneteenth: A Brief History of the Freedom Celebration

June 15th, 2021

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth commemorates the day that enslaved people in Texas learned that slavery was outlawed. On June 19, 1865, the Union Army general, Gordon Granger, announced General Order №3 in Galveston, Texas which proclaimed freedom…

Congratulations to Boston Children’s Hospital and Dr. Jason Fogler, the new LEND program Training Director

Congratulations to Boston Children’s Hospital and Dr. Jason Fogler, the new LEND program Training Director

June 11th, 2021

Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Director, David Helm, PhD, is proud to announce the LEND program at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at Boston Children’s Hospital has just received a new 5-year…

Join the ICI this Month at #APSE2021

Join the ICI this Month at #APSE2021

June 8th, 2021

Numerous ICI staffers are scheduled to present during the 2021 APSE Virtual Conference. The conference, titled “Lighting the Path Forward for Employment First,” will run from June 14–18. Monday, June 14: Sheila Fesko and Karen Flippo will present…

Meet the Players: Bios for Upcoming Webinar on Employment

Meet the Players: Bios for Upcoming Webinar on Employment

February 4th, 2021

The ICI is pleased to offer the U.S. — Japan Business Leadership Institute on Youth Disability Employment Webinar Series! The first webinar, How Do We Access Employment? Japanese and American College Students and Young Professionals with Disabilities…

Apply today for State Technical Assistance for Alternatives to Guardianship for Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Apply today for State Technical Assistance for Alternatives to Guardianship for Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

January 28th, 2021

The Center for Youth Voice/Youth Choice (CYVYC) National Resource Center at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) announces an opportunity for states to apply to participate in a Community of Practice on Alternatives to Guardianship for Youth…

ICI’s College of Employment Services and Supplement Curriculum Recertified by the Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE)

ICI’s College of Employment Services and Supplement Curriculum Recertified by the Association of Community Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE)

January 28th, 2021

The College of Employment Services (CES), on-line curriculum and instructor led supplement was one again approved for certification by the Association of Rehabilitation Educators (ACRE). The College of Employment Services is developed by the staff at…

The U.S. — Japan Business Leadership Institute on Youth Disability Employment — Webinar Series

The U.S. — Japan Business Leadership Institute on Youth Disability Employment — Webinar Series

January 13th, 2021

This year, the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston (ICI) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) will present a 5-part webinar series featuring U.S.–Japan panels with business leaders, educators…

New DataNote Examines Pre-Employment Transition Services

New DataNote Examines Pre-Employment Transition Services

December 22nd, 2020

This DataNote looks at how many students with intellectual disabilities who applied for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services received pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) and their employment outcomes. Of the 45,110 people with…

Testing Promising VR Innovations: Special Journal Issue Explores the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) Project Demonstration

Testing Promising VR Innovations: Special Journal Issue Explores the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) Project Demonstration

December 22nd, 2020

A special issue of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation highlights the innovative work of researchers at the ICI and Mathematica Policy Institute on the Substantial Gainful Activity Project (SGA Project). The SGA Project, which is funded by the…

ICI Staffer Named October 2020 Innovation Award Winner

ICI Staffer Named October 2020 Innovation Award Winner

November 14th, 2020

Congratulations to ICI’s Allison Cohen Hall! Allison was named the October 2020 Innovation Award Winner by Charting the LifeCourse Nexus located at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Allison accepted this award on behalf of the research team…

Dr. Amy Szarkowski (MA LEND/UMass Boston UCEDD) leads publication in Pediatrics on Pragmatics in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Dr. Amy Szarkowski (MA LEND/UMass Boston UCEDD) leads publication in Pediatrics on Pragmatics in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

November 13th, 2020

Much attention is given to language development in children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Yet the social use of language can remain challenging, even amongst DHH children who are developing solid language skills (whether through sign…

New Resources Promoting College-Based Transition Services

New Resources Promoting College-Based Transition Services

November 13th, 2020

In collaboration with MAICEI partners, as well as some out-of-state special education administrators doing similar work, Maria Paiewonsky and Ty Hanson have worked to create three new briefs, three new student snapshots, and a new student profile…

Think College Receives $10M Grant on Inclusive Higher Education

Think College Receives $10M Grant on Inclusive Higher Education

November 13th, 2020

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education has awarded ICI’s Think College a five-year, $10 million cooperative agreement through the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities to serve…

New Grant about Guardianship Alternatives

New Grant about Guardianship Alternatives

November 12th, 2020

The Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston has been awarded a 5-year $1.49 million-dollar grant from the Administration for Community Living. The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC) will work to increase…