Overview of ICI
The Institute was established in 1985 on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. We are a federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD - pronounced U Said), part of a national network of similar programs in major universities and teaching hospitals across the country. The Institute is home to over 70 projects and six Affiliated Centers addressing disability issues across the lifespan. In addition, it carries out its work in close collaboration with two Partner Centers at the University - the Center for Early Education and Development, and the Minnesota LEND. See Projects + Centers for a complete listing.
Mission
Activities
Program Areas
Collaborators
Advisory Councils
Funding
Contact Information
Mission
Through collaborative research, training, and information sharing, the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) improves policies and practices to ensure that all children, youth, and adults with disabilities are valued by, and contribute to, their communities of choice. Rather than providing direct services itself, the Institute works with community service providers, school districts, advocacy and self-advocacy organizations, policymakers, and researchers around the world to provide state-of-the-art information and practices that support the community integration of individuals with disabilities.
Activities
The Institute conducts the following core activities –
Interdisciplinary Preservice Training, providing support in initial career training for paraprofessionals, professionals, and leadership personnel seeking to better serve persons with developmental disabilities and their families.
Interdisciplinary Continuing Education, offering professional and personal development workshops and presentations for educators, community service providers, families, and individuals with disabilities.
Technical Assistance, offering consultation and program evaluation services to enhance the capacity of existing agencies and services.
Research, improving policies and services affecting persons with developmental disabilities and their families through applied research conducted in collaboration with organizations, agencies, colleges and universities around the country.
Dissemination, sharing information generated by Institute projects and collaborators through newsletters, curricula, training materials, resource guides, reports, brochures, journal articles, books, Web sites, videotapes, and other multimedia materials.
Program Areas
Institute projects are organized into Program Areas, also referred to as life stages, reflecting their focus on particular parts of the life span. The program areas are as follows –
Early Childhood Services Program Area projects address the social, emotional, educational, and other developmental needs of young children who have (or are at substantial risk for) developmental disabilities, and their family members.
School-Age Services Program Area projects emphasize activities that enhance the full inclusion and support of children with disabilities in educational and social environments within their schools and communities.
Transition Services Program Area projects work to enable schools and community service agencies to better prepare youth with disabilities for life as productive, responsible adults in the community.
Adult Services and Community Living Program Area projects address needs in leisure/recreation services, social networks, case management, aging, residential services, family supports, quality care, development of quality services, and a wide range of other issues.
Collaborators
The Institute conducts collaborative projects with over 220 community organizations, schools, universities and colleges, service providers, government agencies, advocacy and self advocacy groups, and professional associations. See the latest annual report For a complete list, please download the latest Annual Report, or contact the Institute's Publications Office at 612-624-4512 or icipub@umn.edu.
Advisory Councils
University Advisory Council
The University Advisory Council
serves as an internal advisory board to establish broad policies, evaluate
the impact of the Institute within the University community, ensure
continued University commitment to the Institute's work, and advise
the director.
Community Advisory Council
The Community Advisory Council serves
as an external advisory board to review and recommend broad programmatic
directions, to evaluate the impact of the Institute within the state
and region, to serve as liaison and advocate for the Institute's involvement
in community-based activities, and to advise on critical areas of
need that the Institute should address in future planning efforts. Community
Advisory Council Members include consumers and family members,
providers or directors of collaborating state and local agencies, and
policymakers or senior staff from state agencies that collaborate directly
the with Institute. To learn more about the Community
Advisory Council, please contact Carol Ely at 612-626-3346 or by e-mail at elyxx021@umn.edu.
Funding
The Institute's activities are funded largely through federal, state, and local government agencies and several private sources, with matching funds provided mainly by the University of Minnesota and its College of Education and Human Development. Core funding for the Institute comes from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, US Department of Health and Human Services (Grant #90-DD0506/01). For a complete list of funding agencies and additional budget information, please download the latest Annual Report, or contact the Institute's Publications Office at 612-624-4512 or icipub@umn.edu.
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