Tag Archives: Rural Self-Employment

RTC:Rural shares tribal VR self-employment toolkit in New Orleans

A mural painted on the side of a building. See caption for full text description.
A colorful mural painted on the side of a building in New Orleans. The mural says, “Greetings from NOLA.” The letters are filled with images of New Orleans culture including: people playing music, a Mardi Gras mask, a church, the city skyline, a crayfish boil, the Superdome and the fleur-de-lis logo of the New Orleans Saints football team.

At the beginning of December, RTC:Rural was in sunny New Orleans, Louisiana for the Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation (CANAR) 2019 Annual Conference. RTC:Rural researchers Dr. Catherine Ipsen, Andrew Myers, and Lauren Smith met with advisor partners and presented on the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Self-Employment Toolkit.

“Attending CANAR meetings allows us to meet face to face with our advisors and reach a broader audience of tribal stakeholders,” said Ipsen. “Together, we are developing a resource that is appropriate across tribal vocational rehabilitation programs.”

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Using IPCD to create a tribal translation of the VR Self-Employment Guide

Screenshot of the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Self-Employment Toolkit homepage
Screenshot of the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Self-Employment Toolkit home page.

Last week, RTC:Rural was in Connecticut for the Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation (CANAR) 2019 mid-year conference held in Mashantucket, CT. RTC:Rural Director Dr. Catherine Ipsen, Research Associate Dr. Meredith Repke, and Knowledge Translation Associate Lauren Smith met with advisor partners and presented the progress to date on the Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Self-Employment Toolkit.

CANAR meetings bring together representatives from tribal VR programs across the country two times each year. “The meetings provide an important opportunity to share our work and gather additional stakeholder input about efforts to translate our self-employment materials for tribal VR programs,” said Ipsen.  

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RTC:Rural director shares rural employment research for Project E3 webinar

Screenshot of first slide in Ipsen's presentation. Project E3: Educate, Empower, and Employ. Strategies for Effective Rural VR Service Delivery.

On February 28, 2019, RTC:Rural director Dr. Catherine Ipsen presented a webinar for Project E3: Educate, Empower, and Employ, the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Technical Assistance Center for Targeted Communities. Project E3 works with state VR agencies and partners across the U.S. to help people with disabilities from underserved communities achieve their independent living and employment goals.  

Ipsen’s webinar was titled “Strategies for Effective Rural VR Service Delivery.” More information, including the webinar slides, can be found on the Project E3 website. The archived webcast will be available soon.

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RTC:Rural Director to present on importance of administrative data to rural research

Dr. Catherine Ipsen headshot

Dr. Catherine Ipsen, RTC:Rural  Director and Director of Employment Research

On February 22, 2019, RTC:Rural Director Dr. Catherine Ipsen will travel to Washington D.C. to present as part of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)’s Administrative Data and Employment Research Review. Dr. Ipsen will be giving a presentation on Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) data, titled “Using RSA-911 Data to Frame and Inform Rural Research.” RSA-911 is the national data collection system used by the RSA to monitor vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs and identify successful practices.

Dr. Ipsen was invited to share how RTC:Rural has and continues to use federal data, including RSA-911 data, to inform research direction, identify gaps in knowledge, and to create solutions that are relevant to people with disabilities in rural communities. Continue reading →