Category Archives: News

New fact sheet on distribution of FTA funding in rural America

First page of America at a glance: 5310 & 5311 transportation funding in rural counties fact sheet.

RTC:Rural researchers recently published a factsheet examining how and where Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding is distributed across rural America. America at a glance: 5310 & 5311 Transportation Funding in Rural Counties is available to download in multiple formats on ScholarWorks.

The two types of funding discussed in this analysis are the FTA’s Elderly and Persons with Disabilities program (§5310) and the Formula Grants for Rural Areas program (§5311). A total of 921 rural counties receive 49% of available 5311 funding and 5% of available 5310 funding, while 1,292 receive neither source of FTA funding.

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CILs learn from each other and adapt to COVID

We recently spoke to Luke Koppisch, the Deputy Director from the Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) of New Jersey, about his experiences networking with other Centers for Independent Living (CILs) through one of our programs – Healthy Community Living (HCL) – and transitioning workshops and other services online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy Community Living logo - orange circles grey people

Workshop facilitators from selected CILs met weekly for several years discussing resources, ideas, and successes facilitating the HCL workshops – Community Living Skills and Living Well in the Community. Luke shared that these weekly meetings were a key part of his center running successful groups.

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RTC:Rural researchers publish new paper on trust of information and COVID-19 preventative practices among people with disabilities

first page of the paper.

RTC:Rural researchers recently published a study examining trust in information sources and compliance with COVID-19 public health recommendations among people with disabilities who live in rural and urban locations. “A cross-sectional analysis of trust of information and COVID-19 preventative practices among people with disabilities” was published in Disability and Health Journal, and is currently available online. The research was carried out by RTC:Rural Director Catherine Ipsen and Project Directors Andrew Myers and Rayna Sage

The purpose of the study was to better understand the relationship between how much someone trusts an information source and how likely they are to adhere to COVID-19 preventative practices. Specifically, the researchers wanted to see how disability type, demographics, and geography might be related to trust and adherence to preventative practices.

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Save the date for the Release of the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

StatsRRTC logo. Image of the US comprised of a bar graph. Text at the bottom says University of New Hampshire

Virtual Release of the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

When: February 9 – 12, 2021
12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. EST each day

Where: Register now via this link: Webinar Registration  

This annual event shares the research and ongoing work of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC), which is part of the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.

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Working Well with a Disability workshop added to Healthy Community Living

We are pleased to announce that Working Well with a Disability has been added to the Healthy Community Living (HCL) program! Both the consumer workshop and the facilitator training are now part of HCL.

What is Working Well with a Disability?

Working Well with a Disability logo

Working Well with a Disability is a seven-week workshop within the HCL program for people who want to develop a healthy lifestyle to help get and keep a job that meets their needs.
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Rural PAS project looking for people to interview in AZ and WI

Are you a rural person with a disability who receives personal assistance services in your home?

We want to hear your story!

 

Outline of WI filled with pictures of people with disabilities feeding cows, shoveling snow, and of rocks/moss and a lake with a city skyline.Outline of AZ filled with pictures of people with disabilities, cactus in small pots, and sand.We are currently conducting a study on rural personal assistance services, and are looking for people in Arizona and Wisconsin to be interviewed over the phone or via video chat.

We want to learn about:

  • your disability
  • the types of personal assistance services you receive
  • what your workers are like
  • how you train them
  • about your general community and health experiences

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Healthy Community Living Program Adapts to the World of Online Service Delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused interruptions and barriers to service delivery for people with disabilities around the country.  When Centers for Independent Living (CILs) offices closed, it affected their ability to offer their usual in-person services, including skills-based trainings and classes.

Healthy Community Living logo - orange circles grey people

Staff from RTC:Rural learned first-hand how the pandemic was affecting CILs’ delivery of such classes. Healthy Community Living (HCL), a health promotion and independent living skills program developed by RTC:Rural staff and disability stakeholders, was designed for in-person delivery. With several partnering CILs actively conducting in-person HCL workshops with consumers when the pandemic hit, it triggered a need for discussions, collaboration, and problem solving to adapt the program’s delivery under vastly new conditions.

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Rural Community Living Development CIL Partners Share Thoughts on Ongoing Project and Peer-Mentoring Curriculum

The Rural Community Living Development (RCLD) project is a knowledge translation grant funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). RTC:Rural staff have partnered with the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) to develop and implement a peer-mentoring training with and for Centers for Independent Living (CILs) that will prepare CIL staff to work on community development activities in rural areas. This training will help CIL staff to identify community needs and develop sustainable groups to solve community challenges. The project’s aim is to help CILs across the country connect with community partners to better serve people in rural communities.

Rural Community Living Development

In October 2020, RTC:Rural Project Director Rayna Sage presented on RCLD progress-to-date to attendees of the 2020 APRIL Conference as part of a talk on “Strategies for Rural Outreach and Networking,” where she explained how the project shifted due to the current pandemic.

“We planned on being in a community, actually in a number of communities, to use community development strategies like coalition building and partnering with diverse groups to address issues around community living for people with disabilities – but COVID – so we shifted gears,” Sage said. “So we shifted gears to bring together a team, a development team, from across the U.S. to build this Peer-to-Peer Mentoring curriculum.”

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Upcoming Advocacy and Improv discussion shares RTC:Rural toolkit

allprov in black letters over a purple circle with a lime green outline.

Interested in learning more about helping people with disabilities build advocacy skills? Join a discussion hosted by AllProv, Inc., on Saturday December 12 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. MST. For more information and to sign up for the event, see: Improv and Advocacy Discussion.

RTC:Rural’s Advocacy Skill Building Toolkit will be shared as a resource during this discussion. 

Where: Online (Zoom)

When: Saturday, December 12, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. MST

Register here: Improv and Advocacy Discussion

This event is free and open to all.

To learn more we emailed with Erin Rafaels, the Board President of AllProv, Inc., the non-profit organization hosting this discussion. 

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RTC:Rural paper on health status and disability receives NARRTC Best Paper Award

RTC:Rural researchers Andrew Myers, Bryce Ward, and Craig Ravesloot, along with former RTC:Rural researcher Jennifer Wong, were awarded the 2020 NARRTC Best Paper Award for their Social Science & Medicine article “Health status changes with transitory disability over time.”

NARRTC over a blue wavy line

“It is a real honor to be recognized by such an esteemed group of researchers,” said Andrew Myers, RTC:Rural Project Director and lead author on the paper.

NARRTC presents the award annually to showcase the work of National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) grantees. Winners are announced during the awards ceremony at the annual NARRTC conference, which was held online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The winning paper builds upon previous RTC:Rural research by examining how changes in self-reported disability status are related to changes in self-reported health status. (See “RTC:Rural researchers publish paper on health status and transitory disability” for a summary of the paper). It was published in the January 2020 issue of Social Science & Medicine, and was available online in October 2019.

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