WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) today announced that the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (IOD) has been awarded a five-year $2.7 million federal grant to continue its leadership improving knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of people with disabilities and their families.
“The UNH Institute on Disability is nationally renowned for its leadership, and I’m thrilled that this grant will help them continue to support and empower people with disabilities here in New Hampshire and across the nation,” said Shea-Porter.
“We feel extraordinarily fortunate to be able to engage in this important work that will impact thousands of individuals across the state,” said IOD Acting Director Linda Bimbo. “This grant helps to build upon the IOD’s 30-year history of promoting full access, equal opportunities, and participation for people with disabilities.”
The grant, from the federal Administration for Community Living’s Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD), will enable the IOD and its partners to engage in a series of academic and community-oriented initiatives that will support the independence, productivity, and satisfying quality of life for individuals with disabilities across the state over the next five years. In addition to training future health and human service professionals at the University on disability-related skills that represent best practice, the IOD will offer community-based training for professionals, families, and self-advocates. Additionally, the IOD will conduct research that will inform disability-related policies and practices.
The IOD is New Hampshire’s only member institution in the national University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) consortium. Since 1963, UCEDDs have worked towards a shared vision that foresees a nation in which all Americans, including Americans with disabilities, participate fully in their communities. Key components of this vision include independence, productivity, and community inclusion. For more information, visit www.iod.unh.edu.
