|
Training for CILs
Past Perspectives & Future Directions
By Linda Gonzales,Executive Director,
Association of Programs in Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
During the past couple of years, many Centers
for Independent Living (CILs) have experienced budget cuts. Some
Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) have been written
out of state budgets. Medicaid programs have been slashed. Whether
these will be permanent reductions or temporary set backs, is yet
to be seen. One thing is clear—at a time when state budgets
are being balanced on the backs of programs and people that can
least afford it, CILs and SILCs everywhere are tightening their
financial belts and looking for the best way to spend the resources
they still have available.
One resource that has grown significantly over the past several
years is the availability of training and technical assistance.
From conferences and workshops, to internet classrooms, to one-on-one
assistance, the independent living community abounds with training
and technical assistance events and opportunities. This is a
good time to look at the field of IL training, where we are,
where we’ve been, and where we are going.
In the Beginning …
Being a twenty-plus year veteran of the IL movement, I recall
the early days when there were very few training options specifically
for CILs. There was the occasional IL management simulation training
offered in some distant city, some best practices competitions
that opened eyes to other ways of getting things done, and of
course the annual regional or national conference that helped
remind us of the big picture and of the need to take the dreams
back home. Other than that, we in the early IL movement had to
make it on our own. That was what it was like in the early 1980s
in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
We had our moments though. I recall a time when our staff sat
outside on a grassy slope on the grounds of the local Audubon
Society on a sparkling spring day. We listened in awe to a man
named Wade Blank (co-founder of ADAPT), and a few members of
ADAPT that had come to Santa Fe to give us an in-service on consumer
advocacy. We had them back a few years later for a demonstration
in Las Cruces. For several years, our CIL sponsored a Disability
Expo on the downtown Plaza. We even hosted the very first Region
VI IL Conference. Lex Frieden sat with us in our conference room
and presented a slide presentation on how to start a rural CIL
in a community known as Crockett, Texas. Those were the glory
days.
Learning the ABCs of the ADA
The 1990s brought a surge of training events related to learning
about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). After working
long and hard to get the landmark piece of civil rights legislation
for people with disabilities passed, the real work had just begun.
Regional Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers
were formed and groups like the Disability Rights Education and
Defense Fund and National Council on Independent Living got involved
in ADA-related education and training for IL staff. Technology
Assistance Centers also sprang up around the country and many
CILs had opportunities to get involved and learned much about
the field of assistive technology.
During this same time, the ten Regional Rehabilitation Continuing
Education Programs (RRCEPs) were functioning, but focused primarily
on the continuing education needs of vocational rehabilitation
personnel. While RRCEPs had a mandate to include independent
living in their training efforts, this happened on a haphazard
basis, at best. Only one Regional RRCEP–Region VI emerged
as an outstanding source for IL training opportunities.
The IL Training Net is Cast
Two decades of positive growth and proof that a little demonstration
program called independent living could (and had) far exceeded
all expectations of success, CILs were finally coming of age.
In the latter part of the 1990s specific funding for independent
living training and technical assistance became a permanent part
of Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act, ushering in the era of
the IL NET. A partnership between the Independent Living Research
Utilization and National Council on Independent Living, the IL
NET is a national training and technical assistance project working
to strengthen the independent living movement by supporting CILs
and SILCs. Activities include workshops, national teleconferences,
technical assistance, online information, training materials,
fact sheets, and other resource materials on operating, managing,
and evaluating centers and SILCs (www.ilru.org).
In recent years, the National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation
Research provided funding for National Technical Assistance Centers
for under-served groups, including Hispanics, African Americans,
Asian Americans, and American Indians. Each one of these TACs
provides training and technical assistance to the rehabilitation
and IL field as a core service. There is even a Research and
Training Center on Full Participation in Independent Living at
the University of Kansas. Other federal agencies like the Department
of Health and Human Services have provided funding to states
on special topic training like implementing the ADA Olmstead
decision and systems changes activities, not to mention large
nonprofit organizations like Easter Seals Project Action or AgrAbility
programs, National Head Injury Foundation, Johnson and Johnson,
to name a few others.
Even large CILs have gotten into training efforts at a national
level. The Western New York Independent Living Project Inc. is
the home of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on
Independent Living Management. They conduct organizational research
to develop resources and offer training programs and technical
assistance to Independent Living Center managers and staff and
State Independent Living Councils across the country. Their purpose
is to assist CILs in providing the highest quality of service
to consumers by improving the effectiveness of Independent Living
Centers. Check out their web site at www.rrtcilm.org for a list
of current offerings.
Technical Assistance with a Rural Flare
No article on independent living training and technical assistance
would be complete without mention of our own Rural Independent
Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative (RILLMI). RILLMI is the
result of joint efforts by The University of Montana Rural Institute
Training/Adult Community Services and Supports Department and
the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
to address the unique circumstances of rural CILs and SILCs.
With small budgets limiting their training choices, many rural
CILs were not able to access the training events offered around
the country. Though more could participate in other forms of
training, the one-on-one contact with trainers was not available.
RILLMI makes use of the mentoring model of leadership and organizational
development. Intensive mentoring at two selected sites each year,
and peer-to-peer mentoring with two additional sites, offers
training and technical assistance tailored to the needs of the
mentored site. Bringing the training to the rural CIL offers
other opportunities as well–a chance for the CIL to interact
with other community organizations as they co-sponsored Community
Training Days. RILLMI Regional Training events, held in larger
cities across the U.S., offer nearby rural CILs access to a day
of mentoring as well.
The IL NET saw value in the peer approach and offered to support
an additional six sites to receive the peer-to-peer service.
Peer Mentors were identified and a Call for Technical Assistance brought forth the requests for the peer mentoring. Peers are
being matched to sites as the program swings into this expanded
mode, and more sites will be solicited for 2004.
In the Future: Personal Trainers
Well, maybe not in the physical exercise sense of personal trainer–but
how can someone to get a handle on all of the training being
offered, when it is being offered, where or how it is to be conducted,
and whether it is it worth the time and money to attend? A
Personal Independent Living Trainer will help the agency personnel whose
role it is to answer the questions above, work with individual
CILs and SILCs to come up with a training and technical assistance
plan, and help find resources to take advantage of available
training.
The Regional Coordinator is the IL NET’s newest approach
to comprehensive yet individualized training needs identification
and planning. Each of the five Regional Coordinator sites has
the responsibility of covering two federal regions of the country.
In the coming months, every CIL and SILC in the country can anticipate
a call from the IL NET Regional Coordinator. Every CIL and SILC
will be given the opportunity to get involved with training as
formally or informally as it might choose.
In conclusion, even though funding may be tight, training resources
abound. As CILs and SILCs move forward into the 21st century,
they have the best chance to be prepared to meet the challenges
that hard fiscal times bring.
Contact Information
Linda Gonzales, Executive Director
Assocation of Programs in Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
5903 Powdermill Road
Kent, OH 44240
(303) 678-7648
(303) 678-7658
april-linda@neo.rr.com
Next Article |
