The Rural Institute Training Department and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) recently received funding from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) for a joint Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative (RILLMI), a five-year project that provides training and technical assistance to rural independent living centers. The Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative addresses the need for rural Center for Independent Living (CIL) capacity-building. One aspect of the project involves selecting two sites annually to receive on-site leadership and management training and consultation.

The project's intent is to serve small CILs in remote communities that do not typically benefit from training and resources available in urban areas. To qualify as one of the project sites, a CIL must be located in a small community no closer than a one-hour drive to a city of 40,000 or more population. Although each site will have its own specific implementation design, a minimum of four three-day visits will occur over the year. The on-site training will follow a six-tier development process.

The efficient and effective operation of CILs is a complex undertaking. The emphasis on consumer power and control, a need for cultural diversity, the necessity for strong governance, shrinking state and local resources, the challenges of managed care and various government/taxpayer initiatives, and rising direct service personnel turnover rates make management more and more difficult. Add to this situation the fact that many CIL leaders have little opportunity for consistent, sequenced management training that teaches capacity-building and resource leveraging, and the need for this mentoring project becomes evident.

This project uses Cary Griffin's book Working Better, Working Smarter as the core curriculum. The book is available at www.trninc.com.