Volume 15 Number 3 • 2002

The Peer Approach to IL Technical Assistance

by Linda Gonzales, Executive Director Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL)

Independent living was founded on and continues to thrive on the key concept of learning from one’s peers. People with disabilities know best what works and does not work for them. When a person has gone through the process—whether it is working through bureaucratic systems, coming to terms with new limitations, or adjusting to family and community—their experience of having “been there” has intrinsic value.

We believe that “experience is the best teacher” when it comes to operating a Center for Independent Living (CIL) as well. While peer support has long been a cornerstone of the core services of Centers for Independent Living, it has only recently been adopted as an approach to providing training and technical assistance to CIL staff and boards. For the past two years, the Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative (RILLMI), sponsored by with the University of Montana’s Rural Institute and the Association of Programs for Independent Living (APRIL), has included the peer model for both short-term and more intensive peer mentoring of CILs. Now the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) and the National Counsel on Independent Living (NCIL), through their IL Net, are joining forces with us to significantly expand the peer-to-peer mentoring program. Starting this fall (2002), we’ll be offering up to eight peer-to-peer mentoring match-ups in addition to our two intensive mentoring sites.

The peer-to-peer mentoring program is a win-win situation for all concerned:

• There is no cost to the CIL being mentored.
• Onsite peer mentoring, along with support and assistance by phone and email, offers the CIL being mentored the opportunity to build constructive, yet personal relationships with their peer mentor.
• The CIL being mentored will have an array of up to three potential rural peer mentors from which to choose.
• Rural peer mentors will have travel expenses covered for at least one site visit.
• Rural peer mentors are paid for their work.
• Rural peer mentors will provide basic follow-up contact and reports to the RILLMI Project for evaluation and quality assurance purposes.
• CILs receiving the technical assistance will be asked to complete a brief evaluation of the services they received.
• The pool of rural peer mentors will include a variety of expertise, skills, ethnicity, and geographic dispersion.

Could Your CIL Use the Services of a Peer Mentor?

Our intention is to work with small CILs, or satellites in remote communities that do not typically have access to the resources for training that more urban areas have. To qualify for this competition, a CIL or satellite must be located in a small community, but if the need is there, please don’t hesitate to apply. Applications will be mailed out and made available on list serves in early fall. Your center doesn’t have to be on the skids, or on the verge of shutting its doors. Your’s might be a new CIL struggling to get started or an established CIL experiencing growing pains. It might be experiencing difficulties in areas such as outreach, fund development, board recruitment, core services development, advocacy, or community development.

Other areas that you might need the help of a peer mentor might be:

• board training,
• diversity issues,
• program expansion,
• legal issues,
• staff management issues,
• underserved populations,
• transportation,
• fee-for-services,
• accessibility,
• internet services,
• for-profit services,
• board/staff issues,
• financial management,
• policies and procedures.

We’re developing a pool of peer mentors that we believe have the experience, skills, expertise, and peer perspective to help you address your concerns. For more information about RILLMI and the peer-to-peer mentoring program, call for Cary Griffin, cgriffin@selway.umt.edu, orMike Flaherty, mcf@ruralinstitute.umt.edu, at the Rural Institute, (877) 243-2476 toll free.

Entrepreneurship, Self-Employment, & Disabilities
A 30-minute video on self-employment and people with disabilities, featuring six small business owners with a variety of disabilities who worked with the Rural Institute and the Montana Job Training Partnership to fulfill their dreams and create their own businesses. Narrated by Cary Griffin, Director of Special Projects at the Rural Institute

To order contact:
Program Development Associates
P. O. Box 2038
Syracuse, NY 13220
(800) 543-2119 Phone (315) 452-0710 Fax