A leadership program in the ILR School for individuals with developmental disabilities will continue its training and advocacy network through 2019, with funding from the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

The ILR Employment and Disability Institute’s New York State Partners in Policymaking program will receive $250,000 annually for the next five years. The money will fund a Web-based model of leadership training for people with disabilities, along with family members.

Improved leadership and advocacy skills enable participants to rally for the education, living and working rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, explained Nancy Hinkley, principal investigator and project director for the New York Partners project.

“The advantage of this unique blended-learning experience is that it is inclusive – participants can benefit from the full training experience, even if they are physically unable to travel or have other factors in their lives that prohibit travel,” said Hinkley, an extension associate at ILR.

The program strives to graduate at least 70 people from diverse backgrounds every year, she said. Graduates include advocates from almost all of New York’s 62 counties.

The original model for the Partners in Policymaking program was launched in 1987 by the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. It was offered in New York state as a face-to-face training program through 2009, overseen by The Advocacy Center of Rochester.

In 2010, a pilot program was created by Thomas Golden, assistant director of the Employment and Disability Institute, to expand the program’s reach and reduce costs per individual through online training.

Retaining The Advocacy Center as a content facilitator, the program’s new version benefited from Cornell’s disability policy, program administration, evaluation and technological leadership, Hinkley said. The five-year pilot grant ended in December.

The pilot demonstrated that persons with developmental disabilities could complete and benefit from such an online program, Hinkley said. The 2011-2013 graduates included 31 self-advocates with disabilities and 36 individuals from racial or ethnic minorities.

Advocacy and leadership activities of 2011-13 graduates include:

• serving on advocacy groups, task forces, advisory councils, city councils;
• organizing and participating in meetings with policymakers;
• election to the Citywide Council on Special Education in New York City;
• developing workshops for families and siblings; and
• working with existing youth organizations to improve inclusion practices.

More information about the Partners in Policymaking program can be found at nyspip.org, at www.facebook.com/nyspips and on Twitter @NYSPartners. The program is accepting applications for its second 2015 cohort class, which begins in August.

Rachel Hinkley is an intern in the ILR Communications and Marketing Department.