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Year Awarded: 2007
Project Leaders:
Pennie Foster-Fishman, Psychology; Timothy Tansey, Counseling and Educational Psychology and Special Education; Chandra Donnell, Counseling and Educational Psychology and Special Education; Carolyn Lejuste, Michigan Disabilities Rights Coalition; Valerie Barnum-Yarger, Michigan State Independent Living Council.
Project Description:
This project is designed to develop new leaders for the disabilities movement in Michigan. Persons with disabilities will be paired with existing leaders in their community and these teams will engage in multiple developmental and action learning experiences. This project incorporates evidence-based training from the literature and recommendations from collaborators in the disabilities community. Further, the proposed project addresses gaps in current leadership approaches by emphasizing the interdependence between leaders and their communities and addresses a critical need for disability leadership in Michigan. Leadership teams will receive education regarding the civil rights movement for persons with disabilities, mentoring strategies, communication skills, and information on how to become an agent of change within their local community. Teams will then design and implement an action-learning project that helps them build their community's readiness for social change. The development of trainees' participatory competencies, the form and function of the working alliance between team members, and the impact on community readiness to change will be assessed. Overall, this project will connect future leaders, their mentors, and communities and foster the development of local networks geared toward social change.
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