The Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University has received $900,000 in
funding from the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability
and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for a new three-year research and
dissemination project. The project will advance the economic self-sufficiency of youth
in transition and working-age adults with disabilities. The funding (grant
H133A090014) is the only award of its kind in the country.
A comprehensive research and practice agenda will explore ways to promote income
production, saving and asset building by individuals with disabilities. New financial
education materials and accessible and affordable financial services will be tested at
selected locations nationwide.
According to BBI Chairman and University Professor Peter Blanck, "exciting
partnerships with financial institutions and local asset-building coalitions for low-
income working families will be made to assist individuals with disabilities to build a
path to a better economic future."
Building on work funded by NIDRR over the past five years, the new project will
allow collaborators to create new knowledge based on best practices that can be
translated to significant use at an individual and systems level.
"BBI has a unique opportunity to provide important leadership to government, the
business community, financial institutions, practitioners and people with disabilities,"
says Michael Morris, BBI chief executive officer and principal investigator of the
project. "This project will change the way we think and what we do to advance
economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities."
Funding will also support continuation of the e-newsletter Equity, published by the
World Institute on Disability. The monthly publication reaches more than 20,000 key
audience stakeholders, including policymakers, lenders and community-based
organization leaders.
Along with co-project investigators Johnette Hartnett and Steven Mendelsohn, BBI
will collaborate with the School of Community Economic Development at Southern
New Hampshire University, the Federation for Community Development Credit
Unions, the World Institute on Disability and the National Disability Institute to
develop a second generation of knowledge to help multiple audiences reach and
support people with disabilities as they move out of poverty and into the economic
mainstream.
For additional information on the asset accumulation project, contact Morris at
mwmorris@law.syr.edu.
BBI fosters public-private dialogue to advance the civic, economic and social
participation of persons with disabilities in a global society. The institute takes its
name from Burton Blatt (1927-85), a pioneer in humanizing services for people with
mental retardation, a staunch advocate of deinstitutionalization and a national leader
in special education. BBI currently has offices in Syracuse, New York City,
Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Tel Aviv. For more information, visit
http://bbi.syr.edu.
