FYI - Project Information

About the Project

An exciting project called Community Connections is underway at the University of Maryland in College Park. The goal of this project is to support the participation of young children with special needs in community settings.

Project Description

Key activities of the project included:

Community Task Force	Information and awareness
Networking and support	Training and technical assistance

Project Goal #1: Task Force

Create a task force of community leaders and families.

Representatives from local scout troops, libraries, religious organizations, daycare centers, recreation programs, family support organizations, and schools will come together for networking and collaborating sessions with parents of children with disabilities. These sessions will help raise awareness of issues that may affect children with disabilities in community settings.

Project Goal #2: Awareness

Develop, implement, and coordinate information and awareness activities.

The major activities include:

Community Awareness Plan -- includes the development of articles for local newsletters, journals, and newspapers discussing the importance of including young children with disabilities, potential resources within the region, and other relevant information.

Community Connections Website -- contains information for families and community providers. This web site will disseminate information about activities and events in the community, training and technical assistance opportunities, and resources to support inclusion.

Community Resource Guide -- provides information to be used by parents, providers, service coordinators, and others wishing to include individual children in community settings.

Project Goal #3: Networking

Provide opportunities for networking and support.

This project emphasizes building networks and developing linkages both for community participants and for families.

Community Forums -- features brief presentations by families and/or community members who have particularly innovative practices that promote community participation.

Community Connections Newsletter -- includes "stories" of successful experiences in the community, "how to" ideas, descriptions of resources available to groups who wish to include young children with disabilities, and other information.

Family-To-Family Support -- provides networking sessions for parents to share their own experiences, preferences and plans for including their child in the community.

Project Goal #4 - Training

To ensure that community participation becomes an option for all families, the Community Connections project will continue to:

Identify and coordinate existing training resources
Develop a series of training modules
Provide training and technical assistance using the "train-the- trainer" approach