RIC to receive $1.9M from feds for educating intellectually disabled

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION is giving Rhode Island College nearly $2 million over five years to develop an educational program for intellectually disabled adults, according to U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed and RIC President Nancy Carriuolo. / COURTESY U.S. SEN. JACK F. REED, RHODE ISAND COLLEGE
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION is giving Rhode Island College nearly $2 million over five years to develop an educational program for intellectually disabled adults, according to U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed and RIC President Nancy Carriuolo. / COURTESY U.S. SEN. JACK F. REED, RHODE ISAND COLLEGE

PROVIDENCE – U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed and Rhode Island College President Nancy Carriuolo today will announce a new federal grant of up to $1.93 million over five years to expand higher education for Rhode Islanders with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Education is awarding $386,780 to Rhode Island College for the first budget period through a Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities grant, Reed’s office and RIC said in a joint media advisory.

Reed and Carriuolo will join staff at the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities to announce the grant award at 1 p.m. at the college’s center at 600 Mt. Pleasant Ave.

In January 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice found that Rhode Island had violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act through its operation of a day activity service system. That system kept many Rhode Islanders with developmental disabilities in segregated sheltered workshops and adult day programs.

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As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, the state agreed to develop better opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Today, there are approximately 960 Rhode Islanders with intellectual disabilities who are eligible to participate in a “Comprehensive Transition Program,” yet no colleges or universities in the state offer such a program.

Rhode Island College, in collaboration with the Sherlock Center and the RIC Disability Services Center, will work with project partners at several state agencies to refine and expand the existing programs at RIC to meet the U.S. Department of Education’s approval, Reed and Carriuolo said in prepared remarks.

The program will help up to 60 adolescents and young adults obtain a “Certificate of Community Studies” at RIC and increase participants’ knowledge, interest and competence in academics, independent living and other areas, they said.

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