[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16760-16761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7942]




[[Page 16759]]

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Part VI





Department of Education





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National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Knowledge 
Dissemination and Utilization (D&U) Program; Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 62 / Friday, March 31, 1995 / Notices 
 
[[Page 16760]] 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; 
Knowledge Dissemination and Utilization (D&U) Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed funding priority for fiscal years 1995-1996 
for the Knowledge Dissemination and Utilization Program.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes a funding priority for the Knowledge 
Dissemination and Utilization (D&U) Program under the National 
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for fiscal 
years 1995-1996. The Secretary takes this action to ensure that 
rehabilitation knowledge generated from projects and centers funded by 
NIDRR and others is utilized fully to improve the lives of individuals 
with disabilities and their families.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 1, 1995.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning this proposed priority should be 
addressed to Betty Jo Berland, U.S. Department of Education, 600 
Independence Avenue SW, Switzer Building, Room 3422, Washington, DC 
20202-2601.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Esquith. Telephone: (202) 205-
8801. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD) may call the TDD number at (202) 205-8133.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice contains one proposed priority 
under the D&U program, in the area of community integration for 
individuals with mental retardation.
    Authority for the D&U program of NIDRR is contained in sections 202 
and 204(a) and 204(b)(6) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended 
(29 U.S.C. 760-762). Under this program the Secretary makes awards to 
public and private agencies and organizations, including institutions 
of higher education and Indian tribes or tribal organizations.
    This proposed priority supports the National Education Goal that 
calls for all Americans to possess the knowledge and skills necessary 
to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and 
responsibilities of citizenship.
    Under the regulations for this program (see 34 CFR 355.32), the 
Secretary may establish research priorities by reserving funds to 
support particular research activities.
    The Secretary will announce the final funding priority in a notice 
in the Federal Register. The final priority will be determined by 
responses to this notice, available funds, and other considerations of 
the Department. Funding of particular projects depends on the final 
priority, the availability of funds, and the quality of the 
applications received. The publication of this proposed priority does 
not preclude the Secretary from proposing additional priorities, nor 
does it limit the Secretary to funding only this priority, subject to 
meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.

    Note: This notice of proposed priority does not solicit 
applications. A notice inviting applications under this competition 
will be published in the Federal Register concurrent with or 
following publication of the notice of final priority.

Priority

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) the Secretary proposes to give an 
absolute preference to applications that meet the following priority. 
The Secretary proposes to fund under this program only applications 
that meet this absolute priority:

Proposed Priority: Facilitating Community Integration for Individuals 
with Mental Retardation

Background

    NIDRR has supported Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers in 
the area of mental retardation and developmental disabilities since 
1965. In addition, NIDRR has supported a number of research projects 
targeted on this population in areas such as transition from school to 
work, public policy and expenditures for developmental disabilities in 
the U.S., and successful transitions from nursing homes into the 
community. As a result of such research and training efforts over many 
years, a large body of knowledge now exists relative to enabling 
individuals with mental retardation to live in their communities.
    The population of public institutions for persons with mental 
retardation has decreased from 195,000 in 1967 to 81,200 persons in 
1991, (Lakin, 1993) as a result of public policy decisions and vigorous 
efforts of public leadership groups to effect deinstitutionalization. 
However, successful integration into communities that includes 
residential, employment, and full participation components is not 
easily achieved.
    During the past eight years there have been major developments in 
the understanding of community integration needs and strategies, 
including: Funding models that allow for individualized options; 
systems for assessing support needs for an individual and in a 
community; models for both formal and informal support systems, and for 
integrating the two approaches; and model strategies for systems change 
within States. (Horner, 1994). Yet in nearly every State, policy and 
practice do not reflect these advances in knowledge and understanding, 
and do not take advantage of the best practices models and 
implementation strategies that have evolved through research and 
practice.
    As a result, innovative supports for living in their own home or 
community are available to very few of those who potentially could 
benefit from them. Many thousands of people with developmental 
disabilities continue to live in private and public institutions and 
``mini-institutions'' in the community. In many cases, 
``deinstitutionalization has resulted in trans-institutionalization''. 
(Taylor, 1994) There are approximately 64,800 persons with mental 
retardation and related conditions who are not receiving any form of 
residential services and who are now on waiting lists for community 
residential services (Lakin et al., 1993). And, although 48 percent of 
all individuals with mental retardation nationwide resided in large 
congregate care settings in 1992, there were 8 States that provided 
services to more than 60 percent of consumers in family-scale settings 
serving six or fewer individuals, while conversely, 6 States served 
fewer than 10 percent of their clients in such small settings 
(Braddock, 1994).
    Thus, there is a demand for community integration assistance, 
coupled with a tremendous variation in State ability to meet those 
demands. This variation in services indicates that there is a critical 
need for information about innovative, state-of-the-art practices and 
for training and technical assistance on how to improve policies and 
practices on community integration at the State and community levels.
    NIDRR received substantial public comment on its 1995 proposed 
priorities, contending that there is a national need for information on 
best practices for community integration and a demand for training of 
service providers and consumers to help communities overcome the 
challenges of fully including all of their citizens and their families, 
and to make community integration a reality. State and local policy 
makers, regulators, and service agencies, as well as community service 
providers require training and technical assistance to enable them to 
address the issues that will emerge as States and localities move 
toward a system of individualized supports. States and communities 
require [[Page 16761]] information and training on policies and 
strategies that could assist them in shifting from a provider-driven to 
a consumer-driven service delivery system. The quality of community 
services delivered to persons with disabilities and their families will 
also depend on the ability of educational, employment and residential 
service agencies to effectively address the training needs of their 
approximately 250,000 direct service personnel (Wallace, T. & Johnson, 
D., 1992 and Braddock, 1994).
    The Secretary believes that there is a critical need for 
dissemination of information on model programs, integrated statewide 
systems of service delivery, exemplary practices, and systems change 
strategies. In addition, there is a need to develop more effective 
mechanisms for training community-level service providers to ensure the 
implementation of best practices, and to provide training and technical 
assistance to consumer-directed self-advocacy organizations and parent 
organizations.

Priority

    Under this priority, the Secretary supports a dissemination and 
technical assistance center that--(1) identifies and disseminates 
exemplary practices in community integration for individuals with 
mental retardation; and (2) provides training and technical assistance 
to State and local agencies, community-based service providers, and 
consumer-controlled advocacy organizations to facilitate the adoption 
of exemplary practices in community integration for individuals with 
mental retardation.
    In addition to activities proposed by the applicant to carry out 
these purposes, the center must conduct the following activities.
    <bullet> Design and implement a national information resource on 
community integration to serve policymakers and administrators, 
community-based service providers, consumer-controlled advocacy 
organizations, and individuals with mental retardation and their 
families, ensuring that information is available in accessible formats 
appropriate to individuals with a range of sensory, cognitive, and 
other disabilities;
    <bullet> Prepare materials on important topical issues, which might 
include, for example: Strategies to address social and cultural 
barriers to full inclusion; strategies for cross-agency collaboration 
in the development of individualized services or case management 
practices; and reasonable accommodations to facilitate community 
inclusion, and use them in information dissemination, training, and 
technical assistance activities as appropriate; and
    <bullet> Coordinate with existing NIDRR-funded projects and 
centers, and build upon the products of past NIDRR projects and similar 
efforts funded by other Federal agencies, to ensure that the best and 
most current information on needs and best practices is incorporated 
into the information dissemination, training, and technical assistance 
of this center.

Invitation To Comment

    Interested persons are invited to submit comments and 
recommendations regarding this proposed priority.
    All comments submitted in response to this proposed priority will 
be available for public inspection, during and after the comment 
period, in Room 3424, Switzer Building, 330 C Street SW., Washington, 
DC between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday 
of each week except Federal holidays.

    Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR parts 350 and 355.

    Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 760-762.

    Dated: March 28, 1995.
Judith E. Heumann,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.133D, Knowledge 
Dissemination and Utilization Program)
[FR Doc. 95-7942 Filed 3-30-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P