News & Announcements

To close Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), we are sharing this letter from Alison Barkoff, who leads ACL, Jeff Hild, who leads the Administration for Children and Families, and Admiral Rachel Levine, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health, which was written to improve support for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities who experience sexual violence — and to prevent it from occurring. 

One of the key foundations upon which independent living was established and continues to thrive, is the concept of learning from one's peers-- peer mentoring.

APRIL believes that “experience is the best teacher" when it comes to operating a CIL or SILC and that the peer mentoring philosophy works best for CILs and SILCs as well.

The Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL) project offered focused learning collaboratives to help CIL staff discover and discuss strategies to serve out-of-school youth with disabilities (OSY) from minority backgrounds. Mathematica conducted 10 informal virtual interviews with CIL staff who completed the learning collaborative. This brief highlights how CIL staff used information from the learning collaborative to create innovative and responsive programs to include, engage, and empower OSY from minority backgrounds.

Check it out today! This new Healthcare Resources for Women with SCI website provides a directory of links to consumer-based information, education, and resources on healthcare topics for women after SCI (e.g., videos, downloadable books). The site also provides a growing list of practitioners who serve women with SCI throughout the nation and a network of professionals and consumers who are interested in the health and wellness of women with SCI.