Asians with Disabilities Outreach Think Tank (ADOPT)
Building Capacity for Outreaching to Asian Americans with Disabilities
University of Illinois at Chicago
Funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Center for Capacity Building on Minorities with Disabilities Research (CCBMDR), in collaboration with the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) of the Illinois Human Services Department and Asian-serving agencies, proposes to launch a 18-month capacity-building outreach project. This new initiative attempts to develop and test a strategy for increasing vocational rehabilitation agencies’ capacity to reach out to Asian American with disabilities, to ensure they will receive services from DRS in the city of Chicago.
Compared to other ethnic and racial minorities with disabilities, Asian Americans with disabilities are under-represented in the U.S. rehabilitation and disability system. In Illinois, the proportion of Asian Americans being served by the state vocational rehabilitation (VR) system is less than 2.13% or 976 consumers out of a total of 45,863 (DRS VR Data FY 2008). These numbers are alarmingly low given the large population of Asians in the Chicago area, 4.1% of whom are working aged and disabled (ACS, 2008). Therefore outreach activities are needed in these communities to build an information-sharing partnership that can benefit those Asian Americans with disabilities who may need vocational rehabilitation services.
In response, this proposed initiative will partner with Asian-specific entities as well as those that provide services to Asian American populations in the greater Chicago area to increase access and participation of Asian consumers in the Illinois DRS system. These specific agencies will be identified in collaboration with DRS officials and will serve as active participants in the development of a community-based and culturally appropriate outreach strategy.
The information collected for this proposed project will be used to develop an instructional guide or toolkit highlighting culturally relevant outreach strategies and best practices that can help bridge the service gap in the Asian American community in the greater metropolitan Chicago area.
The proposal has the following steps:
· Identify community-based social service agencies that serve Asian Americans to participate in the outreach project in collaboration with DRS and CCBMDR staff.
· Develop a logic model in collaboration with participating agency representatives and stakeholders in order to identify the general outreach strategy.
· Collect follow-up data on the number of Asian Americans with disabilities served and/or referred by each participating agency for DRS services.
· Develop outreach guides or kit to
train community agency and DRS staff on effective outreach strategies for Asian
Americans with disabilities.
Contact information: Rooshey Hasnain, Ed.D.,Visiting Research Assistant Professor and Project Director of Capacity Building Projects, Department of Disability and Human Development, Center for Capacity Building on Minorities with Disabilities Research, roosheyh@uic.edu, (312) 413-0416 (phone), 312-413-0453 (tty).
Project Partners
1. Access
Living
115 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60654
2. Asian American Institute
4753 N. Broadway, Suite 90
Chicago, IL 60640
3. Asian American Small Business Association
5901 N. Cicero Ave., Suite 205
Chicago, IL 60646
4. Asian Health Coalition of Illinois
4753 N. Broadway, Suite 614
Chicago, IL 60640
5. Asian Human Services of Chicago
4753 N. Broadway, Suite 700
Chicago, IL 60640
6. Asian
Metropolitan Family Services
7541 North Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60645-1510
- Business
Sector Consultant
- Cambodian
Association of Illinois
2831 W. Lawrence Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
- Chicago
Regional Office Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
http://www.mbda.gov/?section_id=10&bucket_id=151&content_id=2266
- Chinese American Service League (CASL)
2141 S. Tan Court
Chicago, IL 60616
- Chinese
Mutual Aid Association
1016 W. Arygle St.
Chicago, IL 60640
- Community Counseling Centers of Chicago Quetzal Center
2525 W. Peterson
Chicago, IL 60669
- El
Valor
1850 W. 21st St
Chicago, IL 60608
- Heartland Alliance Refugee Health Programs
1331 W. Albion
Chicago, IL 60626
- Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
Immigrant Family Resource Program
- Refugee One
4753 N. Broadway Suite 401
Chicago, IL 60640
- Korean American Community Services
4300 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
- Lao
American Community Services
4750 North Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60640-7511
- Midwest
Asian American Center Association
2534 West Devon Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659-1810
- Midwest
Asian Health Coalition
- Nepalese Coalition
- Vietnamese Association of Illinois
5252 N. Broadway, 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60640
- University Of Illinois, Chicago
- Disability
Rehabilitation Services- Illinois Department of Human Services
http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=29737