Susan Jack and Kathy Olson
(7/02) KUCDD is participating in the National Service Inclusion Project as a state liaison to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). For many Americans serving others and giving back to one’s community is an important priority. The CNCS sponsors programs to help citizens meet those priorities with a variety of options. Service members address human needs in education, health, public safety, and the environment through the AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, VISTA and National Senior Service Corps programs. More than 20,000 people of all ages and backgrounds are helping to solve problems and strengthen communities through 71 national service projects across Kansas. Serving through local nonprofits, schools, religious organizations and other groups, these citizens tutor and mentor children, coordinate after-school programs, build homes, organize neighborhood watch groups, clean parks, recruit volunteers, and accomplish other things to improve communities. CNCS is committed to actively engaging individuals with disabilities in the service movement in all levels of national service programs. With funding from CNCS, the National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) offers training and technical assistance to national service community partners (local agencies) to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities in service programs. Susan Jack and Kathy Olson are co-directors of this project in Kansas, as subgrantees for the NSIP. They facilitate the dissemination of information about the benefits of national service for people with disabilities and provide training and technical assistance to AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and National Senior Service Corps programs in Kansas. In coordination with the NSIP, resources on service and disability issues such as recruitment, ADA accommodations, and training, including fact sheets and an Inclusion Handbook are also available to participating programs. For more information on the KUCDD’s participation in the National Service Inclusion Project, contact Susan at extension 1632, or sljack@ku.edu (Susan Jack is no longer employed at the University Center on Developmental Disabilities. For information on this project, call the main number at 620-421-6550 ext. 1859).