APRIL is proud to support and partner with the Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities (RTC:Rural). As a long established partner, APRIL has collaborated on many different projects that benefit people with disabilities throughout the country.
Together, we’ve worked on projects including:
- Toolkit for Operating a Rural Transportation Voucher Program
- This toolkit provides a model that describes how to bring together community members and resources to develop and operate a transportation system for people with disabilities in rural areas.
- Advocacy Skill Building Toolkit
- This toolkit has everything you need to lead interactive workshops to introduce and teach advocacy skills to youth with disabilities. What makes this toolkit unique is its use of improv, an engaging way to build communication skills and introduce youth to the world of advocacy.
- Healthy Community Living
- This project aims to improve people's health by providing support, health promotion, education, and opportunities for people to succeed in reaching personal goals with the development of two internet-based curricula:
- Community Living Skills and
- Living Well in the Community
- This project aims to improve people's health by providing support, health promotion, education, and opportunities for people to succeed in reaching personal goals with the development of two internet-based curricula:
These curricula, delivered by CILs in peer support workshops, encourage people to explore and build skills for healthy community living and participation. Each curriculum’s content and design has been developed in large part by people with disabilities and include media content submitted by supporters and stakeholders through the project’s Flickr page, which features Real People in Real Places. The project is currently piloting the two curricula with hopes of releasing it broadly to the public by 2020. Visit the project page for ways to get involved!
APRIL recommends the many RTC:Rural resources, which can be found in RTC:Rural’s
Rural Disability Resource Library. These useful resources, programs, and tools include:
- Disability Counts Data Finder
- This is an online tool that lets you view and download disability data for every county in the United States. The data includes disability rates, types of disability, whether the county is classified as rural or urban, and population.
- Map Series: Disability in America
- This is a set of maps that show information about disability. The maps show the rates of disability for every county in the United States. There are maps for many topics, including veterans, poverty, and employment. There are also maps for different kinds of disability including hearing, seeing, waking, cognitive, self-care and independent living.
- Telecom Toolbox
- This website is a resource for job seekers and service providers that helps people with disabilities use online career development tools to find employment. It includes tips on writing cover letters and resumes, using social media, online job search boards, and more.
- Living Well with a Disability
- This is a 10-week peer-facilitated health promotion program offered through Centers for Independent Living and other organizations. Participants learn the life skills they need to set and achieve quality-of-life goals and learn the important role health plays in helping them reach their dreams.
- Working Well with a Disability
- This is a 6-week peer-facilitated workshop that builds on the content of Living Well with a Disability and considers health in the context of employment. Workshops are offered through CILs and other organizations. Participants learn skills to maintain life balance, manage stress, and improve their health in support of looking for or maintaining employment.
Resources from the RTC: Rural
- Measuring Center for Independent Living Services to Improve Consumer Community Participation
To learn more about RTC:Rural:
- Visit the website: http://rtc.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/
- Subscribe to the monthly eNewsletter
- Follow them on Facebook and Twitter
Contact RTC:Rural:
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Phone: (888) 268-2743
- Mailing address:
Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities
Room 52, Corbin Hall
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
RTC:Rural conducts research on disability as part of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities at the University of Montana, and is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
As a NIDILRR-funded program, RTC:Rural strives to ensure people with disabilities participate in all stages of the development and implementation of research projects. Their goal is to make sure research results and products are useful and relevant to people with disabilities, their families and service providers.