Section VI

AGRABILITY OF UTAH
(COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE; DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION [ASTE])
Target Group: Farmers with disabilities

Program Description: AgrAbility of Utah is part of a national program focused on helping agriculturalists and disabilities remain in agriculture. Agriculturalists and members of their families who have disabilities resulting from injury, illness, aging, or other causes are eligible for this program. AgrAbility of Utah connects individuals to a network of service providers, and provides education, technical assistance, and on-farm site assessments to help individuals and their families maximize their independence while pursuing their chosen occupation and lifestyle.

Contact: Rhonda Miller, Associate Professor, Agriculture Systems Technology and Education Department (435-797-3772) rhonda.miller@usu.edu

ALLIES ON CAMPUS
(Vice President For Student Services; GLBTA Services)
Target Group: Faculty, staff, and students

Program Description: The Allies on Campus Program:

• Is a network of faculty, staff, and students who: (1) are committed to providing a "safe Zone" for anyone dealing with sexual or gender orientation issues; (2) respect all people regardless of age, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, race religion or sexual orientation; and (3) believe that diversity enriches our lives
• Strives to reduce homophobia and heterosexism on campus through education, advocacy, awareness, and by creating a visible network of allies. The program strives to develop a welcoming and supportive campus environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students, faculty, and staff.
• Provides an avenue through which individuals can actively show their support of GLBT people.
• Allies on Campus can be easily identified by the ALLY sticker, displayed prominently at their work site or on-campus living space.
• USU faculty, staff, and students who are interested in volunteering to be a member of Allies on Campus must attend a three-hour seminar. To learn more about Allies or to sign up for the seminar, go to their web page at http://www.usu.edu.glbta/allies.html

Contact: Maure Smith, GLBTA Services Program Coordinator (435-797-4297) maurie.smith@usu.edu

BEAR RIVER ACTIVITY and SKILL CENTER (BRASC)
(College of Education and Human Services; Center for Persons with Disabilities [CPD])
Target Group: Individuals with disabilities

Program Description: BRASC is a community based service program for individuals with disabilities. It provides day training, supported employment and family support services for more than 50 people. Emphasis is placed on assisting program participants to be as independent and integrated into the community as possible.

BRASC is one of the primary training sites for the CPD's interdisciplinary training program. Each year some 20-30 students from a variety of disciplines learn about adult and community based services.

Contact: Richard D. Baer, Director of Outreach Division, Center for Persons with Disabilities Department (435-797-7009)

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION CULTURAL COMPENTENCY AND lANGUAGE TRAINING INITIATIVE
(Vice President for Extension AND DEAN AGRICULTURE; Cooperative Extension Service)
Target Group: Cooperative Extension Service faculty and staff statewide

Program Description: This initiative was developed to proactively address the needs of diverse constituencies serviced through Extension Service programs by providing cultural competency and language training to Cooperative Extension faculty and staff. As a result of this initiative, faculty and staff have easily accessible self paced training units and references available to them on the Cooperative Extension Diversity web site. Faculty and staff will also annually receive opportunity to participate in two face –to-face workshops honing skills in working with increasingly diverse populations in Utah.  

Contact: Dallas L. Homes EdD, Associate Professor Extension and Continuing Education, Specialist - Diversity and Civil Rights, Utah State University Cooperative Extension (435-770-0744) Dallas.Holmes@USU.edu

EARLY CHILDHOOD-ALTERNATIVE TEACHER PREPARATION (EC-ATP)
(College of Education and Human Services; Center for Persons with Disabilities [CPD]; Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation)
Target Group: Early childhood special education teachers hired on emergency letters of authorization through the Utah State Office of Education

Program Description: EC-ATP is a two-year, distance-education program that certifies teachers to work with children, birth to age five, who have disabilities (an area of critical teacher shortage in our state). To address this shortage, EC-ATP faculty delivers online coursework to early childhood special education teachers throughout the state.

Contact: Marlene Deer, Clinical Instructor, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation (435-797-7011)  mdeer@cpd2.usu.edu

ESL ENDORSEMENT K-12
(College of Education & Human Services, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership)
Target Group: K-12 teachers and prospective teachers

Program Description: The ESL Endorsement is designed for preservice and inservice teachers interested in enhancing their ability to facilitate the learning of K-12 student whose primary language is not English. Coursework addresses issues of cultural adjustment, the process of language acquisition, instructional strategies, instructional strategies in the content areas, and appropriate assessment.

Both undergraduate and graduate courses are available, and the endorsement can be completed as an undergraduate student, a graduate student, or with a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses. Individuals entering the program must already hold, or be in the process of completing, an elementary or secondary teaching certificate. The endorsement is issued by the Utah State Office of Education and can be attached to new or existing Elementary or Secondary Certification.

Contact: Grace Huerta, Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership (435-797-3946)
Sherry Marx, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership (435-797-2227)
Lisa Pray, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership (435-797-0380)
Cinthya Saavedra, Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership (435-797-0393)

EXTENSION CIVIL RIGHTS PERFORMANCE PROGRAM PLAN 2009-2013
(Vice President for Extension and Dean Agriculture; Cooperative Extension; Ccounties in the State of Utah and campus faculty with Cooperative Extension assignments
Target Group: Underserved groups in Utah including Hispanics, American Indians, Blacks, Seniors and the elderly, those with limited resources, and others who may have been underserved.

Program Description: The focus of the Extension Civil Rights Performance Program Plan is to facilitate the inclusion of all underserved groups into Cooperative Extension programs statewide.

Components of the program plan include:

• Increase participation of people of underrepresented groups on county and statewide Extension Boards and increase participation of all underserved, including women, minorities and those with limited resources.
• Educate and remind Utah State University Extension faculty of the commitment to nondiscriminatory notification of all stakeholders regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability for the programs and activities provided throughout the state. This is done through ongoing statewide training and an integrated electronic web-based self assessment tool completed by faculty and staff annually and other web-based training units on cultural competency and language training.
• A systematic process ensures that all counties in Utah participate in regularly scheduled on site compliance reviews and training to discuss what the county Extension staff may be doing to facilitate and include underrepresented groups in programs developed, designed and facilitated by USU Extension.
• The program plan requires that the Utah populations eligible to participate in Extension programs in each county are identified through the use of current US Census data. Then goals for contact with underrepresented groups are established, thus measuring parity standards in program participation.
• The obligation of Utah State University Extension to meet USDA regulation & CFR Part 18 EEO in the State Cooperative Extension Service issued under authority of the Smith-LeverAct to have a performance plan reflecting full compliance with EEO law drives this program plan.
• Accountability is at the heart of the program plan. A brief civil rights accomplishment report is submitted annually by all Extension county offices in Utah. The report details (1) progress made in civil rights programs and EEO; (2) provide accomplishments for departmental officials and others on progress made within the Extension unit; (3) conditions of compliance in meeting civil rights goals and standards; and (4) includes a narrative summary of significant diversity achievements of the unit annually. Individual reports of civil rights activities reaching the underserved are routinely reported in the Extension web-based reporting system FOCIS

Contact: Dallas L. Homes EdD, Associate Professor Extension and Continuing Education, Specialist - Diversity and Civil Rights, Utah State University Cooperative Extension (435-770-0744) Dallas.Holmes@usu.edu

FAMILY LITERACY BAGS
(College of Education and Human Services; Department of Teacher Education and Leadership)
Target Group: Children and their parents

Program Description: Family Literacy Bags are designed to engage parents and their children in reading books at home. Each bag contains three high quality children's books and a guidebook for parents to assist them with reading and discussing the books with their children. To meet the needs of Latino and Hispanic families (comprising the majority of minority families in Northern Utah) about one third of the children's books and the guidebooks are available in both Spanish and English. furthermore, to meet the needs of parents with low literacy skills, about one fourth of the bags include tape recordings of the books. (A tape recorder is also included.) The project has been disseminated nationally throughout eighteen states.

Contact: Martha Dever, Professor and Director, Family Literacy Bag Project(435-797-0394)

FOOD STAMP NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAM (FSNEP)
(Vice President for University Extension and Continuing Education. College of Family Life)
Target Group: Food stamp eligible families in 20 Utah counties: Box Elder, Beaver, Cache, Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Sanpete, San Juan, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Washington, Wayne, and low-income seniors in 4 counties: Salt Lake, Weber, Davis, Utah

Program Description: Funding from the Food and Nutrition Service Food Stamp program through a contract with the Utah Department of Workforce Services is used for nutrition education for low-income families. Objectives are to increase nutritional status of the family by teaching nutrition facts, basic food preparation skills, shopping and management techniques, and food safety procedures. Many of the projects target Hispanic groups throughout the state as well as Native-Americans on the Ute and Navajo reservations.

Contact: Kristine S. Saunders, Extension Associate Professor, Nutrition and Food Sciences Department (435-797-3923)

HOUSING & FINANCIAL COUNSELING & WORKSHOPS
(College of Education and Human Services; Family, Consumer, and Human Development; Housing and Financial Counseling Services at the Family Life Center)
Target Group: Low- to moderate-income individuals or families.

Program Description: Our mission is to develop, through counseling and education, a community of people and families who are knowledgeable about housing and who effectively manage their financial resources. The Housing and Financial Counseling Services (HFC) at the Family Life Center is a nonprofit, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved agency that provides housing counseling to the community and students free of charge and financial counseling at a minimal cost.

HFC also offers a Home Ownership workshop which serves the education requirements for many non-profit and government agencies that offer assistance programs to first time home buyers who meet the requirements according to income or disability.

Other workshop topics are available upon request. Topics may include: Budgeting, Wise use of Credit, Debt Management, the Value of Saving, Preparing for Home Ownership, and Risk Management.

Serving the ethnic portion of the surrounding communities is an important focus of the Housing and Financial Counseling Services at the Family Life Center. Reference materials are offered in Spanish and private counseling sessions in Spanish are offered utilizing Spanish speaking counselors when available.

Contact: Family Life Center - Housing and Financial Services (435-797-7224)

INDIAN CHILDREN'S PROGRAM
(College of Education; Center for Persons with Disabilities(CPD)
Target Group: Native-American children with disabilities, and their families

Program Description: This program provides diagnostic and clinical services to Indian children and families referred by the Indian Health Services, tribal organizations, and other community-based programs on the Navajo, Hopi, and multi Pueblo reservations in New Mexico, southern Colorado, and southern Utah. In addition, technical assistance and training is provided to the referring organizations in meeting the needs of children referred. The program is administered by the CPD as a consortium with the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Education, Research and Services in New Mexico and Arizona as consortium members. An organizational consortium and management structure provides direction and evaluation to the project.

The unique focus of the ICP is that services are delivered in the homes and communities where the children live. Training and technical assistance provided by project staff are determined by the clinical needs of the children referred who are unable to obtain services from other resources.

Contact: Marvin Fifield, Principal Investigator, Center for Persons with Disabilities (435-797-1982)

MOUNTAIN PLAINS REGIONAL RESOURCE CENTER (MPRRC)
(College of Education and Human Services; Center for Persons with Disabilities [CPD]; Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center[MPRRC])
Target Group: Individuals with disabilities and Indian children with disabilities

Program Description: MPRRC provides technical assistance to eleven State agencies in developing quality programs and services for children with disabilities. The MPRRC provides technical assistance in special education to the Bureau of Indian Education and 187 schools that serve Indian children with disabilities. The Center links state education agencies experiencing similar problems, assists them in developing solutions, and supports them in their efforts to adopt new technologies and practices. The MPRRC serves Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, and the Bureau of Indian Education.

Issues that the MPRRC addresses include the following: Section 504; Americans with Disabilities Act; early childhood special education; Individual Education Programs; least restrictive environment; parent participation; due process hearing officer training; special education reform; technology; transition from school to work; parent involvement; procedural safeguards; cultural diversity; assessment; and serving special populations, including students with special health care needs, learning disability, autism, and behavioral problems.

Contact: John Copenhaver, Director, Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center (435-752-0238 ext. 16)

MPRRC DIVERSITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(College of Education and Human Services; Center for Persons with Disabilities [CPD]; Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center[MPRRC])
Target Group: Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center

Program Description: The Diversity Advisory Committee is made up of four individuals in our 11-State region who represent underrepresented groups in special education, including race, culture, gender, parents of children with disabilities, and individuals. The purpose of the committee is to provide advice and suggestions to the MPRRC regarding diversity issues and considerations as they relate to providing technical assistance in the region.

Contact: John Copenhaver, Director, Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center (435-752-0238 ext. 16)

MULTICULTURAL "MESSIAH"
(College of Education adn Human Services; Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education [ComD-DE])
Target Group: The general Cache Valley community to include all churches. Particular emphasis is placed on including the Deaf and the Latino populations

Program Description: This is musical event held annually in the spring. Over 160 voluntary musicians, mostly from Cache Valley and environs (including the USU campus), combine to form an orchestra and chorus. This group of amateurs begin rehearsals in January and perform in late March or early to mid April. This production is unique in all the world because the oratorio is presented in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Efforts are made to recruit musicians from all ethnic backgrounds. Those who are in a position to do so, can make voluntary contributions in order to: (1) help defray the costs of the production; (2) raise money to support an annual humanitarian project to Mexico. In addition the concert provides attendees an opportunity to learn more about the professions of Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology and Deaf Education as well as the clinical services available to the community at large. We have a website http://multiculturalmessiah.org

Contact: John Ribera, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Organizer and Conductor (435-797-7190) john.ribera@usu.edu

OUTREACH
(Provost's Office; Financial Aid Office)
Target Group: Multicultural Students K-12, women in science, ESL students

Program Description: The Financial Aid Office provides a variety of tutor/mentor programs to local elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and alternative high schools. In addition the FAO presents planning for college information to target groups.

The Financial Aid Office also hosts an annual Youth to College day for minority students in our local high schools. Students selected by their schools come to USU for a day of workshops on attending college. A scholarship contest called "My Experience in Multiculturalism" is held for high school seniors on that same day.to present planning for college information and assistance.

Program support is provided by lenders who participate in our Federal Student Loan Program and Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority.

Contact: Todd Milovich, Assistant Director, Financial Aid Office (435-797-0190) todd.milovich@usu.edu

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR EXCELLENCE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION (TAESE)
(College of Education; Center for Persons with Disabilities [CPD];Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center [MPRRC])
Target Group: State Department of Education and School Districts

Program Description: The purpose of this activity is to increase the involvement and input of stakeholders, parents and minority groups in State and school level advisory panels task forces, and steering committees. TAESE staff have developed awareness materials and suggested techniques for state department staff on increasing the involvement of parents and minority groups in key state level meetings. The voice and suggestions from these individuals is critical in developing sound educational public policy. Their perspectives will provide a viewpoint that is necessary to ensure all children with disabilities, regardless of their cultural background, an appropriate education program.

Contact: John Copenhaver, Director, Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education (435-752-0238, ext. 16) John.Copenhaver@usu.edu

REHABILITATION COUNSELING MASTER'S DEGREE
(College of Education and Human Services; Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation)
Target Group: Graduate students who wish to work with individuals with disabilities

Program Description: This program offers the master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and is ranked 15th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Graduates work one-on-one with individuals who have physical, cognitive, or psychiatric disabilities. The program has several graduates who are bilingual-speakers of Spanish or those fluent in American Sign Language. A federal grant provides tuition and a small monthly stipend to master's students in this program. This tuition support and stipend is considered a forgivable loan. Graduates of the USU master's Rehabilitation Counseling enjoy a 100% professional placement rate, working in Independent Living Centers, in university or college Resources for Students with Disabilities offices, in the Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation system, in private rehabilitation, and in the state vocational rehabilitation system.

Contact: Dr. Julie Smart, Professor and Director of Rehabilitation Counseling, Department of Special Education & Rehabilitation (435-797-3269)

SAN JUAN DINE CAREER LADDER PROGRAM
(Vice President for University Extension; College of Education and Human Services; San Juan County Extension. )
Target group: Navajo Students

Program Description: The San Juan School District has long had a Native American hiring preference. The district strongly believes that it is important that Navajo children have Navajo role models in the schools and that Navajo language, culture, and history need to be an integral part of our students' educational experiences. Despite this hiring preference, shortages of qualified Navajo educators and administrators still exist and these shortages are getting more severe. The school district is currently implementing a dual language development program for bilingual education in English and Navajo. The purpose of the program is to increase the number of Navajo teachers by 45%.

Contact: Bernie Hayes, Professor Emeritus of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences (435-797-0399)
Steve Hawkes, Executive Director (435-678-2201 ext.184)

TEACHING HEALTHY MARRIAGE SKILLS TO LOW-INCOME, HISPANIC COUPLES IN STEPFAMILIES
(College of Education and Human Services; Family, Consumer, and Human Development

Target group: Latinos

Program Description: This project is currently teaching healthy marriage skills to low-income, Latino couples in stepfamilies. Marriage education classes are being offered by Head Start/Early Head Start agencies and family service organizations in various counties throughout Utah. In light of the rates of divorce, cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock births, the rationale for this project is that stepfamilies are becoming an increasingly common family formation in the United States. There are, however, few educational programs that help couples prepare for remarriage and/or enhance their relationships in the context of stepfamily-living. There are even fewer programs, if any, that provide these services for low-income, Latino couples in stepfamilies. The classes are offered in Spanish and provide low-income, Latinos couples in stepfamilies with unique opportunities to learn healthy marriage skills. The project also includes a longitudinal study of participant outcomes and a formative evaluation of effective strategies to reach and teach these fragile families.

Contact: Brian Higginbotham, Extension Specialist/Assistant Professor (435- 797-7276) brian.h@usu.edu