Cayte Anderson
Ph.D., CRC
Institution: UW-Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
Role in E3TC: Co-Principal Investigator and Knowledge Translation Specialist.
About Cayte
It has been my pleasure to work in the field of disability and employment for over 20 years and I am honored to share what I have learned, and continue to learn, through Project E3. I enjoy my experience as a rehabilitation counselor working in partnership with individuals with mental illness, developmental and/or intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS as they identify and achieve goals in successfully attaining integrated, competitive employment.
Project E3 Positively Impacts Futures
Additionally, my experience with program management, policy, and research through the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Evidence-Based Practice (RRTC-EBP VR), PROMISE program, Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND), Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG), and State Partnership Initiative (SPI) provide a wonderful background of skill and knowledge in regard to integrating evidence-based practices into systems change work. Better understanding the intersection of disability and poverty, and identifying and developing options for effectively individuals in moving toward quality employment outcomes, and pathways out of poverty, presents a tremendous opportunity to positively impact futures in a meaningful and culturally mindful manner.
Teri Blankenship
MsEd.
Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University
Role in Project E3: VCU team member
About Teri
Member of the VCU team that will design and develop the utilization and evaluation, technical assistance dashboard, and EBP databases which will be linked to the Project E3 website.
Teri Blankenship is a faculty member at VCU and holds a M.Ed. from VCU in Human Resource Development & Instructional Technology. She is the Assistant Director of Instructional Technology for the VCU-RRTC. Teri has extensive experience in website development; database management, responsive web design; streaming media, social media and online surveys. In addition, she has developed and produced distance education activities to include: online courses, online seminars, and over 400 webcasts.
Project E3 Breaks Barriers
I am excited to be a part of Project E3 because it focuses on the barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities living in impoverished communities. The project will concentrate on addressing these barriers to help this group gain employment and a better quality of life.
Mary McManus
MsEd., be MsEd., Doctoral Candidate, Public Administration
Institution: Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (SVRI), University of Wisconsin – Stout
Role in Project E3: Committee Member
About Mary
I direct research and knowledge mobilization (RKmb) efforts and the “Fostering Success” program at SVRI. RKmb includes collaborative internal and external team approaches to managing research, training, and evaluation of Emerging Practices in VR, then moving the outcomes forward as Evidence-Based Practice through knowledge mobilization and translation for the public/consumer. Fostering Success helps foster, homeless, and orphaned youth overcome obstacles and attain educational and work goals. Fostering Success, the only program of its kind in Wisconsin, is creating a middle school through college pipeline of services to address needs of these youth and young adults in transition.
Additionally, I have developed social justice programs, facilitated ‘Poverty Simulation’ activities for students and community members, and coordinated activities to assist students in developing cultural humility and understanding. My dissertation will address the intersection between disability and poverty with emphasis on public policy needs for foster youth in transition to adulthood.
Project E3 is inspiring
It is challenging for many people to see public policy and research as tangible efforts toward the common good. Project E3 takes the best thinking and action in the field and blends it with collegial, collaborative outreach to address the needs presented by practitioners. We go to the intersections of some of the greatest challenges in our nation today, and, if you will, ‘direct traffic’ to better meet the needs of persons across dimensions of disability. Project E3 is a thoughtful, action-oriented venture that will change lives for the better.
