The Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) has announced that Next Steps at Vanderbilt is one of four recipients of the first-ever Tennessee Believes grant. The grant aims to support and increase the number of higher education programs in Tennessee for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Next Steps was awarded $103,650 for one year and possible funding of $207,300 for two additional years to form a new interdisciplinary major, Self-Advocates in Leadership (SAIL). SAIL will be a four-year program with a focus on disability leadership and public policy and will be available to Next Steps students beginning in Fall 2022.
Lauren Bethune-Dix, Ph.D.
“Many of the students enrolled through Next Steps really want to be leaders and are true advocates,” said Lauren Bethune-Dix, Ph.D., Next Steps assistant director and Academic Development director. “What better way to capitalize on these strengths than building out this course of study?”
Bethune-Dix said SAIL is the first set of courses that Next Steps has formed as a major for its students. Next Steps students can currently take program-specific Career and Community (CCS) courses and select Vanderbilt courses to complete their program of studies for a certificate in CCS. Per Bethune-Dix, SAIL will also involve Vanderbilt faculty and courses, which will be focused on leadership, public policy, and disability advocacy. Students in SAIL will still be non-degree seeking, certificate students.
“We also are hoping with this grant to create our own courses that will be inclusive, and that our students could participate in with traditionally enrolled students,” Bethune-Dix said.
Next Steps also plans to add a leadership enrichment component to the new major. This will include planning about 900 leadership experiences for its students to self-select to attend. She further said Next Steps plans to recruit mentors from around the country who are self-advocates to help students in the program learn more about public policy and disability awareness.
“Leadership experiences are where we are utilizing the many partnerships we have with Vanderbilt,” Bethune-Dix said. “As much as our [Next Steps] students will benefit from this, those [Vanderbilt] folks will also benefit from being involved with our students in this reciprocal relationship.”
“I can only imagine what our program at Vanderbilt is going to look like in five years when our first [SAIL] cohort graduates,” said senior and Next Steps Ambassadores president Zoe Rankin. “I get so excited thinking about all of the opportunities that these people [Next Steps students], who are already such powerful self-advocates, will be able to have and the way that they will then go and impact the world.”
This article originally appeared in The Vanderbilt Hustler.
Tennessee Believes grant funding awards are as follows:
- Tennessee State University: $284,000 over two years to create a new program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The TigerEDGE Program is targeting enrollment of eight students in Fall 2022 and will be the first public institution in Middle Tennessee to offer an inclusive higher education program.
- Dyersburg State Community College: $327,262 over three years to create the first inclusive higher education program at a Tennessee community college. The Eagle Access Program proposes enrolling up to 10 students in its two-year program in the first year.
- Next Steps at Vanderbilt University: $103,650 for one year and possible funding of $207,300 for an additional two years to create a new, first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary major for students with intellectual disabilities. The Self-Advocates in Leadership (SAIL) program will be a four-year program with a focus on disability leadership and public policy.
- FUTURE at University of Tennessee-Knoxville: $131,322 for one year and possible funding of $246,242 for an additional two years to increase career transition staff and expand outreach to underserved populations. In addition, it will use funding to create the “Tennessee Believes” Kitchen to provide opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to learn how to cook at home and how to cook as a profession.
Pictured top of page: Next Steps at Vanderbilt class of 2025. Photo courtesy Next Steps at Vanderbilt
