VCU RRTC

VCU's ACE-IT in College is a learning and training program for transition-age adults with intellectual disabilities. With individualized support, ACE-IT in College students participate in five semesters of employment, college classes, and campus activities. These college experiences create opportunity and prepare students to pursue self-determined futures. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education.

VCU-ACE is a university-based technical assistance, professional development, and educational research center for Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Commonwealth of Virginia. VCU-ACE improves services and supports for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by promoting the implementation of research-based practices in schools and the community through training, technical assistance, research, and collaboration. Funded by the Virginia Department of Education.

With over 30 years of experience, Business Connections at VCU bridges the gap between employers looking for qualified and reliable employees and a pool of prescreened job applicants with disabilities that have the proper supports in place for long-term success! Business Connections focuses heavily on understanding and meeting the specific needs of both jobseekers and employers to make the best job matches possible.

It is the vision of the Virginia Department of Education to create a centralized statewide portal for information, resources, demonstration, and research for educators and other stakeholders in the transition of youth with disabilities. The Center on Transition Innovations (CTI) at Virginia Commonwealth University provides evidence-based resources and information along with emerging practices in the field. The results of research studies and demonstration projects conducted here in Virginia help us shape the ongoing work of CTI. Funded by the Virginia Department of Education.

The Virginia Commonwealth University Autism Center for Education (VCU-ACE) Early Childhood website provides a wealth of resources for those raising, caring for, or educating young children with ASD. Resources can help families and providers understand Autism Spectrum Disorder, identify useful strategies that can support a child's development, and know when and how to use these strategies at home, in the community, and in the early childhood classroom.

The IRACA project strengthens the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) workforce, so professionals are better equipped to help individuals with disabilities find and keep meaningful, high-quality jobs. We focus on expanding the number of qualified VR professionals and building their skills to meet today's changing workforce's needs. Our work emphasizes practical strategies for participant engagement, career assessment, connections to in-demand fields including STEM and AI, and stronger partnerships with employers. IRACA was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (Grant #H263G250004).

Virginia's Collaborative Model for Pre-Employment Transition Services offers the resources necessary to enrich Pre-ETS initiatives in the state. We provide the tools for collaborating, communicating, and coordinating services with student teams to improve postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. Explore resources spanning all five Pre-ETS categories, and join us in empowering every student's journey to success!

Through a collaboration with the business community, Project SEARCH provides a one-year work training experience for young adults aged 18-21 with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Through three unpaid, individualized internships, students learn the job and social skills they need to become successfully employed. Project SEARCH serves students at 21 sites across Virginia. In Virginia, the project has an eighty-five percent success rate in helping students find meaningful jobs after graduation.

Learn more about Project SEARCH in Virginia by contacting Jennifer McDonough at jltodd@vcu.edu.

In 2016, VCU's Autism Center for Education partnered with the 15 school divisions within Superintendents' Region 1 to enhance the existing professional development model and establish an innovative regional program that focused on keeping students with ASD in public schools and collaboratively supporting the return of students placed out-of-division into their home schools and communities. In 2019, the VDOE facilitated the replication of the regional autism consortium model in Superintendents' Region 6, or southwest Virginia. The approach is simple. It is instilling the competent practice of applied behavior analysis into the public school professionals that support students with autism who require extensive educational and behavioral interventions.

The goal of VCU-RRTC on Employment of Persons with IDD is to help reduce the continuing high levels of unemployment among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This RRTC is in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, and Kent State University. The RRTC-IDD will conduct multiphase studies that examine the critical variables that have the potential to improve the competitive integrated employment (CIE) outcomes for individuals with IDD and enhance rehabilitation professionals' and other stakeholders' capacity to provide employment opportunities and supports. Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant #90RTEM0003).

The VCU-RRTC on Employment of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities will conduct six studies to generate evidence-based interventions to assist youth in entering competitive integrated employment. This RRTC is in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, and Kent State University. It will focus on pre-employment training for younger adolescents, postsecondary and supported college education training for universities that are serving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as internships for youth with emotional, learning, and behavioral disorders. Funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant #90RTEM0014).