UNM professor Ginger Blalock and the College of Education recently garnered a grant to give New Mexico youths with disabilities a more promising future after high school.
The $146,998 grant comes from the New Mexico State Department of Education's Special Education Unit.
"This grant is proper recognition for the nearly two years of outstanding research and service that Ginger has contributed to UNM-COE's Special Education Program, as well as to the people of New Mexico," College of Education Dean Viola Florez said. "It is not secret that special education is an area of need in New Mexico."
Blalock is coordinating the grant in cooperation with others including Albuquerque Public Schools, the National Transition Alliance, Highlands University and UNM Transition Director Sue Gronewold.
The grant funds five primary statewide initiatives that help teachers and administrators motivate their students to build self-determination and become active participants in their futures, she said.
Blalock said the goal of these initiatives is to focus on students who may not see the benefits of a secondary education.
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The first of the five initiatives is the Statewide Transition Coordinating Council that was recommended by Congress from 1994-1996.
The council consists of 40 individuals who are working to develop strategies to support an easy transition from school to adulthood. The council focuses on the needs of youth with disabilities, the most common of which is learning.
The second of the initiatives is the Transition Specialist Cadre, which worked from the summer of 2000 to 2001 to improve local systems support transition programs in targeted areas.
The third is the Transition Outcomes Project, which provides tools to help in the transition of 14 to 22-year-olds. It is based in Alamogordo, Bernalillo, Roswell and Taos.
The fourth is Pathways to the Diploma Training.
District trainers provide professional development experiences and information to educators and families about graduation options for students.
The last is a Summer 2002 Transition Institute, which is built on past institutes and deepens the focus of student development.
"Many of these kids will fall off the end of the planet if not guided through a strategic process of careful planning and careful preparation and have a link (after high school)," Blalock said. "By the time kids reach high school or even middle school, the learning gap has gotten so big that it's easy for (students) to qualify as having a learning disability even if they may not truly have one."
The grant is the second of this kind that Blalock has received and she said that the initiatives provide better outcomes for high-risk youth who may not otherwise have a chance.
