The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes has been awarded more than $24 million to continue and expand its important work.
Following competitive peer-review processes, federal government agencies have recently granted NDC financial support through 2031, as well as funding to improve interpreter capacity for deaf youth and develop and test a new career-development intervention for deaf students.
These three awards allow us to build on the national infrastructure NDC has developed over the last decade while expanding into several areas where we continue to see persistent gaps,
says Carrie Lou Bloom, NDC’s director. The funding streams and projects are different, but the mission is consistent: strengthening the systems, people, tools and opportunities that support deaf people in pursuing continuing education, training, careers and long-term advancement.
The center—which shares information, networks and strategies to improve continuing education and training for deaf people—is based in the College of Education’s Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk.
NDC’s three new grants include:
- $20 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs to extend the center through 2031. That represents the core funding for NDC’s national technical assistance, professional learning, data and resources, help desk, innovative game Deafverse and more, as well as the center’s work with states, institutions and other systems serving deaf people.
- $2.25 million over five years from the department’s Rehabilitation Services Administration for national interpreter training initiative Beyond Access: Strengthening Interpreter Capacity for Deaf Youth in Transition. The grant gives NDC the resources to build a sustained interpreter professional development model specifically around the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with deaf young people as they transition into college, training, vocational rehabilitation and employment.
- $2.1 million over three years from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research to develop and test Deafverse Career Connections, a new career-development intervention for deaf students in ninth through 11th grades. It will combine Deafverse, an accessible career discovery assessment and personalized profile, guided career exploration and structured opportunities to build relationships with deaf peers and professionals.
What feels particularly noteworthy is not only the scale of the funding, but how these projects fit together,
Bloom says. That’s because the center’s national infrastructure helps improve opportunities for deaf people pursuing education, training and careers; Beyond Access deepens work on the persistent issue of interpreter capacity; and Career Connections enables the development and study of a new intervention addressing another ongoing gap, as Bloom explains: Deaf students may receive exposure to careers without having an accessible, individualized process for understanding their own strengths and values, exploring possibilities, making informed decisions and developing the relationships that support long-term career growth.
Bloom says NDC benefits from being housed at COE.
We are fortunate to be part of a college with a mission that aligns so closely with our own,
she says, noting a shared emphasis on translating knowledge into practice, working in partnership with communities, expanding opportunity, and addressing disparities. COE places our work within a much broader community of researchers, educators, practitioners, students and leaders who are also working to improve education systems and expand opportunities for people to thrive.
The center has been instrumental in expanding opportunity for deaf people across the country,
says COE Dean Dan Hamlin. And these recent funding awards are the latest example of well-earned recognition for the center’s extraordinary contributions.
