Ritu Chopra (PI) and Elizabeth Steed (Co-PI) received a grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), US department of Education for $749,417 over five years. The grant project, EPIC-ECE : Ensuring Preparation of InClusive Early Childhood Educators, partners with the Early Childhood Education programs in the Colorado Community College System to address the critical need for well-prepared associate degree-level personnel who use evidence-based practices (EBPs) for meaningful inclusion of young children (birth through 8) with disabilities and their families in early childhood programs and classrooms.
Ritu Chopra also received a sub-award for $75,310 from OSEP funded National Center on Deaf-Blindness housed at the Helen Keller National Center, New York. This grant will allow SEHD’s Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center to continue to serve as the review board for the National Intervener Certification E-Portfolio (NICE) system that credentials interveners (aka paraprofessionals who support students with deaf-blindness).