The Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research

E-mail: thecenter@tsu.edu

A Message from Dean Irvine E. Epps

The Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research was created to respond to the need within the minority populations for researchers who would prioritize the needs of African Americans with disabilities. 

Working with colleagues, I resolved to gauge the extent to which Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) could be mobilized to address this need.  Beginning with a study I initiated as Dean of the Texas Southern University College of Continuing Education, we identified a chronic dearth of researchers within the fields of disability studies and vocational rehabilitation.  Armed with this information, the Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research was funded by National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to develop a cohort of researchers who would serve as change agents to create ongoing research agendas responsive to the needs of people of color.

The result was the creation of the Scholar/Champion Project.  As you read on, you will learn about the Scholar/Champion Project and the professionals who have agreed to commit their time and talents to increase the capacity of HBCU’s to facilitate positive changes via proactive research agendas that emphasize the needs of minorities.

Dean Irvine E. Epps, Ed D

Principal Investigator, Scholar/Champion Project

College of Continuing Education

Texas Southern University

Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research: An Overview

The Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research addresses the identification, training, and preparation of researchers from minority backgrounds and institutions in disability research.  In collaboration with other minority, majority, and tribal institutions, The Center has been integral in the development of multifaceted approaches to critique and contest barriers experienced by minority researchers, including those with disabilities. Project activities include surveys of capacity among minority scholars; institutional capacity building for minority institutions to conduct disability research; training minority and majority researchers; and dissemination of information, communications, and publications to enhance the capacity of researchers to compete for future research funds.

Past Center Projects

The Center held several focus groups at conferences around the country attended by researchers, including researchers from traditionally underrepresented populations. Participants were asked to identify barriers that minority researchers face (such as limited access to funding sources, lack of familiarity with some funding agencies such as NIDRR and RSA, limited administrative support, and overwhelming teaching duties, among others). Data from the focus groups were used to develop what became known an Institutional Assessment Survey (ISA).

The ISA was developed to gauge the perspectives and opinions of both majority and minority researchers about their institutions' research capabilities and facilities. In addition to general information about the size, budget, and focus of the institution, the survey asked about proposal development processes and support, financial accounting and reporting principles, human subjects, grant and contract management, intellectual property, and research ethics. The survey was distributed to 120 minority researchers from diverse backgrounds —Latino, American Indian, African American, and Asian American. Project staff identified researchers by contacting several known minority researchers and asking for other names.  Researchers of European American ancestry also completed the survey for comparison purposes.

The survey provided data that allowed Center researchers to document the implications of the barriers identified by minority researchers. In addition, through comparison with majority researcher experiences, Center researchers began to theorize if some or all of the barriers identified were ameliorated or exacerbated by specific cultural practices, or if other factors such as size of institution or resource allocation are the primary issues.

Through the survey and other activities the Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disability Research expects to raise awareness of the importance and impact of perceived differences of culture, ethnicity and race in research.  The Center additionally expects to identify existing barriers to the participation of minority researchers, especially those with disabilities; and to suggest ways to overcome barriers to increase the number of minority researchers in the area of disability research.

The current focus of much of the Center’s activities is the pairing of minority researchers, or potential researchers, with majority researcher mentors who can help navigate and explore research possibilities and processes.   This activity, the Scholar/Champion Project will serve to increase the focus on disability research at minority institutions and expanding the pool of minority researchers.  

Scholar/Champion Project: Synopsis

Texas Southern University in collaborative effort with Baylor College of Medicine has endeavored to address the above noted disparities in the areas of disability and vocational rehabilitation.  Texas Southern University’s Center for Minority Training and Capacity Building for Disabilities Research has initiated a pioneering program to increase the number of people of color successfully engaged in the fields of disability and rehabilitation research.  This program, a collaborative with Baylor College of Medicine, will recruit, train and mentor scholars of color with the express goal of developing research and grant-writing skills in the areas of disability and rehabilitation.  The development of these skills is essential to create scholars who will develop self-sustaining research agendas that serve the interests of disabled populations of color. 

 The program, the Minority/Scholar Champion Research Training Project, seeks nothing less than paradigmatic change within the field of disability and rehabilitation research.  Scholar/Champions will be provided with resources and most importantly, with the opportunity to develop as effective teachers, researchers and advocates in the fields of disability and rehabilitation and for people with disabilities.

Contextual Overview for the Scholar/Champion Project

Populations of color constitute a disproportionately high number of people with disabilities.  People of color with disabilities nonetheless constitute the most underserved amidst this population.   Populations of color also possess fewer social and financial resources that could potentially ameliorate the incidence of secondary health conditions.  The end result is that populations of color are more frequently found to fare less well socieconomically than do minorities without disabilities and individuals with a disability from the majority population.  

 Historically there has been limited research on health and rehabilitation issues that affect minority populations with disabilities.  The systemic dearth of scholars of color in the fields of vocational rehabilitation and disability research has a deleterious impact on these fields and populations of color with disabilities.    Rehabilitation and disability research shape public policy, funding priorities and the development of programming that can significantly improve the rehabilitation outcomes of people with disabilities.  The absence of scholars of color doing research within and receptive to communities of color limits the range of data available to scholars and policy makers in these fields. 

There is now growing awareness within disability and rehabilitation studies of an increasingly emergent valence that must be identified: the relevant issues and unmet needs of minority populations.  To address this long-standing concern it is necessary to take stock of current opportunities, barriers and capacities for both disability-related minority research and minority researchers.

Specifics of the Scholar/Champion Project

The research infrastructure of the project provided by Texas Southern University and Baylor College of Medicine will provide instructional “cores” designed to maximize the resources available to the “Scholar/Champions”. The Minority Scholars/Champion Research Training Project will develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of a train-the-trainer “Scholar/Champions model to facilitate increased and improved VR/disability research among the targeted HBCUs. 

The Project will be organized in five cores: Administrative, Training, Community Collaboration, Community Dissemination and Research.  Each core will utilize the expertise of experienced professionals working within a specific time line to produce an identifiable research project prosecuted by the Scholar/Champions within the project’s five-year mandate.  

 This multifaceted collaborative will near its completion by providing a ‘replicatable’ model of inter-institutional cooperation between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and predominantly White Majority Institutions.  Together these partner institutions will serve to create the foundations of a collaborative research infrastructure that will increase research capacity and help build an institutional research infrastructure at additional HBCUs in Texas.