About MY-CIL

Hunter College School of Education, in partnership with Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY), Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU), and Mathematica are conducting a disability and rehabilitation research project (DRRP) on Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL). The goal of MY-CIL is to support NIDILRR’s priority for generating and sharing new knowledge that empowers CILs to improve transition outcomes of out-of-school youth from minority backgrounds.

Research and knowledge translation activities are developed with input from CILs and other stakeholders. These activities include surveying CILs, qualitative interviews with CILs, pilot testing practices and services with CILs, developing and testing a manualized randomized control trial (RCT) intervention designed to improve outcomes for the target population, learning collaborations, technical assistance related to outreach, data analysis and other practices that show promise for improving outcomes for out-of-school youth with disabilities from minority backgrounds.

Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge on CIL practices and services, an expanded evidence base on effective CIL practices, increased CIL capacity to deliver evidence-based best practices to improve transition outcomes for out-of-school youth from minority backgrounds. Project products include CIL practice briefs, manuscripts for publication, podcasts, conference and webinar presentations, and a website and shareable media to disseminate these products widely.

Youth with disabilities from racial and ethnic minority groups face a variety of challenges in making the transition from school to adult life. The goal of the Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL) project is to generate and share new knowledge through our research, training, and technical assistance activities that empowers CILs to improve the transition outcomes of out-of-school youth from minority backgrounds.