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Partners for Inclusive Communities is a unit of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Partner’s mission is ”To support individuals with disabilities and families of children with disabilities to fully and meaningfully participate in community life, effect systems change and prevent disabilities.”  Therefore, we conduct training, research, education, and service activities directed toward families and children with disabilities and/or at-risk.

Some of these activities can be found on our web site:  www.uams.edu/UAP/ (The web site is being updated to show our recent change in name from the University Affiliated Program to Partners for Inclusive Communities.)

Examples of ongoing projects:
Partners work with AR CARES, ( www.arcares.uams.edu )a program that helps women with substance abuse addiction and their children.  Partner faculty and staff are involved in interdisciplinary assessments of children and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the program.

Partners is involved in two national evaluation of programs directed at families living in poverty:  Early Head Start National Evaluation (www.mathematica-mpr.com/3rdLevel/ehstoc.htm) and Starting Early, Starting Smart (www.emt.org/eval_sess.html).  Families living in rural Arkansas were part of these programs.  Faculty and staff with Partners work with service providers to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs.  Activities include family interviews, observation of teachers and classrooms, development of data collection instruments, scanning of data entry forms, literature reviews including reviewing and creating APA reference lists, finding and summarizing literature on specific topics, and data analysis.

Other projects include a new grant with activities in the Russellville school district (Safe Students, Health Schools); ongoing activities of education for prenatal education for adolescent women in the delta, activities to infuse  disabilities education content into programs for higher education students,

  Internship Site Contact:

Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Ed. D.
Associate Professor
Partners for Inclusive Communities
Arkansas' University Center on Developmental Disabilities
A Program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
2001 Pershing Circle, Suite 300
North Little Rock, AR  72114-1841
Phone:  501-682-9933  or 501-682-9900
FAX:  501-682-9901 
Cell:  501-256-4199
WhitesideMansellLeanne@uams.edu