Winnebago Tribal VR Program Secures New Grant to Expand Services to Tribal Members

When the Winnebago Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Program began receiving intensive training and technical assistance (ITTA) services from AIVRTTAC in March 2023, the staff had an admittedly limited knowledge of tribal vocational rehabilitation (TVR). In addition, their grant was written only to provide services to students, while their budget was not sufficient to carry out the goals and objectives in their grant.  

Through the ITTA process, program staff came to realize they needed to gain a better understanding of VR and enrolled in classes provided by the TVR Institute at Northwest Indian College. They also worked with tribal leadership to discuss surrendering their current grant and applying for a larger grant in 2024 that would allow them to serve all eligible tribal members and increase their scope of services. They submitted their updated grant in March 2024 and received notice of their funding in August 2024. They began offering full services to their tribe in October 2024. With help from ITTA, they were ready to open their doors and provide high quality TVR services to tribal members with disabilities.    

The ITTA provided by AIVRTTAC helped staff from this AIVRS project better understand TVR and the needs of their community.