FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
LANGSTON, Okla. - Langston University has been awarded a $4.375 million grant for its
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) from the National Institute on Disability,
Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NDILRR).
The grant, which will total $4.375 million over 5 years, extends a third cycle of funding from the
NDILRR Administration for Community Living which is intended to help minority-serving
institutions build research capacity and study rehabilitation disparities. Dr. Corey Moore, the
founding chair of the Department of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at Langston, will serve
as principal investigator and director for the grant.
“This national RRTC positions LU as the foremost national leader on the frontier of cutting-
edge disability and rehabilitation research capacity building at minority-serving institutions and
minority disability and rehabilitation research," Dr. Moore said. "This center will provide
Langston University a national avenue to mentor faculty members and students and
provide technical assistance to research support systems to enhance scientific abilities and
opportunities and access to federal research dollars at historically Black colleges and
universities, Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and Asian American
and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions."
The award involves a consortium of researchers and mentors at the Institute for Community
Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the Kessler Foundation, and South Carolina
State University. Other collaborators who will work with the LU-RRTC in carrying out activities
include the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Delaware Nation Vocational
Rehabilitation Program and the Association of University Centers of Disabilities. The goal is to
build minority-serving institutions' disability and rehabilitation research capacity through
research participation that examines the experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities
from traditionally underserved populations, such as African Americans/Blacks, Native
Americans or Alaska Natives, Latinx, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
One of the key studies will be carried out in partnership with the Institute for Community
Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston and will involve a mentorship component
with a new institutional Research Capacity Building and Infrastructure Model. This model aims
to build the disability and rehabilitation research skills of both faculty members and students as
well as the institution's overall capacity for research. The RRTC will match select minority-
serving institutional faculty and students with peer mentors and will link institutional research
support systems with key consultants to build the center's capacity.
The RRTC will also work with providers such as the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation
Services and the Delaware Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program to assess the feasibility of
a cultural competence in Employment Support Training Model for providers serving people with
disabilities from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic populations with co-occurring opioid
and/or substance use disorder.
“Langston University is proud to advance the NIDILRR’s mission of generating knowledge used
to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities," said Langston University Interim President
Ruth Ray Jackson. "The RRTC advances our institutional focus on access and opportunity for all
people.”
The RRTC's grant fund coordinated, integrated and advanced programs of research, training, and
information dissemination in topical areas specified by the NIDILRR. These centers conduct
research to improve rehabilitation methodology and service delivery systems as well as improve
health and functioning while also promoting employment, independent living, family support,
and economic and social self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.