News and Notes from the NIDILRR Community and Beyond has become an essential promotional tool for the NIDILRR Community. This weekly newsletter features news, resources, events, and opportunities to participate in research in disability and rehabilitation. Each week, we scour grantee websites, alerts, and social media channels, but we also rely on the community to send us new material.
What kind of news items are you looking for?
We have included all types of news items, including media mentions, and here are examples of some types. If you’re unsure, send them and we will assess whether we can promote it.
- Resource Highlights: Resources are publications, videos, databases, and other tools that our readers can use right away, usually at no cost. These have included factsheets and newsletters, archived webcasts, screening tools, guides, manuals, and others from NIDILRR-funded projects.
- Recruiting Announcements: If you are conducting a survey, study, focus group, or trial and need participants, for the NIDILRR-funded grant, we will include it in the Opportunity to Participate section.
- Events: Conferences, webcasts, classes, consumer events, sponsored by a NIDLRR grant.
- News: Did your director receive an award or recognition? Did one of your fellows go on to a prestigious appointment? Were you interviewed by an industry magazine or local news show? All of these fall under the News category.
We do not include new grant announcements, staff changes, commercial endorsements, or items which might be construed as lobbying.
We try to include items that would be of interest to a wide audience, so we may not include highly selective or scholarly items. We have also do not include items that are open only to staff of NIDILRR-funded projects.
For examples of items, please review Archived newsletters.
When should we submit items for News and Notes?
To be considered for the next issue, please submit your items by Friday at 3pm. For better promotion, it is best to send items in advance rather than last minute so we can ensure they can be reviewed and approved in time.
What should we send to you? Is there a specific format?
Email Jess Chaiken at jchaiken@heitechservices.com with this information:
- NIDILRR grant number or title associated with the item
- A sentence or two describing it
- A link where we can refer readers for more information
- For events, we need to know date and start time, plus any registration requirements
- For recruiting items, we need to know any qualifiers (age, disability type, etc.), and any incentives.
Note: We must be able to verify your item is associated with your grant. Best practice is to include your grant number or a similar attribution to your grant in any promotional material, website, or registration page.
Can we submit an item more than once?
We can certainly consider running an item more than once. This is especially true of recruiting items, as they don't come up as often as events, news, or resources. Just let us know if you want us to run it again in the future.
Can you send me an update after my news item goes out?
Certainly! We track opens, clicks, and shares throughout the day. We can send you statistics on how many readers may have clicked on or shared any news items you've submitted. Please let us know and we can send it.
I am not with a NIDILRR grant. May I submit an item for consideration?
We include items published by federal government agencies in the "Elsewhere in the Community" section. Send a brief description and a link to jchaiken@heitechservices.com.
I have a few more questions. Who can I contact?
Jess Chaiken, our managing editor, is available Monday through Friday during business hours. You can reach her via email at jchaiken@heitechservices.com, by phone at 800/346-2742, or using the chat in our contact page.