ICI Welcomes Fulbright Scholar from South Korea

On September 4, ICI welcomed Fulbright Scholar Kyung Mee Kim for a year of study in person-centered practices and individual budgeting, working alongside Rachel Freeman at ICI's Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC-CL). Dr. Kim is a professor from the Department of Social Welfare at Soongsil University in Seoul, South Korea. Her country is considering individual budgeting in its disability policies and she wants to inform those policies with what she learns in Minnesota. "I want to learn person-centered practices: the concept, how to practice them, and how to implement them," she says. "Actually, I have worked very closely with the Korean disability community. They want me to learn this deeply so I can apply it when I get back to Korea." 

A visit to ICI last year with Korean colleagues prompted her to apply for a Fulbright scholarship at the Institute. "I was impressed with how well Minnesota is doing with individual budgeting and person-centered practices, so I planned to learn about these practices at the personal, organizational, and state levels. I will also conduct my own research about individual budgeting through reading the materials and by interviewing people such as state staff, case managers, organizational staff, and service users."