Barbara A Kleist

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• Director, Entrepreneurial and Development Programs

Email

kleis041@umn.edu

Phone

+1 612-624-1297

Address

Masonic Institute On The Developing Brain
Rm 2-322 [map]
2025 E River Pkwy
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Barbara Kleist, MEd, JD, FAAIDD is the program director for entrepreneurial and development programs at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. She received her M.Ed. in Recreation Park and Leisure Studies from the University of Minnesota and her J.D. from Hamline University School of Law. Ms. Kleist is co-director of DirectCourse—online curricula for life in community. Her work focuses on state and federal projects to improve community services for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Current projects include leading training and technical assistance efforts in federal and state policy development focused on identifying best practices for improving direct support workforce stability across LTSS and Medicaid funded systems. Ms. Kleist is a certified Person Centered Thinking trainer and also trained in ToP participatory facilitation methods. She is currently a member of the MN Disability Law Center Advisory Committee, WINGS MN, and The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices (TLCPCP), and chair of the Legal Process and Advocacy Network of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). Ms. Kleist is a licensed attorney with Minnesota State Bar with 30 years of experience providing counsel and support to self-advocates and family members on a variety of topics including conflict resolution, access to home- and community-based services and supports, alternatives to guardianship, supported decision making and person-centered practices. Her relationship with her sibling provides the foundation for Ms. Kleist’s commitment to the civil and human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.