Our Team
Our Organization
The American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center (AIDTAC) is a division of the Rural Institute at the University of Montana. AIDTAC seeks to improve employment opportunities and vocational rehabilitation outcomes for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians with disabilities throughout the United States. The Technical Assistance on Native American Culture (TANAC) project is funded by the Social Security Administration. The TANAC project seeks to provide assistance to WIPA program personnel that will allow them to be more comfortable and more effective when interacting and collaborating with Native people.
The Rural Institute: Center for Excellence in Disability Education, Research, and Service, is part of the national network of programs funded by the Federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) committed to increasing and supporting the independence, productivity, and inclusion of persons with disabilities into the community. Based at the University of Montana since 1979, the Rural Institute advocates and supports full participation in community life by rural Americans of all ages. From integrated childcare to supported employment, the Institute's wide range of grant-funded research, service and training projects blend innovative approaches and techniques with existing community services.
About Our Team
Julie Anna Clay, MPH
Ms. Clay has directed the American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center since May 2003. She is an enrolled member of the Omaha Tribe, located in Nebraska. Ms. Clay received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Oklahoma. She formerly served as the training and dissemination coordinator for the American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Ms. Clay has held several relevant positions, among them her service as a National Policy Fellow with the National Council on Disability. She has presented at many professional conferences and has authored numerous publications on issues of importance to American Indians and Alaska Natives with a disability.
Pennie Taylor, B.A., Administrative Assistant
Pennie has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Anthropology from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Her studies focused on Muslim, as well as American Indian, populations. Prior to moving to Montana, Pennie had some experience working for Native American legal advocacy, researching for a 2005 Maine State Legislature committee to review the extent to which the state has complied with the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, which helped to identify ways in which to improve compliance
Carol Henderson-Dahms, MPA, Evaluator
Carol has both a Bachelor of Science in Advertising and a Master of Public Administration from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. She is an independent consultant who works nationally focusing on organizational development of and evaluation of public, private, and non-profit organizations. In addition she provides grant development, proposal training, and technical assistance. Carol is a member of the national American Evaluation Association (AEA) where she has served as the chairperson of the Special Needs Population Topical Interest Group since 2004. In addition she belongs to the Arizona Evaluation Network (AZENET), a statewide evaluation group.
Jeanie Castillo, B.A., M.A., Technical Writer
Jeanie Castillo has a B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics from California
State University, Fresno and is currently pursuing her PhD from the
University of California, Santa Barbara. Her primary area of research
is Native American languages and linguistics with an emphasis on the
Navajo language. Before moving to Montana, Jeanie lived in New Mexico
collecting and analyzing conversational data spoken in Navajo. While
there, she worked as a faculty member at the University of New Mexico,
Gallup Branch teaching developmental writing and before that as a
staff member for Teach For America, New Mexico, a non-profit
organization dedicated to ending educational inequality in America by
improving the educational outcomes of students in rural and inner city
schools. Jeanie currently works as an employment specialist in
Missoula, Montana helping people with disabilities find and maintain
employment.
Email Jeanie Castillo
