Project UNIFY is a national level program that is sponsored by the US Department of Education. It creates programs and teams that include regular education and special education students together on a team to prepare, practice, and compete with other schools in our area. The groups can be athletic in nature or programs such as student stores and business.
Special Olympics Oregon (2010) states the following:
- Project UNIFY brings youth with and without intellectual disabilities together through education, sports, and related initiatives that provide them with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to create and sustain school communities that promote acceptance, respect. and human dignity for all students.
Project UNIFY is built on the principle that in order to have the biggest impact promoting tolerance, understanding, compassion, and outreach between people, it is critical for the change to start with our youth.
Special Olympics also states that Project UNIFY is for students, teachers, and educators who believe that:
- There should be more opportunities for young people of all ages and ability levels to make friends and work together for change.
- Students with intellectual disabilities should become part of the core fabric of the education community and be perceived as assets in their school and community.
- Students without intellectual disabilities can and should increase their knowledge, skills, and comfort in forming positive social relationships with students with intellectual disabilities and come together to address societal issues.
- Policymakers and education leaders should develop policies and support quality practices that encourage positive school climates with safe and nurturing learning environments for all students.
Project UNIFY works to promote programs and systems of accountability that include these students and facilitate improvement in their social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Participation in co-curricular activities helps engage students, gives each student a valued place on the team, holds them accountable, provides academic support, and promotes selflessness and teamwork.
Project Unify has two primary goals.
- To advance the social, emotional, and academic outcomes students with and without disabilities. To facilitate these improvements we will link the targeted students to teams and programs that create systems of accountability.
- To promote tolerance, understanding, compassion, physical health, and outreach between all our students. We accomplish this by engaging our students in our school community, and encouraging them to become part of a team / family which holds each other accountable.