Project Director: Bill Field
Responsibilities: The PD is directly responsible for oversight of the Indiana AgrAbility, including management of Purdue personnel involved, fiscal management, reporting, accountability issues, and liaison activities with funded affiliates and USDA-NIFA Project officer. The PD reviews all Indiana AgrAbility resources prior to release and participates in training/networking activities.
Qualifications: Professor Field established the Breaking New Ground (BNG)Resource Center in 1979 and has provided leadership to it for the past 44 years. He has been involved in all aspects of BNG’s programming, including the development of resources, conducting research, designing adaptive aids, and providing on-site services to farm and ranch families dealing with disabling conditions. Over the past decades, Dr. Field has managed millions of dollars in grants, contracts, and gifts relating to rural disability issues. These include grants from Deere and Company, NIDRR, RSA, USDA-NIFA, CDC, Indiana Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, and NEC Foundation of America. He has participated in rural disability-related events in most U.S. states, four Canadian provinces, and several foreign countries.
Project Manager: Chuck Baldwin
Responsibilities: The Project Manager is responsible for day-to-day management of operations and Purdue staff and for project coordination with the staffs of the subcontractors and unfunded collaborators. He also coordinates annual reporting activities of the Project and other initiatives, such as Advisory Team Meetings.
Qualifications: Chuck Baldwin has spent the majority of the last 32 years in cross-cultural work, primarily in western and central Africa. His responsibilities involved public speaking, fund-raising, teaching, leadership development, mentoring of leaders, and fostering relationships across a wide range of national and ethnic lines. For 16 of those years he was an organization’s regional director over 12 countries.
Rural Rehabilitation Specialist: Steve Swain
Responsibilities: The Rural Rehabilitation Specialist conducts disability and accessibility assessments of farms, homes, and businesses, and develops reports related to such assessments. He assists potential entrepreneurs interested in self-employment through business planning services. He is the primary liaison with Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
Qualifications: Mr. Swain joined the Breaking New Ground Outreach Program as the Rural Rehabilitation Specialist in August 2000 and the Purdue University Extension New Ventures Team in January 2004 He is a member of RESNA, a RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Practitioner, and has worked directly with Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services to develop self-employment business plans for farmers exploring alternative sources of income.
Education and Resource Specialist: Paul Jones
Responsibilities: The Education and Resource Specialist coordinates media-related activities, including production of the News Note newsletter and updating of the project website. He assists with outreach activities, such as the Bridging Horizons Community Service Contest and in-service training to rehabilitation-related groups.
Qualifications: Paul Jones has been an AgrAbility staff member since 1998 and manager of the BNG Resource Center since 2000. As manager of the Resource Center, he has been involved in the development of all resources, including several that have received national awards. He also managed a grant from NEC Foundation of America that allowed for the distribution of assistive technology resources to every county Extension office in the U.S.
Extension Outreach and Evaluation Specialist: Ed Sheldon
Responsibilities: The Extension Outreach and Evaluation Specialist is responsible for outreach activities and resource/publication development; promoting AgrAbility services to Cooperative Extension Service staff; and supporting other program activities. Also, the Extension Outreach and Evaluation Specialist handles all calls and inquiries to the AgrAbility’s toll-free helpline.
Qualifications: Ed Sheldon joined the AgrAbility staff in 2018, initially focusing on outreach to veteran and socially disadvantaged farmers. He has extensive agricultural and educational experience, having served as a county Purdue Extension agricultural educator and as a senior staff member of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. Mr. Sheldon also owned and operated a landscape contracting business for 15 years, and continues to maintain close ties with the agricultural community.
Veteran Outreach Coordinator: Joe Ricker
Responsibilities: The Veteran Outreach Coordinator (VOC) is responsible for networking with SRAPs and other relevant organizations to improve opportunities and outcomes for farmer veteran AgrAbility clients. The VOC represents AgrAbility at various veteran- and agriculture-related events, assists in planning and conducting AgrAbility’s veteran’s initiatives, and serves as a consultative resource for SRAP’s. This staff member is also responsible for providing and updating resource information pertinent to farmer veterans and beginning farmer veterans. The VOC works closely with the Farmer Veteran Coalition and other veteran organizations.
Qualifications: Joe Ricker has a strong background in the military and owns an apiary and orchard in Hancock County, Indiana. He first encountered AgrAbility in 2016 and also interned with AgrAbility while in the DoD Skillsbridge program. He retired as a colonel after 30 years of service, including two deployments, two tours at the Pentagon, and numerous leaderships positions focused on supporting soldiers and Army Special Forces. He is the founder and president of At Ease Orchard LTD, a non-profit assisting veterans in beekeeping and other agriculture areas.
Project Assistant: Denise Heath
Responsibilities: The project assistant provides information management services for the project, including report preparation, mailing list maintenance, and data management.
Qualifications: Denise Heath has served as the information processing systems operator for the Breaking New Ground Resource Center for more than 30 years. She has carried out numerous responsibilities, including the design of brochures, fliers, pamphlets, newsletters, and other materials; created complex documents, including technical research articles, proposals, and manuals; and served as the main receptionist for BNG.
Easterseals Crossroads Team: Brian Norton & Lisa Becker
Easterseals Crossroads (EC) in Indianapolis, IN, is the nonprofit direct service disability organization partner. EC is CARF accredited (Commission of Accredited Rehabilitation Facilities) and provides services for all ages: AT support and services, out-patient medical rehab programs, and services related to employment, veterans, the deaf community, home modifications and more. EC has a long history of providing AT information and service in agricultural settings, including computer access, ergonomics, and workplace accommodations. Staff members have personal experience with farming and agricultural industry. For many years, a representative of EC has been an Indiana AgrAbility advisory team member.
For the current grant, EC will assist with outreach and education related to assistive technology for farmers and other rural residents and will facilitate the provision of AT for the AgrAbility AT Lending Library. EC will also promote the AgrAbiltiy mission through its social media and other public awareness avenues.
Brian Norton
Qualifications: Brian is the director of assistive technology at Easterseals Crossroads. He is responsible for the agency’s assistive technology service line that includes clinical assistive technology and the INDATA Project, a federally-funded statewide assistive technology program for the agency. He began working at Easterseals Crossroads as an employment consultant in 1997 and made the transition into assistive technology in 1999 as a trainer. He now utilizes his many years of experience to provide direction, leadership and training to a diverse and highly-skilled team of AT professionals.
Lisa Becker
Qualifications: Lisa is an assistive technology technician on the mobility and cognition team. Lisa earned her degree in computer information technology from Purdue University. Her role in computer support for Purdue University and Indiana University sparked an interest to teach, leading her to a career as a productivity consultant, helping companies in the Midwest use technology more efficiently through education, automation, workflow studies and consulting. During that time, she began working with assistive technology to aid some of the employees she worked with. Helping people with the use of assistive technology has become her passion.
Consultants
Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant: Steve Etheridge
Responsibilities: The Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant will serve as a resource for guidance with VR-related issues. He will also help with outreach activities, such as farm shows and conferences.
Qualifications: Steve Etheridge is a certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC) with master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He worked for 40 years in employment and training with the last 20+ years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Indiana. Steve managed a general case load in rural northeast Indiana with a specialty in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and served on the Indiana VR Commission and the VR TBI Advisory Board in advisory capacities. For more than 15 years, he has been an advisory team member for the Breaking New Ground/Indiana AgrAbility Project.