Nominations open Feb. 1 for the NCRF Court to CART Grant, which has a new $1,500 grant amount to be awarded to an NCRA member who is selected for this program. Applicants must be interested in broadening their skill sets from the judicial setting to the path of providing communication to access realtime translation (CART).
The grant winner will receive an assessment of his or her realtime skills and instruction about current CART technology by a team of practitioners. Firsthand training will be provided as well as the chance to learn from applicable existing NCRA videos. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 29. Those who were not selected last year are encouraged to reapply with updated career info.
The grant is offered in memory of the stepfather and lifelong role model of Rich Germosen, FAPR, RDR, CRR, Eligio Antonio Rosario, Sr. The concept behind this grant emanated from Germosen’s quest for speed, accuracy, and professional development. His focus was complemented by Patricia Graves, FAPR, RDR, CRR, CRC, and her passion to serve people with hearing loss and nonnative English speakers by providing CART services when needed. A Foundation fundraiser in Germosen’s stepfather’s memory provided the award’s seed money.
The inaugural Court to CART Grant winner in 2023 was Amy Doman, RMR, CRR, from Carmel, Ind. “The Court to CART Grant will provide me with opportunities I could not easily afford on my own,” said Doman. “I am determined to be an excellent CART provider in the next five years. This grant would help me access the tools and education to shorten that timeline tremendously.”
Applicants must be a current member of NCRA in good standing, hold a minimum RPR and preferably a realtime certification, and must be providing realtime services in the judicial setting among other criteria. Interested members must submit an application, a letter of recommendation, and an essay on the topic: Explain why you, as the applicant, want to change or expand your career path to include CART. What impact will your contributions make on CART captioning audiences that you will serve as well as the court reporting and captioning professions? Share your motivation to participate in CART training.
Full eligibility criteria and application details can be found here.
For more information on this and other Foundation scholarships, please contact Jill Parker Landsman at jlandsman@ncra.org.
