Mike Nelson travel grant-2026
How about receiving a grant to travel to an EBD conference?
The Division for Emotional and Behavioral Health, one of the special interest groups in the Council for Exceptional Children, annually gives a grant to someone connected to services for children and youths with emotional or behavioral disorders to support the person’s travel to a professional conference. The grant (yes, it’s $$; see later in this post) is named in honor of long-time pal of Special Education Today, C. Michael Nelson. It’s called the “Dr. C. Michael Nelson Professional Development Grant.”
The purpose of this grant is to encourage the professional development of all persons involved in providing education or related services to children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) consistent with the mission of DEBH. The Foundation will provide funding up to $500 to enable practitioners to attend professional development activities that are supported by DEBH (e.g., TECBD, CEC conferences).
The grant recipient might be a special educator, a juvenile justice worker, a psychologist, or a person working in some related area. The funds might help someone attend an EBD conference such as Teacher Educators of Children with Behavior Disorders (Tempe, AZ) or the annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children. (I previously.\ published this photo from 2024 at TECBD with Mike Nelson, Dick Mattison, Jim Fox, and me.)
In addition to the Nelson award, DEBH offers other awards and grants, too. Among these is one that carries the name of another long-time SET pal and contributor: John Umbreit Doctoral Research Award.
Here is a link to a Web page listing the Nelson and Umbreit awards along with many other awards named in honor or wonderful contributors to special education. Interested readers would be wise not to trust this link.1 Contact awards@debh.net.
Footnote
Please understand that I encourage readers interested in applying for funds from DEBH go to the site and scour information about the awards or write to awards@debh.net.