Thursday, August 10, 2006

7:30 -
8:30 a.m.

Registration and Continental Breakfast

Salon 3

8:30 -
8:45 a.m.

General Session

Opening Remarks: Ophelia McLain

Salon 3

9:00 –
10:30 a.m.

Break Out Session I

Evaluation Reporting and Resources

[DIRECTORS/COORDINATORS TRACK]

Facilitator: Loretta Hobbs

Presenter: Iris E. Pettigrew, RN, MS, ScD, CPHQ, Director, Performance Improvement and Accreditation, VA Maryland Health Care System

Continuing the discussion of the data collection processes for ADD Youth Grantees, this session more deeply explores visual examples of actual reports and defines the kinds of data that should be included in each semi-annual report submitted by the Youth Grantees.

The Maze of Change

[YOUTH TRACK]

Facilitator: Valerie Reese

Presenters:

·       Rebecca Hare, BS, Project Coordinator, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD-Youth)

·       Marissa Johnson, BA, Director of Training, ADA and IT Information Center

The Maze of Change is a different type of team-building activity. It focuses on inclusion and team success as a result of each person’s success. Participants learn to deal with sudden changes, find new ways to handle new situations, and discover the importance of taking risks in new circumstances. This exercise reveals how learning can come from failure, and participants will learn that cooperation is essential in managing change.

Plaza 1

Plaza 2

10:30 a.m.

Morning Break

Salon 3

10:45 -
11:45 a.m.

Break Out Session II

Youth Service Practitioners: Growing a Profession

[DIRECTORS/COORDINATORS TRACK]

Facilitator: Melvenia Wright

Presenter: Curtis Richards, BA, Project Director, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD-Youth)

Youth Information Center staff is included in a much larger group of youth service practitioners (YSPs). Serving youth effectively calls for both general and specialized knowledge. Certain knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are necessary. This presentation will focus on KSAs for people working with youth with disabilities, and on how YSPs with the necessary KSAs can provide all youth with a greater variety of opportunities, resources, and services to help them reach their potential and move into adulthood and the world of work.

Speaking for Ourselves: The Importance of Disability Identity and Self-Advocacy in Youth Leadership Development

[YOUTH TRACK]

Facilitator: Shadetra Robinson

Presenters:

·       Amber Smock, Youth Leadership Coordinator, Youth Center for Youth, Information, Education and Leadership for Developmental Disabilities (YIELDD)

·       Jason English, Member, Advance Youth Leadership Power

Leadership development programs involve training youth on the history of disability laws and rights and on the legislative process by which a bill becomes a law. They also involve training in public speaking. Access Living’s YIELDD the Power Project teaches youth and emerging leaders that there is an entire community of proud people with disabilities who have gone before them, who will support them, and who will follow them. Using real-life scenarios, this session gives youth the tools to change issues in their own lives. What derives from this powerful effort is stronger enforcement of disability rights in the future.

Plaza 1

 Plaza 2

Noon –
2:00 p.m.

Working Lunch

Cultural Competency – Serving Unserved and Underserved Populations

Facilitator: Ophelia McLain

Presenter: Loretta Hobbs, MS, Facilitator, O’Neal-Hobbs Associates

Persons with disabilities are as diverse socially, economically, and ethnically as are people without disabilities. Across the country, the availability of services designed to assist people with disabilities varies from nonexistent, to adequate, to very comprehensive. This session explores the needs and perspectives of the unserved and underserved populations, and offers new thoughts on how cultural differences affect parental involvement and participation, access to technology, and youth successes and transition overall.

Salon 3

2:15 –
3:15 p.m.

General Session

Involving Parents: How to Be a Passenger Instead of the Driver

Facilitator: Loretta Hobbs

Presenters:

·       Jayne R. Chase, Director, Partners In Policymaking,

·       Josie Badger, Member, National Youth Leadership Network, (NYLN)

How to include parents while fostering and promoting the individual growth of youth and emerging leaders with disabilities can become a heated subject. Youth need to experience things on their own with the support that enables them to be independent. Parents must know their child will be safe and able to participate fully in all settings. Both presenters will bring two perspectives to this presentation: gaining one’s independence; and severing ties to enable and encourage a child to do more for himself or herself while remaining present enough to offer support.

Plaza 1 & 2

3:15 p.m.

Afternoon Break

Salon 3

3:30 –
4:30 p.m.

General Session

Transition Comes of Age: the Emerging Field of Transition

Facilitator: Gina Barbaro

Presenter: Curtis Richards, BA, Project Director, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD-Youth)

Adolescence and young adulthood are times of transition from the structured and protective environments of home and school to the unstructured, “fend for yourself” world of work and adult living. An awkward period in any young person’s life, transition is often a matter of moving from total dependence to self-sufficiency. In recent years, many federal and state agencies have placed an increasing emphasis on transition, with the intent of improving youth outcomes. This attention has given rise to a new national organization focused on transition issues – The National Alliance on Secondary Education and Transition (NASET). What is emerging is a new national agenda that goes beyond the efforts of individual groups and organizations, and instead supports joint efforts to assist youth with disabilities as they move into adulthood.

Plaza 1 & 2

4:30 p.m.

Closing Session

Closing Remarks and Announcements

Ophelia McLain

Salon 3

Friday, August 11, 2006

7:30 -
8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast

Salon 3

8:30 -
8:45 a.m.

General Session

Opening Remarks: Ophelia McLain, MS

Salon 3

9:00 - 9:45 a.m. 

Break Out Session III

Access to Information Technology and Website Development

[DIRECTORS/COORDINATORS TRACK]

Facilitator: Jennifer Johnson

Presenters:

·      Carlo Ignacio, BA, President & CEO StudioMetis, LLC, Bethesda, MD

·       Jonathan Lyn-Shue, BS, Technology Director, StudioMetis, LLC, Bethesda, MD

Accessing information technology and the Web can be a tremendous challenge for youth. Accessible technology is key to enhancing one’s life; it assists with learning and can help youth reach their goals and meet their full potential. Getting a program’s Website up and running also can be challenging. This presentation (1) focuses on the basics of what youth first need to learn and accomplish in their quest to access information technology, (2) looks at ways to make materials and Websites accessible, (3) considers the tools that are available, and (4) discusses how organizations can collaborate with other agencies to get their Websites working.

Mentoring 101: Everything Youth Need to Know About Mentoring but Were Afraid to Ask

[YOUTH TRACK]

Facilitator: Sara Newell

Presenters:

·      Rebecca Hare, BS, Project Coordinator, National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD-Youth)

·      Marissa Johnson, BA, Director of Training, ADA and IT Information Center

Mentoring is both a relationship and an activity. Like any relationship, it takes work; and like any activity, it takes time. NCLD/Youth will offer tips on how to find a mentor and how to build a positive mentoring relationship; will show what mentoring is and isn’t; and will discuss what can be gained by a mentor/mentee relationship. Presenters also will discuss what to do if a mentoring relationship isn’t a good fit, and how a young leader can seek multiple mentors for different parts of his or her life. A focus of this presentation will be on different strategies and activities that mentors and mentees can engage in to help mentees become stronger leaders, both inside and outside the disability community.

Plaza 1

 Plaza 2

10:00 – 10:45 a.m.

Transportation Panel

Introductions: Tracee Garner

Facilitator: Karen Wolf-Branigin, MSW, Training and Technical Assistance Manager, Easter Seals Project ACTION, Washington, DC

Panelists:

·      Theresa Cooper, Project Coordinator, South Los Angeles Youth and Young Adult Self Determination Center (SLAYD), Los Angeles, CA

·       Jeanette Doty, BS, Oklahoma Alliance for Youth (OKAY)

·       Joy Gordon, BA, Inclusion Research Institute,
Washington, DC

·      Michael Hoenig, MA, Adult Co-Director, Self-Advocacy and Leadership for Youth with Disabilities (SALYD), IA

Transportation is an issue for all people, no matter where they live. Rural areas have few or no resources and plenty of space between desired destinations and populated areas. Urban areas have complex transit systems that require a great deal of training and may be difficult for some youth to navigate. Our panelists will open a creative problem-solving dialogue to address obstacles and share successes in getting youth to trainings, events, and other agency-sponsored activities.

Salon 3

10:45 a.m.

Morning Break

Salon 3

11:00 –
12:15 p.m.

Break Out Session IV

Media Advocacy: Using the Media to Accomplish Your Policy Goals?

[DIRECTORS/COORDINATORS TRACK]

Facilitator: Loretta Hobbs, MS

Presenter: Anne Marie O’Keefe, PhD, JD, Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Morgan State University School of Public Health and Policy

During this session, you will learn how to define your desired marketing results, and how to establish and improve media relations. This knowledge will enable you to use the media to accomplish your policy goals.

Reach Out! Believe Us, It’s Worth It!

[YOUTH TRACK]

Facilitator: Shadetra Robinson

Presenter: Michael Hoenig, BA, Adult Co-Director, Self-Advocacy and Leadership for Youth with Disabilities (SALYD) and Nichole Goble, Youth Co-Director, Self-Advocacy and Leadership for Youth with Disabilities (SALYD)

Developing collaborations and partnerships can be a huge factor in any organization’s success. Using their own organization as an example, presenters from SALYD will show participants how they identified partners and how the role of those partners has changed from one of support to one of collaboration. Using multimedia (audio clips from radio spots and video clips from Iowa’s Youth Leadership Forum/College Leadership Forum), the presenters will give concrete examples of the direct impact that SALYD’s outreach has had on Iowa youth with disabilities and their supporters.

 Plaza 1

 Plaza 2

12:15 –
2:15 p.m.

Working Lunch

Facilitator: Tracee Garner

Presenters: Emerging Leaders

Report Out

Salon 3

2:15 p.m.

Closing Remarks:

·        Patricia Morrissey, PhD

·        Ophelia McLain, MS

Salon 3

2:30 p.m.

Adjourn