IDS-News: December 2012

PRESS RELEASE

December 4, 2012

New Beginnings for the National Youth Leadership Network in 2013

The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) is proud to announce some new beginnings in 2013: a new board of directors, a new team of volunteers, and a charge of bringing to life a new mission statement, a new vision statement, and a new theory of change through the organization's goals and priorities.

NYLN is a youth-driven, youth-led organization overseen by young adults with disabilities from around the country. NYLN's new board members, mentors, and volunteers represent an exciting new leadership team. "Our members are the core of our organization," shared Jessica Croner, NYLN President from Idaho. "We lead from experience, and we bring together a wealth of information and diversity through our board members and volunteers. There is no question that they are perfect for the job."

Please meet our 2013 board of directors:

Amy Doherty is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. She is currently a research assistant at Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, MA working to develop devices and technologies to help people with vision impairments. Amy is passionate about supporting people with disabilities to reach their full potential. She is part of the team of trainers for NYLN's Reap What You Sow: Harvesting Support Systems curriculum. In 2008, she served as the Chair of the National Council on Disability Youth Advisory Committee. In her spare time Amy enjoys traveling, knitting, and spending time with friends and family. Amy serves as the NYLN Vice President.

Jessica Croner graduated from Idaho State University in 2009 with a Bachelor degree in University Studies with an emphasis in Occupational Therapy. During her college years, Jessica became heavily involved in advocacy and Universal Design. Since graduation, she has worked with many state disability advocacy organizations. Two years ago, Jessica began working with NYLN as the coordinator for the state partnership in Idaho. She is serving as the NYLN President.

Andrew Collins is from Rhode Island. He plans on studying Sociology and Philosophy in college. He is also involved with helping to develop a chapter of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network in RI, and has written policy for special education. In the future, he would like to work in

Education Reform, though he is not sure what position this will lead him to. He is passionate about advocating for people with

disabilities, especially in education.In his free time, he likes to write books and obsessively drink tea.

Kathleen Downes is a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign studying community health and disability studies. She was born with cerebral palsy, and enjoys playing an active role in the disability community. Her interests include reading, writing, advocacy, and movies. She lives in Floral Park, New York with her parents and two sisters.

Laura Spoerl has done extensive youth advocacy work in the past. She was a founding member of WI's Youth Leadership Council, has been heavily and actively involved in WI's Youth Leadership Forum for many years, and is a board member for WI's Youth Leadership Forum. She is also a returning Governing Board member for the National Youth Leadership Network. Laura graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a B.A. in Psychology. She currently lives in Appleton, Wisconsin. Her next goal is to become a counselor and a health coach. She would also like to work with a non-profit group interacting with and serving youth of all kinds. In her free time she likes to cook, run, listen to music, and support local arts and community groups.

Staci Forrest is from Delaware. She is 22 years old and has a chronic illness. She is currently studying Special Education and Elementary Education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She is also pursuing a minor in Women's & Gender Studies. Locally, Staci serves on the Family SHADE (Support and Healthcare Alliance Delaware) Advisory Board as a voting member and executive officer. She also serves on the Education Work Group for the Delaware State Transition Task Force for Emerging Adults with Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs. At Kutztown, Staci is highly active within the Women's Center and the Disability Services Office. This year, she is completing a major independent research project focusing on body image and women with disabilities of all ages. Staci also participates in events and panel presentations sponsored by the Disability Services Office at Kutztown. In the future, Staci would like to focus on providing quality leadership education to girls and young women with disabilities. To learn more about Staci and her work, you can visit her website at http://missdisability.wordpress.com.

Roberto Cabrera is from California. Roberto was born Deaf and raised by Deaf parents. Roberto has lived and traveled up and down both the East and West coasts which has allowed for a diversity of cultures to have impacted him as an individual. This insight has provided a level of awareness about how cultural identity can impact others, as well. This experience has allowed him to provide workshops on social and cultural diversity. Roberto provides mental health workshops as well focusing on a wide variety of topics. In these workshops he share his own life experiences including living life as a Deaf person. Mental health counseling services are very limited in the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, so Roberto has been working with various local agencies not only to develop counseling service outreaches for the community but to spread mental health awareness throughout the community.

Leslie Weilbacher is from Oregon. She is a disability and service dog advocate. She co-founded the Willamette Valley Assistance Dog Club and Sunstone Service Dogs. She educates her area about the rights of people with disabilities and their service dogs. She wants to change the way the community thinks about expectations of and how they include people with disabilities. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA in Comparative Literature and a minor in German. Leslie lived in Germany with her first service dog. Leslie is blind and learning disabled.

Kylie Moore is 24 years old and lives in Roswell, Georgia. She graduated from Reinhardt University with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology. Her passion is advocating for individuals with disabilities. Currently, she works for a non-profit organization called Great Prospects, as a self- advocacy/life skills teacher. She also serves on the advisory board for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities. In June 2012, she completed a Fellowship for the Georgia Leadership in Education for Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities Program (GaLEND). As an avid sports fan, Kylie is actively involved in playing wheelchair sports. She looks forward to serving on the governing board of the National Youth Leadership Network.

Kevin Fritz has an extensive background in advocacy and disability empowerment. From a personal perspective, Kevin has a severe physical disability and overcomes difficult situations daily. It was always a central goal for Kevin to live independently; and in defiance of all expectations, when he turned 18 he moved away from his home in Pennsylvania to attend college in Illinois. The process was confusing and met with many challenges, but Kevin succeeded and has lived independently for the past seven years. Having accomplished such a goal, Kevin became energized by the potential of working with others to overcome obstacles. With this passion in mind, Kevin began to take on leadership roles in an effort to affect change in his community. In college at the University of Illinois, Kevin was the President of Delta Sigma Omicron (the only national service fraternity specifically dedicated to disability empowerment), Director of the Illinois Student Programming Board, and Senator and Chairman of the Illinois Student Senate. In each of these capacities, Kevin helped facilitate complex and large-scale events while all along breaking down barriers to access and inclusion for people with disabilities. In 2008, Kevin worked on Capitol Hill for then-Senator Barack Obama and gained a newfound interest in how policies and procedures impact society. From his time there, Kevin decided to take his passion for helping others to the next level and learn how to apply his interests to the law. Kevin is currently a third-year law student at Washington University in St. Louis. There he continues to be a leader and work with his community. Kevin serves as Primary Editor of the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy, is a Research Assistant, serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for his schools' Public Service Advisory Board, and is the Executive Director of Advocacy for the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities. During his first summer of law school, Kevin also had a rare opportunity to work for Commissioner Chai Feldblum of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. His experience with the Commissioner helped to solidify his practice niche. After graduation, Kevin will begin working at a large law firm in Chicago specializing in labor and employment defense. You can learn more about Kevin at www.kevinfritz.com.

Jessica Finkel is from Indianapolis, IN and is a 2012 graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH where she received her BS in Psychology. At Xavier, Jessica was on her school's Student Activities Council, where she strives to bring disability awareness to her events. She is now living in Gaithersburg, MD where she is the Development Associate at the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation, the national office that supports the community with her disability. She has always been passionate about advocating for disability rights and is grateful that she now gets to be a part of the foundation that has been a huge part of her life. In her free time, Jessica loves to spend time with her friends and family, cook, explore DC, and volunteer. Jessica is very excited to become a part of the NYLN board.

Deanna J. Rodriquez is a 21 year old youth from New York and a proud new member of the National Youth Leadership Network Governing Board. Previously she was a part of YOUTH POWER! It gave her the privilege to work along side youth and collaborate ideas and her artistic views. Youth leadership is a platform she take seriously, so she is a strong advocate for the youth. She is hoping that her creative ideas and strong views are heard and shared with the network, to provide advocacy and bonding among the community of youth.

Daria Bannerman is from North Carolina and is a senior at the University of North Carolina, at Pembroke. She is majoring in English, and minoring in creative writing. She has been part of cross-disability organizations since 2008, the first cross-disability organization she joined was Delta Sigma Omicron (DOS). This organization spreads awareness about disability on a college campus through recruitment and volunteer work. From this organization she learned about inclusion, communication, and accountability. She hopes to carry these skills over to NYLN.

Donald Washington lives in Hyde Park, MA. He has been involved in the disability movement for quite some time now. As an autistic individual, he knows what it is like to live with a disability and that is why he is passionate about the work that he does. Don has been working at Brigham and Women's Hospital as an Image Service Representative in the Department of Radiology for a decade now. When not working, he serves on the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council as a member. He was appointed in September of 2011. Along that time, He also participated in the Self-Advocacy Leadership Series, a nine-week program that taught a select group of individuals on topics such as self-advocacy, disability rights, and multiple acts and laws. Don is also a member of the Asperger's Association of New England, the Citizen Advisory Board, and the Central Office Diversity Committee. In the summer of 2012, he had the opportunity to be one of 15 individuals in the state of Massachusetts chosen to be peer leaders at the Easter Seals Youth Leadership Forum, in which he had the opportunity to learn about disability awareness from other professionals. It was during this same time that Don joined the Future Boston Alliance, a nonprofit group advocating for cultural growth and civic engagement to make Boston a better city. He is currently working on Missing Pieces, a photography project geared towards autism awareness and building community, making its debut in April 2013 for Autism Awareness Month. For more information, please contact MissingPiecesProject@gmail.com or visit missingpiecesproject.wordpress.com.

Yishai Barth is a 16-year-old, home-schooled, high school junior. He has taken college courses in Psychology, Sociology and Astronomy. He is currently taking a college-level tutorial in engineering psychology with a focus on assistive technology. Yishai was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Sensory Integration Disorder, two conditions that have led to his passion for disability advocacy, which he has been doing since he was 8 years old when he lobbied at the Texas state capital as part of The Arc of Texas, an agency of the national organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Most recently, Yishai has focused his energies on both advocacy for teens with disabilities and leadership issues. He is a co-researcher with Occupational Therapy Professor Jessica Kramer and five other teens working on a participatory action research project at Boston University to design a program to teach advocacy skills to teens with disabilities. He has attended a leadership training program through Camp Ramah of New England, two leadership advocacy summits at the B'nai Brith Youth Organization, and the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Leadership in Action National Summit, at which he learned a lot about political advocacy. He is involved with the local YMCA Youth and Government organization and is a member of the Massachusetts Forensics Debate League. Yishai is passionate about art, poetry, writing, leadership, advocacy, social change and philosophy. He lives in Gloucester,Massachusetts, with his father, who is a conservative Rabbi, his mother, a Harvard MBA who owns her own business, and his 13-year-old sister.

Shakeya Britton is from Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from Nyack College with a Bachelors of Science in Social Work. Her passion is advocating and becoming a positive role model for young people with disabilities. Shakeya is always looking for ways to live out her passion. She represented the United States in Mobility International USA (MIUSA), 2011 U.S./Spain: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Disability Rights Leadership Exchange Program. This life-changing experience allowed her to participate in workshops and discussions focused on disability rights laws, education, employment, media and strategies for disability rights leadership. She was able to use the information gained from the exchange program to facilitate a workshop to inform the Brooklyn residents about Spain's disability policies and encourage people to become advocates in their own communities. She is also the 2012 Harris Wofford Global Service Fellowship Recipient, which offers individuals with disabilities the unique opportunity to participate in an international volunteer program. She will be volunteering in Cape Town, South Africa in the summer of 2013. Shakeya looks forward to serving on the 2013 NYLN governing board.

Emily Hilliard is 16 years old and lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She is currently a Junior at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough. She is a member of the Key Club and the National Honors Society. Emily has Cerebral Palsy, which has led her to passion in disability advocacy. She first became involved in disability advocacy and rights in 2012 when she attended the Youth Leadership Forum for her state. She had so much fun there; she couldn't wait to look for more ways to further extend her passion for disability advocacy. Though research, Emily found the National Youth Leadership Network. In her free time she enjoys keeping up with camp friends, spending time outdoors and with family, and watching movies. Emily is excited to become a part of the NYLN and hopes to learn even more about disability history and advocacy.

Desiree Moore is a community leader who aspires to empower people with psychological and social issues, and encourage them to break free of labels and live life to the fullest. In 2010, Desiree was named Advocate of the Year by Families Together of New York State. She is currently employed by YOUTH POWER! as the Long Island Regional Youth Partner, making sure young peoples' perspectives are valued and heard. During her leisure time, she a student aspiring to become a social worker. She enjoys working on volunteer projects in her community and loves to spend time with her family and friends.

NYLN also made some updates to details that form an organization's identity: our mission statement, vision statement, and theory of change. These focal points are centered on supporting youth leadership, emphasizing full inclusion, and pushing new ways of thinking. To learn more about the mission, vision, and theory of change, visit our web page - www.nyln.org - and click on the link at the bottom, "Learn About NYLN's New Mission and Vision."

For more information, feel free to contact us at 1-866-480-6565 or betsy@nyln.org.

Mission Statement:

NYLN is dedicated to breaking isolation and building community through supporting youth with disabilities to reach their full potential.

Vision Statement:

We imagine a world where all youth live truly authentic lives, where we make our own decisions, and where we define who we are. We want to set and reach our own goals. As youth with disabilities, we want to grow in real ways through relationships and opportunities. Communities must embrace interdependence, the idea that all people need each other, and recognize its importance.

Theory of Change:

We are the experts of our own lives. As young people with disabilities, we believe a lot can happen when our voices are heard and when people know how we want and need to be supported.

We promote three methods of change:

• SUPPORT YOUTH LEADERSHIP. Bring youth into leadership roles and make sure they have what they need to be successful in these positions. We prioritize youth having roles of equal participation, equal responsibility, and equal decision-making power.

• EMPHASIZE FULL INCLUSION. Create a culture of accountability and inclusion. We want this culture for ourselves, for each other, for our communities, and for the systems that serve us. We build the capacity of our allies so that we can work alongside each other.

• PUSH NEW THINKING. Spark new ideas, new methods, and new forms of measuring success. Some of these topics include: media, interdependent support systems, disability, oppression, and self-determination.

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