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Council Chronicles, NACDD Newsletter |
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National and Local Coverage of Councils and Disability Issues
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"Community for All" Tool Kit Information
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Press Releases |
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MARYLAND -- Adult students with disabilities trained to become educational aides Danielle Oliver obtained her dream job in a child care center as an educational aide after completing training at Howard Community College that was specifically designed for people with cognitive developmental disabilities. This project was started with funds from from the Maryland DD Council and a grant from the Columbia foundation. The Arc of Howard County was also intimately involved with the program's development and implementation. To read more about this new training course, please click on the link below: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/30/AR2006123000863.html
WEST VIRGINIA -- Everyday Heroes Nine "everyday heroes," graduates of the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program of the Eastern Panhandle in West Virginia, volunteer their time to help children who have been abused and neglected. The West Virginia DD Council supports this important program that trains volunteers to work with teachers, counselors, the court and others to determine what each child needs and ultimately, to find each child a permanent home. To read more about this project, please click on the following link: http://www.journal-news.net/News/articles.asp?articleID=5826
IOWA -- Disabled voters are an important constituency Check out the op-ed piece below written by Iowa Executive Director Becky Harker about the importance of people with disabilities casting their votes and then view a .video clip of Senator Harkin quoting her letter on Fox 17 news. The link to the video is located in the blue bulletin board section of the ID Action home page, http://idaction.org under election day news coverage of polling place accessibility. (Be patient as the video may take several minutes to load.) The Des Moines Register recently published a letter by Becky Harker, Director of the Iowa Council on Developmental Disabilities and President of NACDD, about the importance of people with disabilities voting on November 7. A copy of the text of the letter is also included below. Amid the roar of political advertising and heated debates, the approaching midterm elections could cause increased cynicism regarding our individual roles in the outcome. As a historically underrepresented and overlooked population, the more than 400,000 voting-age Iowans with disabilities are among those who have questioned their contributions as voters in past elections. But times are changing and this group could soon become one of the state's most influential blocs. Funding from the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) has resulted in a marked increase in the physical accessibility of the state's polling places, and every Iowa precinct now offers voting machines that are fully accessible to people with a variety of disabilities. Voter turnout among the disability community increased by 11 percent in the 2004 presidential election, closing the gap between voters with disabilities and the general population to just four percentage points; Iowa elections officials attributed the state's high voter turnout to voting by Iowans with disabilities. In the 2006 midterm elections, voter turnout and absentee ballots will determine which party controls the U.S. House and Senate, the Iowa House and Senate and the Iowa governorship. Regardless of political party affiliation, the significance of individual responsibility and self-advocacy has never been stronger. Cast your vote on Nov. 7 to ensure your voice is heard. Becky Harker,
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| "Community
for All" Tool Kit: Resources for Supported Community Living
The "Community for All" Tool Kit provides the philosophy, policy and research rationale that promotes community supports and services for all people with disabilities. Also included are personal stories of people who have lived in institutions and resources such as information packets and fact sheets created by self-advocates to close institutions, a list of web sites of interest, a bibliography, and a CD-ROM of all documents included with the kit.
The Tool Kit is a collaborative effort of the following organizations: American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), The Arc of the United States, The Center on Human Policy, The Council on Quality and Leadership, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), The University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center on Community Living and TASH. The "Community for All" Tool Kit may be ordered from the Human Policy Press, Syracuse University for just $25 plus shipping: Order Form: click here for to open the pdf document Visit the Tool Kit web site at: http://thechp.syr.edu/toolkit/ |
| Press Releases
Computerworld Honors Program Recognizes State Government Reform Initiative and Digital Document Imaging Program The Minnesota Department of Human Services recently received an award from the International Computerworld Honors Program for its digital imaging project and for hiring people with developmental disabilities to do this work. The Metro Work Center, pioneers in this effort, worked with the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities to pilot a digital imaging project more than four years ago, demonstrating its success as a meaningful job for people wth developmental disabilities and a cost effective business solution. Please see the link to Computerworld's press release and the press release from Minnesota's Deptartment of Administration below for more information. Press Release from Minnesota's Department of Administration: For Immediate Release Contact: Jim Schwartz, (ST. PAUL) -- Minnesota has received two awards from the international Computerworld Honors Program for the statewide Drive to Excellence government reform initiative and for a Department of Human Services document-imaging program that employs people with developmental disabilities. The Drive to Excellence Transformation Roadmap is the strategy and initial action plan for implementing Governor Pawlenty's mandate for reforming the executive branch of state government. The Transformation Roadmap, announced in early 2005, includes 24 business cases (two have been completed and six are in progress) for change that would reduce overlap, redundancy and duplication in state government and improve how citizens access government services. Additional details are available online at www.excellence.state.mn.us. The Department of Human Services hired 16 Minnesota State Operated Community Services (MSOCS) clients for a project that converted more than 3.5 million paper documents into electronic files. The project's success has led to greater opportunities for employer and employee: Today, 16 workers fill two shifts, from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., at the agency's central document conversion center in St. Paul, and more than 10 million documents are now stored digitally in a virtual file. The inspiration for hiring MSOCS clients came from an earlier effort at the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, in which thousands of pages of information the organization was storing were converted to electronic files and posted on its web site (www.mnddc.org). For almost two decades, Computerworld Honors has acknowledged those individuals and organizations that have used information technology to benefit society. This year's Computerworld Honors Laureates were announced during the 18th Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony earlier this month in Washington, D.C. Additional information is available online at www.cwhonors.org/. Alliance for Full Participation Press Release |
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