News

Table of Contents | Return to Main Newsletter Page

The Florida Grantor, Summer 2004

Footnotes

Governor Appoints Able Trust Vice President of Grant Programs to the Blue Ribbon Task Force

Guenevere Crum, Vice President of Grant Programs for The Able Trust, was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Inclusive Community Living, Transition and Employment of Persons with Developmental Disa-bilities.

The purpose of the Blue Ribbon Task Force is to develop a plan of action for expanding and improving inclusive community living options for individuals with disabilities, coord-inate the provision of transition services statewide for students with disabilities who are leaving school and work on improving employment opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Crum is one of 15 individuals rep-resenting the disability community on the Blue Ribbon Task Force. If you have input regarding the Blue Ribbon Task Force, please log on to www.dcf.state.fl.us/apd

Website Provides Increased Opportunities

The Youth to Work Coalition (YWC) is a collaborative effort between agencies, nonprofit organizations, corporations and foundations to create internships and mentoring programs for high school students with disabilities. The National Center for Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) has developed and now hosts the YWC website. The website provides access for students with disabilities and businesses that want to enhance or start a program. For more information, visit www.ncset.org/youthtowork/.

Pathways and Partnerships Conference

Scheduled for Sep. 17-18, 2004, the 6th Annual Pathways and Partnerships Conference entitled “Exploring the Possibilities” will be held in Tampa at the Embassy Suites Hotel, USF. The transition conference and family forum on accessing community services will feature sessions in employment assistance, the Medicaid waiver program and advocacy.

Students with disabilities, school staff who work with disability classes, individuals and their families and advocacy groups are encouraged to attend. This regional conference is free, but you must register.

The conference is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities and the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, Inc.

To register for the conference or for more information please contact Millie Bucy at (813) 837-7732, email Mildred.Bucy@sdhc.k12.fl.us or visit www.fddc.org.

Disney Celebrates All Americans

America’s Heart and Soul, a docu-mentary released July 2 by Walt Disney Pictures, features real Ameri-cans to describe the spirit of our nation. Filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg traveled around the U.S. to find every-day Americans with extraordinary stories.

America’s Heart and Soul features blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer, visionary artist Dan Klennert and Boston Marathoners Rick and Dick Hoyt, among others. To preview a trailer, movie clips or for more information, visit http://americasheartandsoul.com.

Job Accommodation Network Holds Annual Symposium

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) will hold its symposium, Charting the Course: Accommodating and Employing People with Disabilities, on September 20-21 in Orlando. The symposium will cover topics like recruiting, hiring, retaining, pro-moting and accommodating people with disabilities, successful and cost-effective accommodations and information on the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more information, visit http://symposium.jan.wvu.edu or e-mail symposium@jan.wvu.edu.