National Council on Disability
Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
November 18, 2005 – Record of Public Meeting (Teleconference)–3:00 PM EST
(Notes from the YAC Secretary aided preparation of this meeting record)
The Youth Advisory Committee public meeting for today, November 18 2005 was called to order at 3:03 pm Eastern Standard Time by the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Gerrie Drake Hawkins, Ph.D. Based on roll call and recognition of guests, the participants in this call included YAC members: Jennifer Fitz-Roy, Desmeon Thomas, Michael Murray, Matthew Cavedon, Gary Goosman, Stephanie Orlando, Reagan Lynch, Gina Semenza, Miranda Pelikan, Andrew Phillips, and Amy Litzinger. Guests on the call: former YAC members, Isaac Huff (former chair) and Thomas L. McKeithen, II (a charter member, former Vice Chair); and NCD staff interpreter, Pam O’Leary, along with the DFO (Dr. Hawkins) and NCD’s General Counsel/Director of Policy, Jeff Rosen.
3. Introduction of Members
Gina YAC chair: from Los Angeles, works in politics and one issue area she’s passionate about is health care.
Miranda YAC secretary: from Michigan, 4 year student in college and area of passion is employment and empowerment of youth with disabilities.
Amy YAC vice chair: from Austin TX, senior in high school, passionate about keeping people with disabilities out of institutions and in community.
Jennifer: from MA area of passion is health care, transition, youth with disabilities
Michael: from NC is a special education major, senior this year at college, area passionate about is higher education
Matthew: from CT is a high school student with motivation to encourage other people with disabilities to do great work
Desmeon: from MS is a planning to enter college, advocates for raising disability awareness Reagan: from TX is a political science major nearing completion of his degree, is passionate about education, transportation, and voting.
Gary: from MI, is a 4 year student in college majoring in business economics and is passionate about is higher education and accessibility issues and resolutions
Stephanie: from NY, is a college graduate working with youth and families and her passionate includes youth employment and keeping youth in the community as opposed to institutions.
Andrew: from CA, completing his college senior year is passionate about meeting accessibility needs.
4. Business Items: When the DFO transferred meeting leadership to the YAC Chair, Gina Semenza welcomed everyone. Ms. Semenza acclaimed “It’s amazing the people that we have on the YAC and it’s going to be a great year!!”
Agenda Review - The DFO was asked to recap the approved meeting agenda.
Meeting purpose - The YAC chair indicated that the goals of the meeting included: to introduce new and continuing members, and to review NCD's purpose, role, membership composition, and work priorities.
NCD Work Priorities - General Counsel/Director of Policy, Jeff Rosen provided brief comments, as requested. On behalf of NCD, he indicated looking forward to a productive year with YAC, supporting empowerment, and keeping communication open. NCD appreciates opportunity to work with youth and young adults. Mr. Rosen also commented about the great back grounds and experiences this cohort brings to YAC and NCD’s efforts. Regarding the fiscal year 2006 for NCD, Mr. Rosen spoke briefly about some of the projects and studies that are ongoing or new, including:
The ADA implementation study as follow-up and expansion of NCD’s previous work on legal interpretations impacting people with disabilities, (recent Supreme Court decisions). The new work will look at implication of the ADA on people with disabilities lives and ways to help the ADA to become more of a reality, including necessary federal agency help
Employment study that is the second in a series after the Social Security report focused on the administration of public benefit programs and services; among many concerns is that an estimated 80% of people with disabilities who leave high school go on SSI, while only 1% leaves the roles over their lifetime due to many barriers and challenges.
Financial Incentives study will look at an array of factors that impact opportunities for community-based living, including options for employment and full integration into society with necessary supports and services available in the community environment, rather than in institutional settings.
Educational Outcomes study and a disability statistics study will be launched this year as well.
While data show some opportunities in higher education expanding--there is a growth in the number of people with disabilities going to college, the higher education institutions are not prepared to handle this increase. NCD looks forward to the YAC determining how and where to provide youth perspectives within this work. NCD staff is here to support the committee to the greatest extent that we can reasonably do so.
5. YAC Current Business Executive Report: - YAC Chair
Committee’s Overall Purpose: The YAC referred members to the information received in their Welcome Packets for review of the committee’s purpose and the By-laws. The primary role of YAC is to provide youth perspectives to NCD regarding topics, issues impacting the lives of youth with disabilities. Active involvement in the committee’s efforts will be expected. Ms. Semenza emphasized the information about the number of missed meeting that can jeopardize continued membership. Communication with respect to reasonable excused absence in advance of meetings must be maintained. The Chari also challenged and enthusiastically encouraged the member to get excited about the opportunity for serving at the national level.
The YAC Vision: To provide awareness to NCD about youth perspectives. Ground rules for positive working relationships among YAC members include recognition of: No hierarchy, all members are equal without regard to age, time served on YAC, etc. Everyone in YAC is a great resource. Communication is very important, feel free to ask the leaders (Gina, Amy or Miranda) anything!!! They meet every Tuesday night and in turn, Gina and Dr. Hawkins communicate frequently via phone and e-mail. Keep in mind that a youth presence in policymaking is unique and valuable.
Policy Workgroup - Presented by Amy Litzinger, YAC Vice Chair - The purpose of the workgroup has been seen as that of leadership for providing a pool of information that YAC can give to NCD. A main goal is to bring info to rest of group to use to our advantage. Development of a vision statement is the discretion of the new workgroup members. Leadership assistance will be made available beginning with a 6-month mentorship. The themes of self-determination and internal awareness-raising may be carryover topics, as well as consideration of the school transition idea. At some period, the members may be interested in spending some quality time that focuses on internal awareness raising for the full group—such as talks with selected guest speakers During a brief question and answer period, the discussion included, but was not limited to survey versus the use of guiding questions: the status of the transition paper begun by a previous YAC cohort and flexibility for the current members in making a determination about whether to continue or begin different areas of work;
Outreach & Networking Group- Miranda Pelikan presented info about implementing some outreach efforts to call attention to topics and issues pertaining to youth with disabilities. Activities have included: Keeping a list of organizations or groups interested in youth issues, including youth with disabilities; maintaining contact with past YAC members. Ideas for future consideration were: reaching out side of the disability community for work on common goals; helping with awareness of disability issues; making efforts to include underserved, underserved populations; addressing the concept of coalition building; examining outcomes/results of YAC strategies; and calling attention to ways that bridge gaps for youth involvement in policy making opportunities
6. Announcements and Comments
Michael Murray commented that he is very excited about this opportunity!!!
The DFO commented that NCD Council Member Liaison, Mr. Marco Rodriguez not on the phone today because he was called away for work. He has been supportive of youth leadership opportunities and is very sorry that he could not make this phone call.
YAC chair requested that workgroups have at least one procedural call before the next public meeting.
A schedule of all FY2006 public meetings can be access on the website. The next public meeting is January 20, 2006 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.
7. Adjournment: The DFO adjourned today’s meeting at 4:12 PM Eastern Time |
