Youth Advisory Committee Summary Minutes – January 23, 2007

The Designated Federal Official (DFO), Dr. Gerrie Hawkins, called the meeting to order. Mr. Marco Rodriguez, NCD Council Member/Liaison to YAC, provided a warm welcome and complimented committee on its work.

Procedural Summary: 

The DFO reviewed the agenda and transferred meeting leadership to Stephanie Orlando, YAC Chair. The Executive team drafted a letter to NCD Council members seeking their input and more interaction including YAC projects and meetings; that letter was submitted to the DFO for edits and inclusion with the material the members will receive for their next public meeting. Outreach and networking leader Michael Murray summarized plans to look at issues facing youth with disabilities, ways the YAC could outreach to youth with disabilities, and how could NCD products be made more accessible to youth with disabilities. Gary Goosman, YAC Vice Chair proposed By-laws changes including processes already used for YAC elections, specific definitions for workgroups and workgroup officers, the approval of YAC documents, and a section covering mentors and their roles. By unanimous vote, the changes were approved.

Policy Summary:

Based on input from the Executive team, Andrew Phillips reported that the Policy Workgroup continues to revise the YAC paper "A Perspective from Youth with Disabilities on Benefits in a World of Employment." Additional comments are needed from the full YAC. Betsy Valnes reminded members please respond to the policy workgroup’s guiding questions. Next, the YAC Chair Stephanie Orlando reviewed the changes to the brochure that have been made to make the document more general including the removal of date sensitive information.  Stephanie next discussed the options available to the YAC regarding the slogan on the brochure, which included finding a new slogan, having no slogan, or keeping the current slogan with a citation to the original source.  A discussion occurred regarding the slogan; “The youth voice to the National Council on Disability” was suggested and agreement on this idea was voiced by all. A motion was made to adopt the YAC brochure with the changes to the workgroup section, slogan, link introduction and any technical edits the DFO requests.  The motion was unanimously approved.

Announcements/Comments: 

• YAC officers (Stephanie Orlando, Gary Goosman, and Reagan Lynch) and former YAC officers (Isaac Huff, Thomas McKeithan, and Miranda Pelikan) are advising planners of a Smithsonian Institute IDEA 2007 celebration’s school transition module. The interactive event for students in the metropolitan DC, Virginia and Maryland areas also include former YAC officers Rebecca Hare (National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, Institute for Educational Leadership) and Betsy Valnes (Executive Director, National Youth Leadership Network) in project advisory roles.
• Betsy also provided information to members about an opportunity to participate in a July 2007 conference sponsored by the Department of Transportation.
• Jeff Rosen, NCD General Counsel, provided supporting comments to the YAC and encouraged the YAC to contact him if he can be of any assistance.

The DFO declared the adjournment of the meeting until April 24, 2007.