National Council on Disability Quarterly Meeting
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa
Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico
April 13-15, 2004

Members
Lex Frieden, Chairperson
Pat Pound, First Vice Chairperson
Glenn Anderson, Second Vice Chairperson
Milton Aponte
Robert R. Davila, Ph.D.
Barbara Gillcrist
Joel I. Kahn, Ph.D.
Young Woo Kang, Ph.D.
Kathleen Martinez
Carol Novak
Anne Rader
Marco Rodriguez
David Wenzel
Linda Wetters

Absent
Graham Hill

Staff
Ethel D. Briggs, Executive Director
Mark S. Quigley, Director of Communications
Martin S. Gould, Ed.D., Senior Research Specialist
Allan Holland, Chief Financial Officer
Gerrie Hawkins, Ph.D., Program Specialist
Joan Durocher, Attorney Advisor
Carla Nelson, Office Automation Clerk

Guests
Althea McLuckie
Samuel T. Bautista, VSA Arts of New Mexico
Tony Fragus, VSA Arts of New Mexico
Vedona A. Pino, New Vistas/AIVRP
Mary Beresford, New Mexico Commission on Disability
Lucy Phillips, Albuquerque Indian Hospital
Jessie Kerr, Department of Health
Joe Hall, Kirkland Air Force Base
Bernadette LeRouge, Developmental Disability Planning Council
Ramon Rodriguez, U.S. Department of Educations/OSERS/OSEP
Sharon F. Martinez, Santa Fe Indian Hospital
Manic C. Toye, Albuquerque Indian Hospital
Trish Ballenger, New Mexico Children’s Medical Services
Ed Brown, Spinal Cord Injury Center, Veterans Administration Hospital, Albuquerque, NM
Sharon Martinez, Indian Health Services, Santa Fe, NM
Marie Toya, Albuquerque, NM Indian Hospital

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Call to Ordert
Chairperson Frieden called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

Acceptance of the Agenda
Motion 1
Ms. Martinez moved to accept the agenda as presented. Passed.

Introductions/Public Comments
Mr. Frieden asked NCD members, staff, and guests to introduce themselves.

Approval of Minutes
Motion 2
Ms. Pound moved to accept the minutes of the February 2004 quarterly meeting. Passed.

Chairperson's Report
Mr. Frieden stated that he is very pleased by the productivity of this Council. He stated that each member has worked harder collectively than any Council that he has been involved with.

Mr. Frieden stated that members have for the last two weeks represented NCD by submitting testimony before the U.S. Senate. He stated that Ms. Novak submitted testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives and Ms. Martinez submitted testimony to the House Human Rights Caucus. He said that members of this Council have been engaged in leadership in a variety of ways

Mr. Frieden commended Ms. Pound on her astute reading on all reports as well as the comments and feedback that is provided to staff. In addition, she provides leadership to him and the other members of the Executive Committee. Mr. Frieden extended his appreciation to Ms. Pound for chairing the meetings on his behalf.

Mr. Frieden commended Mr. Aponte for his warm hospitality as host to the February NCD meeting in Florida and his possibly getting a donation from the Microsoft Corporation to help in cosponsoring the NCD/ADA event in July.

Mr. Frieden stated that he had the opportunity to speak at an anniversary celebration of the passage of the Civil Rights Act which was held at the University of Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson Library. He said that a number of individuals spoke from different perspectives and he had the opportunity to speak on the panel with the leader of an Asian Pacific organization. He said that she understood that people with disabilities who are also members of cultural diverse groups are people who face compounded discrimination and challenges.

Mr. Frieden stated that Dr. Kang’s leadership with Asian and Pacific groups has helped teach individuals who are not disabled to work in different venues.

Mr. Frieden stated that in the last several weeks the NCD staff has submitted to the members a memorandum asking who would represent us on a major national group that is studying vocational rehabilitation. Several members volunteered to represent NCD. However, he has appointed Ms. Rader to represent NCD. Ms. Rader is NCD’s housing expert.

Mr. Frieden stated that Mr. Hill is greatly involved in the transportation legislation that comes before the U.S. House of Representatives and he was recently responsible for a large transportation bill which was almost passed unanimously.

Mr. Frieden stated that there has been recent success in meeting with ADA groups in Washington, DC, and Dr. Davila has been a great leader for NCD’s ADA initiatives in that regard. Mr. Frieden stated that many individuals from the disability community have congratulated NCD on its outreach.

Mr. Frieden indicated that Dr. Anderson is the team leader for the Progress Report and has agreed to take the leadership on NCD’s second planning session during this meeting.

Mr. Frieden commended Mr. Wenzel on his work with the Finance Committee and Mr. Holland’s staff support. He said that NCD may be a small agency, but it has just as much responsibility in terms of managing resources as that of the Department of Defense. He added that NCD has as many reports to provide as agencies at the cabinet level which involves a lot of effort and oversight.

Mr. Frieden stated that NCD has the good fortune of having Dr. Kahn as a member when there is a need for things to be sorted out and a clear concise plan developed. Mr. Frieden stated that Dr. Kahn is one who can put things together for NCD. He is lending his expertise to the Universal Design Study. He commended Dr. Kahn’s work with Procter & Gamble and the support they have given NCD for the upcoming ADA celebration.

Mr. Frieden stated that Ms. Wetters is one who has a good understanding of the administrative challenges that people face who are actually working in the community serving people with disabilities. Ms. Wetters has applied her knowledge and experience to every report that NCD has completed so far. She has managed to catch the area of vocational rehabilitation, particularly social security, a number of opportunities for us to improve our reports and to be more meaningful in what we send forward which is very important.

Mr. Frieden commended Mr. Rodriguez for his outstanding work with the Youth Advisory Committee. Mr. Frieden said that Mr. Rodriguez serves as a role model to the youth on what they too can accomplish.

Mr. Frieden gave a special thanks to Ms. Gillcrist for her work on the Finance Committee and her leadership on the NCD/ADA July 24 Planning Committee as well as serving as hostess for the April Quarterly Meeting. She recommended this great location for the meeting.

(Note: Members applauded.)

Mr. Frieden stated that he believes this Council to be in total one of the strongest groups individually as well as collectively that he has had the opportunity to observe as well as work with.

Executive Committee Report
Ms. Pound reported that most items that the Executive Committee has dealt with, Council members have seen the outcomes. Items such as the adoption of reports, dates related to the audit, and meetings as they related to doing a grid of a planning type session. She stated that the committee has worked on trying to continue NCD’s business in relation to reports and to manage the financial business of NCD and the planning of this Council meeting.

Ms. Pound expressed appreciation to Council members that were not Executive Committee members for joining in on meeting for a specific cause which was very helpful.

Executive Director's Report
Ms. Briggs stated that she wanted to recognize Ms. Gillcrist for her yeoman’s job in locating the hotel for this meeting. She stated that Ms. Gillcrist met with hotel staff. She and her husband stayed at this hotel at their own expense to really get a first hand look at the service and the accessibility. (Note: Members applauded.)

Ms. Briggs indicated that Mr. Rosen was unable to be at the meeting. He had to undergo surgery for another leg injury. Ms. Carroll did not attend because her husband is very ill and she did not want to be too far away from home.

Ms. Briggs stated that the midyear informal staff evaluations have been completed. She added that an update step-by-step workplan has been included in NCD members’ notebooks as well as the members handbook.

Ms. Briggs stated that there may be additional items that need added to the handbook from time-to-time. The handbook should be considered a work in progress. The items may change depending upon changes in federal laws, policies and regulations. Ms. Briggs reviewed the items included in the handbook and asked if there were any questions.

Ms. Briggs added that the staff descriptions and the internal communications plan were e-mailed to all members. She asked if there were any questions regarding the items.

Policy Update
Ms. Briggs indicated that Mr. Rosen included the legislative report in the meeting notebooks and suggested that members read the update on the current legislation.

Public Relations Update
Mr. Quigley reported that he is now receiving Burrelle’s monthly clipping report. During the month of March, daily newspapers, consumer magazines, trade magazines, and journals had articles that mention NCD. The total circulation reached was more than 1 million in March alone.

Mr. Quigley stated that NCD has a new patriotic Web site in red, white, and blue. An Intranet site has been added where members and staff have access through the use of a user name and password. Information will be posted on this site instead of sending numerous e-mails. He stated that draft reports will be included. The ethics primer, list of committee team members, as well as the draft report on improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities have already been posted.

Mr. Quigley stated that a 2004 NCD project management summary has been included, which reflects review dates and targeted completion dates for all NCD reports.

Mr. Quigley said he is NCD’s Federal Advisory Committee Act Management Officer. He said that the International Watch Committee expires October 1, 2004, and noted that NCD members must inform the designated federal official whether or not they would like to continue that committee. The Cultural Diversity Committee expires January 16, 2005; the Youth Committee expires October 23, 2005. He said that all committees have a two-year life. If they are not renewed within those two years, they will be terminated by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the agency that oversees all federal advisory committees. Additionally, GSA will terminate committees that have no activity.

Mr. Quigley reported that the July 24 ADA NCD event to be held at the Kennedy Center is on schedule and have received pledges in total of $21,820. According to TIRR Foundation, they have estimated that NCD has received $6,625 in cash applied to those pledges.

Mr. Quigley commented on NCD efforts to raise funds for the July 24 event, mentioning the outstanding efforts of Bob Davila, Milton Aponte, Joel Kahn, and other NCD members.

Mr. Quigley mentioned that the Government Printing Office (GPO) had back orders for 300 copies of the Native American Toolkit publication. GPO would be reprinting the document at no expense to NCD.

Finance Committee Report
Mr. Wenzel stated as of March, NCD is half way through FY ’04 and is moving toward FY ’05 which begins October 1, 2004. He stated that NCD will be conducting a planning session over the next two days in which priorities will be discussed determining what they will be sending to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as far as NCD’s FY 2006 budget justification.

Mr. Wenzel stated that the agency’s budget is approximately $3 million, with a slight increase, but generally over the last several years it has stayed at $3 million.

Mr. Wenzel stated that more funds have been provided for programming due to NCD’s small increase from Congress and the reduction of spending in other budget categories.

Mr. Wenzel stated although NCD has a budget of $3 million, we have only spent $1,264,000, which is very good.

Mr. Holland stated that NCD is undergoing its 2003 audit and the report is slightly under schedule due to the lack of information that should have been submitted from GSA. He stated that the agency is looking very good in its audit and should receive a clean opinion.

He stated that he hopes to receive a draft copy of the report within two weeks.

Mr. Holland stated that the auditors submitted to him an email prior to NCD meeting and promised a draft to follow. He will submit the draft to NCD members via email to get their feedback and than finalize it.

Mr. Holland stated he hopes to have a final report for NCD to vote on it. This may be done by e-mail. He stated that it will be a good report for the agency this year which will help NCD in requesting more funding when it goes before Congress.

Team Reports
Progress Report
Dr. Anderson reported that this is the first time that the team concept has been used for the progress report. In the past, NCD has received the progress report after completion or close to the end. Now, there is a chapter-by-chapter review being done on the progress report. The chapters on education and civil rights have been completed. He said federal responses have been very good.

Dr. Anderson stated that the team has asked agencies to update past NCD report recommendations. Feedback has been received from the Department of Education, the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He stated the team is also expecting to receive responses from the Departments of Health and Human Service and State.

Dr. Anderson stated in June the team expects to review the next chapters and than would look for input from the full Council. He stated that the team would like for NCD members to be involved in the development of the progress report as we continue working.

Universal Design
Dr. Kahn thanked Ms. Durocher for her staff support with universal design. He stated that the Universal Design Committee met and decided to sign a two-month, no-cost extension with the Georgia Tech Research Institute. This will enable them to address some of the problems the team initially had getting industry partners on our six devices that were being evaluated. The team is on track with the extended time line.

Dr. Kahn stated that there will be industry survey and user input results provided to NCD by the end of the month. He said that Georgia Tech wanted to conduct a survey, so NCD signed an adjustment to the contract that would make it absolutely clear that NCD is not requiring this user survey in the report. Since this survey is not a requirement by NCD, the survey will not need approval by OMB.

Dr. Kahn stated that the final report is due to NCD in June or July, and the release will be after NCD’s approval for publication. The team is hoping to have the report released in the Fall.

Health Reform
Ms. Novak stated that the health team has three research projects. She stated that the consumer-related health care research project from Boston University is coming to completion. She added they have assimilated copious amounts of research into something very coherent and useful.

Ms. Novak stated that livable communities report is coming along rather nicely and she is delighted that NCD has involved the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association, because it involves real people who can have a real impact in designing and building more livable communities.

Ms. Novak stated that NCD’s contract for the long-term services and supports research project was awarded to Mr. Michael Morris with the National Cooperative Bank Development Cooperation and its subcontractor the National Conference of State Legislators. She stated that this is a wonderful alliance because these are people who are knowledgeable about disability issues. They are very strong advocates for empowerment, self direction, and equal opportunity for people with disabilities that require long-term care support.

Ms. Novak stated that NCD has been involved with the National Conference of State Legislators which is important and that we been involved with different stakeholders to come up with something that is realistic as a result of the research.

Ms. Novak stated that she testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Medicaid long-term Care Reform and thanked Dr. Gould for his support.

Ms. Novak stated that she had received written questions from three senators that she wanted to share with NCD. She said that the questions were rather thoughtful and that she believes that the members of the Senate Finance Committee were very tuned into the issues and their interest was not at all patronizing. She felt that they genuinely wanted to know what NCD can do.

Ms. Novak reported those staff members of the Senate Finance Committee who were coordinating this hearing, specifically requested that NCD include as a part of their testimony, the mental health segment because they have received a lot of public input with regard to this.

ADA Team
Dr. Davila reported that there were two teleconferences from February through April. He stated that the first priority of the team was to continue writing the ADA project scope of work which $181,000 has been appropriated.

Dr. Davila stated that the team is in the process of releasing an RFP which will initiate the ADA impact study. The study will focus on how the ADA is actually impacting the lives of people with disabilities and will continue the studies derived from the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Dr. Davila stated that it is very important that the committee document how the ADA is creating positive and negative impact on the everyday lives of people with disabilities. It will help resolve issues in accommodations being made. We will need participation and involvement of many other groups and stakeholders, individuals, organizations, and people at the federal level, as it relates to the study.

Dr. Davila stated that it is important to have a comprehensive report completed and that the team feels comfortable and confident that the report represents the best knowledge and understanding of the situation.

Dr. Davila stated that the team is beginning a study on transportation needs for people with disabilities and how they are being met. He added they are currently not being met and NCD will focus on how they can extend transportation support to the under-served and in areas of the country where it is not being provided.

Dr. Davila stated that the team has contracted with the Disability Rights Education Defense Fund and Nelson Nygard, a consulting firm that will conduct the study which has several purposes. The study will identify the following:

• Best practices for providing transportation services for people with disabilities;
• Identify and discuss transportation and the problems presented to people with disabilities;
• Identify the promising best practices that are in place which would suggest possibly using the same approach in other areas of the country.

Dr. Davila said that the report will also include a list of recommendations for improving transportation services for people with disabilities. A comprehensive study must be conducted within the limited resources available. The study should be completed this summer.

Dr. Davila stated that the team suggested that the policy staff draft a letter to the Administration complimenting them for the continued support of the ADA and for promoting and continuing access promised to people with disabilities. He said that the Department of Justice was also complimented for its position on Tennessee v. Lane.

Employment Team
Ms. Wetters reported that the team has been very productive since the last NCD meeting and the RFP was issued for the Return-to-Work Employment Project.

Ms. Wetters stated that this particular project (Social Security) seeks in general terms to determine what is the issues that need to be addressed to make Social Security return-to-work programs more accessible to people and what collaborations and partnerships need to take place for it to happen.

Ms. Wetters stated that this project will overlap the other employment project but will give us a lot of information from people with disabilities in terms of Social Security and its impact on people with disabilities returning to work.

Ms. Wetters said that the project proposals are due on April 30. Ms. Wetters commended Council members and staff for their work on this committee. Ms. Wetters stated that we have received more than 40 RFP requests. The team hopes to get some very strong proposals.

Advisory Committee Reports
International Watch
Ms. Martinez thanked both Ms. Durocher and Mr. Rosen for their hard work on this advisory committee and preparing her for two major meetings last month, one being the presentation to the Congressional Rights Caucus. She stated that she was honored to be in the company of Mr. Thornburgh, Mr. Reich, and Mr. Rosenthal and to present on behalf of the Foundation’s convention.

Ms. Martinez reported that Mr. Rosenthal, Mr. Rosen, Ms. Durocher and she met with Administrator Natsios, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in which they discussed a number of issues regarding the inclusion of people with disabilities in international development. She stated that the committee was given adequate time to present information and recommendations from NCD’s international foreign assistance report. Ms. Martinez stated that the Administrator agreed to include disability in the preparation of the RFP for all USAID projects.

Ms. Martinez stated that the committee is working with Senator Harkin’s staff and a number of other congressional staff to move the agenda along on the activities that are occurring in Iraq. She said that USAID has until June to develop accessibility standards. A meeting was hosted by NCD and conducted by USAID to get community input on what standards would be used.

Ms. Martinez stated that the committee has had numerous teleconferences where they discussed the continuation of priorities and recommendations of the foreign assistance policy paper that was release last September.

Cultural Diversity
Mr. Aponte reported that this committee is one of NCD’s major priorities which recognize the fact that a tremendous amount of the United States population comprises diverse cultures.

Mr. Aponte stated that the committee had a teleconference April 7 and the members expressed their desire to continue with the committee and indicated that this is an area that is of great interest to the nation. He stated that people of diverse cultures want to be assured that the rights of people with disabilities are adequately addressed in all segments of the population.

Mr. Aponte stated that committee discussed and would like to address the issue that there is several nationwide organizations that defend civil rights of people. However, there is a lack of people with disabilities from diverse cultures in their programs and agenda.

Mr. Aponte stated that there will be new members that will be assigned to the committee. He said that he expects the membership to expand to twelve members. He said that there are certain segments of the population that is inadequately represented.

Youth
Mr. Rodriguez stated to Council members that there was a list of the 12 members of the Youth Advisory Committee listed in their notebooks and that there is ample representation from across the United States.

Mr. Rodriguez stated that Ms. Kim Borowicz has completed her internship of NCD. She did an excellent job working with the youth.

Mr. Rodriguez said that the committee plans to meet April 30. They are planning a face-to-face meeting in July in Washington, DC.

Educational Outcomes Paper
Dr. Davila stated that this is a very important project which has a specific time line. Currently the national focus is on how NCD can improve outcomes for all children, including children with disabilities. He stated that our concerns lie with school children and how children with disabilities will fit into this framework and that the national program is parallel with that of NCD.

Dr. Davila stated that the No Child Left Behind Program (NCLB) is raising the standard of outcomes for all children in education. He stated that there are no solutions for some of these issues on how NCLB standards will be applied to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Dr. Davila stated that for children and people who have disabilities the effort is to try to find answers to some of the questions and to prepare for continued study, research and education which will include stakeholders, practitioners and researchers.

Dr. Davila stated that individuals were interviewed nationwide. The committee conducted an extensive review of literature and gathering data. The purpose of the study was to build a good foundation for continuing research in the future as well as formulate new questions that will require continued study later.

Dr. Davila stated that the committee wants to improve retention and prevention of dropouts with young people with disabilities and improve the graduation rates and put together all the best practitioners and better practical information together across the nation so that all children with disabilities can benefit from best practice approaches.

Dr. Davila stated that the amount of effective research has not been very good and much more needs to be done. He stated that there are strategies that NCD is aware of that can be effective in promoting retention of children in schools that can lead to higher graduation rates. He stated that there are counseling services, reading remediation, tutoring, attentive supervision, monitoring, school clubs and extracurricular activities.

Dr. Davila indicated that students with disabilities need help when transitioning from elementary and high school to post secondary school.

Dr. Davila stated after finding best practices and information that works for this population, they are not carrying over to the transition process. Dr. Davila said the reason for the transitioning process is that there is teacher overload, conflict with other teacher responsibilities, and lack of administrative support.

Dr. Davila mentioned that we need to stay on course. Once the standards have been established, find the best possible way to help people with disabilities to reach those high standards. We want to build the capacity to make sure that children with disabilities have full benefit from all services, from education and from anything that is available to them. Teachers are provided with sufficient support and opportunities to learn how they can best serve this population to make them successful. He said that there are gaps in knowledge and ability levels of the children and the professional community and these gaps need to be filled to raise the standard to make education of this population better and to develop high quality teachers who are not trained properly. Better assessment tools need to be created as well.

Dr. Davila stated that we need to find ways in which we can implement and disseminate training across the nation.

Mr. Aponte stated experts have been consulted and studies reviewed; approximately 160 studies have been researched and looked at to arrive at some findings.

Mr. Aponte stated that the No Child Left Behind is moving the school systems nationwide to provide more services for people with disabilities. This impacts the schools and IDEA. IDEA basically relates to the objective that the student has to have an individualized plan and the schools try to implement that through the IEP process.

Mr. Aponte stated that the schools are supposed to allow students with disabilities to identify their needs and provide the necessary resources and support for students. The school system should be able to achieve the educational level that is needed.

Mr. Aponte stated that there are significant problems with the implementation of IDEA. Although there, is a federal mandate for school systems across the nation to provide education for children with disabilities with a free public education. The Federal Government has not fully funded IDEA. He stated that No Child Left Behind has focused more on testing and accountability.

Mr. Aponte stated that if children with disabilities have to follow the same ranking and testing process to comply with No Child Left Behind that they will not fair well. Many have problems with taking tests.

Mr. Aponte stated that the report tries to address adequately in its analysis both laws and will help each other compete and not adversely affect students with disabilities. There are some concerns from experts that some school systems are not adequately finding a way to play with the system. They do not include students with disabilities.

Mr. Aponte stated as a parent and a member of NCD, parents nationwide have a role to play to actively become involved in the day-to-day basis across the nation. Every parent of a child with a disability has a significant role through IDEA procedures that allows in what education the child can get.

Mr. Aponte stated that advocacy is recommended and the proponent should continue to be there for parents to continue to advocate on a regular basis and strengthen what IDEA provides as well as help the school system through No Child Left Behind because the accountability issue is very important.

Mr. Aponte stated that the report addresses and included recommendations and a final analysis that will support the idea that this entire process finding the school systems accountable to the education of our children. Children with disabilities should not be victims of the process because they are not going to be served equally as all children should. He stated that the school systems must address these issues. All organizations that advocate for students with disabilities should get involved in the process in terms of voicing the importance of seeing that no child with disabilities is left behind in the process.

After much discussion regarding the educational outcomes study, it was the consensus of the members to defer taking action on the report to Unfinished Business.

Recess
The meeting recessed at 12:00 noon.

Planning Session
The planning session convened at 1:30 P.M. Mr. Frieden opened the session by acknowledging Dr. Anderson, Ms. Briggs, Mr. Rosen, and Mr. Quigley who were the primary individuals working on this planning activity. He stated that a lot of the commentary from the Florida NCD meeting was taken into account as well as the experience from the March 2003 quarterly meeting.

Mr. Frieden stated that the session has been divided into three sections. He stated the goals and objectives that he hopes will stem from the sessions.

Mr. Frieden stated for the purpose of shaping NCD members’ expectations for this meeting he suggested the following objectives:

• Members and staff will better understand member and staff roles and functions which are vital to being a high performance team.

• Members and staff will discuss and resolve issues and concerns which may interfere with our goal of being a high performance team.

• Members and staff will approve our understanding of current priorities and will refine priorities as necessary.

• Members ad staff will review and better understand those NCD activities and priorities which are not discretionary.

• Members and staff will begin to analyze NCD’s workload and better understand the resources available to support our workload.

• Members and staff will actively generate and begin to align prospective priorities for FY 2006 and beyond.

• Members and staff will prepare for the next planning discussion which will occur at the July Council meeting.

Mr. Frieden stated in the past we have failed to keep Council members up-to-date with activities that NCD is engaged in. It has been done in the past in the form of a staff report, but planning is a dynamic process which needs to occur at all times. Therefore, in the future until decided otherwise, we will include a portion of our quarterly meeting agenda to planning review.

Mr. Frieden stated that NCD members discussed three items that they would like staff to do.
They are:

• Members Handbook

• Better communications to have a plan for communications that would include time lines, product dissemination, administrative due dates and so forth.

• A staffing plan which details the areas of responsibility of relative time and effort.

These documents have been completed and distributed to each of you. Mr. Frieden asked if there were any questions. Mr. Frieden stated that he felt the documents reflected good staff work. Some of the members commented on the handbook and thought it would be a helpful document.

Dr. Anderson facilitated the NCD planning session in which NCD members and staff engaged in dialogue regarding the areas of discussion that Chairperson Frieden mentioned earlier.

Dr. Anderson stated that the purpose for this afternoon’s session is to keep in mind future goals for FY 2006. Before focusing on those goals, we need to spend some time looking at ourselves and how we as a Council can function better.

Mr. Frieden stated NCD members want to accomplish a comfortable foundation for how to work together with and how to manage activities.

Recess
The meeting recessed at 5:00 p.m.

 Wednesday, April 14, 2004

The meeting convened at 9:00 a.m. with the continuation of the planning session. Dr. Anderson stated that we have the opportunity to help Council members become more familiar with FY ’04 and ’05 priorities. He stated that Mr. Quigley and Dr. Gould will be leading this morning’s discussion.

Dr. Gould stated the priorities and related policy initiatives that were developed. He said staff has communicated to NCD members and the public what NCD was doing in relationship to some of the national initiatives of the Administration and Congress.

Dr. Gould stated when developing policy initiatives and projects to relate to priorities that were identified in the first planning session, there were a couple of things staff kept in mind as they worked on each of the policy projects.

Dr. Gould stated that the staff is freshening up the policy approach, evaluation and research so that it is a bit original and unique in focus. Then, staff will design a scope of work to match some of the newness of the ideas. He stated that a more community oriented, real person approach will be used whenever possible which can be seen in our research on liveable communities.

Dr. Gould stated that the staff is looking at cross sector research policy analysis and not only at what the Federal Government is doing which is rather isolated but what is often done in conjunction with other sectors of society like business or industry. An example would be the Universal Design Study.

Dr. Gould stated that NCD has also recognized work would be intergovernmental which would be federal, states and local government’s work and involvement in different issues and policies. An example of that would be long-term services and supports, assisted living, homestead and other community-based services. The study is designed to take an in-depth look at five to seven regions or states to get more fine tuned and specific approach on how the issues and programs are playing out.

Dr. Gould stated that policy work is always designed or implemented with input from people with disabilities, whether they are NCD members, or contractors through the use of a consumer advisory board or through external reviewers. He stated that NCD members are always welcome to inquire and participate in as much of the ongoing policy initiatives regardless of their team assignments.

Dr. Gould reviewed each of NCD’s priorities as follows:

• Consumer-directed health care reform
• Long term service and supports
• Livable communities
• Homeland securities and emergency preparedness
• Social Security return-to-work study
• Transportation study
• ADA Impact Study
• Mediation project
• Cultural diversity
• Reauthorization laws
• Better data and graphics/better disability data
• Transition/improving educational outcomes project
• International issues
• Youth Advisory Committee
• NCD history project
• Annual audit report
• Annual progress report

Mr. Quigley reported on the communication plan which encompasses what NCD does and is a road map to get publicity which reaches our targeted audiences being the President, Congress, and people with disabilities.

Mr. Quigley stated that the communication plan is included in NCD members’ notebooks. He submitted an overview on how he conducts his media relations for NCD and the functions of his role as Director of Communications for the agency.

Mr. Quigley stated the targeted completion dates of Council publications are: (Note: This was presented on a chart).

• Progress report-June 11, 2004
• Livable communities-September 2004
• Consumer-directed health care study-May 2004
• Homeland security-September 2004
• Education outcomes-May 2004
• Social Security-May 2005
• Transportation-September 2004
• Universal design-July 30, 2004
• Long-term care-March 4, 2005
• CRIPA-April 2004
• ADA impact study-June 2005
• Cultural diversity toolkit-July 15, 2004
• NCD history-May 2004
• Audit report-April 2004
• Mediation project-April 2004

Dr. Gould reported that NCD members identified employment as one of the FY 2005 priorities. He said that the response so far has developed is to try to determine the nature of the employment related initiative work.

He stated that it could include a look at the economic benefits and incorporate a business advisory perspective for employment of people with disabilities.

Dr. Gould continued the second priority identified by NCD members were tax credits. The policy initiative could loosely be determined as a tax incentive, as study or analysis/research project. At the present time there is no team for this particular initiative, however one could be created or it could be associated with an existing team.

The third priority identified falls under the category of monitoring civil rights, identified as ADA and funded by additional congressional appropriations.

Dr. Gould stated that there will be some carry over FY2004 projects due to none completion. In addition, there are projects and activities that NCD will undertake which they have no control and this occurs when Congress insinuates NCD be part of a policy initiative, activity or piece of legislation. An example would be when Congress inserted a requirement that NCD evaluate the status of the impact of the Assistive Technology Act.

Recess
The meeting recessed at 12:00 noon.

Planing Session (continued)
Dr. Anderson reconvened the planning session at 1:30 p.m.

NCD members listed their priorities. Members prioritize their items by placing votes on yellow stickers as to what should have priority in a range from 1-10. Members voted on 10 items that they would like to see as priorities.

The votes were tabulated and announced. They were as follow:

• CDAC - 8 votes
• YAC - 8 votes
• International watch - 6 votes
• Demographics data - 6 votes
• Civil rights (strengthening) - 1 vote
• Employment initiative (including business enterprise and transition, best practices, training) - 4 votes
• Research, evaluating coordination (including cross-agency focus) - 4 votes
• Impact of terrorism - 5 votes
• Employment category 2 (focus in skills development and adult employment after age 18) - 8 votes
• Opportunities for leadership roles - 7 votes
• ADA impact study- 6 votes
• Healthcare reform initiatives - 3 votes
• Studies looking at principles of life’s success - 1 vote
• Foster care system - 4 votes
• Recreation/disability survey - 2 votes
• Employment category 3 (cabinet level) - 1 vote
• Impact of technology - 5 votes
• Literacy issues w/adults with disabilities - 2 votes
• Long-term needs for personal care attendants - 5 votes
• Tax credit issues - 11 votes
• Creation of a business advisory Council - 9 votes
• Education-related initiatives - 11 votes
• Interagency cooperation - 4 votes

Some of the areas were combined. Dr. Anderson reported that the top priorities are education-related initiatives, employment and the department of disability and coordination, research, cross agency and tax policy.

Mr. Frieden thanked the members and staff for their hard work. He stated he felt that NCD has identified priorities that will keep NCD busy. Staff will take the information back to the office and it will shape NCD’s FY 2006 research priorities. This information will be included in NCD’s FY 2006 budget request to OMB.

Unfinished Business
Mr. Frieden stated we still have some time left due to the members’ hard work during the planning session. He stated we have a couple items of unfinished business. Members agreed to cover unfinished business at this time.

Mr. Kahn indicated that he had an item for action that he would like to bring before the body.

Motion 3
Dr. Kahn moved that a joint ad hoc committee is responsible for making a decision around the timing of the release and how NCD reports and other documents should be released. The ad hoc committee would include the Chair, Executive Director and communications director. The team would have a say on whether they thought it was critical for the document to be released now or wait. Passed.

Motion 4
Ms. Martinez moved to accept NCD members’ handbook. Passed

Motion 5
Ms. Pound moved that NCD takes the option of making the education outcomes paper a white paper, taking in consideration comments that have been specified, incorporating them in the paper, release it, post it on the internet allowing it to be used in the reauthorization. Chairperson Frieden will appoint a committee (editorial) to help shape it. The team along with NCD Chair, Executive Director and Mr. Quigley will determine exactly when it is released. The full Council will be consulted in the process and in terms of the release and so forth. Passed.

Ms. Gillcrist stated that it has been difficult gathering funds for the July 24 celebration but worthwhile.

Mr. Frieden stated that NCD has collected enough money to host the ADA/NCD celebration. He said that there will be speakers, awards given and we will celebrate NCD’s 20 anniversary.

Motion 6
Mr. Aponte moved that NCD goes forward with the July 24 ADA/NCD celebration. Passed.

New Business
Ms. Briggs stated that the next NCD meeting will be held in Washington, DC at the end of October or in November.

Announcements
None.

Recess
Mr. Frieden asked if there was any further business to come before NCD. Seeing none, he recessed the meeting at 4:52 p.m. The Forum on Native Americans with disabilities will be held tomorrow morning.

Dr. Hawkins gave an overview of the forum activities.

 THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2004

Ms. Martinez opened the Forum on Native Americans with Disabilities at 9:15 a.m.
Mr. Frieden welcomed the visitors and thanked them for coming to participate in the forum. Representatives from the Native American community welcomed the members of NCD to New Mexico and shared with the members some of their concerns.

Individuals broke down into two small groups. The discussion groups were Group A: Education and Vocational Rehabilitation and Group B: Health Care and Independent Living. Group A moved to the Badger Room. After discussions in both groups on keys issues, the individuals reported back to the larger group. Proceedings from the forum will be developed by staff and sent to all of the forum participants.

Two short presentations were held. The first presentation was on a program for Native Americans who are interested in going into a small business. The title of this program is CAREERS and was presented by Denise Tierney, Project Director and other staff members of the program from the New Mexico State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. The second presentation was from Christopher Kirn, Equal Opportunity Specialist-Region VI, Office of Civil Rights, Department of Health and Human Services.

Public Comments
Several individuals presented their concerns to NCD. These concerns are on file in the NCD office.

Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at the completion of the public comments at 12:20 P.M.