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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Creating a Wider Vision for Youth Transition in CILs

CIL-NET Presents… A National Teleconference & Webinar:

December 14, 2016; 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern

Register online or by using the printable registration form (PDF).

Youth transition is a new required service of CILs under the “5th Core Service” of WIOA. But youth aren’t a service and “by and for youth” isn’t new to the Independent Living Movement. Join us on December 14th to take the mystery out of youth transition and learn how your CIL can excel at providing IL services to young people with disabilities in your community. Our presenters will explore the history of youth in IL, what it means to have youth as a target population for CILs, strategies for reaching youth and involving them in meaningful roles in your CIL, and how to plan for successful youth leadership and services.

Registration Fee: $75.00. Fee is per site (connection) and does not apply per participant; registrants are encouraged to gather as many individuals as desired to participate by telephone or webinar.

Target Audience

  • CIL Program Managers, IL Specialists, Youth Transition Facilitators, and any other staff members who work with youth with disabilities.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this webinar, participants will have knowledge and resources that will enable them to:

  • Describe the history of serving youth in CILs and how the requirement of the new 5th core service, which includes youth transition, makes youth a more formal targeted population.
  • Identify strategies and examples to develop and drive youth culture in CILs that include adapting existing programs.
  • Explain the importance of including youth in a significant role in the development, implementation, and delivery of services.
  • Describe helpful tools and resources available for centers to conduct strategic planning for youth services.

Meet Your Presenters

Kings Floyd is the HSC Youth Transitions Fellow for the National Council on Independent Living. She has been working with youth with disabilities for the last five years, interning in the IL sector at Alpha One in Maine and at several summer programs for people with disabilities. She enjoys nothing more than a good story and a bowl of spaghetti, but long walks on the beach are not really her thing.

Mary Olson has been the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for APRIL (Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living) for the past two years. Previously she worked at Summit Independent Living Center as the Peer Coordinator, where she co-taught a youth advocacy curriculum in the schools BALLS (Building Advocacy and Learning Leadership Skills), as well as co-facilitated a youth advocacy and social group YODA (Youth Opening Doors through Advocacy). She was an APRIL youth Peer Mentor for seven years, assisting several CILS across the country to start, trouble shoot, or grow their youth programs, as well as helping to plan and execute the APRIL youth conference as a volunteer. Mary has also volunteered with the Montana Youth Leadership Forum for the past eight years in many different roles. She received her Master’s in Social Work in 2014, during which time she also worked at the Rural Institute on Disability and Research as a Student Research Associate. She spent four years on the executive committee of the Montana SILC, two of which were spent as the chair. Her passion is youth and disability history and culture and ensuring the next generation has the tools and fire to empower themselves to make change to ensure that communities mean everyone.

Sierra Royster works at the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living as the Youth Programs Coordinator. She is able to work nationally to create bridges for gaps in the disability community and develop training tools and programs that will assist youth and young adults with disabilities to be included not only in their local community, but to the disability community at large. Sierra, with her experience as a person with a systemic disability and education in Recreational Therapy has worked with people of all ages and abilities. Previously to this position she worked in a Center for Independent Living facilitating school and community based programs to assist the transition process from youth to young adults. This included creating an interactive educational school program Teaming for Advocacy through Independent Living (TAIL), comprehensive, Healthy Advocacy Education Relationship Training (HEART), overseeing the local Youth Motivating Others through Voices of Experience (Youth MOVE), and the North Carolina Youth Leadership Forum (NCYLF). She has coordinated state and national level events and trainings for people with disabilities to continue to grow the next generation of Independent Living.

 

Presented by CIL-NET: A program of the IL-NET national training and technical assistance project for Centers for Independent Living (CIL-NET) and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILC-NET). The IL-NET is operated by ILRU, Independent Living Research Utilization, in partnership with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL).