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

Get to the Core of It: Best Practices in CIL Core Services – Systems Advocacy

CIL-NET Presents… A National Teleconference & Webinar

August 19, 2015; 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern

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

IL-NET Logo - CIL-NET + SILC-NETStephanie Woodward from the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) in Rochester, New York will outline her outstanding and successful approach to systems advocacy. This presentation is a helpful reminder that, YES!, Centers can and must advocate for the rights and access of people with disabilities! Stephanie will outline CDR’s use of the pitchfork approach to advocacy and how you can use it in your community. This includes advocating at all levels of government, how to get media coverage, tips on protests and direct action, as well as Stephanie’s proven success with social media. In addition, you’ll learn your Center can measure and document your success. Please join us for this exciting presentation!

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 webcast. 

Target Audience: Executive directors, advocates, and other staff of Centers for Independent Living who are involved in systems advocacy

Learning Objectives

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

  • Explain systems advocacy as a core service that builds community and changes lives.
  • Describe the five prongs of the pitchfork approach to systems advocacy and how the pitchfork can be used to create systems change.
  • Discuss how social media can be used as a highly effective advocacy tool.
  • Discuss how to keep your advocates energized, committed, and involved.
  • Explain strategies for measuring success of a CIL’s systems advocacy efforts.
  • Identify where to begin and what strategies to use.

Meet Your Presenter

Stephanie Woodward is the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights, Inc. (CDR) a disability led, not-for-profit that works for national, state, and local systemic change to advance the rights of people with disabilities. Prior to joining CDR Stephanie worked as a litigator in Miami, Florida focusing on disability rights. Stephanie attended Syracuse University where she earned her J.D. with a certificate in Disability Law and Policy and her M.S.Ed. in Disability Studies. Stephanie previously worked for Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and assisted his Disability Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions by researching, drafting legislation, and making recommendations for legislative action in regards to disability rights issues. She is also a proud disabled person and member of ADAPT, a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.

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).