Keri Gray of Longview, Texas has been selected to serve as the 2015-2016 Youth Transitions Fellow at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the longest-running national cross-disability, grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. Sponsored by The HSC Foundation, the Youth Transitions Fellowship provides a young person with a disability an opportunity to gain professional experience in a position designed to improve coalitions and youth-based programs. The HSC Foundation partnered with NCIL to fund the fellowship as part of its mission to help young people find self-directed paths to adulthood and employment.
As the Youth Transitions Fellow, Gray will facilitate collaboration among internship, fellowship and apprenticeship programs for people with disabilities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She will also support projects that benefit young people by partnering with the Youth Transitions Collaborative, the Greater Washington Internship Coalition, NCIL’s Youth Caucus, and youth transition coordinators from Centers for Independent Living across the country.
Gray is a graduate from Abilene Christian University, where she received bachelor degrees in Political Science and Communication, and then a master’s degree in Communication. At the completion of her graduate program she wrote a thesis entitled “The diversity rhetoric of Offices of Diversities: Through the lens of intersectionality.” Her work over the years has centered on the idea that if we study our intersections and how we may intersect with other people, then we can either gain a better understanding of our experiences or even re-construct pathways for our future experiences. She has applied these concepts by leading various student organizations, interning at Leader Pelosi’s office through the American Association of People with Disabilities internship program, creating an internship program at her Alma Mater’s Office of Multicultural Enrichment, and creating a young professionals association in her college town.
