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

Youth Transition: The Growing Role of Centers for Independent Living

CIL-NET Presents… A National Onsite Training

April 18-20, 2017; Denver, Colorado

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

Registration Fee: $150.00

Registration Deadline: March 20, 2017

IL-NET Logo - CIL-NET + SILC-NETCIL-NET is organizing this outstanding training opportunity to make sure that you and your co-workers are equipped to help young individuals. Topics during the conference will include what the law and final regulations say, what falls under the new core service, how to engage youth and parents, strategies for working with VR, local agencies, schools, state agencies, and identifying your CIL’s strengths and expanding them to include youth!

Please join us in Denver this spring to learn from leading experts in Independent Living and Youth Transition.

You will learn:

  • What the law and final regulations say.
  • What falls under the new core service and what doesn’t?
  • Strategies for tracking this service for reporting purposes.
  • Steps for identifying a CIL’s strengths, resources, and existing services that can be expanded to include youth.
  • Tools and strategies for implementation.
  • Potential new partners, service possibilities, and funding sources.
  • Using core services as spring board to expansion.
  • Strategies for working with VR, local agencies, schools, state agencies.
  • Key collaborations. How do you get to the right tables?
  • Youth are a target population, not a service.
  • What are the elements of a CIL culture that will attract and engage youth?
  • How to approach young adults. How to be an adult ally.
  • How to engage parents.
  • Issues of intersectionality.

Target Audience

Directors, Independent Living Specialists and Youth Transition Coordinators at Centers for Independent Living, as well as members of SILCs and Centers who are interested in youth transition.

Location:

Westin Denver Downtown
1672 Lawrence Street
Denver, Colorado 80202

Front Desk: (303) 572-9100

Westin Reservations: (888) 627-8435

Reservations:

  • Mention “IL-NET Training” when making your reservation to receive the group rate.
  • Reduced Group Rate: $188/night + tax (single occupancy)
  • Guestroom reservation deadline is March 20, 2017
  • Additional $10/night + tax per person
  • Nightly rate includes breakfast at the Westin’s Augusta Restaurant each day of your stay
  • Nightly rate includes complimentary wifi in your guestroom

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. Her passion includes focusing on access to higher education for people with disabilities and studying disability theory & history. She enjoys nothing more than a good story and a bowl of spaghetti, but long walks on the beach are not really her thing.

Seth Hoderewski is the Director of Transition Services at Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living (LVCIL) where he has worked for 8 years. He has worked in the social services field for over 20 years, with the last 8 directly in the field of transition. He has helped to shape the current multi-faceted youth transition services at LVCIL and oversees and works with the S2L group, the Real World Lehigh Valley summer program, Pre-Employment Transition Services, LIFE (school-based fee for service program), the Transition Experience Program on Cedar Crest College campus, and numerous other related LVCIL projects and programs.

Joe Michener is the Director of Employment Services at LVCIL, where he manages the Career Path, VIP (Vocational Independence Program – WIOA), the Transition Experience Program on Cedar Crest College campus and LCCC SEED (support for college students) programs. Joe has worked in vocational services for more than a decade, and he has been involved in developing and managing successful grant and fee-for-service programs in partnership with the Department of Labor (including Vocational Rehabilitation) and the Department of Human Services.

Mary Olson is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance APRIL (Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living). 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 is the Youth Programs Coordinator at the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL). 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.

Kimberly Tissot is the Executive Director of Able South Carolina where she guides the staff in applying the philosophy of Independent living to real situations. Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development from Wheelock College in Boston, MA and a Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina. Kimberly has developed several innovative independent living programs to reach all populations as well as developed an international program to promote disability rights. In addition to Kimberly’s role at Able SC, she is appointed by the SC State Superintendent of Education to the SC Advisory Council on the Education of Students with Disabilities where she serves as Co-Chair. Kimberly believes in empowering youth with disabilities and giving them the skills that will equip them for independent lives. Able SC currently facilitates seven successful youth programs and has incorporated youth throughout the culture of the Center. Her special interests include: parenting with a disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act, youth leadership, and disability awareness.

Charlie Walters is Director of Transition Programs at Able South Carolina. Charlie has a professional background that spans children’s museum education, outdoor education, and inclusive postsecondary education. While receiving his master’s degree in special education at the University of South Carolina, he worked as the Employment Specialist for CarolinaLIFE, a two to four year college program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It was here that Charlie first saw the possibilities that opened up for youth with disabilities when they were provided environments that fully supported them in taking the lead on their lives. That led him to the team at Able SC where he provides trainings across the state for education professionals on transition and self-determination, supervises many of Able SC’s youth initiatives, and works directly with young adults to support them in taking a more active role in the IEP process.

CIL-NET is 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 the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann in partnership with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL).