Ellensburg 2009–31 years and a pause…

It’s a Jungle “Down” There-

 

I am writing to announce that the 2009, 32^nd Annual Ellensburg Employment Conference has been cancelled. Please be assured that this decision is a difficult one for the Division of Developmental Disabilities, the WA State Counties and W.i.S.e. But, it’s a decision that we all agree is necessary during the tough economic situation that our state and our service system is facing. We have all enjoyed the rich tradition of Ellensburg and the rich learning an event like this produces. This conference is recognized nationally and internationally as a key reason for the success of supported employment in the state of WA. This is something we can all be proud of and something we can use as part of a foundation as we work together for the continuation of supported employment.  Everywhere that we look right now we are being called upon to conserve, refocus and rethink what our traditions and norms have been. The absence of our state’s largest learning event on employment is a great example of a time when we need to come together to “Try Another Way”. Please join me in the spirit of change and remember that we have: (1) all that we’ve learned, (2) all that we’ve developed and (3) all the talent of a collective of thousands of people to move our work to the next level.

 

Therefore, what’s being called for is a time of total FOCUS…we as a community are in a battle for critical services for people with developmental disabilities. Our commitment at W.i.S.e. is to continue to focus our training and technical assistance on maintaining those services for the individuals in jobs and seeking jobs, their families and the agencies that are navigating a very tough economy to sustain and maintain employment opportunities. We remain your partner in the pursuit of employment for ALL and we look forward to planning the next phase of learning and development that it will take for employment for people with developmental disabilities to be TYPICAL in our country. 

 

Stay focused, stay connected and in times of change you can count on one thing remaining the same…VALUES…

Remembering Ellensburg

Well the 2009 Ellensburg dates have come and gone. I don’t know about anyone else but I felt a huge void in my heart last week as I felt the absence of the conference. I wanted to share a story that was produced by the local media late last week. You can find it at http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?s=10552355.

Also, I’d like to share with you a piece of conference history straight from Lee Valenta’s closet. It’s the T-Shirt from Ellensburg II.
Anyone else have things they’d like to share?

Jefferson County

Jefferson County has a wonderful Guide to their Pathway to Employment service. It has been featured in the newsletter for The National Consortium for Health Systems Development.

President-Elect Obama’s Call to Serve: An Opportunity for All

President-Elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have announced that they will be spending Martin Luther King’s Birthday serving their new community of Washington D.C.

They have asked everyone throughout the nation to join them in a commitment to service on January 19th, and in a commitment to make it last, to continue this service beyond one day.

This offers everyone an opportunity to become involved by volunteering in their local community, or by hosting a service opportunity.  I can think of several ways to take advantage of this remarkable invitation.   Certainly this provides the opportunity for individuals with disabilities (and agency staff) to contribute to their communities, learning, sharing, building skills, and building a network of connections.  It is also an opportunity to ask community members to help with your efforts by serving in a variety of ways:  on individual planning teams, in providing advice about the job market and connections to community employers, in inviting job seekers to come to work with them to see what particular work environments and jobs are like.

I look forward to  hearing  your ideas about ways to serve, and ways to invite the community to serve in your efforts.  Please share your creative ideas.  This  a new, exciting era:  A time of great change, and a time of great opportunity.

Michelle Obama’s message about this:

One week from today, on January 19th, Barack and I will join thousands of people all across the country for an extraordinary day of service.

I recorded a short video to tell you more about this important effort. Please take a minute to watch it and sign up to host or attend a service event near you.

Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds are committing to renew America together, one community at a time.

Whatever service activity you organize or take part in — cleaning up a park, giving blood, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or mentoring an at-risk youth — you can help start this important journey. But this is about more than just a single day of service, it’s the beginning of an ongoing commitment to your community.

Go to www.usaservice.org for more information.

Great Hires! now with Spanish Subtitles!

Yes, we now have the Great Hires! video with Spanish subtitles.  Go the our YouTube page to see either version, as well as a growing collection of other videos having to do with Supported Employment.  Here is the link for Great Hires! ESP:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SXJ18uewNQ

Washington State Rehabilitation Council

The Washington State Rehabilitation Council offers their quarterly newsletter in both HTML and plain text.

An Opportunity to Comment–Take a Look at Obama’s Blog

What is Ideas for Change in America?
Ideas for Change in America is a citizen-driven effort to identify and create momentum around the best ideas for how the Obama Administration and Congress can turn the broad call for “change” across the country into specific policies. You can help by submitting an idea for how you would change America, discussing ideas with others, and/or voting for your favorites. Read More

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/fully_fund_medicaid_waivers_for_the_developmentally_disabled

Fully Fund Medicaid Waivers for the Developmentally Disabled
I propose that if the Medicaid waiver program were fully funded that the action would not only end decades-long waiting lists for people with developmental disabilities, but would also create small businesses and jobs because more service providers would be needed. Funding must be available in all states, portable across and within states and promote self-determination for the individual with the disability, their families and legal guardians. Furthermore, parents who have had to stay home to be caregivers could go back to work, and people with developmental disabilities would also be able to go to work because they would have employment supports to do so. Portability of services across states and counties also should be mandated so that families can, during these difficult times, move to another state and continue to receive services if they had them before. Right now, if a family moves, they placed at the bottom of the new state’s waiting list and can wait many years for services.

- Renee Beauregard (Mom, advocate, small business owner), Aurora, CO Dec 15 @ 12:11PM PST

Odds and Ends

In an attempt to keep our web site Home page as current and un-cluttered as possible, I am moving several items over here to the blog.  The first two items are newsletters from Project SEARCH at Seattle Children’s Hospital and our own Project MOVE in Spokane.  Also, a great web site on Transition at the University of Kansas featuring 101 Transition Ideas.

A humble beginning

Well, here we are! WiSe dives into the world of blogging. It is another bold move. Opening up the conversation about Supported Employment to the world.

Today was my rookie outting in the world of blogging. I had no idea how expansive this world is. I have searched templates, explored a massive number of sites, admired amazing photos and stories and am blurry-eyed with possibilities!

I find it simply mind boggling to consider the potential for feeling connected in a virtual world. I’m left to ponder…what does it mean to feel unified in the information era? I see how technology connects us to old friends, family and like-minded others but is it really possible to create unity through technology? I have witnessed the most connected movement in my lifetime, the Obama campaign. I sit stunned by the capacity of the vast array of outreach tools available through technology and yet still wonder if the ability to unify, connect and move a massive country like the United States was “for real”.

I guess only time will tell. The collective energy that is stirring in our country has my mind in action and in question of what is possible and probable.

Happy Veteran’s Day…and thank you to all of our veterans on this rainy, overcast day in lovely Seattle. I look forward to sharing the world of Supported Employment with you through yet another modality of our collective connectedness.

Art Experience in Italy Crew!

This email was sent out yesterday to people who supported a group of talented artists experiencing Down Syndrome (Lupita Cano of Seattle, Clara Link of Tacoma, and Dylan Kuehl of Olympia) which traveled to Italy October 27-November 3, 2008 for the art experience of a lifetime. 

“The Art Experience in Italy crew thanks you!

Our group, with your support, had a personally and professionally poignant experience in Italy. We flew to Rome and traveled extremely well together. We had a lovely welcome dinner in Rome that first evening, and slept well. The next day, on an adventure to see the Pantheon, we were sidetracked by a 1.5 million student demonstration protesting recent cuts in education funding, which shut down Rome, but not us! We still made our train to Orvieto.

Once in the countryside, Luigi showed up with our van, and we traveled (me driving!) through the winding roads of the Italian countryside to Civita di Bagnoregio. We were welcomed to the town with open arms and a dinner cooked over a wood fire in a 3000 year old grotto/cave/restaurant by Maria and Sandro. Tony Costa Heywood our host joined us in the fantastic meal. The rest of our week consisted of grocery shopping in Bagnoregio at the butcher, the pasta maker (they made ravioli especially for us!), the bread maker, the fruit and veggie shop, and all the other old-town shops. We cooked and ate together in our houses in Civita, and ventured out to Orvieto and Todi for art and sightseeing experiences in the van.

The weather was volatile the night we arrived in Civita, a wicked but exciting lighting and thunderstorm passed over the town. We had fog, rain, hail, and ample sunlight overall. We experienced the many different moods of old Italy.Personally, we all experienced what it means to be artists in a land which celebrates its artists. Many conversations went long into the night, and during our meals together we forged a new understanding of what it means to support each other in our artistic pursuits. Everyone realized the importance of art in public experience, and we are all now even more fully dedicated to inspiring and supporting not only ourselves but others in the pursuit of exploration and self-expression!

We will be digesting the experience and creating new art in the next several months. We will be producing a video, a short book, and public presentations to share with you the poignancy of the experience. Stay tuned…