Conference – Minority Youth CIL

Advice from the Experts: Minority Youth with Disabilities Share Program Improvement Opportunities with CILs

Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Please join us on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. ET for the second Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL) project webinar. This event is free and open to everyone. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the webinar.

This MY-CIL webinar will highlight findings from three focus groups held with out-of-school youth from minority backgrounds. Youth participants and CIL staff will discuss recommendations and strategies for improving CIL services for youth with disabilities from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds.

CILs are community-based organizations for people with disabilities that are designed and operated by people with disabilities. CILs empower people with disabilities to make their own choices about the things that affect their lives. The amended Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires CILs to provide five core services:

Information and referral
Independent living skills training
Peer support and mentoring
Individual and systems advocacy
Transition services

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires CILs to provide services to youth with disabilities who are transitioning to adult life after completing or ending high school. CIL services could benefit minority youth with disabilities who face multiple barriers to independent living as they transition.

Our webinar speakers will include three youth participants from the focus groups who will share their experiences and advice. In addition, CIL staff and directors from Able South Carolina; Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York; and Southern Illinois Center for Independent Living will discuss their current programming and strategies for engaging consumers. We will also provide audiences with information about future MY-CIL learning opportunities.

Webinar speakers and panelists

Barbara Anderson, independent living specialist for FAST TRACK at Southern Illinois Center for Independent Living
Apple Gabriel, youth participant
Michael Hanna, equip coordinator at Able South Carolina
Sharon Mclennon Weir, Ph.D., MSEd, CRC, LMHC, executive director of Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York
Oliver Olivia, youth participant
Amanda Reichard, Ph.D., project officer at the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, Administration for Community Living
Aditya Singh, youth participant

Resources

Please join us to share your questions and listen. We believe exchanging promising practices is a fundamental approach for accelerating progress among CILs, and we hope you can attend.

If you need assistance before the webinar, please contact us at events@mathematica-mpr.com. We will make every effort to accommodate your participation in this event, including the provision of closed captioning, an ASL interpreter, and accessible materials that will be posted on this page about two days before the event date. You can also request accommodations during registration.

About MY-CIL. MY-CIL is a partnership between Hunter College School of Education; Mathematica and its Center for Studying Disability Policy; the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York; and Independent Living Research Utilization to generate and share knowledge that empowers CILs to better serve out-of-school youth and young adults (ages 14 to 24) from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Discover additional details about the MY-CIL project by visiting the project website.

DISCLAIMER: Funding for MY-CIL is provided by the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project on Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living at Hunter College, City University of New York. This project is jointly funded under grant number 90DPGE0013 as a cooperative agreement between the Office of Independent Living Programs and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, both in the Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Health and Human Services, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

MY-CIL March 22, 2023

CIL's Conference

How Do CILs and VR Agencies Work Together? CIL-VR Agency Collaborations for Out-of-School Youth with Disabilities from Minority Backgrounds

MY-CIL Practice Brief #9

This brief summarizes results from interviews with staff from seven CILs and an analysis of VR agency program administrative data to consider CIL-VR collaborations. Overall, this brief points to the potential ways that staff from CILs and VR agencies can work with each other. VR agencies and CILs can play complementary roles in supporting transitions, and coordination between the two can ensure that each leverages the other’s resources effectively to meet youth’s needs.

Authors: Frank Martin, Todd Honeycutt

CIL-VR-agency-collaborations Download

MY-CIL March 10, 2023

Conference

ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization)

The ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization) program is a national center for information, training, research, and technical assistance in independent living. Its goal is to expand the body of knowledge in independent living and to improve utilization of results of research programs and demonstration projects in this field. It is a program of TIRR Memorial Hermann, a nationally recognized medical rehabilitation facility for persons with disabilities.

Since ILRU was established in 1977, it has developed a variety of strategies for collecting, synthesizing, and disseminating information related to the field of independent living. ILRU staff–a majority of whom are people with disabilities–serve independent living centers, statewide independent living councils, state and federal rehabilitation agencies, consumer organizations, educational institutions, medical facilities, and other organizations involved in the field, both nationally and internationally.

https://www.ilru.org/

MY-CIL December 3, 2020

Conference

NEXT EVENT: TBD

TBD

Stay Tuned for future MY-CILEvents!

MY-CIL December 1, 2020

Conference

DISABILITY, DIVERSITY, AND INTERSECTIONALITY IN CILS

CILs are always striving to reach unserved and underserved populations and to better represent the vibrant, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and multi-cultural communities that we serve. If you would like effective, practical information on how to accomplish this at your CIL, then you simply cannot afford to miss this training.

At our core, Centers for Independent Living are community-based, civil rights organizations. Sure, we focus on the core services of Independent Living, but disability rights are civil rights, and the Independent Living Movement shares similarities and a sibling hood with other civil rights movements. We have a strong enough foundation in human rights to expand our celebration and inclusion of people with disabilities from other marginalized communities and identities in our organizations.

As Centers for Independent Living, we all believe in “Nothing About Us, Without Us!” We should abide by the same rules when it comes to including, serving, and being led by all of the diverse people with disabilities in our communities. We must engage in thoughtful conversations, strategic partnerships, proactive outreach, and organizational shifts to ensure that our organizations are reaching, serving, and welcoming to people with disabilities of all backgrounds in our communities. This is not only relevant to our consumers, but to ensure that our staff, decision-making staff, board members, volunteers, and community leaders represent those same backgrounds and life experiences.in us in Atlanta this August to learn from the Executive Directors of seven CILs, as well as other IL leaders that excel in this work, how they’ve created organizations that welcome and represent the broad communities that they serve

Join us in Atlanta this August to learn from the Executive Directors of seven CILs, as well as other IL leaders that excel in this work, how they’ve created organizations that welcome and represent the broad communities that they serve.

MY-CIL August 20, 2020

Conference

2020 ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON INDEPENDENT LIVING

NCIL Annual Conference Update

It has become clear that the COVID-19 epidemic is a long-term event, certain to impact the NCIL conference in a variety of ways. NCIL’s Annual Conference Subcommittee, staff, and governing board are gathering information and resources to sort out the best way for the coolest bunch of people with disabilities and independent living advocates to gather, share, learn from each other, and shake things up, even if that means gathering virtually or a significant delay in the event. We will withhold opening guestrooms and registration until we know more, but please stay tuned for more information. We will keep you posted as the situation develops.

Just know that we’re absolutely committed to an event that is safe and accessible to all.

MY-CIL July 20, 2020

Conference

Category: Conference