Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities CAC
Oct. 30, 2015 Minutes
11:30am: Welcome and Introductions – Happy Birthday Jenness!
 Melvin Jackson, CLEE, CAC Co-Chair
 Judy Brooks, BCDD and Little Rock UCEDD and AR Disability Policy Consortium
 Sandi Klink, MCIL, self advocate
 Gina Brady, DRT
 Laurie Fleming, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
 Elizabeth Bishop, BCDD
 Steve Sheegog, parent
 Alicia Cone, DD Council
 Aaron Kohring, CLEE
 Jenness Roth, BCDD
 Ace Madjlesi, CAC Secretary
 Kate McDonald, Education Advocate at DRT
 Martha Lopez, STEP
 Fred Palmer, BCDD
 Carlene Leaper, Mid South Arc
11:35am: Approval of Minutes
 June 22, 2015 minutes approved. Email acemadjlesi@gmail.com for past meeting
minutes.
11:40am: New Business
 Elizabeth Bishop, BCDD Evaluation – Annual Reports
o Please see attached PPT for a full reporting.
o BCDD has met or surpassed several goals.
o Logic model review and feedback from CAC members:
 Importance of developing and promoting leadership of Latino families
across the state, in all areas, with sensitivity towards cultural and
communication barriers.
 Targeted disability awareness for bilingual professionals to promote
inclusion in the workplace and other areas of society, outside of just
schools.
 Discussion on how to ensure BCDD’s strategic planning includes the
important topic of employment:
 (Aaron) the supported employment consultants are also working with
Kroger in Chattanooga so we need to find additional ways of building new
partnerships with the employers changing the perspective of employers for
inclusion in the workforce starts with working with business schools and
university students who become future employers.
 Working within our own campus of equity and diversity more interagency
more working together
 families and individuals more interagency collaboration and training
 a goal for the CAC is to have more individuals with disabilities on our
council
 finding and utilizing free radio and TV time
 Employment fits into all of our DD network missions.
 Programs like Tiger Life and occupational diplomas (alternate to GED) are
good, but there is a need for specific vocational training.
 There’s been little increase in employment of people with disabilities over
the past 10 years.
 More partnerships with programs like Project Search and Walgreen’s
Readiness Program.
 VAP-T program with Vanderbilt (through 2017) educates families with high
school kids about their future opportunities (see June 22, 2015 minutes for
more details about this project).
 There was a Germantown employment event hosted by Germantown
schools a few months ago, but CAC members aren’t sure about any followup to this event.
 Addressing this issue requires “buy-in” from:
 general public, who may not know that people with disabilities
WANT to work
 schools, who need vocational program starting as early as the 5th or
6th grade
 employers, who may not know about incentives or other values of
employing people with disabilities, (we also want to educated
employers on peer training for employees with disabilities)
 parents, who may be celebrating/recovering from the hurdles
associated with helping their child finish school and/or may not be
aware of transitional resources
 One of the best strategies is making an economic argument, and there are
people (e.g., Bob Nicholas) who already have this information and will
make these presentations.
 Walgreen’s is a big partner of the supported employment program in West
TN. David Fields is developing relationships in Chattanooga with the parent
company of Kroger.
 Resource: TNworks.org
 As a non-profit, public university, BCDD can’t directly lobby, but BCDD (and
others) can inform and educate. So in addressing the employment issue,
we should keep an eye towards to getting employers on board, but also
passing a living wage, so that jobs are meaningful and provide a path out of
poverty. What are ways that the BCDD CAC can help educate the general
public (including potential employers) about this issue?
o Perfect opportunity to inform policy makers about this issue is
Disability Day on the Hill, Jan. 27, 2016 in Nashville.
o Target HR professionals, as well as universities, colleges, professional
schools, and other workforce points of entry.
o PSAs? (Finding and utilizing free radio and TV time)
 Issues with UTHSC HR’s “celebration of disability.” Can the CAC advocate
for campus-wide dissemination of information regarding inclusion,
language, etc.
12:30pm: Agency Reports / Announcements
 MCIL (Sandi Klink):
o Dec. 4: Holiday Party and Silent Auction, 4pm to 8pm, 1633 Madison Ave.
o Tim Wheat is back on staff as Program Director.
o Anthony Sledge is continuing with Home Modification Program + new outreach
director.
o Would like to see more interagency collaboration in re: training for parents and
families and youth. Employment is a new area of responsibility for CILs so they
welcome collaboration in this area.
 DD Council (Alicia Cone):
o Completed Needs Assessment for new 5yr state plan. At their recent planning
retreat, they worked through the NA findings with council members and also
drafted new 5yr state plan goals and objectives. This will soon be posted and
shared widely for public review. It will be posted for about 60 days, hoping for
feedback.
o Due to a new executive order from the Governor, the DD Council now exists as an
autonomous state unit (previously getting admin services from separate dept.),
which is a positive development.
o Just started this year’s Partners in Policy Making program. It runs one weekend
per month over 7 months, with the first class in October.
o Following through on the joint meeting between DD Network and Independent
Living network with several high level administrators (including Aaron Bishop).
Finishing the follow-up survey and will disseminate those findings.
 Disability Rights Tennessee (Gina Brady):
o DRT has a new West TN. New AIM Advocate as well as a new education advocate
Kate McDonald, and are looking to hire an employment advocate.
o Congrats to CAC member Jenness Roth, who is DRT’s new Board Chair.
o DRT continues to provide the same services in the same areas of work, including
education, abuse and neglect, voting, and communication.
o September fundraiser was a big success. Jeff Huffman (Marriott) was the keynote
speaker. Huffman is building a Marriott facility in Munsey, Indiana, where 20% of
their workforce will be people with disabilities and will serve as a training center
for people with disabilities. The host town donated the land and such. The facility
will eventually expand from hospitality training and into food service, etc.
 Dr. Palmer would like to know what the Indiana UCEDD’s involvement was
and how UCEDDs could play a role in highlighting such success stories.
 STEP (Martha Lopez):
o Recently published several transition guides, which are available via website.
These guides include topics like self advocacy, parent involvement, etc. (Please
help promote these guides.)
o STEP has received a grant to focus on working more collaboratively with districts
and increase parent involvement. The program is called FYI2 – Family Youth
Information and Involvement.
o A new West TN regional coordinator is slated to start in December.
 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (Laurie Fleming):
o Received continued funding as an IDDRC with new 5-year grant
http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/news/379
o In September Commissioner Aaron Bishop from Admin on Disabilities visited with
others http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/news/380
o IDD Toolkit online training series has launched
http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/news/1396
 Professional: http://tinyurl.com/Vu-train-idd-meds
 Families: https://vstar.mc.vanderbilt.edu/help/?p=1826
o TN Disability (Pathfinder)Website update launched:
http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vkc/pathfinder/
o November 19, TNWorks Partnership Quarterly meeting at VKC
o January 13, 4 – 6 PM Educate to Advocate in 241 at VKC
o January 18, MLK Commemorative Lecture – A Promise to Keep: Educating our
Highest Risk Students by Julie Washington from GSU
http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/events/4626
 Mid South Arc (Charlene Leaper):
o 65th anniversary gala on Oct. 17. Congrats to Martha Lopez who was named an
Advocate of the Year.
o Nov. 6: English workshop on communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution
in school (offered on Nov. 20 in Spanish)
o The Arc is increasing efforts to reach parents who don’t have electronic access.
o Redoing the Volunteer Advocacy Program.
o Hoping to develop more parent trainings, especially for parents whose children
have recently received a DD diagnosis.
 CLEE (Aaron Kohring):
o Hosted Disability Awareness Month events in Knoxville, Johnson City, and
Chattanooga:
 Knoxville: http://wate.com/2015/10/28/former-lady-vol-star-chamiqueholdsclaw-shares-mental-health-struggle/
 Chattanooga: http://www.newschannel9.com/news/topstories/stories/employment-disabilities-luncheon-at-convention-center21189.shtml
o CLEE is hosting the LEAD conference this week.
 Boling Center (Fred Palmer):
o Earlier this month was the TASP meeting, sponsored by The Association for
Successful Parenting and BCDD. TASP is an international meeting around the issue
of supporting parents who have disabilities. Melissa Duckworth and Elizabeth
Bishop provided support for that meeting. Aaron Bishop, Commissioner of
Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities attended and gave
the keynote address. Senator Becky Massey from TN also attended. The meeting
was held in Memphis so they could expand outreach to the South (they are based
in New England).
o The Boling Center is currently hosting 33 new LEND trainees.
Next Meeting: TBD (January or February)
March 2016 meeting will be held at MCIL.