November 2006 Partners in Policymaking Updates

I hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving with family last weekend and are looking forward to the holiday season.

By now, you all should have received a phone call from two Partners alums, Susan Farner or Vickie Martin, to update your information and to ask you a few questions about your Partners training and your leadership development needs for the future. Thank you for taking their calls and sharing your advocacy experiences with them. The information you gave them has been put into the Partners database and is extremely valuable as we plan and assess the needs of Partner graduates and their level of advocacy after graduation.

In the surveys we have administered to graduates in the past year, education is one of the top priorities and areas of advocacy of Partners alumni. In response to that, we will be including more information on how to get involved in state level advocacy on education.
There will be stakeholder meetings around the state to get input on state regulations on special education. These meetings will be held during the months of December and January. If you attend, please send me an email and let me know what the experience was like. We will post it in a future blog.

To access the state regulations and dates, look for state rules on the DOE website.

Partner alumni are continuing to bring families out for Unlock’s “Conversations that Matter” with Dr. Steve Hall, director of the Office of DD. Attendance at each event has been excellent. Our next event is December 5 in Roswell from 6:30pm -8:30pm at the Teaching Museum. Contact Jennifer Carroll for more details or to volunteer.

Other dates include:
Macon on January 23 contact: Nalini Isaac
Savannah – February 20 contact: Mary Poncy
The Albany event is being rescheduled for February. contact Rosalyn Horne

Partners Postings:
Don Pollard is looking for interested athletes for power wheelchair soccer in the Conyers area.
Dot Jones is looking to start a networking/social group for all graduates in Athens and surrounding counties. Email rita@aadd.org if you want to contact Dot.

The January session at the Capitol is just around the corner!
Upcoming Advocacy Dates:
February 7th- Advocates Legislative Day at the Capitol. This is a new first time event for disability advocates. Contact Sarah Pike for details and to RSVP.
February 22nd – Disability Day at the Capitol. It is strongly suggested that you register early this year!