[Community-service] Fwd: FW: CNCS Convenes Leadership Gathering to Increase Disability Inclusion in National Service

[Darian Smith]

For Your Information.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gary Wunder <GWunder at earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 16:36:34 -0600
Subject: FW: CNCS Convenes Leadership Gathering to Increase Disability
Inclusion in National Service
To: Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com>



  _____

From: Wunder, Gary [mailto:gwunder at nfb.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 3:49 PM
To: Gary Wunder
Subject: FW: CNCS Convenes Leadership Gathering to Increase Disability
Inclusion in National Service




  _____

From: National Service Press Office [mailto:PressOffice at cns.gov]
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 11:21 AM
Subject: CNCS Convenes Leadership Gathering to Increase Disability Inclusion
in National Service



For Immediate Release
Contact: Aoife McCarthy

Thursday, December 8, 2011
amccarthy at cns.gov, 202-606-6944



National Service Agency Convenes Leadership Gathering to Increase Disability
Inclusion in National Service



Washington, DC - The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
today kicked off a two-day conference bringing together more than 200
leaders in the disability and service communities to develop strategies to
support the full inclusion of people with disabilities in national service.



The 2011 Symposium on Service and Inclusion: Improving the Member
Experience, is sponsored by CNCS in partnership with the National Service
Inclusion Project (NSIP) and the National Service to Employment Project
(NextSTEP) of the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of
Massachusetts Boston.



"Service empowers individuals and transforms lives," said Robert Velasco,
II, Acting CEO of CNCS. "For people with disabilities, national service is a
powerful chance to be on the giving, rather than the receiving end of
service.  Inclusion isn't just the right thing to do; it's the best thing to
do, and we at the Corporation for National and Community Service are
committed to doing our part."



The symposium will bring together representatives from the disability and
national service communities and their partners to exchange promising,
evidence-based practices, focusing on one of goals laid out in CNCS
<http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/focus_areas/index.asp> 's Strategic
Plan - making service opportunities accessible and attractive to Americans
of all backgrounds.



CNCS has a longstanding commitment to disability inclusion, and has invested
more than $80 million to engage and support people with disabilities in
national service over the past two decades.  In 2010 alone, CNCS has
reinforced this record, improving inclusion through a continued commitment:



.         12,000 national service participants received training and
technical assistance from NSIP.

.         35 States formed Inclusion Teams to ensure that national service
programs include the disability community.

.         Through the NextSTEP project, CNCS conducted research to identify
best practices to make sure service is a pathway to employment and
education.

.         CNCS also launched a special initiative, Engaging Veterans with
Disabilities, to enhance the capacity of national service programs to engage
veterans with disabilities in service.



The symposium will feature plenary presentations, capacity-building
workshops, intensive seminars and interactive forums that will focus on
topics including universal strategies for access and accommodations, service
as a path to employment, and recruiting and supporting underrepresented
populations.



As part of the symposium, CNCS will release the results of "Engaging
<http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/disability_report2011.pdf> Veterans with
Disabilities in National and Community Service," a report commissioned by
CNCS that looks at how military veterans benefit from AmeriCorps and
strategies to recruit more veterans into national service.  This study
included one-on-one interviews with veterans, as well as focus group
sessions among veterans and active duty soldiers.



The report highlights the opportunities within AmeriCorps for veterans to
serve, how veterans view current recruitment strategies, and the best ways
to communicate with veterans in order to successfully engage and retain them
in service programs.



"This study shines a light on an important issue - how to engage those who
have served in our armed forces in a new mission on the homefront," said
Velasco. "We know that national service helps returning veterans transition
back to civilian life and gives them an opportunity to use the invaluable
skills they've gained in the military to meet community needs here at home.
We are committed to recruiting more veterans to serve in AmeriCorps and
other our programs, and to expanding the support we provide to veterans and
military families."



To read stories of people with disabilities in national service, click
<http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/factsheet_disability_stories.pdf> here.
For more information about the Symposium, please visit
http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/symp2011.



###



The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that
engages more than four million Americans in service through its Senior
Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President
Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more
information, visit NationalService.gov <http://www.NationalService.gov> .








-- 
Darian Smith

"To dream what is possible and to put oneself in service of that dream is the
formula
for a life well lived."

- Dr. Peter Benson