<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>This was fwded to me by Avery, passing it along as it sounds like a great opportunity for us to be involved in.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Begin forwarded message:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b>From:</b> Allison Hobgood <<a href="mailto:ahobgood@willamette.edu">ahobgood@willamette.edu</a>><br><b>Date:</b> January 7, 2020 at 12:34:09 PM PST<br><br><b>Cc:</b> Abby Mulcahy <<a href="mailto:abby.cmlc@gmail.com">abby.cmlc@gmail.com</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>Corvallis Disability Empowerment Center</b><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>We hope you will join us on January 15, 2020<b> </b>for some preliminary, collaborative conversation about establishing a Disability Empowerment Center in Corvallis (working title). The Center is a burgeoning concept, and we would love your help in crystalizing the stakes, vision, need, and shape of such an organization. Loosely, the Center aims to be a <i>formal cultural and community space created both by and for people with disabilities and their allies</i>. More on the Center’s basic premise and possibilities follow below.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Please come to a strategic think tank session on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 from 5:30-7:00pm at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(2638 NW Jackson Ave, near OSU’s campus and on the bus line). The meeting will be scent free.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Please RSVP by January 9, 2020, and also let us know of any access accommodations you might need.</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The purpose of these initial conversations is to gather key stakeholders to begin to parse how this idea can come to fruition. There are many resources around town already supporting people with disabilities and creating disability community. The goal of the Center is to enhance those initiatives, partner with organizational entities that might not have the ability to centralize disability in the work they do, and proudly establish a space in Corvallis explicitly dedicated to disability culture and community building. Please note: this is <i>not</i> a fundraising event. It is an informal chance to come together and gather collective wisdom about how an organization like this one might contribute to disability justice, equity, and world-building. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The CDEC might function in myriad ways. No doubt there are more:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a generative place of self-discovery where disabled people can explore all the facets of their complex identities from gender to race to sexuality to nationality</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a robust cultural and community center that emblematizes, cultivates, and supports disability pride and invites people into disability identity and allyship</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a safe space for coalition, community building, and social connection that brings together diverse populations for whom disability is a component of their life experience</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a powerful site that centers disabled people and is a place off of society’s margins that they can actively claim and shape as their own</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as an innovative educational site for peer-to-peer programing on topics as wide-ranging as gender, sex/uality, work, education, family, carework, housing, access, and healthcare navigation</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as an influential community presence that educates people about ableism and changes social misperceptions about people with disabilities</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a publicly visible, go-to disability resource repository—both materially and online—that can help users identify and navigate discrete support systems</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a key linchpin linking existing diverse mid-valley organizations that support people with disabilities</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a visionary organization identifying, strategizing about, and filling support gaps in our community</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:8.0pt;margin-left:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'>·</span><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a strategic partner in networking, connecting, and training community stakeholders invested in disability access and equity</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>We hope you will join us on January 15. If you cannot and/or have suggestions about folks who should attend, please send that info along. It is very important that the Center (and its genesis) incorporate as diverse a group of disabled people and their allies as possible. We want to ensure that everyone is represented and has a place at the table as we formulate this plan further.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you!</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>In solidarity,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Allison Hobgood and Abby Mulcahy</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Dr. Allison P. Hobgood<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>she/her<br>Associate Professor<br>English Department; Women's and Gender Studies Program<br>Willamette University<br>900 State Street<br>Salem, Oregon 97301<br><a href="mailto:ahobgood@willamette.edu" target="_blank">ahobgood@willamette.edu</a><br>c: 404-825-4524<br>w: 503-370-6211<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.willamette.edu/cla/english/faculty/hobgood/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.willamette.edu/cla/english/faculty/hobgood/index.html</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Author of<i> Passionate Playgoing in Early Modern England</i>,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/drama-and-theatre-general-interest/passionate-playgoing-early-modern-england?format=HB" target="_blank">http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/drama-and-theatre-general-interest/passionate-playgoing-early-modern-england?format=HB</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Co-editor of<i> Recovering Disability in Early Modern England</i>, <a href="https://ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?books/book%20pages/Hobgood%20Recovering.html" target="_blank">https://ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?books/book%20pages/Hobgood%20Recovering.html</a> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>