In The News
Financial Focus Group
NEEDED
Parents of children
who have IEPs (ages 16-22 years)
Your voice is needed
for a
FOCUS GROUP
on
FINANCIAL SECURITY
Date: June 23 or 24th.2010
Place:
Milwaukee & Madison (places to be announced)
Time: 2 hours (exact
times to be announced)
The purpose of the
study is to better understand how parents learn about saving & otherwise
work towards greater financial security when they have a child/young adult
with disabilities.
$50
for participating
Interested?
Contact Liz Hecht 608-
263-7148
or email:
hecht@Waisman.Wisc.Edu
YITRC Steering Committee Member and youth advocate Jeremiah Swisher
was featured on a blog talk radio broadcast.
He talked about his
experiences living with Autism.
Take the YITRC Website Survey
Summer
Camps 2010 (all camps on list are for youth and adults with
disabilities)
The Spring Self
Advocacy Series flyer PDF version.
The Spring Self
Advocacy Series flyer Microsoft Publisher version
 Disability
Mentoring Day 2009
This year’s Disability Mentoring Day was the most exciting yet! I
know, I know, I say that every year, but this year was very exciting.
For the first time in IndependenceFirst’s
history with the project, there were students involved from all four of
our service area counties, with a record breaking number of youth
participating. High School
students and graduates from Milwaukee,
Waukesha, Ozaukee and
Washington
counties went out on Wednesday October 21st with the
opportunity to job shadow someone working in the career of their choice.
120 Students interested in animals, the arts, advocacy, health,
banking, food service among other fields spent time with a mentor at a
local business, learning about the profession and asking questions.
56 mentors got the opportunity to experience mentoring a young
person and learning about the wonderful untapped employee source in people
with disabilities.
Milwaukee
celebrity got involved in DMD this year.
Broadcasting and media were among the interests of mentees this
year with such exciting mentors as Bart Adrian, meteorologist at WITI-Fox
6 News; Bill Schroeder, announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers; and Bob and
Brian, radio personalities with The Hog 102.9.
Kevin Winter, a student at
Living
Word Lutheran
High School, participated
in his second year of Disability Mentoring Day.
Last year he got to sit in on the Bob and Brian show and this year,
the Milwaukee Brewers were generous enough to give Kevin and his father
tickets to the last Friday night game of the season, during which Kevin
got to sit in the announcer’s booth and watch Bill Schroeder broadcast the
game.
Long term relationships with
mentors
Some of the top choices that mentees indicate are animal work,
dance, graphic design and childcare.
Daycare Services for Children in
Milwaukee
took several mentees again this year for its fourth year in a row!
Mentees who go to Daycare Services for Children actually gain hands
on experience as they help out in many of the varying rooms from infants
to preschool children.
Business who participated in DMD for the fifth time in a row this
year were Hausch Design Agency, the Milwaukee Ballet Company (who this
year generously gave free tickets to Cinderella to mentees), Axis
recording studio, and Layton Animal Hospital.
Disability Mentoring Day would not happen without the generosity of
these mentors and their participation is wholly appreciated.
Some exciting new
relationships
New to Disability Mentoring Day’s list of mentors this year was the
Urban Ecology Center who not only opened its doors to five mentees from
Greenfield, Riverside and Cudahy high schools but offered opportunities
for future volunteer positions and on the job experience working with
animals.
Also new was Cardinal
Stritch
University
who hosted a group of 15 students from Brookfield East and Franklin High Schools,
organizing an entire day of tours of the campus and the several different
departments exposing students to all of their varying job interests.
A huge thank you goes out to all those involved in DMD this year
from teachers to parents, students to mentors.
Next year’s event is on Wednesday October 20th and the
way things are going, it promises to be even better yet!
Mentees checking out a snake with
Walter Sams at the Urban Ecology Center
Project Assist
Milwaukee Public Schools
School to Work Transition Program
Employment Training Project.
Fifty five staff and
students from the Milwaukee Public Schools took their annual trip to UW
Whitewater to attend Project Assist on Friday, April 3, 2009. Nancy Amacher, Project Assist Director, explained the
admission process and the types of supports UWW provides to
students with special needs. Nancy also stressed the importance of disability awareness, self advocacy and appropriate
preparation. Britt VanAsbach, a UWW student, gave a powerful presentation
on college success. The participants toured the support center, took a
walking campus tour and ate lunch in one of the student dining halls
Self Advocacy Series 2009
download the
self advocacy series flyer
download the self
advocacy series flyer Microsoft publisher version
Youth Leadership Summits at IndependenceFirst
The Youth Leadership Summit was held this year in June and July as a
collaboration between IndependenceFirst
and Wisconsin FACETS. The
summit is in its fifth year of existence and the 2009 summits were the
best yet. A total of thirty
high school students and recent graduates came to IndependenceFirst
for a week in June and July to learn about self-advocacy, transition from
high school and independent living.
Similar to the past four years the youth, from different schools,
backgrounds, neighborhoods and situations, came together as strangers and
left with new friends and life and leadership skills.
Though much about the Youth Leadership Summit has worked well and
remained the same, 2009 brought some exciting new changes and additions.
Holding the summit in IndependenceFirst’s
new location made it a venue both easier to find and to spread out in.
The large conference room allowed for space to work together and
separate into groups.
Also new this year was a collaboration between the Youth Leadership
Summit and the Figureheads, a hip-hop musical group turned non-profit.
Greg, Jeremy and Dave of the Figureheads showed up to both summits
on three separate days each, setting up their computer, drum machine and
sound equipment. What ensued
was a series of incredible moments of young people finding their voices
and using them to express themselves and tell their stories through music.
Both June and July groups were treated to a figureheads performance
and a musical and lyrical workshop.
Both groups came up with their own music and sound and their own
lyrics. On the last day of
each summit, the youth got up in front of staff and volunteers at
IndependenceFirst and performed
what they had created. The
performances both elicited applause, excitement and even tears on the part
of the audience.
Also new to this year’s summit was the opportunity to continue
relationships with each other and to grow as leaders though a new program
at IndependenceFirst called Peer
Power. In Peer Power they will
create peer mentorship through social outings, weekly meetings and
advocacy activities. The weeks
after the June summit, four of the sixteen youth returned for Peer Power
and in July eleven of the twelve came back.
The group had exchanged numbers and called each other to organize
their coming and 3excitedly greeted each other at the door.
The 2009 Youth Summits were truly a success and the fact that the
youth will continue on at IndependenceFirst
with peer power is so exciting.
Independence First and Wisconsin FACETS will be celebrating the
fifth anniversary of the Youth Leadership Summits at a Brewers Game in
August to which sixty youth—alumni of each of the five years of the youth
summits—will attend.
Next year the 2009 youth will be invited back to work as group
leaders in the 2010 Youth Leadership Summits, which will aim to be even
better than the last.
Ready to rock
Musician never let Asperger's keep him from his
dreams
By ISRAL DEBRUIN
Jon Neuberger wants to play rock 'n' roll music, maybe even
professionally. Living with Asperger's Disorder, that has so far proved a
challenging pursuit.
"Music has always been part of my flesh and blood," Neuberger said,
"because I would dance to it and it would make me happy."
But Neuberger, a 20-year-old Wauwatosa resident, said Asperger's makes
it difficult to read and remember music.
Read the rest of
the story
Facebook Page
Wisconsin YITRC Facebook Page
WI-YITRC
has created it's new Facebook Group. This is the online gathering for
youth to network, share ideas, and receive regular updates about our
project activities and available resources. To find our page go to
www.facebook.com and search groups
"Wisconsin YITRC" to join our page.
If
you have not joined Wisconsin YITRC Facebook yet, please do now at
www.facebook.com and be part of this important network.
Get connected with other youth and disability related groups locally and
nationally. Our project is ready to promote this group among other several
networks. Be hold!
We
want to see your profiles, pictures, interests, causes and events. Go to
www.facebook.com to sign up. If by any chance you do not
have a Facebook account but are interested in starting one and might need
some help, please contact Chad Murphy-Price at
CMurphy@wifacets.org.
SEE
YOU ON FACEBOOK!!!
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