March 3, 2021; 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern
Centers for Independent Living are uniquely equipped to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all over the country with grassroots deep in our communities, keenly aware of the needs of people with all types of disabilities. On top of that, CARES Act funds provided an excellent opportunity to provide additional services and supports for people with disabilities affected by the pandemic. There is much to be done, even if you did not receive CARES Act funds or have already spent them. We are at a critical time in the pandemic response, but the available information on resources and vaccines can be complicated to navigate.
Join us on March 3 to learn exactly what CILs can be doing in this moment to support people with disabilities. We’ll focus on allowable uses of CARES Act funds, vaccine information and assistance, and other resources to bolster your own understanding and to support your consumers.
Registration Fee: This event is free-of-charge.
Target Audience: Staff and board members of Centers for Independent Living. Some of the systems level responses may also be of interest to staff and members of Statewide Independent Living Councils.
What You Will Learn:
- How CILs can use CARES Act funds, and other funding opportunities for CILs that have spent or did not receive CARES Act funds.
- How CILs can help with vaccinations and overcoming inequities in vaccine rollouts.
Meet Your Panelists
Todd Holloway has worked for the Center For Independence (CFI) in Lakewood, WA for fifteen years. In that time he has expanded CFI’s community relationships by working directly with peer organizations and ALL of the government and non-government organizations that intersect with Independent Living and our movement.
He is currently the chair of the NCIL Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee as well as the chair of the Tacoma Area Commission on Disability (TACoD) and the co-chair of the Pierce County Accessible Communities Advisory Council (PC-ACAC). Systemic change has become a huge focus for him and he joins many of our IL family in sharing lessons learned and best practices in an attempt to achieve true equality in all of our communities!
Ami Hyten is a licensed attorney and Executive Director of the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center (TILRC), a disability advocacy and human rights organization in Kansas. TILRC has been providing support and advocacy for self-directed personal attendant services since the program’s inception in the state of Kansas. Prior to rejoining the disability rights movement at TILRC nine years ago, Ami was a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs in civil and administrative matters, and spent several years as legislative counsel for the Kansas Supreme Court’s Office of Judicial Administration.
Jill Jacobs serves as Executive Director of the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia (ECNV). She is an accomplished advocate and activist with an expertise in human and disability rights.
In her previous position at Booz Allen Hamilton, she advised on projects for the Department of Health and Human Services, Veteran’s Affairs, Centers for Disease Control, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with a primary emphasis on Home and Community-based (HCBS) Long-term care. Prior to that, Jill founded and served for eighteen years as the CEO of Ability Unleashed, a Medicaid HCBS case management agency. She has held executive positions at various nonprofit and government entities and served on boards to include the World Association of People with Disabilities and UCP of Washington & Northern Virginia. She is currently on the boards of the National Council on Independent Living and the Moses West Foundation.
Paula McElwee is the Associate Director of Technical Assistance for the IL-NET National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Independent Living at Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU). In addition to providing individualized technical assistance, Paula moderates training calls monthly for new CIL Executive Directors, Assistant Directors/Program Managers, Financial Managers of CILs, Designated State Entities (DSEs), and for SILC staff and board members. Her blog, ilnet-ta.org/wp, is a repository of technical assistance questions and answers from CILs and SILCs. Paula was the first Director of Link, Inc. in Kansas (one of the first states funded through the Rehabilitation Act) beginning in 1979. She worked in the disability field in Kansas for 25 years, and was appointed by two governors to serve three terms on the Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas before moving to California in 2000. She previously served on the board of Resources for Independence of the Central Valley and served as interim executive director for four CILs in California, assisting the boards to transition to their next executive director. Paula has provided training, facilitation, and consultation with state associations, SILCs, and numerous centers throughout the country.
Presented by the IL-NET: The IL-NET National Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Center for Independent Living is operated by ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization). The IL-NET T&TA Center provides training and technical assistance to centers for independent living and statewide independent living councils. The IL-NET is supported by grant numbers 90ILTA0002 and 90ISTA0002 from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration for Community Living policy.
