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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Meet Allie Cannington: NCIL’s Youth Transitions Fellow

Allie Cannington of Fairfax, Calif. has been selected to serve as the 2014-2015 Youth Transitions Fellow at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the longest-running national cross-disability, grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. Sponsored by The HSC Foundation, the Youth Transitions Fellowship provides a young person with a disability an opportunity to gain professional experience in a position designed to improve coalitions and youth-based programs. The HSC Foundation partnered with NCIL to fund the fellowship as part of its mission to help young people find self-directed paths to adulthood and employment.

Allie CanningtonAs the Youth Transitions Fellow, Cannington will facilitate collaboration among internship, fellowship and apprenticeship programs for people with disabilities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She will also support projects that benefit young people by partnering with the Youth Transitions Collaborative, a member organization that works to empower young people with disabilities as they enter the world of work.

Cannington is a recent graduate of American University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. A natural organizer, she founded the Disability Rights Coalition of American University, and has also previously served as a youth organizer with YO Disabled & Proud and a peer counselor and program co-lead with the CA Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities. After graduating from the American Association of People with Disabilities’ internship program, Allie served as a policy intern for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She joins a team of advocates in NCIL’s office at the National Youth Transitions Center in Washington, DC for the one-year fellowship.