National Council on Disability
Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee (CDAC)
September 21, 2005 - Record of Public Meeting (Teleconference)

Participants: CDAC Members – Paul Leung, Elaine Mbionwu, Lilly Rangel-Diaz, LaDonna Shuckahosee, Jean Lin, Darrell K. Simmons (hurricane evacuation removed him from teleconference), Glenn Fujiura; NCD staff – Jeff Rosen (General Counsel/Director of Policy); Pam O’Leary and Gerrie Hawkins, Designated Federal Official (DFO). Work related absence – NCD Council Liaison and Council Member, Milton Aponte.

I. Call to Order and Roll Call - Designated Federal Official (G. Hawkins)

II. Welcome/Brief comments – In the absence of NCD Council Liaison, the NCD General Counsel/Director of Policy (Jeff Rosen) provided a warm welcome to participants. He commented briefly about the role of CDAC as a body and the contributions that have been made to the work of NCD.

III. Review of Agenda – To accommodate members who were unable to access the agenda, the DFO reviewed the
order of agenda items. Hearing no additions or deletions, the meeting proceeded as follows.

IV. Committee Focus: Assessing and mapping NCD’s work linked to agency goals

• NCD Goal: to identify mechanisms for enhancing working partnerships among the federal government and grassroots, state, local and tribal entities (public and private) [in order] to address removal of federal barriers to more effective implementation of national laws and policies at the state and community level, and to encourage sovereign tribes to adopt similar laws that can benefit their community members on tribal lands

o In Milton Aponte’s absence, the DFO asked members to consider possible
recommendations that Mr. Aponte might offer during his involvement as an invitee to the upcoming December 2006 White House Conference on Aging. After a period of deliberation with comments by Mrs. Shuckahosee, Dr. Leung, Mr. Rosen, Dr. Fujiura, and Mrs. Rangel-Diaz with agreement by Ms. Lin, the result was that it will be important to gear suggestions to the most current list of recommendations already on the table for the conference. (A list had not been made available by the conference planners at the time of this CDAC meeting.) A determination could then be made by Mr. Aponte about which of the existing recommendations would be most appropriate for inclusion of statements that call attention to cultural diversity. Language could be crafted that (1) calls attention to the fabric of this country’s population, (2) reflects the changing demographics among people who are aging and people with disabilities, and (3) recognizes and respects the role that different racial and ethnic traditions, customs, family structure, ways of reaching out and of responding all play in addressing matters of aging and disability among people from diverse cultures.

• NCD Goal:to serve as a catalyst and partner with other federal agencies in developing proactive, consistent, and comprehensive Federal strategies, policies and procedures for enforcing disability civil rights and assuring equal access to programs and services administered

o CDAC members’ continued participation in policy studies and related projects was
encouraged. An ongoing effort to identify CDAC volunteers who might serve as liaisons to keep the full committee updated on various topics being addressed by NCD (e.g., employment, educations, transportation, ADA implementation & impact, etc.) will be an agenda item in the upcoming fiscal year.

o CDAC participation in special projects to date were recapped briefly during the earlier
comments by Mr. Rosen. For example, members have demonstrated impact of their work related to the past Cultural Diversity Initiative Forum, the Civil Rights Policy Forum and subsequent documents, including release of a resource Directory. The upcoming fiscal year will bring additional opportunities not only for new areas of participation, but also for work related to follow-up and ongoing NCD priorities.

V. Committee Procedural Matters

A. Committee Charter Status and next steps – For the record, it was noted that the CDAC charter
shows January 16, 2004 as the last renewal date which means that unless NCD votes to renew the charter, the committee would be terminated in January 2006. This will Information will be provided in notes to the NCD Council Liaison.

B. Membership Status – Earlier information that the DFO provided to Mr. Aponte was in error. Ten
members are currently serving. Terms will be adjusted to reflect a new start date of October 1, 2005 which is the beginning of the new fiscal year. The starting date for new terms will then be adjusted again in January, assuming the charter is renewed. These two actions are part of the transition necessary to align current membership terms not to exceed the life of the charter.

C. New member recruitment – The number of positions to be replaced on a staggered basis and a
timeframe for recruiting new members will be determined and announced to the public after the first six calendar months of the year 2006.

D. Members interested in serving as committee for the current cohort were asked to make that known to the DFO via e-mail or telephone. It was noted that as a committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the requirement is at least for a committee Chair who is a committee member and not a member or employee of the agency. Ideally, the DFO called for CDAC members to please consider any one of three positions – Chair, Vice-Chair, and a workgroup leader (perhaps, policy or other issue oriented). A slate of officers needs to be ready for the next public meeting.

VI. Announcements
A. FY 2005 Public Meeting Calendar was announced in the August 2005 Federal Register)

VII. Adjournment – After the participants were thanked for their time and participation, the Designated Federal Official adjourned the meeting.