Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) Summary Minutes – November 15, 2007

The purpose of this meeting included:  Introducing new YAC members, reporting about the procedural and policy activities and plans for a recommendation to the National Council on Disability at the November 28-December 1, 2007 quarterly meeting. 

Attendance: YAC members: Matt Cavedon, Amy Doherty, Carly Fahey, Eddie Rea, Paul Fogle, Daman Wandke, Jessie Breidenbach, Bryan Ward, Brett Cunningham, as well as NCD staff, Dr. Gerrie Hawkins, the Designated Federal Official (DFO) for YAC, YAC mentors, Miranda Pelikan and Stephanie Orlando, and NCD Executive Director, Mike Collins. Excused YAC members were: Ari Ne’eman (speaking at return of ADA tour bus in Washington, DC), Nathan Turner, and Nichole Schneider. After the call to order and roll call by the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Dr. Gerrie Hawkins, the newly elected committee members—Chair, Amy Doherty (MA), Vice Chair, Carly Fahey (FL), and Secretary, Matt Cavedon (CT) were introduced in their initial leadership of a YAC public meeting.

Procedural Summary:  The DFO transferred the meeting leadership to Ms. Amy Doherty to conduct the YAC’s welcome of seven new members as planned for the start of FY2008. The new members include Jesutine Breidenbach (MN) who brings experience and interest in diversity matters and youth leadership; Brett Cunningham (OK), Paul Fogle (PA), a Penn State public policy major, who cares about health care and education; Eddie Rea (CA), who is passionate about education rights and issues; Nicole Schneider (FL), who brings keen interest and practical experiences in community awareness raising and mentoring; Nathan Turner (OH) brings a mixture of strong grassroots, policy, civil rights and local/state youth leadership experiences, and the newest high school representative, Bryan Ward (DE) who values teamwork and indicates his compassion about defending the ADA and matters such as health care. The five continuing YAC members also contribute to the overall value of this committee. Amy Doherty, living in MA, is the current chair who cares about employment and education; Matt Cavedon, a Harvard freshman serving a second term on YAC is the current secretary who cares about health care and employment; Carly Fahey, a Florida high school senior is the current vice-chair who is passionate about education issues; Daman Wandke (WA) serves as the outreach workgroup leader and works consistently to raise disability awareness; and Ari Ne’eman (NJ) serves as the policy workgroup leader and is an experienced advocate for self-determination and inclusion practices.

Summary of Executive Team, Policy, and Outreach/networking Workgroups: 
The updates informed the meeting participants about the status of YAC activities. The executive team had completed successful assistance with the new member recruitment and recommendations for membership. The workgroups were involved in tasks for a disability awareness project with a goal of making recommendations to NCD on helping to coordinate education projects about living with disability and expanding the disability community’s history. Other activities for workgroup members revolved around the use of aversives and restraints within the context of the NCD CRIPA Report recommendations and planning to address several health care concerns from the youth perspective. The latter might be linked to NCD’s 2008 Healthcare priority. Realistic deadlines will be discussed and established once new members have joined the procedural workgroups.  Note: At this meeting the new workgroup assignments included for policy: Paul, Nicole, Nathan, and Brett; and for outreach/networking: Jessie, Bryan, Eddie, and Carly

Announcements/Comments: 

YAC members who responded to the recent news articles that NCD members shared about special education and school Medicaid funding were thanked for their input.

The DFO reminded the members that YAC Chair (Amy Doherty) and Secretary (Matt Cavedon) were scheduled to represent the committee in a groundbreaking presentation of the YAC report to NCD at the November 28-December 1, 2007 quarterly meeting in Boston, MA with YAC Council Liaison and NCD Council member Victoria Ray Carlson. Any member of the public (including youth) may speak at NCD’s national quarterly meetings and are encouraged to do so during the public comment periods announced by the NCD Chairperson.  For details about the quarterly meetings planned for New Orleans, LA (January 28-30, 2008) and for the Washington, DC metropolitan area April 21 - 23, 2008, please watch for news in the NCD Bulletin.
 
As indicated in the Federal Register, the YAC will meet again on January 17, 2008 and on April 17, 2998 at 4:00 p.m. EST.  Please e-mail your questions regarding the YAC to the DFO, Dr. Gerrie Hawkins (ghawkins@ncd.gov).

This YAC meeting was adjourned at 4:48 PM.