Portland Disability Advisory Committee

City of Portland Portland Disability Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes September 12, 2018 Mandy Levine, Portland’s Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, convened the meeting of the Portland Disability Advisory Committee (PDAC).  In attendance: Diane Leavitt, AnneMarie Catanzano, Rabih Dow, Yura Yasui, Bud Buzzell, Ken Shapiro, Lisette Belanger, Derek O’Brien, Jessica Russell, Certified Interpreting interpreter, Sydney Avitia-Jacques  Board members not in attendance: Haley Pass, Michelle Ames, Steve Leighton  Introduction of PDAC Members, including the four newest members: o Diane Leavitt, individual member residing in Portland o AnneMarie Catanzano, individual member residing in Portland o Rabih Dow, individual member residing in Portland o Yura Yasui, representing University of Southern Maine Committee Members o Michelle Ames, representing Disability Rights Maine o Lisette Belanger, individual member residing in Portland o Bud Buzzell, individual member residing in Portland o AnneMarie Catanzano, individual member residing in Portland o Rabih Dow, individual member residing in Portland o Diane Leavitt, individual member residing in Portland o Steve Leighton, representing Woodfords-Oakdale Neighborhood Association o John LeMieux, individual member residing in Portland o Derek O’Brien, representing Alpha One o Haley Pass, representing STRIVE o Jessica Russell, individual member residing in Portland o Ken Shapiro, representing Unum o Yura Yasui, representing University of Southern Maine  Election of Chair and Vice Chair of Committee o Haley Pass elected as Chair o Ken Shapiro as Vice Chair  The May 2 and July 11, 2018 meeting minutes were approved.  Update on the three Public Service Announcements (PSA) filmed 8/1/2018 by the Portland Media Center o Hope to go live in October with accompanying press release that lists the newest members of the Committee. o Mandy will ask Portland Media Center to vocalize the questions at the beginning of each PSA and will distribute the PSA to the four new members to review. o Outreach to partners and community members to air the PSA’s  Discussion of doing outreach outside of Channel 5 to have other stations air the PSA’s. We will need to condense the length of at least one, ideally to 30-60 seconds. Perhaps partner organizations and universities could also post them.  Jessica Russell is working on rebranding Alpha One’s website and could include them.  John LeMieux knows the CEO of New England Rehab.  Jetport previously worked with Disability Rights Maine.  Speaker series brainstorming o Mandy shared the details of her recent meeting with Linda Weare, the City of Portland’s Director of Elder Affairs and staff liaison of the Age Friendly Portland Steering Committee, regarding co-hosting trainings or speakers that would appeal to individuals with disabilities and/or are elderly. The City Manager supports this initiative. o Jessica spoke to her business being the first organization that was evaluated and designated as age friendly. o Ideas for professional speakers or trainings:  i. Alzheimer’s Association ii. Brain Injury voices run by Brain Injury Survivors, largest support group in Maine iii. Service dogs iv. Abilities Expo website has the list of demos and speakers. v. Highlight an employer that has successfully incorporated disabled individuals like Volk Enterprises. vi. Alpha One strives to have a staff that is ½ individuals with disabilities. vii. Rabih asked whether this educational work is better done by the Portland public library. o Perhaps we could host an informational event that has booths and displays at which various social services organizations could attend.  We held a discussion on whether the Committee should focus on doing both educational and policy related work. We could potentially create sub committees that could work outside of this one-hour meeting time.  Creative Trails: o Mandy shared that she recently met with the creator of Creative Trails, Scott Miller, to learn more about their programs. Creative Trails offers experiential programing to adults with intellectual uniqueness through our Foundation, Leadership, and Certificate programs. o The group was excited to hear about Creative Trails having an art exhibit in the City Hall rotunda ideally in January, 2019. http://www.creativetrails.org/  Upcoming events to advertise on the PDAC website and Facebook page  White cane day: October 15th  Last week of October is Deaf Awareness week in Maine  September 21 – 23rd, Boston Abilities Expo  Upcoming meeting dates, all from 11 am to 12 pm in Room 24 in the basement of City Hall 2018  October 10th  November 7th  December 5th 2019  January 2nd *Decided to postpone to January 9th to avoid the holiday  February 6th  March 6th  April 3rd  May 1st  June 5th  July 3rd *Decided to postpone to July 10th to avoid the holiday  August 7th  September 4th  October 2nd  November 6th  December 4th The meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Mandy Levine City of Portland Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Specialist