Portland Disability Advisory Committee

City of Portland Portland Disability Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 6, 2019 Mandy Levine, Portland’s Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, convened the meeting of the Portland Disability Advisory Committee (PDAC).  In attendance: Haley Pass, Lisette Belanger, Kayla Moore, Bud Buzzell, Yura Yasui, Ken Shapiro, Certified Interpreting ASL interpreter Arricka, Mike Conkright, Alizah Brandwein, Mireille Kabongo, Jess Lee McCalmon, Karen McPhee, Ken Capron  Board members not in attendance: Jessica Russell, Derek O’Brien, Michelle Ames, John LeMieux, Rabih Dow, Steve Leighton  January 9, 2019 meeting minutes were approved.  Thank you gift for Tom Handel of Portland Media Center: we will be purchasing a gift certificate to Green Elephant and giving a City of Portland t-shirt to Tom to express our tremendous gratitude for his creation of the Public Service Announcements, which Members will continue sharing. Mandy will ask the Communications Director to post them on the City’s Instagram page.  Speaker series update: Mandy shared that we are moving forward, in conjunction with Portland’s Age-Friendly Steering Committee, to plan the speaker series and shared her excitement that we have several notable speakers who have volunteered their time on important topics that impact the disabled and/or the elderly. Mandy encourages the speaker series subcommittee of Yura, John, and Rabih to continue working together if they would like to come forward with additional ideas in addition a presentation from the Tindale Oliver engineers. Confirmed speakers and presentation dates:  Kathy Adams OTL, ATP, Maine CITE Program Director, Assistive Technology for Living and Working, Thursday, March 21st, 3:30 – 5 pm, State of Maine Room, City Hall   Jane Margaresson, AARP Maine Communications Director and Sheriff Kevin Joyce, presentation on scam awareness, Thursday, April 25th, 3:30 – 5 pm, Room 24 in the basement of City Hall,  Kristin Aiello, Esq., Managing Attorney, Disability Rights Maine, presentation re. Titles I, II, and III of the ADA, Tuesday, May 14th, 3:30 – 5 pm, State of Maine Room of City Hall  Peter Baker LCSW, Program, Director for the Maine Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Understanding Alzheimer's and Dementia, June 20th, 3:30 – 5 pm, State of Maine Room of City Hall Mandy and Linda are preparing marketing materials for the event so that we can share information far and wide. All of the presentations will be free and open to the public and (as available) we will provide validated parking in the Elm Street Parking Garage next door to the Portland Public Library.  Brainstorm details of event Friday, August 2, 2019 o Location: Merrill Rehearsal Hall is booked o Theme ideas  Building connections  Show attendees with disabilities the equipment and services that are available  Educate attendees who are not disabled on resources out there, recognizing that disability is something that is likely to impact all of us  Build empathy – move away from sympathy to empathy  Move away from us versus them mentality o Experiential components  Ken Shapiro will explore whether Unum could share their experiential exhibits that includes 10 stations featuring 10 different disabilities that represent hypothetical customers. Ken and Mandy spoke to how powerful participating in these stations was.  Mike Conkright shared that he has a manual wheelchair we could use  Ken Capron will explore a dementia simulator as well as sharing MemoryWorks’ four memory tests  Have tv’s set up to air our PSAs and other disability-related videos  Service dog presentation  o Brainstorm title of event  All Abilities Festival (garnered the most excitement; other ideas are All Abilities Fair or Expo)  All Access Fair  Abilities Expo (likely cannot use)  Did You Know  Access·ability Celebration  Access Fest  Accesspalooza  Access-ability Expo  Access-ability Festival Mandy will distribute a survey to PDAC Members to decide upon the title. o Art exhibits: Mandy has reached out to Creative Trails about showcasing their art again. o Potential attendees  Disability Rights Maine  Disability Rights Maine Deaf Services  Alpha One  IRIS Network  Alzheimer’s Association  Carole Starr from Brain Injury Voices  Maine Adaptive  Spurwink Alltech  Maine Division of Vocational Rehabilitation  Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness  Unum  MemoryWorks  Black Bear Medical  Metro  Goodwill  UNE  RTP  Catholic Charities  Opportunity Alliance  Many more to be brainstormed!  o Letter invitation: we will draft a letter to electronically send to potential attendees o Funding opportunities we could potentially pursue  Maine Health Access Foundation, http://www.mehaf.org/grants- center/discretionary-grants/  Maine Community Foundation  Unum’s grant opportunities for 501C(3) entities, http://www.unumemarketing.com/forms/gifts/charitable_grant_applicat ion.html o Miscellaneous  Could we make t-shirts for PDAC organizers to wear?  Light snacks and refreshments?  Create flyers, based on the invitation, to draft First Friday traffic to our event  Michelle Ames previously volunteered to do face painting  New business: o James Devine of Homeless Voices for Justice shared a form that can be filled out, “Don’t Hide Us, Include Us,” during which people can share their thoughts on the location of the new shelter, including the accessibility of its location for disabled individuals. See https://www.preblestreet.org/what-we-do/advocacy- programs/homeless-voices-for-justice/. o Ken Capron shared information about his initiative to bring remote live testimony to State legislative meetings as a reasonable accommodation for disabled individuals who would like to testimony. He left flyers that meeting attendees could sign. Please contact Ken directly at kcapron1@maine.rr.com for more information.  Upcoming 2019 meeting dates, all from 11 am to 12 pm in Room 24 in the basement of City Hall  March 6th (METRO will be our guest speaker)  April 3rd  May 1st  June 5th  July 10th  August 7th  September 4th  October 2nd   November 6th  December 4th  The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Mandy Levine City of Portland Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Specialist

City of Portland Portland Disability Advisory Committee Agenda February 6, 2019 1. Sign in and approval of January 9, 2019 meeting minutes 2. Thank you gift for Tom Handel 3. Speaker series update (Mandy) a. Kristin Aiello, Esq., Managing Attorney, Disability Rights Maine, Titles I, II, and III of the ADA (March) b. Jane Margaresson, AARP Maine Communications Director and Sheriff Kevin Joyce, financial scams (April) c. Kathy Adams OTL, ATP, Maine CITE Program Director, Assistive Technology for Living and Working, May 14th, 3:30 – 5 pm d. Peter LCSW, Program, Director for the Maine Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Understanding Alzheimer's and Dementia, June 20th, 3:30 – 5 pm 4. Brainstorm details of “abilities expo” August 2, 2019 a. Merrill Rehearsal Hall has been booked b. Confirm theme c. Brainstorm official title (the People, All Access Fair, Abilities Expo, Did You Know) d. Brainstorm invitees (in addition to those participating in Speaker Series) e. Art exhibits f. Letter invitation Upcoming 2019 meeting dates, all from 11 am to 12 pm in Room 24 in the basement of 5. City Hall a. March 6th b. April 3rd c. May 1st d. June 5th  e. July 10th f. August 7th g. September 4th h. October 2nd i. November 6th j. December 4th 6. Adjournment