Posted by Jim Lockwood on February 11, 2010 under Uncategorized | 
In late January 2010, the Partners in Policymaking California Collaborative selected th 36 participants for this year’s training. Nearly 60 applications were received from all across Southern California. As always, the Collaborative worked all day to select a diverse class of participants that will benefit from the nationally recognized program. The following training dates are set for the 2010 sessions to be held in Ontario, California.
March 26-27, 2010
April 23-24, 2010
May 21-22, 2010
June 25-26, 2010
July 23-24, 2010
August 27-28, 2010
September 24-25, 2010
After completing the program, the participants will have received more than 100 hours of advocacy training. They will join the approximate 160 other graduates of the Partners in Policymaking California program. Graduation for the 2010 class will be on September 25th.
Posted by Jim Lockwood on under Uncategorized |
Joan Crook, parent of a child with a disability, has dedicated much of her life to advocacy work. After completing the Partners in Policymaking training program in Sacramento in 2007, Joan returned to her work as Program Director at Family Resource Center (Care Parent Network) even more committed to make a difference for children with disabilities.
Working with parents in her community, Joan started an advocacy project called Second Tuesday. Second Tuesday is a legislative advocacy group for families that meets once a month (the second Tuesday) to take action on an advocacy issue. Rather than being a group that simply sits around and talks about what they can do, these parents plan a visit to a local legislator every time they meet. On those Tuesdays each month, the parents meet with legislators to discuss the needs of children with disabilities. The group will also have speakers on occasion, but everyone recognizes that the real progress is made during those legislative visits. At a meeting last year, the group had more than 50 family members attend. Because of the tremendous turnout, the meeting had to be broadcast into an adjacent room by webcam so everyone could participate.
The work that Joan has done as a result of the Partners in Policymaking advocacy training has been multiplied many times over through her efforts to train and motivate local families in her own community. Joan also regularly writes letters to her legislators on specific issues.
Posted by Jim Lockwood on February 1, 2010 under Uncategorized |
In 2009, Keith Bonchek applied to participate in the Partners in Policymaking program being held in Los Angeles. Keith was selected to attend the program and joined 35 others beginning their advocacy training on March 27, 2009. As an adult with Cerebral Palsy and hearing loss, Keith has been trying to help others advocate for themselves. But he needed the training that would give him the skills and knowledge to really make a difference. With the support of sign language interpreters, Keith completed the training and graduated in October of last year.
Keith speaks locally and nationally as a motivational speaker and self-advocate. He became the outreach coordinator for People First of California, and helps others with disabilities in Southern California. Keith is a member of the North Los Angeles Regional Center board of directors where he is actively involved in improving services to people with disabilities. Keith also serves on the committee for the California Memorial Project. Keith is actively involved in his community and always looking for more ways to help others.
Posted by Jim Lockwood on January 24, 2010 under Uncategorized |
In addition to being mom for a houseful of children, including an adopted sibling group of five, LeeAnn Paddock is a staunch advocate for people with disabilities. Three of LeeAnn’s children have a developmental disability. LeeAnn graduated from our 2009 program in Los Angeles.
Immediately after attending the first Partners training in March 2009, LeeAnn made an appointment to meet with Anthony Adams, her state Assembly member. She was successful in meeting with him while he was in the district office. She brought her son to the meeting (as recommended during the training) and discussed her concerns about program service cuts that were recommended in the Governor’s budget proposal. A couple months later, LeeAnn met with staff from State Senator Bob Huff’s office.
It didn’t take long for LeeAnn Paddock to start advocating for the disabilities community the way she had been advocating for her own children for years. LeeAnn is now working to improve things for all people with disabilities, in her spare time…as a very busy mom.
