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Colorado Project POWER

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We want to build and encourage self advocates.  I have personally seen the importance of youth and young adult voices through the multiple projects I work on.  We are empowering youth and young adults who have become our teachers and experts in helping provide technical assistance to Region D2.

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We have a Youth Advisory Community with 6 members from California, Utah, Colorado and Arizona.  We also recently created a Youth Engagement Toolkit with best practices for parent centers. Our YAC members have created info graphs, fact sheets, piece of advice videos and now Podcasts.  The YAC also had a leadership conference in  Salt Lake City Utah and are currently assisting with our region D2 virtual conference "Success Unmeasured".

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Hello! Kansas VR

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To support youth especially in the area of self-advocacy.

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Through Rehabilitation Services we provide Pre-Employment Transition Service to youth ages 14-21.

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Parent information Center (PIC) - Delaware

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So, I can better contribute to efforts to benefit youth and their families in Delaware who are facing barriers that keep them from advocating for themselves and achieving their goals.

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We have organized a youth leadership conference before the school year started and have been working to update assistive resources that can be distributed to and help youth and their families.

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SPAN Parent Advocacy Network (NJ)

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We want to help youth/young adults build their self-advocacy skills to utilize Supported Decision Making as an alternative to guardianship, use their voice for a successful adult life, and support other youth in their journey.  

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NJ - weekly Youth Chats run by our youth team, weekly youth Blog written by the youth team, and in the early stages of rebooting our Youth Advisory Council. Also, have youth representation on YETI. In Parent Ctr Region A we have a successful Youth Leadership Council which is a group of young adults associated with each parent center that share resources and collaborate to present at conferences across the country.

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Nebraska VR

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As part of the WIOA Combined State plan one of the goals is to increase employment outcomes for students with disabilities.  

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We do have a leadership group called Nebraska Youth Leadership Council.  Nebraska has developed a partnership with Special Education, VR, and CTE at a state level and are working on goals collaboratively.  

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Allison Johnson - Kentucky Department of Education

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We are working to focus on improving transition to adulthood across Kentucky, but it isn't my adulthood - I've already completed that transition - so it is incredibly important to us to have youth involved to help us build a system that is truly serving their needs, not what the adults think are their needs.

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We have youth representation on a few of our different state committees, but it is sporadic and not as robust or effective as we want. Not yet implemented, but we have obtained funding and MOAs to start a single youth advisory council in conjunction with education/SILC/Voc Rehab to improve that youth engagement at the state level.

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Ohio

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We want to establish a youth council to build opportunities for youth to inform policy, review new initiatives, and more from our Ohio state agencies

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There are several statewide youth councils, but none exclusively for youth with disabilities.  We have started meeting with our Parent and Information Center to develop a youth council recruitment strategy and 'ask' to get the council started

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Zach McCall, MPACT (Missouri's parent training and information center)

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Help ensure there are more leaders with disabilities in our communities and employees with disabilities in our disability support systems. 

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MPACT started a youth/young adult leadership council called MyVoice (Missouri Youth Voices on Individual & Collective Education). We have been meeting since May and members have presented at state and national conferences. We are currently developing strategies to recruit new members through social media and other sources and figuring out ways for youth voice to be more prominent in all of MPACT's transition programming. 

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Kansas - CHASE Program

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Enhancing youth engagement and leadership is crucial for fostering a sense of empowerment and responsibility among young people. We can cultivate future leaders who are equipped to tackle social challenges, promote positive change, and create inclusive communities. 

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Currently have a youth leadership team that is in the process of creating projects related to mental health awareness

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We have lots of local organizations working on youth leadership and self-advocacy. We want to partner with these groups to develop a state level advisory group.

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OH

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To better support our youth and ensure programs, projects, etc. are meeting their needs.

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Several work groups/partners are working on ways to involve more youth in planning their specific projects or a group for more overall engagement.

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Hi! A couple of us are here from Colorado!!

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We are looking to potentially build a state youth leadership team. We are here to learn about why/how YETI works to keep youth engaged to build out that structure in CO.

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We have segmented youth leadership and a YLF that is developed through our CILs, but need more of an ongoing state team.

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Virginia - I'm Determined Project

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Students/youth really need to be an active partner in our society and thier lives,

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I'm Determined Project. Youth Leaders particpate in all aspects of development of the project.

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Brad Girard - CHASE Program (Families Together, Inc.) based in Kansas

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We want to give youth who finish our 8-week program a meaningful way to engage with CHASE and their community beyond program completion. 

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We are piloting our CYLT (CHASE Youth Leadership Team) for youth across Kansas who take part in monthly virtual meetings and work together toward health outcomes in their community. We've only hosted two meetings so far but we're learning from the youth what they want to make this experience! 