2009 Family Leadership Summit

Saturday, April 25, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
PACER Center, 8161 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington, MN

This opportunity is for parents of young children with special needs or health concerns who want to gain leadership skills and improve outcomes for other children and families facing similar concerns.

Who should attend:

• Parents who currently serve on Interagency Early Intervention Committees (IEICs), IEIC subcommittees, or other advisory boards
• Parents who are interested in serving in a leadership capacity

Participants will:

• Have an opportunity to network with other family leaders
• Learn how to influence public policy and improve personal advocacy skills
• Enhance leadership skills

Agenda

Speaker Topics and Bios

Keynote: Dawn Blye
Dawn Bly is a wife, mother, daughter, teacher and advocate. She is married to Russ and they have four children, Nathan 27, Natalie 24, Robin 16, and David 13. Dawn works at the Fosston School District as an Early Childhood and Parent Educator and Community Education Director. She has always been involved with families and children. She became even more involved with parents who have a child with a disability and as an advocate when David was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome. Since then, Dawn has been involved in many different organizations such as PACER, The Arc of Minnesota, where she worked as an advocate for Northern Minnesota, and served on the Minnesota Governor’s Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) for five years as a parent of a child with disabilities. While serving on the ICC Dawn served as Chair and attended National Parenting Conferences.

Fostering the Leaders Among Us, Deb Neidfelt
Participants will learn more about leadership characteristics, skills and fostering their own leadership abilities. Information will be provided on the: Background of Leadership; Characteristics of Leaders; Tips and Strategies to Build Your Leadership Skills; Models of Leadership; and Leadership and Change.

Deb Neifeldt has worked with Arc Southeastern Minnesota as a family support project coordinator for 10 years. She developed and provided trainings for statewide family support projects for 10 years with MN*TAFS, a training team funded through the Minnesota Dept. of Education. Currently she works with Region 10 Quality Assurance which does licensing for homes and work places for people with disabilities.

Grassroots Organizing 101, Kim Kang
Participants will learn about ways that parents can create change through grassroots organizing. Participants will learn about different methods to create change as well as organizing strategies which include contacting policy makers, media and coalitions.

Kim Kang is the Public Policy and Early Childhood Director for PACER Center. She is also the parent of a child with a traumatic brain injury. Before coming to PACER, she was employed at the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota as a Public Policy Aide covering special education at the state capitol.