ADA National Network Learning Session: Building and Maintaining National Partnerships for Improving Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery to Individuals with Disabilities: Lessons Learned

ADA National Network Learning Session: Building and Maintaining National Partnerships for Improving Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery to Individuals with Disabilities: Lessons Learned

10th December, 2015

Presenters will discuss the strategies involved in developing a partnership between national organizations. They will share what they have learned during the past three years, including what has worked and what has not worked during negotiations to develop and implement Memorandums of Understanding between Portlight Strategies, the National Council on Independent Living and the American Red Cross.

Learning Objectives:

  • Know and understand who Portlight Strategies is and what they do in providing disaster relief, training and coordination before, during and after a disaster.
  • Learn how national partnerships between Portlight and NCIL, NCIL and the American Red Cross and Portlight and the American Red Cross came to be developed and an update on where those relationships stand now.
  • Know and understand NCIL's role and that of their Emergency Preparedness and Response Sub-Committee in working with Centers for Independent Living and other NCIL members to coordinate emergency preparedness and response services during a disaster.

Paul Timmons, a veteran disability community organizer, is Board Chair of Portlight Strategies, Inc., a national disaster relief organization founded in 1997 by people with disabilities to serve the preparedness and response needs of people with disabilities and advocate for our inclusion in all aspects of this discipline.

Christy Dunaway has over 30 years of experience in the disability rights movement, retiring in 2014 as the director of Living Independence For Everyone (LIFE) of Mississippi after 19 years of service with them. She currently consults with various entities to provide training and technical assistance on equal access, equal rights and emergency planning, response and recovery. She is the chairperson of the Emergency Planning and Response Sub-committee of the National Council on Independent Living.

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