Past Events

26 July 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Washington, D.C., July 26, 2018 — A panel of diverse leaders with disabilities and their allies are gathering next Monday, July 30 to discuss key insights into the unprecedented success of hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities who entered the workforce last year. This panel, composed of disability employment and workforce development leaders, will be presenting between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. as part of a day long summit sponsored by RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities.

The focus of their discussion will be the fourfold improvement in employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities over the past year. According to Census Bureau data, 343,483 more people with disabilities joined the American workforce in 2016. This compares to only 87,201 in the previous year. The panel will explore the key factors driving these unprecedented successes. [continue reading…]

A free training session for workforce professionals, agencies and community providers

Date: June 29, 2018
Time: 8:00 am-12:00 pm
Location: Marriott Eastside
525 Lexington Ave. at, E 49th St, New York, NY 10017

There is no charge to attend this event and breakfast will be provided. [continue reading…]

Rockville, Maryland, May 29 – Sulam will recognize two community leaders for outstanding work as advocates for inclusion at its annual gala on June 3, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. ET at The Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park. Both of these leaders share the vision of Sulam, which is to ensure that a high quality education is available to children in the Greater Washington area irrespective of their learning differences.

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi will accept the Sulam Advocacy Leadership Award on behalf of RespectAbility, a nonprofit fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities. RespectAbility is at the forefront of providing tools and resources to Jewish organizations and others to enable them to welcome, respect, include and serve people with disabilities.

Amy Blum, Executive Director and COO of the National Gaucher Foundation, will be honored with the Sulam Founders Award. Blum, whose name has been synonymous with Sulam since its inception, is one of the organization’s original founders. Today she helps educate families touched by the rare metabolic disorder Gaucher, offering them empathy, advocacy and hope for a full life.

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Please join us for the next in-person convening of the Long Beach Community of Practice.

Date: Thursday, April 26th, 2018
Time: 12pm-1:30pm
Location: DeVry University – Long Beach Campus
3800 Kilroy Airport Way
Room 109
Long Beach, CA  90806
Lunch will be provided.

Disability Employment Toolkit Released

• Watch the event highlights on YouTube
• View the transcript in Microsoft Word
• View the PowerPoint in English
• View the PowerPoint in Spanish

Long Beach, CA, March 28 – Dozens of leaders from across Long Beach gathered to discuss national lessons and local opportunities and to collaborate, to enable more residents with disabilities to get jobs. Meeting for nearly three hours at the Long Beach office of the College Internship Program (CIP), over 30 local providers, self-advocates, and community professionals met to talk strategies, brain storm ideas and make serious commitments to improving outcomes. At the community gathering, staff from RespectAbility revealed the brand-new Tools to Drive Employment resource. This new toolkit summarizes key steps the Long Beach community can take to expand job opportunities for residents with disabilities. This report represents the culmination of months of work made possible by a Knight Foundation grant and the past support of the Long Beach Community Foundation.

Event attendees had the opportunity to learn about one another’s resources, build new professional connections, discuss common challenges and commit to closer cooperation in the future. The gathering included a  wide range of community organizations such as AbilityFirst; CA Charter Schools Association; CIP of Long Beach; California State University of Long Beach; Easterseals Work First; Fiesta Educativa; Goodwill SOLAC; Harbor Regional Center; Hillside Enterprises; ICAN: California Abilities Network; Jewish Federation of Greater LA; Khmer Parent Association; Long Beach City College; Long Beach Unified School District; Social Vocational Services; and RespectAbility. The event was generously hosted by the College Internship Program (CIP) of Long Beach. CIP offers a wide range of supports, services and job training for young adults on the Autism spectrum and students with learning and other disabilities.

Back Row (Left to Right): Rick Travis and Claudia Villegas-Avalos from Harbor Regional Center, Angela Rodriguez from Social Vocational Services and Regina Todd from LBUSD. Scott Elliott, Blake Van Steenburg, Mike Karle, Andrew Talley, Jasmine Stidd and Andrew Beisel from ICAN: California Abilities Network. Delbert Whetter, Board Member, RespectAbility. Raoul Munoz and Armida Ochoa from Fiesta Educativa. Vivian Hsa from CCSA. Lori Fleischman from the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Adam Young and Jacquelyn Jaime, Hillside Enterprises. Sandra McElwee, RespectAbility and Julie Givens, LBUSD. Front Row (Left to Right): Stephenie Kelley ICAN: California Abilities Network, Sharon Lazo-Nakamoto from LBUSD, Kayla Crow from AbilityFirst, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi and Debbie Fink from RespectAbility. Chan Hopson, Khmer Parent Association.

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Nyle DiMarco

Reality TV Pioneer Jonathan Murray, RespectAbility President Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Hollywood, Health & Society Director Kate Folb and California Endowment’s Jose Plaza to lead March 20 breakfast discussion about the path to inclusion of people with disabilities.

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Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Time: 8:30 A.M. Breakfast was provided.
Location: Glendale, CA
Contact: Lauren Appelbaum, laurena@respectability.org or 202-591-0703

Jonathan Murray

Jonathan Murray of Bunim/Murray hosted this breakfast conversation. Murray has created and executive produced some of the industry’s most diverse, innovative, unscripted, entertainment television programs including Emmy-winning Born This Way (A&E), which documents the lives of diverse young adults with Down Syndrome and their families. Murray serves on the Board of Directors for RespectAbility.

RespectAbility’s focus is on the inclusion of diverse people with disabilities within the entertainment industry. As such, we unveiled a new resource guide for disability inclusion. This toolkit is for entertainment professionals wishing to ensure they are as inclusive of people with disabilities as possible. Email laurena@respectability.org with questions or visit www.respectability.org/hollywood-inclusion to view the toolkit.

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Date: July 30, 2018, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Location: Rayburn Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

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Date: Thursday, March 22, 2018
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Lunch provided)
Location: CIP Long Beach 4510 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 100 Long Beach, CA 90804
Contact: Philip Kahn-Pauli, philipp@respectability.org

RespectAbility, in partnership with the Harbor Regional Center, was proud to offer a unique learning opportunity for local businesses and community providers on Thursday, March 22. This gathering happened thanks to the continuing commitment of the Long Beach Community Foundation to expand opportunities for youth with disabilities.

Finding talented employees can be one of the biggest challenges that any business faces. Likewise, for community service providers, placing job seekers with disabilities into meaningful, competitive employment in the community can take time, money and precious resources. Very often, there can be a significant gap between the world of businesses and the world of nonprofit providers. However, tremendous opportunities and new successes can be found if we bridge that gap.

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