WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
Parents: Have your son or daughter’s regional center funded services been reduced, or have your child’s school therapies and aides become harder to obtain? Are you concerned that there are inadequate educational, social, employment, and housing options to serve your child as they become an adult?
Service Providers: Has your business been impacted by cuts in payments from regional centers and school districts so that you can’t adequately serve your clients?
Regional Center and School District Staff: Have state budget cuts required you to lay off employees and increase caseloads or class sizes so that you can’t do your jobs effectively? Have the cuts forced you to reduce needed services to children and adults with autism?
Individuals with Autism: Are you concerned about losing services that provide inclusion into your community and support to work and live as independently as possible?
If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, join us for our most important meeting yet!
Harnessing Our Power:
Mobilizing the Autism Community in Los Angeles County
Friday, March 16, 2012
8:30 am - 3:30 pm
The California Endowment
1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles 90012
(free parking available behind the building; enter on Bauchet St.)
As we face another $200 million cut to services for the developmentally disabled and potentially billions of dollars in cuts to education, please join leaders in the Los Angeles area autism community as we hear from leading experts on what this means to our families, schools, businesses, and organizations. We will also develop advocacy strategies to show our strength as a community. And join us as we honor leaders who have championed our cause.
Who should attend? Parents, service providers, school district and regional center staff, advocates, organizational leaders, individuals with autism, and anyone who wants to expand and strengthen policies, programs, and funding for children and adults on the autism spectrum.
Cost: $50 per person including continental breakfast and lunch
Financial assistance is available for parents and individuals with autism, if needed.
Click Here to Register
Registration Deadline – March 9, 2012
For more information, call 562-804-5556.
Meeting Highlights
Breakfast honoring Assembly members Bob Blumenfield and Holly Mitchell who have championed the cause of disability rights.
Panel: “Threats and Cuts: The Challenges We Face and How We Can Survive by Working Together” including how the rights of individuals with autism are being affected by budget cuts; how advocacy can make a difference; and what measures exist to preserve and expand services.
Panel: “Moving Forward: How Do We Build a Broader Coalition to Gain More Power?” including how to reach out to the business community, labor unions, and religious leaders; how to work with other disability organizations, and how to organize parents.
Speaker: How do we create a bipartisan coalition in support of policies and funding for individuals with autism?
Lunch Workgroups: “Creating a Powerful and Effective Advocacy Campaign” with groups focused on advocacy strategies such as: Building Coalitions within the Disability Community; Capitalizing on Social Media; Creating Powerful Allies with Business, Labor, & Religious Groups; Organizing Individuals and Families Affected by Autism; Putting a Human Face on the Issue; Reaching out to Republicans and Conservatives; Using the Mainstream Media and Press; and, Utilizing Data and Reports to Back Up Our Advocacy.
Register Now
Please mark your calendars for the remaining meeting of the Autism in L.A. Series:
Autism in L.A.: Assessing a Year of Community Collaboration
Creating a Plan to Advocate for and Implement the Recommendations
Thursday, May 3, 2012 (please note date change)
The California Endowment