Wisconsin Personnel Development System (WPDS)

Parent Leadership Hub Weekly E-Newsletter for May 14,2009

The attached "Parent Leadership Hub" Weekly Email Update is sent to you from WSPEI and WI FACETS.   The Parent Leadership Hub supports parents/family members, educators and other community partners to build capacity regarding meaningful family involvement.   The Hub serves three primary purposes:
(1) To support parents of children with disabilities between birth and 26 years of age to participate as partners in the professional development activities of each of the other Statewide Initiatives as they design, deliver and support professional development experiences; and
(2) To facilitate opportunities for parents/family members to build leadership skills; and
(3)  To provide Content Focused technical assistance concerning family involvement.

Parent/Personnel Development Opportunities

1. Hand in Hand Mental Health and Autism Conference in Rice Lake
   This free conference is on Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 8 am to 1 pm. at the Rice Lake Middle School, 204 Cameron Road, Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  It is for parents, grandparents, teachers, para's and caregivers or anyone else interested in learning more about mental health and autism.  Topics will cover information about students ages 3 to 21 with mental health issues and autism.  All are welcome to attend. The cost to attend is FREE. Pre-registration is not necessary for the conference however if you think you will be attending please email Jane Nelson at jnelson7641@yahoo.com or call her at 715-236-7641 and let her know how many will be attending. 
2. 4th Annual Spoken Word & Hip Hop Educator’s Institute in Madison
   For young people to reach their full academic and artistic potential, they need the support of their teachers and adult mentors. Many adults, however, struggle to make their classes and programs relevant to the changing culture and needs of today’s youth. In order to bridge this educational-generational gap, OMAI teams up with Urban Word NYC to offer the 4th Annual Spoken Word & Hip Hop Educator’s Institute at UW-Madison July 6-10, 2009. For Educator’s Institute application and registration information, contact Katrina Flores at kbflores@wisc.edu or 608-890-1006. Space is limited.
3. Region 4 OSEP Parent Centers Conference in Milwaukee
   Location: Courtyard by Marriott, 300 W. Michigan St., Milwaukee
   Time: Monday July 22: 1 – 6:30 p.m., Tuesday July 23: 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Wednesday July 24: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
   Leaders of OSEP-funded Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent Resource Centers from 9 states will be attending.  Space is limited to 65. Leaders from Wisconsin are welcome, pending available space. $125 registration/person (2 registrants/R4 Parent Centers free)
   Registration: 1-877-374-0511  region4TA@wifacets.org or smcfarland@wifacets.org
4. CESAs Calendars of Events
   The twelve Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs) of Wisconsin offer many educational workshops for staff and parents. A list of the CESA websites can be found at http://www.dpi.wi.gov/cesa.html#anchor2 . A map of the regions covered by each CESA is at http://dpi.wi.gov/lbstat/newmap2.html. Click on the region to find the included school districts.
   

    

Family Involvement Resources

1. Parent to Parent of Wisconsin
   Parent to Parent of Wisconsin is a statewide network of families who support each other on the journey of parenting children with special health care needs. It offers parents and caregivers the opportunity to connect one-to-one with a parent of a child with similar special needs. A parent coordinator facilitates the match with a trained support parent. For information and connections, call 888-266-0028 or see www.p2pwi.org

2. Video of Project Summer Employment Findings
   Project Summer is a three-year intervention research project designed to improve summer employment and community engagement for youth with significant disabilities and youth with emotional/behavioral disabilities. The project partnered with 34 school districts in its first phase to look at how students with different disabilities were spending their summer.

   The project then worked with seven high schools last school year and summer 2008, using a 5-component intervention project, then measuring what effects the intervention had on summer employment/community engagement for youth in the intervention, compared with youth with the same disabilities from the same high schools who were in a comparison group. Two links are listed below to a 54-minute presentation highlighting the project, its findings, and implications for practice:

   http://blip.tv/file/2093272/
   http://www.vimeo.com/4423892

   You can find some of the tools and other transition resources on the Project Summer website: www.projectsummer.info

3. National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc. – May Newsletter
   Visit to following website link for the May 2009 Newsletter from NCLD. http://www.ncld.org/newsletters/LDNews/May2009.html
   
   
   

DISCLAIMER
Inclusion of information in this e-mail does not constitute an endorsement by the Wisconsin Statewide Parent-Educator Initiative, Wisconsin FACETS, the Department of Public Instruction, the U.S. Department of Education, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.