Independence Empowerment Center

In March, I assisted the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities by interviewing Delegates for the Youth Leadership Forum (YLF).

I am excited to announce that three of the individuals that I interviewed were selected and attended the YLF Conference in July. The YLF program seeks to empower young people with disabilities to further develop leadership skills. YLF includes training and assistance to develop individual career and life goals, leadership skills and self esteem. Delegates share in their experiences with peers, mentors and volunteers. The youth attended workshops to learn more about the ADA, disability rights, advocacy, assistive technology and the legislative process. The individuals developed their own personalized leadership paths, setting one, three and six month goals. I met with one delegate, Emilia, who eagerly showed me the chart that demonstrates her path, which she has been diligently working on this summer. She is excited to start school, begin volunteer work and continue with her goals. Please join me in congratulating Parker, Justin and Emilia as they continue on their paths as advocates and leaders.

IEC would like to thank Pizza Hut for assisting us with our fundraiser in August. We also want to thank all of our friends and consumers for their support!

From Summer 2006 Newsletter

by Stephanie George

Also see the the following page for photos.