In this section:

• Programs
• Calendar of Events
• Disability / Advocacy
• Early Childhood
• Children and Youth
• Adults

Back to the homepage

New Voices: Making Them Heard

Overview

New Voices is a self-advocacy initiative in Virginia that supports individuals with disabilities in promoting ideas that are important to them. The New Voices project is committed to helping self-advocates become active participants in their home communities and in Virginia. During the past couple of years, a New Voices Committee was formed and is made up of nine adults who live across Virginia. The Committee works together to determine ways of letting others know about the needs of self-advocates. Some of the activities include: distributing a video featuring New Voice members that highlights the lives, voices, and needs of the members and others with disabilities; sponsoring events that raise awareness to the importance and value of the voices and experiences of individuals with disabilities in the way they live their lives; and distributing proceedings from the 2005 conference sponsored by the New Voices project. Additionally, to learn from a wider group of self-advocates, the project is working with focus groups facilitators from a national self-advocate leadership network to hear from other self-advocates across the state about what individuals with disabilities feel are essential next steps to build a stronger self-advocacy presence. A presentation, based on the results of the focus groups, is available to share with agencies and organizations interested in self-advocacy. The project is supported with funding from the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.

Major Activities

• Facilitate meetings of the New Voices Committee and assist with the design and organization of other events (conference, focus groups, community forums, self-advocacy training sessions, presentations) that are planned for and by self-advocates.
• Support the New Voices Committee in developing activities to promote the active involvement of self-advocates in their communities and in Virginia.
• Determine ways for developing and supporting self-advocacy leadership and networking opportunities in Virginia to influence services, supports, and policies in Virginia.

Contacts

Web Address: www.vcu.edu/partnership/newvoices