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Get to the Core of It, Part I: Information & Referral

Presented by Roger Howard, Executive Director of the Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC), Darrel Christenson, Director of Community Integration, Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL) and Andrew Moody, Information and Referral Program Coordinator, Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL), on March 24, 2010

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About the Training

Get to the Core of It is an on-demand training series on the four-core services of Centers for Independent Living.  Each presentation in the series features CIL staff and programs that are especially successful at providing excellent services to their communities. The five-part series explores best practices and innovative approaches to the four core services and is presented as follows:

• Part I: Information & Referral
• Part II: Peer Support
• Part III: Independent Living Skills Training
• Part IV: Individual Advocacy
• Part V: Systems Advocacy

In the first program of the series, "Information & Referral", the presenters provide participants with a philosophical approach to I&R before delving into details about the staff skills and policies needed to run an exemplary I&R program.

The presenters embrace the idea that I&R is more than just a numbers game – it’s the front door of their Centers and a way to get more people with disabilities involved in the Center and the Movement! 

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this on-demand training, participants will have the necessary knowledge and resources to:

• Explain the critical role of I & R as the gateway to providing CIL consumers with information, knowledge, and resources in an efficient and responsive manner
• Describe strategies to organize, track, and maintain comprehensive and extensive resource information on numerous disability-related topics
• Describe best practice policies, procedures and staff training that result in highly effective interactions with consumers
• Describe how to conduct follow up with consumers to determine the effectiveness of their CIL’s I & R service delivery

About the Presenters

Roger Howard is the Executive Director of the Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC), a Center for Independent Living with offices in Caldwell, Boise, and Twin Falls, Idaho. He worked as an Independent Living and I&R Specialist for the Disability Action Center in north Idaho for seven years before moving to Boise in 1989 to work at LINC when it first opened.  He then served as Executive Director of the Idaho Task Force on the Americans with Disabilities Act for 6 years before returning to LINC in 2001.

Darrel Christenson has been the Director of Community Integration for Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL) for the past 11 years. Programs under Darrel’s direction include: Empowering Youth with Disabilities into Adulthood, Early Intervention, Reintegration of Young Adults from Nursing Homes to Community, Community Living Options, Home Modification, Information & Referral, Independent Living Skills Training, Socialization Through Recreation and Americans with Disabilities Act Services.  Prior to coming to Arizona, Mr. Christenson had worked with the Southeastern Minnesota Center for Independent Living (SEMCIL) based in Rochester, Minnesota for the previous 11½ years. Both his life-long experiences as a person with both a physical and sensory disability and as a person with a graduate degree in Guidance & Counseling from the University of Wisconsin – Stout, have given him the experience and knowledge to assist persons with disabilities adjust to life with a disability.

Andrew Moody has been living in the Phoenix, AZ area since 1994. With a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Arizona State University and a Masters degree in Education emphasizing in School Counseling, Andrew has dedicated the past six years to working with people with disabilities to help them improve their lives by promoting self-advocacy, employment and independent living. Andrew has worked for the State of Arizona’s Department of Rehabilitation Services as a Disability Program Navigator and at Goodwill of Central Arizona as both a Rehabilitation Services and Adult Employment Services Case Manager. He has been with Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL) for the past three and a half years as an Information and Referral Program Coordinator where he comes into contact with an average of 250-300 consumers monthly.

Transcript and Resources:

• PowerPoint presentation (PPT file)
• PowerPoint presentation (Accessible HTML file)
• Transcript of the Program (MS Word doc)
• Additional Questions & Answers posted on the ILNET Wiki

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Presented by CIL-NET, a program of the IL NET national training and technical assistance project for Centers for Independent Living (CIL-NET) and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILC-NET). The IL NET is operated by ILRU, Independent Living Research Utilization, in partnership with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL).

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