Elevating family voice and empowering families to pursue whole lives for their children experiencing disability is at the heart of FACT Oregon’s mission. That work is not fully possible until more families are involved in decisions and policies that impact them. When we work together, we can help to transform how communities see and respond to disability.

Activate Your Advocacy supports families to have a stronger voice, not only in their child’s education and future planning, but in systems change work that will help disrupt ableism and center equity for all children experiencing disability.

During this 12-part facilitated-learning series (36 hours), Activate Your Advocacy Parent Leaders will learn, explore, and take action on:

·         The Disability Rights Movement

·         Ableism, Identity, and Intersectionality

·         Self-Determination, Person Centered Planning, and Whole Lives

·         Educational Services and the laws that govern them including IDEA, ADA, Section 504, and more

·         The IEP process

·         Decision-making and Funding in Oregon Impacting youth with Disabilities

·         Current policy and advocacy initiatives that impact youth with disabilities

·         How to take action and advocate for systems change at local and state levels.

WHO: Parent or caregiver of a child or youth experiencing a disability and a desire to engage in system reform efforts centered on equity for youth experiencing disabilities.

WHAT:  Twelve virtual sessions scheduled twice a week. Participants are asked to meaningfully participate by sharing their experience and learning from other experiences. (***Meaningful participation and engagement expectations will be addressed in the participation agreement)****  

WHEN: Monday and Wednesday evenings starting April 4th, 2022 – May 11th,2022 from 6:00pm-9:00pm

HOW TO APPLY: Please note: only complete applications will be considered. You may begin the application, save it, and return to it later. In total, the application should take around 30 minutes to complete. Incomplete applications will not be considered. APPLY HERE!

Our application cycle opens February 7th and closes on March 7th. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by email on March 18th.

We recognize that this training represents a significant commitment. To alleviate some barriers, all participants will be eligible to receive a $500 stipend upon the successful completion of the training series, and interpretation and translation will be available. We appreciate that some families may experience additional barriers, such as limited WiFi or computer access. Please reach out to us so we can see how best to support you!