Thursday, November 19, 2015

Marriott Hotel
5500 Hilton Avenue
Baton Rouge, LA

8:45am – 4:15pm
(Registration 8:00 – 8:45)

Registration:

Registration for the 2015 Advocacy Leadership Conference is now closed. If you are interested in attending the conference please contact the DD Council office at 225-342-6804 or 800-450-8108.

Stipends are available through your local Families Helping Families Center. Registration costs are listed below and cover admission to all plenary and your selection of breakout sessions, continental breakfast, and lunch.

$35 Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
$35 Parents / Family Members
$ 0 Direct Support Professionals (if accompanying an individual with DD)
$50 Other Professionals / Advocates

Host Hotel Reservations:

Reservations at the Baton Rouge Marriott may be made by calling 1-800-228-9290. Ask for the “LDDC Advocacy Conference” room block to get a rate of $97 per night. The deadline to book a room at this reduced rate was Friday, November 13, 2015 but the hotel may still have rooms available. Click here for a map and driving directions to the hotel.

Our Vision:

Our vision is to promote services and supports that enable every individual with a developmental disability to live a meaningful life as a fully included and participating member of their community.

Conference Description:

Participants will engage in dialogue with speakers and one another to increase the effectiveness of advocacy efforts to create a system of services and supports in Louisiana which enable every individual with a developmental disability to live a meaningful life. Participants will also learn specific strategies to help themselves or others with developmental disabilities to create lives in the community that are filled with meaningful work, activities, and relationships. Topics will include…

Grassroots Advocacy for Systems Change
Building and Using Social Capital
Facilitating Inclusion
Building Natural Supports
How Employment Leads to a Meaningful Life
State Policy to Local Practice
Click here to view the full Conference Program

Hear From our National Speakers:

Al Condeluci is CEO of CLASS, a community based support system for folks with all types of disabilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He holds an MSW and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, where he is on faculty in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Social Work. He has authored 7 books, including the acclaimed, Interdependence: The Route to Community (1991) and the newly released, The Macro Change Handbook (2015). Al lives in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, on the family hill with his wife, children and some 30 other members of the extended Condeluci family. For more information check out www.alcondeluci.com.
Deborah Whitfield is a child advocate attorney at the Council for Children’s Rights, the largest and most comprehensive legal advocacy program for children in the southeast where she has practiced law since 2007. She provides holistic representation for children in Charlotte, North Carolina ensuring improved outcomes through litigation, advocacy, system reform, public policy and research for the most at-risk population in the community. In her work at the Council, Ms. Whitfield represents children and youth who are abused, neglected, dependent and delinquent with mental health conditions and developmental delays. She works, specifically, in the areas of mental health, education, health care and child welfare with the end in mind of finding appropriate supports and services tailored to the unique needs of each child.

Hear From our Legislative Panel:

Senator Jack Donahue represents District 11 in St. Tammany parish. He is Chairman of the Finance and Joint Budget Committees
Representative John Schroder represents District 77 in St. Tammany parish. He is a member of the Appropriations and Joint Budget Committees
Representative Ledricka Thierry represents District 40 in St. Landry parish. She is a member of the Appropriations and Joint Budget Committees