Ms. Fox is currently leading NH’s work to prevent unnecessary institutionalization and support all citizens to live within their home communities through the Real Choice System Change Initiative. She served as the State Director of the Division of Developmental Services for five years. In this capacity she led the state in expanding family support; developing quality outcome measures; implementing continuous quality improvement initiatives; enhancing services to persons with dual diagnoses, forensic issues, and acquired brain disorders; providing family support services to children with chronic health conditions; developing in home support services for families; reducing the waiting list for services; developing and implementing a Medicaid Buy In Program; and promoting self-determination. Ms. Fox managed services in a community agency serving persons with disabilities for over 10 years. She began her career in special education. In these roles she has been active in regional and statewide initiatives involving persons with disabilities for over 25 years.

Dr. Nisbet is Director of the Institute on Disability and a tenured associate professor in the Department of Education at the University of New Hampshire. She has conducted research and writing for the past 20 years on topics related to school restructuring and reform, transition from school to adult life, supported employment, self-determination, inclusive adult lives, and aging.

Dr. Nisbet is also past president of the Executive Board of Directors of The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (TASH), a national organization focused on improving the lives of persons with severe disabilities and their families through research, training, and advocacy. She has published extensively in the field of severe disabilities, serves on numerous editorial advisory boards, and presents nationally and internationally. She is principal investigator on numerous state and nationally funded projects related to the community integration of children and adults with severe disabilities.

Mr. Feldstein worked with the civil rights movement in Mississippi and served for seven years in a senior staff position to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay. Among his achievements are a seven-year tenure as the emcee of the International Zucchini Festival and a stint as wine steward and personal assistant to John Wayne on his yacht in the Mediterranean. He has received six honorary doctorates. Mr. Feldstein was selected as one of the 100 People Who Shaped New Hampshire in the 20 th Century, published by the Concord Monitor, and was cited as one of the 10-most influential people in NH by Business NH Magazine in 2001.

Mr. Feldstein is co-author with Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone) who has had a long career in civic activism, of a report on how Americans are developing new ways of making connections among people, reestablishing bonds of trust and understanding, and revitalizing civic spirit. In their book, Better Together: Restoring the American community, Feldstein and Putnam explore those trends in depth through the vivid stories of 12 successful efforts that build community as the principal means of addressing key needs in every region of the country.

Adaptive Environments in Boston is a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to address design issues that confront children, adults, and older people with disabilities. Ms. Fletcher was co-chair of "Designing for the 21st Century, An International Conference on Universal Design," held in June 2000, of which Adaptive Environments was the lead sponsor. Ms. Fletcher's early career focused on community integration for people with psychiatric disabilities. She is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Ms. Fletcher has a master's degree in Ethics and Public Policy from Harvard University. She joined CAST's Board of Directors in 2001.

Mr. Hasbury is an organizational and community development consultant, educator, and facilitator. For more than 20 years, he has been committed to engaging the power of cocreation --- people gathering together to creatively shape the world around them.

He has worked throughout Canada, the United States and England. Among his methods of education and group work, Mr. Hasbury utilizes "group graphics." This innovative model dynamically captures a group's words, images, and colors, enabling participants to, quite literally, "see what we are saying," then moving toward getting group consensus with everyone positioned for action.

Mr. Hasbury has worked extensively with diverse groups, large and small. He has supported groups interested in youth, people with disabilities, community development, the arts, inclusive education, literacy, health and social services, social planning, coalition building, and community economic development.

Dr. Jan Nisbet, Director, University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability

Community Centered Strategies for Support

Presenter: Terry Johnson, Executive Director, NH Celebrates Wellness

Livable, Walkable Communities (LWC), a program of NH Celebrates Wellness, are places where people of all ages can easily and safely enjoy walking, bicycling, and other forms of recreation. In addition, they create accessible trails and paths; preserve open space; promote mixed-use development; improve access to parks and recreation facilities; and increase safety for children and adults. Participants will learn how the LWC program can be used as a resource to build an LWC community coalition, assess needs, and develop a workable action plan that will make their communities more livable and walkable.

Presenters: Rich Crocker, Executive Director, Lakes Region Community Services Council

Denise Sleeper and Donna Quinn, Community Networks: A community building initiative of Lakes Region Community Services Council

Too often we over complicate concepts and miss the real opportunities right in front of us. Common Sense in Community Building brings us back to our senses and to what we already know. Participants will better understand the principles of Asset Based Community Development and practical tools and strategies by sharing the Laconia, New Hampshire experience.

Presenters: Christine Gaynor, Proj. Coord., and Stan Kosloski, Community Facilitator, University of Connecticut, Center on Disabilities

Under the Real Choice Systems Change grant in Connecticut, three “model” communities have been working to implement various community-specific activities to enhance the inclusion of people with disabilities and families. Task forces in each municipality have worked to develop strategies that would not only promote community inclusion, but also become embedded in town culture so as to create sustainability. 

The idea of expanding the “lessons learned” in the model communities to other communities has given rise to a series of regional forums throughout the state, providing opportunities for municipal employees and advocates to meet and collaborate.  The forums are designed to provide information regarding the most current best practices in full inclusion, give participants the opportunity to share ideas, concerns and successes, and engage new towns in developing inclusive practices. 

This presentation will discuss the impact of the above activities on successful community change as well as lessons learned.

Presenter: Thomas Whittemore, City of Seattle, Washington, Department of Neighborhoods

What strategies have been created in Seattle to involve citizens of all abilities in community building? Find out about the role of the Involving All Neighbors (IAN) Program in creating innovative strategies for civic engagement. Everyone has gifts to offer the community and neighborhoods are strengthened by these contributions. IAN's focus is to encourage and strengthen citizen participation utilizing these gifts, particularly participation by those neighbors with developmental disabilities. IAN has been unique since it inception, housed as it is outside the disability system and strategically placed within the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods. From the beginning, IAN was designed by people who would benefit: persons with disabilities, their family members, neighborhood activists, and service providers. Through building partnerships, developing innovative strategies, and benefiting from the commitment of many people, Involving All Neighbors has encouraged the development of welcoming communities in Seattle.

Graphic facilitation by David Hasbury .

Graphic facilitation by David Hasbury.

Better Together: Restoring the American Community

Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Adaptive Environments

Creating Welcoming Communities

Awareness is growing globally that diversity of ability and age are core realities of the new century. That fact poses a challenge to communities to think differently about going beyond barrier removal and accessibility toward a vision of designing places, products and information that seamlessly communicates a message of welcome to everyone. Universal design offers a framework for articulating the vision. In addition to the demographic context that makes the case for inclusive communities, Ms. Fletcher will share examples of pertinent new international policies and case studies from around the world.

CANCELLED

Housing and Community Finance Strategies

Presenter: Sharon Drake, Home of Your Own, NH Community Loan Fund

This presentation will provide attendees with a general overview of the Loan Fund program areas and community strategies as it relates to the elderly and disabled. This is based on the Loan Fund’s founding beliefs that some obstacles people face are not due solely to low incomes, but due to a lack of credit, AND many people with capital will invest in basic human needs if there is a way to do so. The Loan Fund has nine strategic programs of technical assistance and lending in three areas, affordable housing, economic development, and community facilities. Each of which provides the necessary supports at the community level for low and moderate-income individuals/populations.

Homes should be healthy, where we are sheltered from the world, and where we are most in control of our lives. Instead individuals are denied healthy environments, necessary features that are universally appreciated, and cannot escape from using the energy resources that we fight wars over - if they can even find an affordable place to live. We don't have to live this way. A series of homes are under development, building on the standards of the environmental movement, the technology and computer industries, in partnership with architectural researchers. Innovative builders,  individuals, and clinicians have come together to make "The OPEN Build Initiative" series of research homes that will test a new model of design and fabrication of highly responsive places of living. We are bringing together advanced academic research and prototypiing with sophisticated commercial design and production process. This inititative is led by the MIT School of Architecture and Bensonwood Homes of Walpole, NH, along with the Crotched Mountain Foundation. Industrial partners are collaborating in the development of new home related materials and applications. Affordability, advanced accessibility, and long term quality are the goals.

Presenter: Nicole Lapointe, Project Coordinator

This workshop will discuss the asset based approach that the Littleton Model Community Project has taken in increasing access and opportunities for people with disabilities in the town of Littleton. The workshop will include a brief project overview; a more specific discussion of the coalition development; a description of how assets were harnessed and leveraged in the community; and small group guided discussions about potential avenues for new development in the participants' own communities.

Presenter: Bob McGrath, Empowering communities Project, NH Health Information Center

Communities often need to make difficult choices about how to direct scarce resources.  Choices should be    data-driven and evidence-based.  Determining what data to use and using them effectively, can be a challenge.  This session will introduce some tools designed to help communities in NH find and use data effectively.  The session will present the NH Health Data Inventory and the health data curriculum, "Prove It! Let the Data Tell the Story!," both products of the New Hampshire Health Information Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Graphic facilitation by David Hasbury.

Graphic facilitation by David Hasbury