People First of Missouri Message From the People Newsletter - Fall 2019 In this Issue PFMO Fall Steering Committee, p. 1 President’s Message, p. 2 Safety Planning, p. 3 Supported Decision Making in Missouri, p. 3 PFMO Support Changes, p. 4 Leadership Opportunities, p. 5 Chapter updates, pp. 6-7 Statewide Officer Election results, p. 8 People First of Missouri • MissouriPeopleFirst.org Page 1 Fall Steering Committee Meeting People First of Missouri (PFMO) held its fall Steering Committee meeting November 10-11, 2019, in Columbia, Missouri. At the meeting, PFMO welcomed returning chapter Howard County and newly forming chapter, Warrensburg. On Saturday, members learned about Charting the LifeCourse™ tools from Jane St. John of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Institute for Human Development (IHD). The group also reviewed PFMO’s new “Nine Steps to Starting a Chapter” resource, which has been added to MissouriPeopleFirst.org/resources. That evening, members who were running for office gave speeches and answered questions about how they would plan to lead. Steering Committee members voted for new statewide officers who will serve two-year terms (see page 8 for results), starting in January. On Sunday, PFMO gave input on a new Abuse Awareness & Prevention Guide. The guide was funded by the Missouri Developmental Disabilties Council and created by UMKC IHD. During the weekend, there were two extra-special moments: one of silence, to remember longtime member Gary Stevens, who recently passed away, and one to thank Vim Horn for his help and support for PFMO for the past six years (see page 4 for more info). • Photo below, left: Steering Committee members give input on a new Abuse Awareness and prevention guide. Photo right: They also learned about Charting the LifeCourse tools in “Ambassador” training. People First of Missouri 2019 Officers Cathy Enfield, President Roger Crome, Vice President Katie Kinder, Treasurer Kelly Ray, Secretary Johanna Wortmann, Sergeant at Arms Contact Information: PO Box 30142 Kansas City, MO 64112 (800) 558-8652 missouripeoplefirst.org missouripeoplefirst@gmail.com facebook.com/ missouripeoplefirst twitter.com/MOpeoplefirst Page 2 Message From the President by Cathy Enfield, President PFMO members and allies, As I am finishing my term as president of People First of Missouri, I want to take this opportunity to say “thank you” for making it possible for me to serve as your president the past four years. It is a great honor and something I will always be grateful for. I am happy for the things we have been able to accomplish and disappointed about being unable to reach some of our goals. But I know the organization is strong, and we will continue to work for a future that is better for all of us. I want offer my congratulations and support for the new and returning officers. I am here to support you and the future of People First of Missouri. We have some big challenges facing us, but challenges always present opportunities. I am confident we will rise to meet the challenges and go forward to build a better community, not just for people with disabilities, but for everyone. I want to take a moment to honor one of our members who we lost this year, Gary Stevens from our Rolla chapter and remind everyone what Gary meant to the selfadvocacy community. For those of you who did not know Gary, he was the advocate’s advocate. He was a virtual bulldog on wheels. He was completely determined, unafraid, and he had the ability to be a true pain in the rear end - all very necessary qualities for a great advocate. But he took them to the next level. Gary was very hard to understand but found ways to make his voice heard. Gary was also a joker with a wonderful laugh. He had a smile as big as his heart, which he freely shared every time you met him. Gary was a good man and despite living through some really difficult times, he was blessed to have had the long-standing support and friendship of Phyllis Hollingsworth. With her support, Gary gave us an example of what advocacy should be and could be. Gary taught me a lot, but most of all, he was my friend, and I miss him dearly. I want to thank all of you again for giving me the honor of being your president and most of all for being my friends. I look forward to working with you in the future to help People First of Missouri make the world better for all people. Photo below: Cathy Enfield, President. Photo, right: Gary Stevens, a longtime leader in Missouri, received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2017 state PFMO Conference. Message From the People Newsletter Page 3 MODDC Safety Planning Event In October, the Missouri DD Council hosted a training event with First Responders in downtown Independence, Missouri. At this event, there were selfadvocates, family members, providers, and local officers and firefighters. The guest speaker was David Whalen On October 22, 2019, self-advocates, family members, providers, and local officers and firefighters. The guest speaker was David Whalen from Niagara University. The overall message from this event was to know and understand safety plans, not just for your house, but also for your workplace and community. The Council has links to resources that are available to help prepare. They also suggest to talk to one another and get to know first responders in your community. Visit: https://www.moddcouncil.org/?page_id=7 Suppourted Decision Making in Missouri On October 22, 2019, self-advocates, family members, and people who work in the disability field met in Columbia, Missouri, to talk about Supported Decision Making. The group is called the Missouri Consortium for Supported Decision Making. It is looking for more people with disabilities who want to get involved. To learn more, call Candace at 816-235-5833 or email candcunningham@umkc.edu. Photo Bleow Photo, left: Current PFMO President Cathy Enfield congratulates President-elect Jeffrey Johnson of Boone County chapter on his election. Photo, right: Steering Committee representatives from Randolph County listen to candidate speeches. Page 4 PFMO Technical Support Staff Changes Goodbye and Thank you, Vim Horn PFMO would like to thank Vim Horn for all he has done as our statewide advisor for the past six years. During this time, Vim helped organize three statewide conferences, including last summer’s SOAR Conference with our midwestern partners in Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas. People First Steering Committee celebrated Vim and all he has done for us at its last meeting. Jason Mize baked a cake for the event. In January, Vim will retire from UMKC IHD after 31 years. PFMO wants to say congratulations and best of luck in your retirement, Vim! • Welcome Candace Cunningham Candace Cunningham is a self-advocate from Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She is a new staff member of UMKC IHD who will be helping to support People First of Missouri (PFMO) and the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC). Candace is a graduate of the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor’s Degree in Youth and Human Service and Child & Family Development. She loves helping people with different abilities identify their strengths and achieve their full potential. In the past, Candace served as an Americorp Vista at the UMKC Propel Program, where she mentored students. Candace also trained at the University of Kansas Medical Center LEND program. Candace is a certified Community Health Worker and a graduate of Missouri Partners in Policymaking. She volunteers as a Missouri Family to Family Peer Mentor, sharing her knowledge with others. She is excited to work with People First of Missouri and self-advocates across the state. • Photo, above: Jason Mize shows Vim Horn his celebration cake. Photo, right: Candace Cunningham joins UMKC IHD and will work with People First of Missouri and other self-advocacy projects Photo, above: Vim Horn explains the day’s agenda to Steering Committee. Message From the People Newsletter Page 5 Self-advocacy Leadership Opportunities Missouri Partners in Policymaking Partners in Policymaking is a leadership training program for adults with disabilities and parents of children with developmental disabilities. The program teaches leadership skills and techniques to develop positive partnerships with elected officials, school personnel and other individuals who make policy decisions about services that you and/or your family use. Apply online (moddcouncil.org) by December 6, 2019. SASRTAC Fellowship - National A SARTAC Fellowship is a one year self advocacy project. The project should help the fellow grow their own skills as a leader. The project might work on finding new ideas to help solve problems many people have. It must end with a report or products others can use afterwards. Fellows will work on their projects about 6 hours each week. SARTAC pays Fellows $5,000 to complete their projects. Six Fellows will be chosen this year. Learn more at: (selfadvocacyinfo.org/2020-2021) Apply by: December 19, 2019 2020 Disability Rights Legislative Day Save the date! PFMO will join with many other people and organizations to let our state legislators know we are watching and we vote. More details to come! Make sure your chapter is included in the next i8ssue! Send an update about what your chapter has been doing by emailing candcunningham@umkc.edu. Articles and pictures are welcome! People First of Missouri • MissouriPeopleFirst.org Page 6 PFMO chapter updates Boone County In September, chapter Vice President Jason Mize represented the group at a School Board meeting. A number of other advocates including parents and students came to voice concerns about restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities. Jason went up to the podium and shared his thoughts about restraint and seclusion. “We’re going backward in time,” he said. “That kind of punishment only makes the pain worse.” In October, which is Bullying Prevention Month and Disability Employment Awareness Month, we had two special events. We partnered with Boone County Family Resources to march in the Mizzou Homecoming Parade. It was cold and just a few of us came – but BCFR Executive Director Robyn Kaufman joined us! We handed out lots of candy and anti-bullying stickers to hundreds of children watching the parade, and we reeted thousands of other folks. We also organized our fourth annual Walk & Roll-a-thon for National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Columbia Mayor Pro Tem, Karl Skala, read a proclamation making October Disability Employment Awareness Month in the City of Columbia. Even though it rained, over 20 people came! Also, reporters from KOMU Channel 8 and the Columbia Daily Tribune covered the event and interviewed People First Officers for their stories about the event, self-advocacy, and employment of people with disabilities. During August, September and, October, People First President Jeff Johnson was busy working on his School to Prison Pipeline project as a SARTAC Fellow. On October 26 he facilitated a focus group at the Columbia Public Library that included parents, a grandparent and a foster parent, an attorney, People First officers, and representatives from the ACLU, SEPTA, and Race Matters Friends. The group wants to find ways of working with community partners including the schools, to reduce the risks of the school to prison pipeline. Photo, above: Jason Mize waits to speak about restraint and selcusion of students with disabilities at a Columbia School Board meeting. Photo, below: People First of Boone County held its 4th annual Walk & Roll-a-thon for National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Even in the rain, over 20 people came to show their support. Message From the People Newsletter Page 7 Independence The Independence Chapter remains strong despite losing three members to transition and health related issues. We held our traditional end of summer picnic in September. In October we enjoyed a Halloween Party and in November we celebrated our blessings at Thanksgiving. We also held our bi-annual elections. We voted to retain our current slate of Officers for another two years. This includes Joe Wrinkle as President, Mary Seigfried as Vice President, Debbie Schoonover as Secretary and Cathy Enfield as Treasurer. The representatives to Steering Committee will continue to be Joe Wrinkle and Cathy Enfield. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! Lake Area In October Lake Area People First group had a Halloween party with Lake of the Ozarks Developmental Center. We had dinner and karaoke music afterward. Most of the people dressed up in costumes of various styles. Along with the party, we had a pumpkin decorating contest, which were all very cute. We awarded prizes afterward. We are getting ready to have the election of our chapter’s officers in December. Lebanon On August 17, People First of Lebanon had an information booth at a tractor pull hosted bu Elk's Lodge 2557. August 25-27 we attended the Real Voices Conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort. On September 13, PF of Lebanon welcomed guest speaker Cassandra Walker, who is Clinical Director of Flyover Counseling in Kansas City to talk about depression. On October 11, PF of Lebanon attended Christian singer Jason Crabb’s concert at Boswell Auditorium here in Lebanon. North Kansas City The North Kansas City People First chapter had our October meeting on October 15. We discussed the picnic that was held on September 18 at Macken Park. We discussed holding a Christmas party in December and the members approved it. Randy Todd also discussed the upcoming People First Steering Committee meeting on November 9-10. We also discussed the elections for North Kansas City People First chapter, which will happen in January 2020. Eleven PFNKC members came to the meeting. Randolph County Randolph County People First attended the Real Voices Real Choices conference. We had a chili fundraiser on November 4th. We are planning a Christmas party for chapter members, ICAN staff, and family. Springfield Hi all, in Springfield we had a candle fundraiser. We are still in the process of rebuilding. We have got our articles of incorporation reinstated and got a bank account again. We’re headed in the right direction. Things are looking up and we’ve got things in the works. More to come. Washington County August-November has been a busy time for the Washington County chapter! We have a Random Acts of Kindness committee within our chapter. This committee has been raising money for the past year to purchase a tower garden to donate to the local high school. In August, the committee finished raising the money and donated the tower garden. In October, our chapter did a spooky baking class and bake sale to raise money for t-shirts. This was a huge success! The baking class was lots of fun and gave our chapter time to bond by spending time together. The bake sale in the community sold out within two hours and raised enough money for every chapter member to recieve a free People First chapter t-shirt! Page 8 2020-2021 Statewide Officers Election Results People First of Missouri held statewide officer elections on November 9, 2019. Starting January 1, 2020 our new People First of Missouri officers will be: President- Jeffery Johnson Vice President- Patty Goss Treasurer- Katie Kinder Secretary- Kelly Ray Sergeant at Arms- John Burriss The officers will servee for two years until our next election. Congratulations officers! Photo clockwise from top left: John Burriss, Jeffery Johnson, Kelly Ray, Katie Kinder and Patty Goss