Marty Ford appointed Senior Advisor, Julie Ward appointed Senior Executive Officer for Public Policy

After more than 34 years with The Arc’s public policy team (and a total of 40 years in The Arc network), Marty Ford is transitioning from Senior Executive Officer for Public Policy, a position she has held for 8 years, to a new part-time position of Senior Advisor. Marty is a well respected nationwide expert on many public policy issues, including Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, Long Term Supports and Services, and trusts and financial planning approaches. During her tenure as the Senior Executive Officer, Marty led the policy team through a rigorous defense of the Medicaid program, implementation and defense of the Affordable Care Act, enactment of the ABLE Act, and many other significant advances. Marty served three years as Chairperson of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), a coalition of over 100 national organizations. The Arc deeply appreciates Marty’s work and leadership in these areas and is fortunate that she will continue in her new staff role to support the Policy and Positions Committee of the Board of Directors, advise the Federal Policy Advocacy team, continue to represent The Arc in various external leadership positions, and work closely with the Chief Executive Officer on special projects.

The Arc is also pleased to announce that Julie Ward, the Deputy Executive Officer for Public Policy, has been promoted to the position of Senior Executive Officer for Public Policy. In addition to her new responsibilities, Julie will continue her leadership positions related to health care policy and planning the Disability Policy Seminar. Julie has over 30 years of experience representing people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities before Congress, the federal agencies, and state legislatures. Prior to holding the deputy executive officer position, she was the Director of Health Policy. She has extensive knowledge and expertise in policies related to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, private health insurance, medical research, drug development, and public health issues. Previously, Julie represented The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy for seven years as part of the Disability Policy Collaboration (DPC). In that role, she had primary responsibility for budget and appropriations,
employment, TANF, Medicare Part D, and transportation issues. She spent 18 years with the Epilepsy Foundation, the last ten years as the Senior Director of Government Affairs, overseeing the Foundation’s federal and state advocacy program.

Trudy Jacobson appointed Senior Advisor, Casey Nitsch and Laura Rahman to Lead Fundraising Programs

After nearly 10 years with The Arc’s development team, Trudy Jacobson is transitioning from the Senior Executive Officer for Development & Partnerships to a new part-time position of Senior Advisor. Trudy is a well-respected professional in the areas of development and marketing and during her tenure as SEO she led the organization through its rebranding and the growth of its individual, corporate, and foundation support programs including the development of several major corporate partnerships and a national partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal. Trudy has contributed significantly to the growth of The Arc’s overall revenue, and the development of its fundraising program for the future, since joining the staff. The Arc deeply appreciates Trudy’s work and leadership in these areas and is pleased that she will continue in her new staff role to advise the organization in areas of her expertise. She will continue working closely with members of The Arc’s Board of Directors and its Resource Development Committee, represent The Arc to a portfolio of funders, and work with the Chief Executive Officer on other projects.

The Arc is also pleased to announce that Laura Rahman, Director of Individual Philanthropy, and Casey Nitsch, Director of Corporate, Foundation, and Government Support will be taking on additional leadership responsibility at The Arc as part of this transition. Laura joined The Arc in 2011 as a Development Associate and has been promoted twice, assuming her current position during June 2016. She is taking on responsibility for leading The Arc’s fundraising from individuals. Casey joined The Arc in 2011 as a Research Associate and has been promoted twice, assuming her current position during 2016. She is taking on responsibility for leading The Arc’s fundraising from foundations, corporations, and government.

 

Wings for Autism® is an airport rehearsal program, created by the Charles River Center, an affiliated chapter of The Arc, for people with disabilities that are concerned about their comfort with air travel. Since 2014, when The Arc took the program nationwide, 130 events have been held at 57 airports with 66 chapters helping 18,000 individuals with disabilities and their families.

This program receives accolades from families, airlines and airport personnel and has garnered much media coverage television, newspaper and trade magazines. This year the program won the prestigious Zero Project award for Independence in Public Places.

Contact Kerry Mauger to learn about bringing this rewarding program to your community.

Start your year with exciting new opportunities for involvement in our work! As an officer on the National Siblings Council and the National Council of Self-Advocates for 2019-2020, you will have an invaluable seat at the table helping shape the work of the National Office throughout the year.

National Council of Self-Advocates

The NCSA was developed to foster the active involvement of individuals with I/DD in the work of The Arc. Its primary purpose is to encourage people with I/DD to provide feedback to The Arc on how its advocacy, programs, and services can better empower people with to live the life they want to live in the community. Members of the NCSA provide regular feedback on work that The Arc national office is doing and provide guidance about important issues that matter to people with disabilities in community around the nation. NCSA members also seek to promote education around advocacy issues that are critical to people in the disability movement through our annual convention session, and they seek to be active members and leaders in The Arc’s Disability Advocacy Network and the larger disability movement.

Being an NCSA Officer has several rules and responsibilities, including:

• Officers must attend the 4 Officer meetings each year. These often happen in March, May, August, and November.
• Officers must attend the 4 All-Council meetings each year. These often happen in March, June, September, and December.
• Officers must help plan The Arc’s self-advocate convention session.
• Officers must be willing to help make big decisions about what the Council should do in the future.
• Officers must help think of steps to take to achieve the goals that the NCSA wants to achieve.
• Officers must help take action to carry out these goals.
• Officers must help encourage people to join the Council and give feedback.
• Officers must share what the Council is doing with others.
• Officers must give feedback to The Arc on how to improve its work.

Apply to be an officer of NCSA.

Deadline: February 15

National Siblings Council

Are you a sibling looking to get more involved in disability rights activism but are not sure where to turn? The Arc’s National Sibling Council seeks to foster the active involvement of siblings of individuals with I/DD in The Arc movement in order to strengthen and grow The Arc’s grassroots advocacy efforts nationwide and formally connect siblings—an important and unique segment of the disability rights movement—to help promote and protect the rights of individuals with I/DD throughout the country. The Arc seeks applications from those who are eager to take a leadership role in learning more about how to engage in disability rights activism as a new mode of providing support to their siblings and the broader disability community.

Officers participate in four quarterly conference calls each year, carry out advocacy action steps assigned in each call, and encourage other siblings to join our movement.

Apply to be an officer of the Sibling Council.

Deadline: February 15

Does your chapter engage in criminal justice advocacy? Support individuals with I/DD who are justice-involved, whether as victims or suspects/defendants? We want YOU to join the National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability®’s (NCCJD®) new Chapter Community of Practice, a place for Chapters of The Arc doing criminal justice work to interact, support, and learn from one another. NCCJD will also use the Community of Practice to provide updates on events, projects, and funding opportunities. Our goal is to support and build our chapters’ capacity to engage in criminal justice advocacy and ensure justice for all. Join us today! Sign-up by emailing your name, title, and what chapter you are affiliated with to nccjdinfo@thearc.org.

One of the biggest challenges that almost all organizations face with DSPs is turnover. There are many reasons why employees leave, but ‘stress’ is one of the key factors stated. Role clarity, role overload, or role conflict are a major part of that stress. How can we ameliorate the issue? By taking a closer look at our hiring process.

Interviews carry a lot of weight for applicants and organizations. Both want to put their best foot forward. However, on the organizations end, this can result in an underrepresentation of what the job entails — especially if they are chatting with a candidate they really like. A situation can (and does) develop where a candidate accepts a job without a clear understanding of what the day-to-day work involves, leading to stress on the job.

This is how a RJP can help. Utilized as part of the hiring process, a RJP can provide clarity and help manage a candidate’s expectations of what the role entails. During the screening process, a RJP can vet potential applicants by letting those who are interested see key aspects of the job. During the interview process, the RJP can give the candidate insight into their potential role and validate for the hiring manager the ability/interest/desire/fit of the candidate for the opportunity.

A personalized RJP for use by chapters of The Arc is available as part of the DSP Toolkit. Check out a sample of the Preview tool here and reinvigorate your hiring process today!

Don’t forget to check out the other great resources in the DSP Toolkit.