Closing the Equity Gap Through Education, Entrepreneurship, Employment, Experiences, and Economic Mobility
Annual Conference June 9-11, 2018
Sheraton
Denver Downtown
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Pre-Conference Workshop on
Bridging the Gap Between Ability and Opportunity for Ability Status: Improving Accessibility in the Classroom and Pipelines into STEM Careers
Saturday, June 9th
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
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Letter from Dr. Jeff Sidders, Business Outreach Specialist at the State of Colorado's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and GlobalMindED Health and Ability Status Leadership Team
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| Dr. Jeff Sidders |
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Dear GlobalMindED Community,
We are delighted to invite you, our peers in the Global and National delegations, to GlobalMindED 2018's Pre-conference and conference events, where for the first time we will focus attention on the wicked problems that lie at the intersection of Ability Status, Education and Employment.
As a physician and someone who develops inclusive career pathway opportunities for State of CO, I see firsthand every day the power of Ability Status citizens to learn, achieve lucrative employment that complements their abilities, and contribute to employers who appreciate them for their unique gifts and talents. Did you know that
IT companies are reporting up to 30% gains in productivity and innovative capacity when proactively adding neurodiversity to their workforce,
as reported
by Robert D. Austin and Gary P. Pisano in
Harvard Business Review's brief from May-June 2017, titled
"Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage"
? This is particularly pertinent to note, as April is Autism Awareness month, and despite the brilliance that is inherent to this population, fewer than 1 in 6 young adults with Autism is employed full time, and most are vastly underemployed relative to education and skill levels. Let's close this gap!
I've also personally suffered and recovered from a brain injury. I know what it is like to rebuild, retool and recast myself in a new way to be the best version of myself.
Joining us from England is David Pollard, who is
the Co-Founder of Learning Tech Labs - a 2,600+ member community of educators, entrepreneurs and technologists who are solving wicked problems in educational technologies that impact Ability Status Youth. Lending a national perspective will be
Philip Kahn-Pauli
, who is a highly respected thought leader in Policy Development and Advocacy from RespectAbility in Washington, D.C., and someone whom many of you met and worked with last year at GlobalMindED. From Denver, we are lucky that experts in Disability Advocacy and Employment like Tara Roehl - Board Member with 'Hacking Autism,' Mike Hess - Founder of Blind Institute of Technology, Bill Morris - Founder of Blue Star Recyclers, Chanda Hinton Leichtle from the Chanda Plan Foundation. From Utah, Melissa Friegang with LSI Management Consultant Company, will all be able to attend and offer their thought leadership. From Houston, Sara Speer Selber with The Project Management Team, is committed to the seamless integration of all ability status individuals.
When physical and mental disabilities are leveraged effectively, all of us win! Teachers, parents and leaders in Education who work together to create inclusive classrooms enable Ability Status Youth to aspire toward their full potential, and eventually contribute enhanced resiliency, adaptability, and creative capacity to the workplace - which improves ROI for employers. However, gaps in understanding and awareness still too often darken career horizons. For example, challenges with learning are primary contributors to drug and alcohol abuse yet, when understood and positively supported, have fostered drive and motivation within some of the most successful people in society like Charles Schwab, John Chambers - CEO of Cisco, and many other leaders of Fortune 500 companies who have faced ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia or other learning issues. These leaders did not 'fit in' with traditional learning approaches, and were remarkably successful with the addition of minor accommodations. So, let's work together to build a pipeline that more often leads to advanced careers for Ability Status Youth than to harmful behaviors and activities, including the prison system.
If you are a parent, a teacher, a counselor, community member or someone who relates to Ability Status yourself, please join us for both the pre-conference, and the conference itself, as we represent this important perspective among the other cross-disciplinary leaders under the learning to employment tent of GlobalMindED. Thank you for your appreciation of all people, and your openness to learn how to work and live more effectively with those who lead and inspire us with their Ability Status capacity.
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to GlobalMindED on Saturday,
June 9 from 9 am to 3 pm
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Facilitators:
Carrie Romero-Brugger,
mindSpark Learning;
Caroline Hill,
CityBridge
Facilitators:
Lorena Zimmer,
Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce;
Tara Smith,
Office of Governor John Hickenlooper
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Monday, June 11th from 8:45 am to 4:30 pm
GlobalMindED and
HP Inc., Intel, Nvidia, Broadcom, Colorado Technology Association invite you to our Tech Day of Industry
The Tech Day of Industry is an event for inspiring, engaging, and empowering underserved populations and first-generation students - from first gen-high school graduates to first-gen college students - ages 16-19.
Students will spend a half-day with HP and various Northern Colorado companies, have lunch with Tech leaders, participate in the Career Fair and attend the Closing Reception.
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CAREER FAIR
Monday, June 11th from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
GlobalMindED invites students to our career Fair with College Degree and Career Fair with High School Diploma
Students will meet various companies as part of the GlobalMindED conference.
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Support our
First-Generation Student Leadership Program
Your support and contributions will translate into valuable networking connections for First-Gen student leaders and their peers.
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