SAVE THE DATE: DMD Annual Conference Retreat

April 29-30, 2008
Little Rock, AK

AAPD's Disability Mentoring Program Related Items Annual Retreat Agenda Other Things to See in Little Rock DMD Annual Conference Retreat In-Kind Sponsors

Dear Disability Mentoring Coordinators,

It’s has been a long time – too long! But, here in the national office, we have been VERY hard at work on our Disability Mentoring Program for 2008, and we have many exciting things to report!

First, we have received a good number of Final Reports, both State and Local, and are finalizing the Disability Mentoring 2007 National Report. Those of you who sent in your repots had great successes to report, and many ideas for growth in the next year! As promised, Darden Restaurants has donated a $100 gift card valid at any Darden Restaurant and we raffled that gift card to all who submitted a Final Report by deadline this year. The winner was: Alie Kriofske Mainella, Youth Leadership Specialist with Independence First in Milwaukee, WI – Congrats! Alie had a great DMD this year, as well, with nearly 100 participants in job shadowing and mentoring events.

To those who submitted Final Reports: your successes will be highlighted in our 2007 National Report, to be published on the website and distributed to our sponsors, nationally. If you have not yet submitted a Final Report, you will receive one more reminder email from our office, to give you a chance to be part of our national reporting. You will all receive an email update when the 2007 National Report goes live on our DMD website, included in the 2008 web updates.

Also, here at AAPD, we have been busily planning another Disability Mentoring Conference like the one held in Orlando, FL last spring. We are pleased to announce that we will again be joining the National Association of Governors’ Committees on People with Disabilities (NAGCPD) and the Youth Leadership Forums (YLFs) in a joint conference this spring. We hope each of you will be able to join us from April 29-30 at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, AK for the Spring Disability Mentoring Convention!! Advance registration is required. The draft Agenda is attached – and I think you will see some exciting news for 2008!

Now for some GREAT news: Wal-Mart has generously stepped up as the Lead Sponsor for our Convention and provided underwriting so that you will have NO registration fees and no additional costs for materials or food while at the Convention this year! That means you are responsible only for airfare and your hotel room, in our attempt to make this Convention accessible to all our fantastic Coordinators. We have placed a room-block on several rooms at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock to secure you all the following rates:

Guest Rooms:
Single Rate	Double Rate	Triple Rate	Quad Rate
$119.00	$129.00	$139.00	$149.00

All you have to do is call 1-800-PEABODY and mention the April 29-30 Disability Mentoring Convention. These rates are good for the nights of Monday, April 28 and Tuesday, April 29 so that you may fly in to Little Rock for a Meet-and-Greet Mixer the night before the Convention, and be ready for the Opening of this Joint Conference on Tuesday Morning. Please review the attached Agenda for the tentative plans.

Lastly, we would like to schedule a conference call to wrap-up some 2007 business, and discuss with each of you this exciting Spring Convention in April. That conference call will be Monday, March 10 at 1 PM, EST and is open to any of you that wish to discuss 2007 reporting, 2008 ideas for change, and the Spring Convention and Agenda. We want this process to be collaborative and inclusive – so please participate! Call in information is below:

Monday, March 10
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
1-800-791-2345
PIN #70473

We are so happy to be reporting these successes to each of you. Everyone has worked very hard to create a great DMD experience in 2007 and give a lot of momentum to this program as we move into a very exciting year. We cannot wait to see each of you in April!

Sincerely,
David and Sarah

David E. Hale
Program Manager

Sarah Hurd
Program Assistant

AAPD
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 457-0046 x32
FAX (202) 457-0473
AAPDDavid@aol.com
AAPDSarah@aol.com
www.aapd.com

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