Digital Story Telling Update!

Though the funding from the AT&T Excelerator Program ended, the Many Faces, One Voice Project continues! We are looking forward to new stories:

• The people I worked with at the Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL) in Marquette are now teaching 24 school students who have disabilities to tell their stories.
  
  
• Norm Delisle showed some stories at the Recovery Council. As a result, we are talking with a group in Northern Lower Michigan about holding a class this spring.
  
  
• SAIL received a mini grant from the Developmental Disabilities Council to work with members of the Alger/Marquette RICC to create digital stories. They are working with the group now and we'll start classes in April.
  
  
• As a result of attending our presentation at the Michigan Rehabilitation Conference, a RICC in Bay county is planning to create digital stories to use in their advocacy efforts.

We continue to increase our skills and build our capacity to do this work.

• We are exploring the use of netbooks to create stories. The cost is comparatively low and since we use free and web-based software, these mini laptops might be able to handle the work.
  
  
• We've found a flash video player that can play open and closed descriptive video, but this isn't available on You Tube or other sites. We continue to look for ways to add descriptive video to the stories. We need technical support to add the player to our website while we advocate with others to increase accessibility.
  

Check back! There's been a surge of new interest in the project and we'll keep you posted!

DD Council is holding public forums

UCP Michigan and MDRC are hosting public forums for the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council. The forums are to find out what people with developmental disabilities and family members believe is most important.

The Council spends roughly $1.8 million every year on grants for capacity building, systems change, and advocacy programming. The forums will help the Council decide how to spend the $9 million in its next 5-year plan.

At these forums, instead of 1 person at a time speaking from a podium, people sit Café style at round tables.

The forums will be held in 6 locations around the state. They are:
Flint – February 24, 2009
Southeast Michigan – March 19, 2009
Plainwell – April 28, 2009
Midland – May 5, 2009
Gaylord – May 20, 2009
Marquette – June 11, 2009

For times and locations, or to register, go to:
http://www.copower.org/ohreg/index.php

Questions? Contact Glenn Ashley
Program Coordinator, "Our Hopes for the Future”
United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan
phone: 517 203-1200
Ashley @ ucpmichigan.org