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Within the Advancing Strong Leadership
program I found it very exciting to
get to know other people across the state
who were just emerging as leaders in their
organizations. And, what I was the
most excited about within that was
just sort of seeing that we all had the
same sort of concerns about the future
about the state, and were able to work
together through the different learning
formats that were provided on how to
achieve despite our concerns.
It has been exciting to interact and
learn with the other individuals who
were part of the Advancing Strong Leadership
program and even today we stay in contact
through emails or discussions.
Within the organization where I work, we
have a couple individuals who are partaking
in the new program. It's exciting to hear
them echoing some of the language we've
started to use in gaining some more
support for some different perspectives
that we have within our different
organizations. It's been exciting to
even have our leadership attend some
of the trainings, be a part of this
leadership program, because it's helped us
in our strategic planning process
and further some of what we've learned
here within our organization for the state.
Within what we've learned at the
Advancing Strong Leadership program
there's a lot of, there was a lot of
conversation about emerging best practices
evidence based practices,
and each individual in the
program had a project that they were
working toward to incorporate what
they're learning into what they're going
to do within their own organization
and with their own employment, and it was
exciting to hear and learn about all these
40 different projects that we had going
on in North Carolina just from this one
program and a multiple number of agencies
and organizations. And all of them had
tutelage and supervision from the wonderful
presenters we had nationwide we had come in
and talk to the Advancing Strong Leadership
program. So, it's been great to see that
happen, just from having 40 people in one
room together with some national experts
to have that expand throughout the state
within multiple organizations, it's been
exciting to be a part of, and to witness.
The ASL program has shaped my vision of
the future in a lot of different ways
Within my own experience in my position
with the Autism Society of North Carolina
I've switched positions recently.
I'm now the Employment Supports Director
overseeing all the employment services
throughout the state for our organization.
And, it's really helped me, this experience
to connect with people who have better
research and ideas about evidence based
practices in supported employment and
employment supports. And it's been really
exciting to stay connected to these
individuals and see it improve our services
throughout the state.
Within the I/DD field, it's intriguing
to see the disparity between the population
that we support and their employment
success rates for retention and just
obtaining positions and that for the general
population. And the disparity there shows
the need for continued focus and funding
for employment services and supports
throughout the state of North Carolina
and the country.
If you're considering attending
or participating in the Advancing
Strong Leadership program, I strongly
urge you to do so. It's exciting
to learn more information about evidence
based practices, but more than that, it's
exciting to learn how to implement those
in the bigger picture of the organizational
landscape that you are working within.