"Ohio Valley Goodwill Presents 2011 Advocacy and Leadership Summit!"

Ohio Valley Goodwill was delighted to present the 2011 Advocacy and Leadership Summit on Wednesday, May 25th and Thursday, May 26th at its corporate headquarters as well as its Westwood training center location. Planned and facilitated by members of its Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC), the two-day event was designed to provide more than 100 self-advocates with information and resources to assist in their own leadership development experiences. The Summit was structured around presentations provided by CAC committee members about their advocacy efforts on behalf of themselves and others as well as video stories about self-advocates in action. In addition, attendees had the opportunity to participate in an “Advocacy Fair” which offered information about other advocacy organizations in the community including Hamilton County DD Services-supported Leaders In Action and Butler County Board of DD-affiliated EPRO (Empowered People Reaching Out). Consumer Advisory Committee planning  members including James Harley, Matt Graves, DJ Turner, Samantha Woolery and Advisor, Katie Wietmarschen. “It was really a wonderful chance to provide this important information to people who want to learn how to speak up for themselves and help others as well,” said Samantha Woolery, CAC member. The 2011 Advocacy and Leadership Summit is the second time that Ohio Valley Goodwill has presented this advocacy-oriented learning opportunity for its program participants, staff team members and other special guests, in recent years. “The Summit is something that the CAC team members feel very strongly about and they wanted to make sure that their peers would be able to benefit from the many advocacy experiences they themselves have had in their communities,” said Katie Wietmarschen, Advisor.