Mary Shea visits Lee's Summit, MO

This is Mary Shea and I am writing as I return from Lee's Summit, Missouri after two days of training and consultation with the leadership and staff of Kids Country, one of our newest MEAF national affiliates. It was an energizing and busy couple of days and the staff I worked with was enthusiastic, well prepared for my visit and very welcoming.

It was Sunday (Mother's Day) and I arrived in Kansas City, got my rental car and drive 40 miles south to Lee's Summit, a town with a population of 82,820. It was a sunny day but managed to rain before the night was over, which is very typical of Midwest spring and summer days as I recall from growing up in Wisconsin. The rain was good-it kept me in the hotel reviewing the 3" notebook of policies and procedures, marketing materials, history and highlights of Kids Country over the past 13 years.

Kids Country is the before and after school provider for the 17 schools in the Lee's Summit R-7 School District and all the staff are school district employees. Monday morning started with Dawn Butler, Coordinator of Kids Country and Kristi Fate, Assistant Program Coordinator, both of who, I would spend many hours with during the next two days,s tarting our visits to Longview Farm Elementary School, which was a beautifully refurbished historic horsebarn and I was able to observe the before school program and start my day smiling watching kindergartners and 1st through 6th graders enjoying themselves at play- what a joy!

We spent the rest of the morning (after some good Seattle coffee) reviewing policies, procedures and programs, and outlining our goals for the visit. At lunch the three of us met with the Executive Director of Special Education Services and the Director of Classified Personnel and supervisor of Kids Country and we were joined by Christy Weber, a Registered Nurse and the newest hire on the leadership team. We made several more site visits in the afternoon where I met with and observed some terrific site supervisors and program staff engaged with kids and providing some excellent programs.

That night the entire Kids Country staff (~100) attended the Fear Factor workshop and once we gave them box dinners and let them wind down for a few minutes after working all day, we had a wonderful workshop and lots of energy and great ideas coming from the staff. It was a big success and thanks to Nancy McCutcheon, Quality Advisor, who prepared all the materials and coordinated the training.

Tuesday started with another site visit and was followed by training for the 21 members of the leadership team which included all 17 site coordinators, Dawn, Kristi, Christy and Nancy where I reviewed indicators of quality programming and introduced strategies to support and empower staff. That meeting was followed by a Community Meeting where afterschool directors of 5 other cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area as well as the Director of Parks and Recreation for Lee's Summit and a parent came together to learn more about Kids Country and how they were progressing in their journey to inclusion. Dawn and I led them through the session identifying strengths and challenges of inclusion in their currently existing systems and Dawn, who is a legitimate boundary crosser committed Kids Country to share lessons learned, strategies and resources and together the community group re-affirmed their commitment to ensure that children and youth with disabilities in all of their cities would have access to quality afterschool programming. They are actually planning to host a statewide conference next year on that very issue and I am 100% sure it will happen!

Our afternoon ended with some last minute review of marketing material as well as strategic planning including suggesting a change in the current Kids Country Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). To date the program has had the Advisory Committee and a separate but parallel committee, the Ability Awareness Team (parents of children and youth with disabilities). With some reflection and guided instruction (my very favorite thing to do), Dawn and Kristi and I were able to draft an agenda for the evening PAC meeting where Dawn would introduce the concept of combining both groups of parents as well as inviting other people from the community who are interested in kids and families and would commit as stakeholders to this community vision. It was very well attended and Dawn did an outstanding job of inviting them all to this new process and two hours later they were still meeting in one of four individual subcommittees that would address program, professional development, cultural competence and diversity, and funding and sustainability. The energy in the room was infectious and when I returned to my hotel room 13 hours after the day started, I could only smile and be reassured that these Kids Country folks would continue to make a difference in the lives of children and youth with disabilities and their families, not only in Lee's Summit but in the entire state of Missouri and probably across the river in Kansas!

Meet Alissa Lavelle

As promised, I am going to use this blog post to brag about another KIT superstar- Alissa Lavelle. If you have scheduled or attended a KIT training, you have probably encountered Alissa. In addition to her outstanding work developing curriculum and organizing training events, Alissa also frequently facilitates training. One of our other KIT trainers dubbed her the "power pack." It's true. Alissa is a big ball of passion and fire in a small package. She has a wealth of both knowledge and practical experience, which can be a surprise to our training participants as she also looks a lot younger than her chronological age. Learn more about Alissa and her background on the KIT website.
Alissa's interests related to inclusion are very broad. She frequently researches new topics for training, and her initiatives have included popular training sessions on supporting children's social-emotional needs, creating behavior plans and examining your physical and sensory environment. In the above photo she teaches basic sign language to a group of participants taking a training on accommodations for children with autism spectrum disorders. You can view one of Alissa's recent webinars on the topics of helping children understand their peers with autism or how attachment affects inclusion.

At KIT, staff members tend to wear a lot of different hats. As you can see from the photos, Alissa has served as a model for our new inclusion t-shirts, a trainer, an actor in the video shoot for the eLearning module on Supporting Positive Behavior and the manager of the Snow Zone at a KIT sponsored community festival.

If you haven't had a chance to attend one of Alissa's live trainings or webinars, then I recommend that you do! Check the training calendar to find an upcoming event.

Best Kept Secret

In today's post, I'd like to share with you one of KIT's best kept secrets. A best kept secret is something that is an outstanding service, that many people don't even know about. We actually have a couple of these little gems, so I'll share them with you over the next month or so in the blog. Today's secret is our helpline, which is managed by KIT's Program Specialist, Nili Mathews.



The purpose of the helpline is to provide customized inclusion support for staff at child and youth programs. The service is FREE. I'll say it again. The service is FREE. All you have to do is email your question to help at kitonline dot org (spelling it out to protect us from spammers!) and Nili will respond with an email or phone call and help you with any inclusion-related challenge.






Just so you know what kind of excellent quality you are getting with this service, let me tell you a little bit about Nili. She will not be happy that I am doing this, so I hope she doesn't read the blog. Anyway, Nili has been at KIT since the beginning. In fact, she worked in the original program that became KIT. She then spent years working for the YMCAs in San Diego County as an inclusion specialist, while also serving as a KIT trainer. Nili joined the KIT staff several years ago to head up a project funded by First Five. Nili is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and she has over 20 years of experience serving people with disabilities in recreation activities.



Many of you have experienced Nili's dynamic and engaging training sessions. She is the only KIT trainer who always gets comments on evaluation forms that she is funny. I believe that people learn better when they are having fun and laughing, so I appreciate Nili's lighthearted approach to training. What you may not have experienced is Nili's ability to come up with accommodations for situations on-the-spot. She is a good listener and committed to helping youth development professionals work through challenges and find solutions. She has experience in many types of early childhood and after school settings. If you email the helpline with a question about how to better serve a child in your program, you will receive some great recommendations of things to try.

I am so grateful for the amazing, passionate and talented people I get to work with at KIT. In my next post I plan to brag about KIT's Program Coordinator, Alissa Lavelle.

Images of inclusion

I am back in the KIT office in San Diego after my trip visiting Metropolitan Family Service (MFS) in Portland, OR and facilitating a two-day training with child care providers in Pleasant Hill, CA. Having the opportunity to get out and do training with child and youth professionals and hear their voices is always an eye-opening experience. I was particularly impressed with the words and images chosen by site coordinators and program managers at MFS when they were asked to portray what inclusion means to them during a focus group. Every organization possesses its own strengths and faces unique challenges with regards to inclusion. It always amazes me that no matter what the organization's strengths and challenges may be, the individuals working within the organization always touch upon the central themes of acceptance, belonging, and support when asked to describe what inclusion means to them.

I love Portland!

I am very excited to be visiting one of our national affiliates, Metropolitan Family Service (MFS) in Portland, OR. From the eco-friendly toilets at the airport to the awesome public transportation, giant bookstores and little coffee shops, this is a great city. Today I had the opportunity to meet the executive team at MFS, facilitate a training for program managers, site coordinators, activity leaders, go out for a healthy lunch with the program managers, and still have time to visit two after-school program sites. Metropolitan Family Service is a non-profit organization dedicated to building stronger communities by providing services, connecting people with resources and offering volunteer opportunities throughout the Portland, Oregon region (www.metfamily.org). I was so impressed with the thoughtful questions and comments participants had during the training and seeing them "in action" at the sites. One school site I visited had a welcoming and calming environment. The quiet area below was in the hallway (left) and the cafeteria included a living room area (right). Tomorrow we are going to hold a focus group with the site coordinators to identify their needs for training and support for inclusion and next steps to ensure every child is successful.

KIT Goes International!

This is an exciting week in KIT-land! We will be conducting our first international site visit at the Navy Child & Youth Programs (CYP) in Naples, Italy. The visit actually occurs next week, but the travel part later this week. The goal of the visit is to orient the CYP professionals to KIT's services, visit the facilities and meet the staff and provide consultation on the CYP process of in-take for families with children with special needs. I will also meet with the regional staff from Navy CYP Europe and discuss the best ways to provide inclusion support to overseas installations. There will also be gelato involved and a visit to the famous pizzeria that has been described as the "sacred temple of pizza."

We cannot say enough about the Navy's commitment to the inclusion of children with disabilities and other special needs. They are looking at inclusion systemically and working on process and program improvements at every level. This is truly a top-down and bottom-up approach to organizational change. In many cases we have seen organizations whose journey to inclusion rests on the shoulders of one or two change agents. Once these one or two people leave the organization, or get promoted or relocated, the process of inclusion is hard to sustain for the rest of the staff left behind. In our work we caution these change agents to share their work with others and to develop and implement strategies that don't rely on them for success. The US Navy has change agents at every level and at every installation we have encountered thus far. Their energy and enthusiasm about inclusion is inspiring and we are so grateful for the opportunity to partner with such committed, dedicated professionals.

Ciao!

Hi from Orlando, FL!

Alissa and I are in Orlando doing training for the Training & Curriculum Specialists in Navy Child & Youth Programs. There are 100 of them here, and they represent Navy installations from all over the world. In fact, today we had lunch with 2 wonderful T & Cs from Italy and they shared a lot of interesting information about life on and off a military base in a foreign country.

In addition to the training we have provided, we have been able to informally talk to people at the meals and networking events. We are getting so much good feedback from the field about KIT's eLearning modules. Almost 2,000 Navy CYP professionals have completed the four self-paced modules so far. Go Navy! It is nice to hear that people are finding the modules both helpful to their work and fun to do.

We have one more day here and then we are back on Southwest Airlines headed for home. Alissa and I are both feeling very grateful that we get to work with people that are so committed to serving children and that we have the opportunity to spread the message of inclusion far and wide.

Here We Are at KIT's 5th Annual National Conference!

Today the blog is coming to you from KIT's 5th Annual National Conference on Inclusion! There are participants here from all over the United States, plus Japan and Australia! Many of KIT's partners are in attendance, including our newest partner the U.S. Navy Child and Youth Programs. There are people from early childhood programs, YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, after school programs, dance companies, theatres, city parks and recreation departments just to name a few. 

Yesterday we kicked off the conference with a wonderful featured presentation by a 19 year old advocate Tyler Greene. If you missed the conference, we encourage you to check out his website.

More on the conference and some great photos in future posts. Oh, and we will be making many of the conference sessions available online in the next few weeks. 

"I could talk about this stuff for hours."

Yesterday I happened to be in the Apple store in Brea, CA. All the staff was wearing t-shirts that said "I could talk about this stuff for hours." Meaning, obviously, Apple products. But, my first thought went to inclusion. That is how I feel about inclusion. I could talk about it for hours. And I often do when I train around the country. I know that this is how Nili, Alissa and Mary and all of our KIT trainers feel- they could share their passion for inclusion for hours and hours. I feel so grateful to get to share my passion as my profession, and grateful for all of you who promote and support inclusion in your daily work. This movement of inclusion of children with disabilities in community life is so important, so critical to the future and in difficult times like these we need to reinstate our dedication to our cause.

So, today is the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. What an amazing day. What a day for all of us who work for the inclusion of all people. What a day for Americans to come together and celebrate our history of democracy. What a day to hope for the future and commit ourselves to making the world a better place than it is today.

I know that this blog is supposed to document the travel adventures of our trainers. And we will be doing a lot of travel in the coming months as we visit our new partners in Navy Child and Youth Programs around the world. However, I would also like to use this space as a forum to share, discuss and even to dream a little about the future. Especially today, when the future holds such promise.

Celebrating Civil Rights

Traveling and training for KIT does provide some wonderful benefits. Meeting people from all over the country who care about providing quality services for all children and are eager to learn new techniques, getting to talk about the positive and powerful subject of inclusion every day and the chance to visit other parts of our beautiful nation. This past week I was in Memphis, Tennessee to meet with the Headquarters staff for the US Navy Child & Youth Programs. KIT is partnering with the US Navy CYPs to ensure that staff who work with children on Navy bases WORLDWIDE have training on inclusion. Wow- we are so impressed with the US Navy Child & Youth Programs and the commitment they have to inclusion.

So, while in Memphis I had a few free hours. This allowed me to visit a museum devoted to one of the subjects I am most passionate about (I know you are thinking Graceland right now). No, my passion is not Elvis Presley. I spent a morning visiting the National Civil Rights Museum and it was a moving and powerful experience. The museum is located in the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The motel has been gutted and turned into a museum, but the facade remains and there is a wreath placed on the balcony outside room 306 in King's honor. Across the street from the motel is the second part of the museum, which is located in the boarding house where the assassin (James Earl Ray) shot from. You can stand in the location of the bathroom where the assassin stood and look out the very same window to the motel. Learn more about the museum here.


The displays in the museum are outstanding and detail every element of the civil rights movement leading up to King's assassination. It was incredibly moving. In a ten-minute film that runs in the museum's theatre I heard that "movements don't start as movements, movements start with individuals" and I could not help but think about the movement of inclusion. It is true. It starts with individuals. KIT's work is to train and speak to as many people working in out-of-school time programs as we can, and invite them to join our movement so that all children can experience the life-enhancing benefits of participating in their own community, doing typical childhood activities.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do this important work, and that I get to share it with so many others around the United States (and now the world- thank you US Navy!).