1. Youth Driven Inclusion Project: Increasing Disability Awareness
Brief introduction of  all four of us. Just give your name and role in this project.

2. Meet the Leaders
Matthew and Jack- please introduce the steering committee and tell 8 youth support all of the superintendent regions with 4 agency reps.

3. You Will Learn About the Inclusion Project: A Youth Led Innitiative
John Eisenberg, Assistant Superintendent of Special Education and Student Services with the Virginia DOE challenged youth leaders with disabilities with developing a proposal around a topic that they believed to be a key issue for youth with disabilities in Virginia
The youth leaders recognized that harassment is a major issue facing them and their peers and they developed The Inclusion Project as a way of increasing awareness of disabilities
The Inclusion Project Steering Committee was formed and the youth leaders divided into workgroups to develop a guide and toolkit for activities and to plan for two pilots
Matthew and Jack – give a little bit more information about the background of the project

4. What is the Issue? The Youth Determine What is Important:
Youth meet to discuss what is important to them
Youth vote on a focus topic
Youth develop The Inclusion Project proposal
Jack will talk about the challenge put forth by VDOE. Matthew will talk about his experience of meeting and voting on the topic.

5. Development of the Activities: Youth Led Workgroups
The Guide and Toolkit
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Additional Support:
Developed a worksheet to assist the youth leaders in developing activities for Elementary, Middle, and High School levels.
Matthew and Jack talk about how the workgroups developed the activities for the toolkit and their experience in developing them. Share that the development of the worksheet helped them to write the activities. The workgroup needed deadlines.
Jack - To aid in the SC youth leaders work to develop activities for the toolkit, project staff developed a worksheet and divided the youth leaders into three workgroups: elementary, middle and high school. Each workgroup was tasked with developing 15 activities and recruiting additional youth leaders from the Virginia Department of Education’s I’m Determined Project to help as needed. The youth leaders led the workgroups and developed the activities. The leaders of the workgroups sent the project staff the activities to compile into a draft of the Inclusion Guide and Toolkit.

6. Inclusion Project Guide and Toolkit
Guide includes:
How to set up an Inclusion Project
Tips for including and working with youth during planning of the event
Resources for finding supplies and equipment for activities
Promotional videos to highlight the Inclusion Project
Toolkit includes:
45 hands-on-activities (15 elementary, 15 middle, and 15 high school)
Each activity has a goal, teacher preparation ideas, step-by-step description, and reflection questions
The youth kept in mind the Virginia Standards of Learning when developing the activities
Jack does the Guide includes and how the agency reps helped write this section. Matthew does the Toolkit includes and explain how the youth leaders led work groups to develop activities.

7. Pilot the Guide and Toolkit
Northumberland Middle School
Local Planning Committees
Selection of Activities
SC Observation of Pilot
Radford City Public Schools
In the implementation phase of the Inclusion Project, the Steering Committee identified the pilot sites, planned to conduct observation, and review results of the planning. During the October 2014 SC meeting, an educational representative, Martha Hicks, expressed that she wanted one of the pilots to take place at a school in Northumberland County. Through meetings with the Northumberland County Public Schools’ superintendent and director of special education, a decision was made for the pilot to take place in April 2015 at Northumberland Middle School.
Given the size of the SC and the size of Northumberland Middle School, it was decided at the January 2015 SC meeting to split youth members into three pilot observation groups--one for Northumberland Middle School, one for a second pilot site, and one for a third pilot site .At that same meeting, project staff and SC education representatives strategized on how to conduct observations and the youth members practiced observation skills.
The SC discussed the other two sites for the pilot to be conducted during this phase. The SC youth leaders explored three options. It was recommended that Franklin County Public School might be a possible site to conduct a pilot. Maria Rivas, a youth leader, advocated for a pilot to be conducted at Woodbridge Senior High School where she attended. These options were not selected due to time and other constraints. Aaron Miller, a youth leader, talked to his principal at his high school in Radford, Virginia. The principal encouraged Mr. Miller to talk with the superintendent and it was decided that he would present the Inclusion Project concept to the Radford City Public School Board. The School Board was very receptive of the Inclusion Project and said they would like to see the Inclusion Project be piloted district wide.
Radford City Public School has four schools and it was decided by the SC that most of the youth leaders would attend the pilot. There were four observations groups formed, one for each school piloted. From the Northumberland Middle School pilot, the observation group suggested that the observation form would be revised to have the activity steps be easily accessed.

8. Refining the Inclusion Project Guide and Toolkit
Steering Committee
Pilot Data
Observations
Matthew and Jack talk about how the activities and the guide were revised based on the pilot data and observations. The SC made the final decisions on the changes.

9. Youth Leadership Study
Parents/Supporters of the Youth Leaders
Agency Representatives
Jack - In all, eight youth with disabilities joined the Inclusion Project Steering Committee. The following report summarizes how the Inclusion Project made an impact on the youth in terms of leadership, team-building, and advocacy skills. The report is based on interviews with each of the 8 youth, survey results from 8 parents of the youth, survey results from 5 youth, and survey results from 4 of the 5 adult members of the Inclusion Project Steering Committee.

10. Building Leadership Skills: Youth Leaders Perspective
Interviews and surveys of the 8 youth found:
The youth saw the Inclusion Project Steering Committee and Inclusion Project work as being a very positive experience and contributing significantly to their leadership, team-building, and advocacy skills.
Improvement areas were highest for youth:
Planning an important event
Setting goals
Advocating for people with
Voicing concerns
disabilities
Making a difference in the
Feeling empowered
community
Matthew shares his experience on the Steering Committee and highlight some of the key points.

11. Building Leadership Skills: Agency Representatives Perspective
A survey of the agency representatives found:
All of the agency representatives were very supportive of the youth joining the Steering Committee.
All of the agency representatives considered the Inclusion Project experience to be a positive (25%) or very positive experience (75%) for the youth.
The agency representatives felt they shared the same goals for the Inclusion Project as the youth's goals for the project—to raise awareness in the community about youth with disabilities and give youth with disabilities an opportunity to have a voice.
Jack – Review the data and give her experience.

12. Building Leadership Skills: Parents of Youth Leaders Perspective
A survey of all parents of the youth found:
The parents saw Inclusion Project as an opportunity for youth to strengthen leadership, relationship, and planning skills and bridge relationships between "typical" youth and youth with disabilities.
Parents felt that through the Inclusion Project work, youth most strongly improved in:
Jack – Review the data
Self-confidence
Loyalty
Ability to express their own opinions
Flexibility
Group facilitation
Patience
Problem solving
Positive attitude
Communicativeness

13. Building Leadership Skills: Common Themes
The youth who participated in the Steering Committee strengthened leadership, relationship, and advocacy skills.
The experience was very positive from a parent, agency representative, youth, and school perspective.
The Inclusion Project was effective in strengthening disability awareness in the schools.
Matthew – Review the common theme from all 3 perspectives.

14. Contact Information
Jack Brandt Coordinator, Inclusion Project Partnership for People with VCU Phone:
Matthew Shapiro
Youth Leader, Inclusion Project Steering Committee
All - Contact information. Entertain any questions