Moving Up the Leadership Ladder, Your Involvement in Organizations. Presenters: Kristen Jones, Betsy Valnes, Peter Squire, Renaldo Hemphill, Stacey Milbern and Naomi Ortiz. >> OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience in holding. We now have our speakers in conference. Please be aware that each of your lines is in a listen-only mode. At the conclusion of the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions. At that time, instructions will be given as to the procedure to follow if you would like to ask a question. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kristen Jones. Ma'am, you may begin. >> KRISTEN: Hi, and welcome to tonight's teleconference, entitled Moving Up the Leadership Ladder. My name is Kristen Jones and I am the moderator of tonight's call and a member of the National Youth Leadership Network governing board. I would like to take a brief moment to tell you a little bit about the call. The National Youth Leadership Network is conducting this teleconference with support from the Independent Living Research Utilization or ILRU. This is scheduled to be an hour and thirty minutes long teleconference, but it may end a little early. During the first hour, the speakers will answer questions that were randomly picked concerning moving to an adult organization. The last 30 minutes of the teleconference will be for participants to ask the speaker questions. Once the speakers have answered all the randomly picked questions, the telephone lines will open, giving you a chance to ask the speaker's a question. For those of you joining on the web, you can send your questions to Lisa McMahon at mcmahonl@pdx.edu any time during the call. If you have any technical questions, please call Elizabeth Guerrero at (503)725-9614. At the end of the speaker session, you will be given instructions by an ILRU operator on what buttons to press on your telephone to voice your questions. Today we are joined by Peter Squire, NYLN chair, Naomi Ortiz, kids self-advocate project coordinator, Stacey Milbern, NYLN G. B. member, and Renaldo Hemphill, NYLN member as our fabulous guest speakers. Now I would like to take this opportunity to ask each speaker to take a minute to briefly introduce themselves starting with Peter Squire. >> PETER: Okay, thank you very much, Kristen Jones. My name is Peter Squire. I'm currently the chair of the National Youth Leadership Network. I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the inattentive type and specific disabilities and visual motor integration and written comprehension in second grade. I got first involved with the National Youth Leadership Network through their conference in 2002 and have been an active member throughout. I'm also recently been appointed to the state special education advisory committee and more recently also recently got appointed to the executive council for which I serve to help the state make decisions about special education matters concerning youth with disabilities. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Peter. Naomi. >> NAOMI: Hello, everyone. My name is Naomi Ortiz. I am also a proud person with disabilities. I am actually located in Tucson, Arizona but I'm the project coordinator of a group called kids as self-advocates and we believe that young people should have control over their own lives and futures. We do this through informing youth about their rights, providing peer support and training and changing (Inaudible) the reason I'm on this call is the last part, we worked really hard to get young people involved in government commissions or nonprofit boards. We put out a lot of tip sheets, stories about advocating for yourselves and all kinds of issues written by young people and in August we're putting out a manual for adult organizations on how to involve youth in a real way in adult organizations. So if any of you are interested in that, you can feel free to contact me after the call. Thanks. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Naomi. Betsy, please. >> BETSY: Hello, my name is Betsy Valnes and I work with the National Youth Leadership Network. My disability is traumatic brain injury. I have worked with NYLN for about five years and I'm currently serving as the director of the network. We have just recently become a formal nonprofit organization and that's been one of our main focuses in being a youth led and youth run organization that has become a formal independent organization. Some of the projects of NYLN, we focus a lot on independence and youth empowerment and we do that through mentorship activities, through research, through teleconference type focuses through newsletters, keeping up a web page, those sorts of things. So if at any time you'd like to become a part of our organization, just visit our website at nyln.org and we'd be glad to work with you. Some of the other sorts of things that I keep involved in are in regards to independent living, serving on the state independent living council, otherwise known as SILC and working with cultural diversity initiatives are some of my main focus and I'm glad to be here today. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Betsy. I'd like to remind our speakers to make sure we speak slowly so that the captioner can pick up all the information. Next, Renaldo. >> RENALDO: My name is Dr. Renaldo Hemphill. My background extends back into the days of the (Inaudible) commission. I'm working with civil rights in that area. I'm a member of the National Youth Leadership Network as well as a former member of National Council on Disability. Currently I'm working with my own foundation, the Renaldo Hemphill foundation and we do things such as financial affairs to get people into college and get them funding for college. Also I've worked to help start smaller organizations including (Inaudible) productions which produces videos on how to interact with youth with disabilities and how to get them more included into mainstream society. I'm current assistant professor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Renaldo. Lastly, Stacey, please. >> STACEY: My name is Stacey Milbern and I'm from Carolina. I'm from congenital my open they which means I have a low muscle tone and I use a wheelchair. I first got involved with the National Youth Leadership Network and now serve on two governor appointments, the statewide independent living council and the state Commission for the Blind. I believe that my experience with adult organizations comes from starting a youth leadership network in North Carolina that is statewide and it's basically a collaboration between various state agencies so that's how I interact with a lot of adults. Thank you for having me on to night. >> KRISTEN: Thanks, Stacey. Participants, please remember that you will not be able to ask questions until the end of the speaker's session. So please try to remember your questions. We are now ready to begin asking the speakers the randomly chosen questions. Each speaker will have up to two minutes to discuss his or her answers for the questions. Our first question: In your opinion, at what age do you feel youth should start getting involved with adult organizations? Stacey... >> STACEY: Well, actually, any age as long as they think that they can put enough time and energy into the activity. You don't have to worry about knowing everything from the start because you can learn as you go. So that's my answer. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Stacey. Naomi n your opinion, what age do you feel you should start getting involved with adult organizations? >> NAOMI: I agree with Stacey. I think any age is a good age to get involved. Some of the things that young people have to be aware of though is just being aware that they'll probably need to advocate for themselves and peek for themselves. Because a lot of times adults speak for younger people or assume they kind of know what younger people want to say. So just being prepared to speak up for yourself, be able to share your own ideas. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Naomi. Our next question: What was or is your biggest challenge being on a board with adults and how have you overcome it? Let's hear from Renaldo first. >> RENALDO: I'm glad you used being involved with organizations typically run by adults. You typically don't have that -- one thing that is called credibility. Because you're long you don't have those long term friendships like 15 years back or 20 years back or sharing of stories as many of the other board members may share. And also you might not have a long list of accomplishments or reputation that precedes you. And then on top of that, youth generally are often thought of by older people as inexperienced or ill equipped to handle that kind of rigor that really high level leadership requires. I guess the best thing that as a young person, the best thing you can ever do to overcome that credibility problem is becoming an expert. That means you're going to have to go out and study your leadership practices. You're going to have to learn your issues in and out just as well as adults. You'll have to develop possible solutions to current and foreseeable problems, in other words, be creative, so the bottom line, down, your expertise is -- they're going to learn after awhile that your expertise is going to be very valuable to organizations and your credibility will increase as you demonstrate your expertise. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Betsy, what was your biggest challenge being on a board with adults and how have you overcome it? >> BETSY: Some of the challenges I find about being included are just having your information and your perspectives being seen on an equal level to the other members of the board. A lot of times young people bring kind of an outside of the box perspective to things like that, bring more of the creativity and just some different ways of approaching things that most adults that serve on a general board may not really -- may not really think about. However, you know, when Renaldo said -- he used too many words of credibility and expert and I think what happens a lot of times is that young people kind of sell themselves short, that the credibility that young people have is a formal expertise for reaching out to and including young people in organizations which you'll find is a really main focus for a lot of organizations right now. They are trying to do that, but in most cases, they're going at it from an adult approach. So being on a board, you know, you as a young person can really provide the expert recommendations how to expand the numbers of people and the bodies of people that that organization reaches out to. You know, also some of the other challenges to overcome would be just to really work diligently and prepare yourself for all of the questions that may come up in a meeting. Think about that ahead of time and if you feel uncomfortable about it, ask those questions ahead of time and just to be as prepared as you possibly can and knowing that what you are doing there by taking that risk that at the beginning maybe you would feel uncomfortable by doing it, but by taking the risk of being on that board that you're prenting a whole lot of people. You are representing a whole community of young people at what you share at those tables and with those perspectives. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Betsy. Peter, what is your biggest challenge and how have you overcome it? >> PETER: I think kind of following up with what Betsy and Renaldo said, my biggest challenge has really been kind of around that sort of item maybe of expertise, but in particular, trying to I think as youth we have an important expertise as Betsy was saying, is as young people we have experienced the system and as a state advisory board on professional education, I think some of the challenges I find are finding opportunities to really share that perspective in a meaningful way. A lot of the times it seems -- even though that board is set up to discuss matters concerning youth in special education, a lot of the times there is a lot of procedural issues, there is a lot of policies, there is a lot of things that go on that don't necessarily tie directly to the youth. They tie in indirect ways and sometimes people get so focused on those matters that it's hard to really see how it's going to ultimately impact the youth. And I think my biggest challenge has always been trying to make those direct connections so that the board realizes the importance of all the matters we're talking about and how that directly goes back to youth and I try do that around what Betsy says about trying to integrate youth's perspectives. Trying to find out how the system is affecting as much youth as possible so that I can share that voice and I can help others share that voice with the board. And I find that as I do that, that makes the committee members much more aware about youth issues and I think it helps them also realize for themselves how important it is to also think about how this is going to directly affect the youth. And I think that's some of the ways that I've helped overcome or at least start to change that sort of challenge I've had. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Peter. For our third question: Did you have a mentor that helped you get to know what to do in the group or organization? Let's ask Naomi. >> NAOMI: Down, I did not actually have a mentor. (Inaudible) I was involved in. I ended up advocating for myself a lot, and so how I kind of created relationships or other things on groups that I worked with is I tried to share kind of my experience, which is really different, with like the group when like different topics came up. I tried to share what I thought about it or how from a young person or a Latino person's perspective how that would be seen. And I really try to pay attention to who the leaders in the group were and who was nice to me. And then I would go to those people and those were the people I'd ask questions or I'd ask advice. And I really tried to pay attention to how they acted after I did that. Did they support me or did they try to kind of shut me down or adopt my ideas as their own. When I talk to somebody who was supportive and who really listened to me and tried to help me, then that's the person I would go to ask more questions or advice. That's how I created relationships or friendships and what mentors can really be, those relationships can last a long time. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Naomi. Renaldo, do you have a mentor who helped you get to know what to do in a group or organization? >> RENALDO: I've had many. I have many mentors and supporters and stuff like that that helped me get to know what to do in different organizations. Currently, I keep in contact with 16 mentors on a monthly or bimonthly basis to help me to grow as a leader and as a person. The importance of the mentorship is many fold for a young leader. One, a mentor can give you a lot of background information, a lot of background information that you can't find in books, that you can't find in, you know, some Internet or something like that about how the organization is really run. The other thing that a mentor can do for you is that they can also provide you directions and also pull you to the side and say, okay, this is where you need to work on. These are the things that you can improve on and if you do that with an open mind, then you can really, really grow as a leader. Now, the important thing that you have to know when you look for mentors is mentors come from all shapes and sizes, and that's the most important thing I guess that young leaders have to learn is not necessarily the guys who sits at the head of the table. It can be the guy who is working at McDonalds that used to do blah, blah, blah and I've had mentors ranging from the executive branches of government to an unemployed guy who studies books at Barnes & Nobles. So be open. Look for people that have a knowledge that you're looking for, but most importantly, be open to the ideas of people that have worked many years with an organization that you're trying to work with. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Renaldo. The next question for this evening: How can you locate adult organizations (Inaudible) to use as members? Peter... >> PETER: I'm sorry -- >> KRISTEN: How could you locate adult organizations that accept youth as members? >> PETER: This is Peter. I think that is somewhat of a tricky question. There is really in my mind two ways to do that. The first and probably best way is to talk to other youth, especially youth that's kind of been a little older. Speak with them to really use them as a resource to understand what direction they've gone, what organizations they've found to be successful for them and really have opened up their doors to allowing them to be a part of the other organizations, but the second factor or item off of that is that not all organizations are going to fit the needs for you. You may have a specific interest in something that relates to your disability that somebody else may not particularly have an interest in. So that means that you would have to speak out to those organizations on your own and of course the website -- websites are good places to go to. Doctors or other places to find out about information, the federal government, you can find out information through them as well. Contact your local independent living centers, but then the best thing to do to find out whether or not they are accepting of youth is to just go and see how they interact with you and really just experiment to see whether or not they are involving you and how they are involving you and whether or not they are willing to really allow you to participate in that group. I think those are the two biggest things I would suggest -- talking to your peers, finding out what groups are already known to work well with youth and really for your own experience, test out organizations to see if they match with what your goals are in life. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Peter. Stacey, how can you locate an adult organization that accepts youth as members? >> STACEY: I really like Peter's answer, and I also think that -- well, actually, I think there is three different things you can do. Number one, like you said, the web is a great place to go. There is actually a really good website, I believe it's www.disabilityresources.org and you can go up there and look at all the organizations in your state and you might not find the perfect fit for you, but there is a whole bunch of people that you can contact and the disability community will definitely try to hook you up with what you want. The second thing I believe is starting from the bottom, maybe it's not even related to disability. Before I got involved with the disability community, I was really involved with my local Red Cross group and so any nonprofit or organization or anything like that is obviously going to have some kind of governing board. So you might start as a volunteer and move your way up. The third thing you can do is, like Peter said, networking. That's the best way. I actually got on the statewide independent living council by meeting someone at a NYLN conference. So that's the third thing you can do. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Stacey. Moving on to the next question: Sometimes it is hard to understand what is going on in an organizational meeting. What can you do to better understand? Betsy... >> BETSY: for this one, in my book it seems leak it comes down to one main thing and that asking questions. It's really up to the young people or the youth that's getting on to a board to really advocate and stay informed of what's going on. For example, like if you don't know or understand what's going on during a meeting, like raise your handwrite then and there and tell them that you need some explanation to what is going on or, you know, meet with somebody ahead of time if you're kind of having a knot in your stomach about what's going to be coming ahead. Meet with people ahead of time so they can walk through it with you. You know, for all boards it's really like their responsibility to be sure all of their members are completely empowered to participate to their fullest potential and that includes young people. So if a young person doesn't feel like they know what's going to happen, maybe a range an appointment to meet with the chair of that committee or the president of that committee or a staff person from that organization or arrange a phone chat with them or send an E-mail asking those questions so that youth can feel completely prepared and ready to fully participate when you get to those meetings because that will make you able to feel more equal to the other people who are sitting at the table and more able then to advocate for the perspectives and the ideas that you have to share throughout that meeting time. >> KRISTEN: Stacey, sometimes it is hard to understand what's going on in an organizational meeting. What can youth do to better understand? >> STACEY: I think in this kind of atmosphere -- I'll first start off by saying I'm really shy when its comes on things like this. Everybody can probably hear my voice shaking right now, but basically when it comes to organizations, you can't really be shy. Like Betsy said, you have to ask questions, but it doesn't necessarily have to be in front of everyone. Basically what my message was I found someone I could trust, an adult friend or mentor, and just having dialogues with her and other people really gets you to understand the issues. I really like what Renaldo said earlier about becoming an expert, especially if you are representing a body of people. You have to really know those people very well and also a lot of times if you're serving on a state board or such, you have to know a lot of federal laws behind that. So the best suggestion I can give you is you don't have to know everything when you get on at first, but make sure that you show an initiative to learn and if you don't understand something, make sure you find an answer and don't just let it go. So basically I guess that's it. >> KRISTEN: at this time, I would like to inform you that it is getting close to the time for you, the participants to ask questions. So if you are joining by phone, please have your questions ready. And for those of you joining on the web, please E-mail your questions to Lisa McMahon, her E-mail address is mcmahonl@pdx.edu. The next question: Some youth feel as though they are not heard or seen as having important ideas in an organization. How can a youth make sure that they are heard and respected on a board with adults? Naomi... >> NAOMI: Well, I think it's really important to be real about the fact that many adults will probably see young people differently. They may have kids your age or they may not understand that you have as much to offer as they do. This is something you just totally have to be prepared to deal with. You have to be prepared to deal with it. I would encourage -- like what I've done is in speaking up. Bringing up your ideas about topics during the meeting. You can always talk about ideas with a friend or somebody on the group beforehand to make sure you're saying what you want to say and that it's clear and make sense to people. And really advocate for a partnership. Like this is you going in partnership with being on this -- in this group. You can offer to do a training or something that you're good at or present on something that they would be interested in or even something like leading -- offer to lead an ice breaker at the beginning of the meeting just to kind of make you less scary, makes you more seen as an equal and they can kind of see your expertise and the knowledge that you bring. And it's really important that it's continuing issue like it's going on and on and people are really -- you're having a really hard time being part of the group. I would go to the Executive Director or to whoever is in charge and just talk to them about it and try to come up with some creative ideas on how to deal with it. But don't be afraid to advocate around it. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Naomi. Renaldo, how can the youth make sure that they are heard and respected on a board with adults? >> RENALDO: Well, one of the things -- and I want to speak about what Naomi was talking about and what was talked about earlier with Betsy, one of the big things that we have as far as youth with disabilities going on to boards like this is that, you know, basically like Naomi was talking about. We're basically an out group, meaning that we don't fit what most people are on the board. Most of them have Ph.D.'s or degrees and most of them have this as their job and most of the time youth -- we go on these boards and we're typically volunteers or we do it as a side thing besides school. So one of the things that you should do is as a youth is, one, reduce that distance. In other words, dress like you belong. Act like you belongs, because bottom line, if you are in that rally or in that organization, if you are even in that meeting, you belong, and so, you know, I would suggest you have business cards, collect their business cards. Learn their needs. Follow up, build that relationship. Suggest solutions based on careful study and what you've done and then more importantly, stand behind your decisions because, you know, that brings respect and more importantly that brings credibility. And in any organization your credibility and your integrity is probably the most important thing you can ever have in any board in any organization. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Renaldo. Betsy, how can the youth make sure they are heard and respected on boards with adults? >> BETSY: You know, I would suggest to really remain diligent and be determined to fully participate in that board. If you feel that you participated, for example, in a couple of open meetings and you shared those ideas and maybe those ideas aren't being heard, then share that with someone. You know, like Stacey said for example, once you find a mentor, try to make that sort of relationship being somebody that you can go to not only seeking suggestions for kind of the black and white issues as to how to make things work, but those more individualized issues to strategize how to make things work. And also when doing that -- when mentioning something like this to the board, it's important that when you point out something that isn't working for you, to also include a solution to that or some other options of things that they could do to successfully make it work for you. So to keep that in mind that when you come back to the table, come with solutions to those situations as well. And it's really just comes down to I think identifying what needs they are that are not being met if you feel uncomfortable in a situation, making that situation known and coming with some ideas to make things work and just the process of taking responsibility and being proactive will really earn you the support to be heard as an equal member of that board or that council. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Betsy. The next question: How do or did you juggle your time between every day activities such as school or work and duties with your organizations? And the second part of this question is what should you do if you encounter an adult organization board that may not be flexible to a youth schedule? Peter... >> PETER: Okay, so the first answer from my perspective is priorities. You have to know what is important to you in your own life, and what different roles you are really wanting in your life. There is two that really helps me and I also found a mentor that not only helps provide guidance. The books are getting things done and seven patterns of highly effective people. The teenager version was recommended and it helps provide guidance. The seven habits says know what goals are and for me the important roles that I play are husband -- I'm married, and my family, my work and my school career and my disability activities. Those are the top most priorities and at different times each one has different needs that I have to pay attention to. And it's important to know though where ire spending your time and really to you at a given time what's more important. For example, in school I may be having finals and that's going to take up a lot of my time which may mean I don't have as much time to do other activities. I have to be aware of that and know how important that is and commune that it that to others. Likewise, if I have a project due at work or have to spend time with my wife. You need to know what things are important and what you like to do and make sure you're focusing your time on that and make sure you're getting time out of it. That goes to sort of the second question about the trade-offs and how making sure that the youth are being listened to on a board. In anything that you do that's important to you, for example with disabilities activist, I've heard stories from individuals where they've been a part of a youth board that is helping to serve a larger adult organization, but they find that they their input is not being listened to. That that adult organization comes up with additional things and brings on new members to the team without considering -- without considering them and I think it's difficult for each of us as youth, as we try to make that transition as we hear that people want to listen to youth's opinions, make sure we don't get into that role of token. Of making sure that we're both in the relationship like Naomi was talking about. It's really key that not only is the organization getting something from the expertise that we bring but that we are helping them to develop and I think each of us has to question though when people bring us along and involve us and they don't really listen to us because in reality that's not a good partnership. That's somebody just liking to claim something that they are doing and involving somebody, but they're not really involving, and I think several of the strategies that Naomi suggested needs to be applied about -- in terms of making sure you're talking to others, or going to the Executive Director. But I think eventually I may come down to the question if they want you there, the youth, if they want your perspective, then they really need to make sure that they can set up a structure that involves youth. Particularly on items that are important to their organization, otherwise, I really in some sense don't think they should be talking about how they represent youth if they're not willing to involve the youth themselves. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Peter. Naomi, how did you juggle your time between every day activities and duties with your organizations and what should you do if you encounter an adult organization board that may not be flexible with youth schedules? >> NAOMI: Well, I totally agree with Peter that you have to figure out what's important to you. That's probably like the biggest thing. There is a million things you can get involved in, but you have to figure out what is most important to you. There are tips I can give you after you get involved is don't be afraid to say no. Adults and organizations do it all the time and they are never affected and they are still asked to come back. So you have to know your limits, like how much you have going on, maybe try to like write down stuff and due dates on a calendar or a book with all the dates on it, like a date book, and try to figure out kind of where meetings are in that and where projects might be -- so you kind of figure out if you can split your time up that way. On the flip side, don't be afraid to take risk either because you can really be creative like taking on a project but asking for help or to partner with somebody else in the group so it's not so much work. For the second question, yeah, a lot of times adult organizations don't even really think about what it means to be a young person getting involved in kind of an adult world run organization or projector government commission, whatever. So they don't think about school schedules or other things like how mileage, gas for your car will be paid for, or money that you might need to eat meals or things like that. So bring it up. Approach them like a partner. You're an equal. You have to approach them and say, hey, this might be an issue for me, let's brain storm some ideas or think of different ways to work on this. So things might be getting an advance like if you have to go to a different city for a meeting. Get them to front you some money for mileage or food and keep the receipts and make sure that you have a way to show them how you spent that money. Also advocating around the time of day for meeting. Maybe they can hold it someplace closer to your school or on a weekend or evening. Sometimes people are flexible to do that. So really advocate for that. Trust me, I see adults advocate -- well, I have a golf game that day and I need to like do this, this and that or my sister is coming in. Everybody has lives. So everybody advocates around these things. And if you really are having a hard time around this, throw stuff at them that is written for adult organizations bringing in youth. Like the kids with self-advocates manual I was talking about earlier or there is lots of organizations out there that try the give advice to adult organizations. If it backs up what you are saying and see that youth are not just complaining. That this is an issue for a lot of people. Don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and don't be afraid to ask for help finding those organizations that help young people get involved tore whatever. And just talking to friends about different ideas and be creative about it. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Naomi. At this time, I'd like the speakers, if they have any stories about belonging to an organization or anything other input they'd like to bring up, feel free to do so at this time, just make sure you say your name before you start to speak. >> STACEY: Well, this is Stacey. Just adding to the last question, how do you juggle your time between every day activities and duties, what I do is I try to get everyone to think like we're on a team together. For example, I'm a political science person, so I always update my professors where I'm going and a lot of times I'll be like do you think it's okay for me to miss this other class and they'll actually encourage me go to these meetings. So if you update people and treat them like, you know -- have them feel like they are cheering for you, your professors might be a little more flexible. That is just my answer with that one. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Stacey. Anybody else? >> PETER: This is Peter. I do want to touch upon I guess the importance of youth involvement. Again, kind of what I stated and again I want to emphasize how important I think some of the statements Naomi made about all the different strategies. If you need additional resources as well, go to youth organizations to really ask questions and try to identify people that have been through the process serving as mentors even can help. So there is the organization that you can contact Naomi about, there is NYLN, where you can go to contact Betsy to get more information to identify youth or identify organizations and issues that you may have. (Inaudible) in a lot of those states and Betsy can share some of that information if you want to contact as well there is ADD youth information centers. So there is a building group of youth that you can go to if you're interested in becoming a part of it. I think that's still the largest challenge though is getting some of these adult organizations to understand how to bring in youth and involve them in -- not just involve them, but to listen, and not just listen, but to actually take the recommendations and apply them to actions that they are having and I think that that is something at least I've heard that still is very challenging for youth to kind of overcome and I would really just make the suggestion that we really need to start talking together more and issues if you have something come up, the best thing as Betsy say is to ask questions and really reach out to they are groups. Don't think it's an end block. A lot of times when you have challenges, contact somebody else to help provide some perspective on how to get around that obstacle. So I would think to anybody out there who is feeling frustrated by the fact that they can't get on this organization or they don't know where the organization is, don't just sit there and be like a statistic that doesn't become a part or doesn't become active because they don't think there is a way. Utilize the speakers that are on today and contact us for finding out how to become involved and how to become involved in meaningful ways that means that your ideas and recommendations are included in making sure that all youth can be successful. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Peter. Any final comments. >> RENALDO: Peter actually makes a very good point in working with larger organizations is how do you get heard? And one of the things I really like what Peter espouses on the last comment was that recognize that you have multiple options. You have, you know, you can contact many organizations. Go to coalitions. Build your network. And utilize that network to get things done. You don't necessarily have to have your face, your name or necessarily be at the table when an idea is done. The major goal for you as a leader, as a young leader, is to make those things happen and it doesn't matter necessarily who gets credit for it, but make sure those things happen and sometimes as youth leaders, we want to put our names on things such that we can point back and say we did this and that, but the most important thing when you're in an organization is getting the job done. >> KRISTEN: Okay, thank you, Renaldo. I think we have one final question, and anybody can answer this: How do you get people together to start an organization? >> RENALDO: I want to jump in because I've help start several different organizations and I also of my own network called outlook which is about 2300 professionals worldwide strong. One of the things that you do when you try to put together an organization is, first, you have to have a need or something that you really want to change. For instance, in the case of Renaldo Hemphill foundation, it was the fact that many people in the dealt a region were not educated and more importantly the delta region was one of the poorest regions in the United States. But when you -- one of the things you need to do is, first set up your ideas of what you want to change. Then second is that, down, promote your ideas and what I mean by that is talk to people about it. When you have casual conversations, be energetic about what you want to do. And then after awhile when people start understanding what you want to do, there will be people that want to help you out and wanting to join you in your mission and things like that. So you bring them on. More importantly, the way you build strong people -- it's not necessarily and this is the most important thing that any leader of any organization has and this was taught to me by a mentor when I was working with NCD. He told me that there is two things a leader has that nobody else in the organization has. The leader has priority and he has delegation. So the first thing is that when you set up your organization, you have the priority of things to dunned the second part is the delegation. Who else can help you support your goals? That's the two most important things that you do. Now, as far as legally starting an organization, go to your secretary of state, pay your license fees if you're a nonprofit and doing the proper paper works but as far as the people side, that's the way to go. >> KRISTEN: All right. Thank you all. This ends the speaker's session. Now we will beginning our participant session in which the speakers answer questions asked by the participants. The phone lines will now open to the participants. Before asking questions, please state your name and if you have a certain speaker that you would like to answer your question, please say their name at the beginning of your question. Again, the speakers for tonight are Stacey, Peter, Renaldo, Betsy and Naomi. I will now turn the call over to an ILRU operator who will tell you what button toss use on your telephone to ask your questions. >> OPERATOR: at this time, the floor has been opened for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press the star key followed by the one key on your touch town phone now. Questions will be taken in the order in which they are received. And if at any point you need to remove yourself from the questioning queue, press star 2. Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star key followed by the 1 key on your touch tone phone now. Our first question comes from Alicia Payne. Please go a head. >> CALLER: This question is for everyone and I'll get into what I'm doing here in Oklahoma. And Peter, by the way, don't call me crazy. What I'm doing here in Oklahoma is helping Oklahoma students who have sustained a traumatic brain injury and I'm also on the Oklahoma united we ride advisory committee. And with this next election, since I've gained so many contacts in the state legislature and at the governor's office and everything, I feel this is a very good opportunity and a very good year to get disability issues out to the candidates. And so there is an event coming up the 21st and I've been contacting anyone and everyone that I know and I've been talking to someone on the governor's reelection campaign committee today and I'm -- I've got all the resources and contacts, but now it's the same problem I have he for about a year or so. How exactly do I get to the youth to kind of let them know how important this is? >> PETER: This is Peter. I'm not sure what you mean by don't call you crazy, but I think just based on some of the stuff I've talk to you before on your work on the traumatic brain injury organization and the newsletter you put out, have you tried working with those other youth to really talk about the best ways to find youth? So contacting schools and potentially setting up locations there to talk more with those? Because I know you have a few people that have been working with you in the past. >> CALLER: (Inaudible). >> I think also another great thing to do is I actually didn't realize how many disability organizations are actually in my town. So I think if you can find one organization, even if it's like disability specific, for example like multiple sclerosis society, or autism society, that you can build like a spider web of contacts and maybe they can help you more, too. I know you've been doing a great job so just keep working hard. >> PETER: and I think Stacey has been sort of a success and I've learned from her I think also don't just think about people with disabilities as you've been doing in contacting larger groups. Go to churches and other organizations. Because some of these issues affect a larger group and try to find anybody that's potentially interested in, you know, in dealing with that and then hopefully you can find other youth, like siblings and others who might be interested in participating as well. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Dave. Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Hi, this question is for everybody and how important do you believe it is to research or to study the topic that you are going to be talking about that night and to actually have informational background when you're talking about it so you can feel more -- so you can give more input. How important do you think that is? >> STACEY: Well, this is Stacey, and I believe it's vital, vital, vital. That's the way you build credibility and also if you know your topic inside and out, you'll feel more confident and you'll be able to answer any questions that might come up. >> RENALDO: This is Renaldo. How about three out of four -- if we start using statistics and numbers, actually jargon and lingo that is used within that organization, it goes back to that credibility. If you just -- if you don't have those numbers, if you don't have those things, then after awhile, your arguments -- your argument for a particular change right there may not have the credibility. So the major thing that you have to do is you have to go out and do the research and do the background so that you can be prepared to answer those questions and provide solutions that have a realistic way of working, that are realistic in working. >> PETER: This is Peter. I think also that question -- not only is it important to know your -- know how you think about that specific topic that's going to be talked about, ut by think it's also very important to talk to others that are either on that board or either very involved in that board or organization and also to really understand the different views that they may have on the item because just reading about and being familiar with a topic doesn't always necessarily help you know how different people are going to look at it. So I think it's critical to not only know that area, but also know the particular people who are going to be sharing their views and potentially or more importantly voting on it and know what you want and try to make sure that you can take your expertise and apply it to the way that they are looking at the problem so they can understand the way you are thinking about it and the direction you should go. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Lisa, may we have the one web question, please. >> yeah, this message is from (Inaudible). The question is what websites give organizations in different fields of interest that are free? >> STACEY: This is Stacey again, I don't mean to answer like every question, but disability resources.org, that's the one that I always direct everyone to because they have a lot right there and that's a good way to start off and another way is just to Google your state name and then disability resources and you'll get a lot that way, too. >> KRISTEN: Okay, our next phone question, please. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Alexandria Powell, please go ahead. >> CALLER: My question is for Peter. And it's what was the name of the book that you talked about and do you know if they are on cd or tape? >> PETER: This is Peter. There is two books that I looked at. The one that I talked about was Franklin Covey, seven habits for highly effective people and I imagine they are on tape or CD, but I'm not for certain. I can look that up Alexandria and send you the website if you want. And the other book that I used was getting things done which is by -- I can't think of the name. But that's the other book. The other really key thing, any time that you're having challenges is prioritizing and organizing stuff is sometimes a hard thing to do. It's really good to have a support person to just check in on you to see how things are going and, again, to give you different perspectives on ways to do stuff and I think it's best if you just contact somebody like that who you think would be a good support person and just ask them like I do with (Inaudible) and ask them to call you had and say could you please just ask me once a week what are your goals and what sort of things do you want to do? I think you'll find that it's a lot easier to be successful when you have somebody else who is helping make sure that you're kind of keeping on track. >> STACEY: This is Stacey again. Just a little plug for the book that Peter mentioned by Franklin Covey. Actually, he has done a whole leadership curriculum and it's offered at a lot of colleges and it's great if you can take it as a student because adults from big corporations actually pay thousands of dollars to receive the same education that you'll get out of that course. So it's really helpful with developing leadership style and prioritizing and everything like that. So if reading isn't your best bet, you might want to try the class or whatever. >> RENALDO: and this Renaldo and kind of building on what Peter and Stacey said, there is a website called audible.com. You can get a preview of a lot of these books and if you're in college, especially at a college that is at least about 10,000 students, they have an interlibrary loan and that is basically if they don't have that audio book in that library, you can request it. I know when I was at the University of Fayetteville used to go crazy when they looked the at my record, I would like 400 audio books that I looked at or checked out during my time there. So the interlibrary loan is a good place to get that kind of material when you need it. If you're a cog student. If you're not a college student, go to audible.com and you can get some free downloads but some books pretty cheaply. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Jessica. Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Hi, my question is for Peter. One thing I would like to comment on is a problem I'm having with coordinating services in college. I supplied my college with my high school IEP and a form from a doctor verifying my disability; but I'm still required to repeat the same eight form for every college which is still in the same system? I can take any class from any Minnesota community college without applying to each one, but I still have to prove my disability each time to every college that I go to. So my question is why can't they share that additional information? >> PETER: Was it Jessica? You raise a very interesting and challenging question that I've faced myself and been frustrated with. And I don't know necessarily if there is a solution right now to your question, but I can certainly speak on what I think could be done so just to kind of give a quick background. When I went to graduate school, I already had all my files and information and my testing, but they wanted to retest me for my disability. I thought why should I need to be retested? And I spoke with Kristen and she said every time she goes to a new school, too, she has a physical disability, and she still has to provide medical information and it sort of seems kind of strange to me that you would have to kind of verify that every time, but I think that's probably a part of the way that the college system, which is different than the secondary high school, middle school and elementary school is set up. And I think the best way if you wanted to potentially change something where we had to just apply to a national state organization that would keep your information and records and then colleges would contact that specific place would be to go to ahead which is association for higher education and disabilities. But they are sort of like the federal government that talks about policies relating to disabilities in higher education like colleges and universities. And they kind of make some of the recommendations because when you go to colleges and university, you no longer are under the IDEA act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. You're now more under ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act and so it sort of changes the system. I think I would be interested in talking to you more because that's the challenges that I had and maybe making recommendations to ahead where people can go and put their information there. So every time if they transferred, they wouldn't have to necessarily always have to be retested or reevaluated to show or prove they have a disability. Does had a make sense? >> CALLER: Yes, it does. >> RENALDO: I'd like to add on to that. My name is Renaldo. I'm an assistant professor at a university and, yeah, it's an interesting thing that you just pointed out. But one thing a lot very times you can't even transfer credits from one university to another university. I know of several friends of mine who tried to transfer their hours to another university eve then Arkansas to another university in Arkansas. But at a level -- a realistic level, you have to realize there are people that are basically -- you know, you have university professors, you have registrars, you have counselors -- these are basically people and then even though we might have some database or some machine that points out stuff like that, it only matters when you have that person to person interchange. What I mean by that when you step into the door of a university and somebody shakes your hand, that's the most important thing is just recognizing that there is a human interface that you have to overcome. And you know, I'm not sure if there is going to be a real big solution that is realistic that will solve that problem, but it is a major thing that occurs and that's one of the reasons why it does occur. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of pat Bruce, please go ahead. >> CALLER: Hi. How would a youth advisory council go from being a volunteer program to a nonprofit organization? >> PETER: This is Peter. You wanted to go from a volunteer program to a nonprofit six months. >> CALLER: We've been doing this youth advisory council for six months and we wanted to go from a volunteer to a nonprofit. >> PETER: Betsy runs our nonprofit development. So I don't know if you wanted to share. >> BETSY: This is a whole variety of steps you need to go through in order to do that. One of the first stages of doing it is determining what type of an organization you want to become. Do you want to become a nonprofit? Do you want to become a for profit organization? Are you going to be partnering with some organization to maintain and keep track of your records and your finances and your legal obligation that comes a long with being an organization? So I would say that those are some of the initial questions that the first step would be to pose those questions to your board and to see really what it is that you're looking for the final outcome to be. When you identify that, you know, start with creating some general documents and policy manual, bylaws, and especially with a younger organization, there are several examples on line that you can find. And they needn't be very detailed. I mean, they don't need to be really lengthy. They can be pretty simplistic at least at the beginning stages; but usually then you become incorporated and from there you apply -- either you can become a state organization or you can become a national organization. So it's basically just determining what it is that you want that final outcome to be. However, as you go along, I'd be more than happy to chat with you in greater detail maybe after this call or some other time so that we can kind of talk about the specifics of your organization and what it is that they are looking for and I'd be glad to serve as a support for that. >> CALLER: That would be helpful. >> PETER: This is Peter. Also the thing that we had help with that Betsy really had a connection with was a university. We worked with American University to kind of help provide some guidance on some of the legal matters and the documents that are required for the I. R. S, which is the Internal Revenue Service, to provide information and make sure all those I.'s are dotted and T.'s are crossed and make sure we had all the proper stuff filled out and they did that proceed bone on, which means they worked for pretty much free. They were law students and they were doing it as part of a course requirement. So we can either try to help you get in contact with them but you can try to go to local universities if you wanted to to see if they have law schools and see if they have maybe a similar thing where they would have students do it for free and work with you in terms of set willing up the policies that you need in your state and then the policies that you would need at your federal level. >> CALLER: Thank you. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Tommy. Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Hi there. Good afternoon all of you. My name is Tommy and I am on a governing board of NYLN, and the first thing I wanted to say to the preceptors is thank you for your time and energy. I appreciate it. You are now an assistant professor and I assume you have a Ph.D. I'm curious -- I am going for my Ph.D, how much effort did you have to put into the disability organization before and after your Ph.D? And was it worth it to get your Ph.D. and maybe you can share your personal pursuit for that for disability rights? >> RENALDO: Yeah, working and doing my doctorate and stuff like that and as a graduate student, my background as far as Ph.D. was microelectronics which was totally separate from the work that we did in the disability movement. But the most important thing is that you have to have an idea of what you want to do in life. The basic thing is you have to have an idea of where do you want to go, what do you want to get done. You know you only live once type thing, and so one of the things that I wanted to do is I wanted to learn how to lead organizations and at the same time while learning how to lead organizations, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people that couldn't make a difference for themselves. You know, the Ph.D. is an important thing. It gives you credibility, but one of the reasons why I got a Ph.D. is, you know, was not necessarily because I had a dire need to do the next microprocessor whatever, it was because when I was 19 and I had just got through doing a lot of work with the king commission, I was an assistant and shadow to the Secretary of Transportation during the Clinton administration, it was a choice between working for the central intelligence agency or going to grad school and my mentors was like, Renaldo, you have a lot of potential, blah, blah, blah, but go get the graduate degree. Go get the credibility. Ph.D. gives you that immediate credibility, but more importantly, when you go out and go the grad school, make sure -- make sure that you understand what you want in life and learn all about yourself. Because beyond any degree, anything you know that anybody can put on a piece of paper for you, once you know yourself, once you know your strengths and weaknesses, and then once you know what you can do or what you want to do, then you can start living a much more fulfilling life whether, you know, you work in disabilities, whether you work in microelectronics or whatever you field you want, you know for a fact that this is the place that you want to be. >> KRISTEN: Thank you, Renaldo. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from (Inaudible). Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Hello. I've got a question for you guys about a college vs what -- vs what's more important outside of college. What I wanted to ask was, let's see, most of my college professors do understand what is more important in my life when I tell them, but sometimes when a certain term comes to an end, there are professors who will put the math course -- who will put the courses ahead of other important things in life and how is it that we can actually -- that we can actually let our professors know what is important more and still stick with that when they are putting -- demanding us to focus on our course instead of what is going on outside that is more important? >> well, Trevor, what major are you? >> CALLER: Well, I'm currently -- let's see, I think so far my English because my math course has been a weakness for me. >> okay. >> CALLER: and my math course is one of the -- one of my math courses is an example of what I asked. >> well, you want to take it? >> go ahead. >> I'm a math professor at the university and I know I get a lot of students that have difficulty in mathematics and mathematics is something that you have to learn how to do things step by step. You know, one of the things you have to do as a student, and I tell my students is this -- and one of the things I had to learn as a student -- you know, you have to go to the bottom line while you're in school. Why are you there? What are you trying to do? And that's the most important thing. Once you make that decision, you know, be prepared to live with the consequences of those decisions. That's the satisfaction. There is times, you know, as a grad student and I know Peter can probably identify with me, that you're like really, really poor. Really broke, okay, and you're asking yourself why are you even in school because you know your friends have started their careers and making big bucks and all that kind of stuff, but you have to, you know, do what's best for you. Now, as a professor, you know, I always have to -- it is my job to promote my students and to make sure that they have -- that they perform the best they can, and not only in my courses, but in their schooling. But the bottom line, it always goes back to you. What is best for you? What do you want to do? And how do you want to achieve it? >> CALLER: Thank you. >> KRISTEN: All right, next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from Alicia Payne. Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Okay, mine really isn't a question. It was a comment. One of the callers had asked Peter about what was going on at college and Peter mentioned AHEAD and stuff they do. Each state should have a chapter for ahead such as I was the student representative for the Oklahoma association of higher education and disabilities. And they do stuff to help you throughout college. I don't know if they could do something to help you with the difficulties you're having because it kind of depends on each state that has it, but every semester I know Oklahoma would have conferences that would best show better techniques to help students succeed in school and one semester they had a panel and I was on the panel and they had -- they asked us questions and we told them about our challenges since entering college and everything. But I would really recommend you find out if the state you live in has a chapter for AHEAD and if not, get in touch with someone who is on the AHEAD board and they should be able to help you out. >> KRISTEN: Thanks. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Thank you. Our next question comes from Dave. Please go ahead. >> CALLER: Yeah, my question is, I live in a community that is shall we say not really big into disability rights and that kind of involvement. So I was wondering what kind of ways should I go around in getting the community involved when they really don't want to act with what I'm trying to do? >> NAOMI: This is Naomi. I actually live in a very similar type of town. And it can be really frustrating to kind of find like community -- people who even get it and you start feeling like really alone. It's a really kind of horrible feeling. So what I did is I got involved a couple of different ways. I got involved nationally because I needed support. I needed to be around is some people who got it. That's a great way to find that kind of support and then I got involved in some local stuff. I'm on the city commission for disability issues and a lot of them don't really get it, but you know, I'm kind of there and I'm finding a couple of people who kind of do. So it's like you kind of just got to start getting involved and find the places you think might be scary or people really don't get it and just -- you'll find that once you start talking to people and start talking about disability rights and start talking about disability as a community that people -- oh, yeah. It makes common sense. And so people start to identify with you and so from there you can kind of talk to them and create a little network where you live and kind of start talking to them about things they want to change in the community. And so that's a way I would suggest starting doing some of that. >> CALLER: Okay, thank you. >> good luck. >> there is one other little detail about that. I live in a small town also and you know I have to say that some of my most immediate supports are like thousands of miles away from me. And you know, that's one of the neat things about establishing communities like this and finding different ways to communicate with people whether it's over IM or E-mail or phone or whatever, because sometimes when I'm trying to do something or trying to get that support that I need, I don't really have somebody to talk to that's down the block, but I can call Naomi who is multiple states away or I can Paul and those are things that I think are really valuable and come of these sorts of opportunities, to find other people that can still provide that support for you and can provide kind of that friendship to you that maybe they are not two blocks away, but they can still provide some of that encouragement. >> CALLER: Okay. Thank you. >> KRISTEN: Thank you. Next question, please. >> OPERATOR: Thank you. There are no further questions in the queue at this point. >> KRISTEN: Okay. Unfortunate, we are coming to the conclusion of our call this evening. Please visit the teleconference web page in which there will be resource materials available that each speaker has made available for you to view. The next teleconference will be held on October 10th, and the contest prize will be a 100-dollar gift card which can be used in the store or at www.target.com. For each teleconference, we have a contest to see who can get the most people to register and participate on the call. So be on the look out for the E-mailed announcement and trying to join us for the teleconference and get others to register and participate. On behalf of the National Youth Leadership Network, I would like to thank the participants and speakers for taking their time out of their busy skied use and joining us today. We want to also thank ILRU for their support. We truly appreciate all of your support. Thank you all and good night.