Q & A with Jim Gardner
Jim Gardner, CEO and President of CQL has just finished his term
as chair of the Alliance for Full Participation (AFP). He sat down for a Q & A about his work
with AFP and the movement for increased employment for people with
disabilities.
What is the Alliance for Full Participation?
The
Alliance for Full Participation (AFP) is a formal partnership of leading
developmental disabilities organizations with a common vision—to create a
better and more fulfilling quality of life for people with developmental
disabilities. AFP also supports a network of state teams, dedicated to
promoting full participation for people with developmental disabilities.
2003: AFP is founded as a vibrant collaboration of the key stakeholders
in the developmental disabilities field focused on a common purpose—to enhance
full participation for all.
In 2005, AFP hosted a Washington
DC Summit to create an action agenda for full participation that is
incorporated into the strategic planning of all member organizations. In
addition, AFP created an interactive DVD series to educate the public about the
promise of full participation for people with developmental disabilities. AFP’s
2005 Summit, “Many Voices, One Vision”, drew over 2,400 people from all
branches of the developmental disability community, including self advocates,
family members, researchers, service providers and direct support workers.
What is CQL’s role with AFP?
CQL was a founding member of AFP in 2003. After the Summit in
2005, CQL took over the coordination of AFP including looking after the web
site and following up on inquiries including disseminating a series of video
tapes on the Town Hall Meeting moderated by CNN reporter Frank Sesno that took
place during the Summit and a white paper on Medicaid Moving Forward. Unfortunately,
resources were not available to continue to actively advance the AFP’s
collaborative work in supporting state teams or in policy development.
In late 2007, AFP revisited the feasibility of maintaining the
collaborative network. While members
raised the possibility of sponsoring another event, they were more committed to
the importance of eleven leadership organizations affirming a single positive
message about people with developmental disabilities participating in the life
of the community.
Why did you take on the leadership role of AFP in July of 2008?
In July 2008, I took on the role of General Manager of AFP. The following year, in May of 2009 the
members of AFP amended the bylaws and elected me Chair of the organization, a
position that I held for one year. I
took this on for several reasons. The AFP grew out of a series of informal
collaborations over the previous decade. I think I was one of the few members of the
AFP board remaining from the original group of people that met over the brown
bag lunches in the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities (AAIDD) office in the late 1990’s and later organized the
Developmental Disabilities Quality Consortium in early 2000. In addition, the
AFP Board is similar to that of the Board of CQL – A board composed of
representatives of other national organizations which can be a very powerful
force. The first AFP national summit
demonstrated the value of working together across organizational lines. I wanted to continue that work and position
AFP for even greater representation and inclusiveness in the coming years. Finally, I really enjoy the challenge and experience
of finding opportunities to work together and make a difference rather than
focusing on positions and history that work against each other.
How
did AFP come to select Employment for People with Disabilities as its focus?
First, we all agreed that AFP could be
most effective if it focused on a single issue.
Employment emerged as the key issue for self-advocates. We also identified our challenge in terms of
poverty rather than a disability issue only.
Moreover, there was a collective concern that energy and success on the
employment was beginning to wane. So in
2009 we announced our new campaign -- “Real Jobs – It’s Everybody’s
Business,” and established its goal of doubling the employment ratefor
people with developmental disabilities by 2015 from 22 to 44%. We recognized the realities of the recession
and the terrible economic climate but that only increased the urgency of the
challenge. The reality is that people
with disabilities have struggled to find and keep jobs even in times of
economic prosperity, and there is no point in delaying the initiative. The AFP wants the prevailing practice that
people with intellectual disabilities have to wait their turn to find
employment to end. Employment data shows
that the majority of people with intellectual disabilities who are employed,
are in low wage, entry level positions, in service occupations that have little
or no advancement potential, leading to a life of poverty.
Looking
back over your term as AFP Chair, what are you most proud of?
I’m very proud that we demonstrated both
confidence and patience. We were
convinced about the importance of the employment agenda and confident that we would
succeed. The recession and the change in
administration in Washington delayed the economic and political support for our
agenda. But our membership worked both
the public and private sectors. The
Institute for Economic Empowerment under the leadership of Martin Gerry has
supported and developed a wonderful AFP web site, and we’re currently in very
serious discussions with Bank of America for operational support. I’m confident
that we’ll have the resources, recognition and support to achieve our goals for
the summit and the goals for a 50% increase in employment.
I’m very pleased that we have increased
the membership of AFP. Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) has become an
even more integral part of the dialogue and is represented at our meetings by
three to four representatives. Julie
Petty currently shares the co-chair role with Rene Pietrangelo. Betty Williams from Indiana and Victor
Robinson from DC regularly attend our meetings in Washington, DC.
Karen Flippo has done a remarkable job
of organizing the state teams. I’m
really looking forward to their arrival in DC in the fall of next year. Making change at the local level – in your
own community – is a theme that AFP is leading.
I think it’s a change strategy with great potential – especially when we
can integrate it with the public policy work that the AFP member organizations
undertake in Washington DC and state capitals.
I’m proud of, but even more thankful to,
our advisory committee of John Butterworth, David Mank, Cary Griffin, Charlie
Lakin, Dale DiLeo, Richard Luecking, Wendy Parent, Suzy Hutcheson, and Bill
Kiernan for their support and encouragement.
And finally, a huge thank you Carol Walsh, for a thorough, competent and
professional job in managing this array of organizations.
What
are you looking forward to for AFP?
I’m confident that AFP will be a major
catalyst in promoting real employment for people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities and that the emerging state teams will continue to play major
leadership roles in their states across a variety of initiatives. I hope that AFP
will take the lead in developing a larger coalition of people with disabilities
at the national, state, and community level.
What’s next for AFP?
On November 17-18, 2011 at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel just
outside of Washington, DC, AFP will convene a ground-breaking employment summit
marked by a sense of partnership, purpose and collaboration.
Over 1500 attendees will work together to plan, organize and share
best practices that will lead to a substantial increase in the number of people
with developmental disabilities in integrated employment. Countless more
will participate at local viewing stations set up throughout the county.
Innovative program design will ensure that the work completed in Washington
will have a lasting impact on our society.
The AFP Summit will mark the mid-point in AFP’s “Real Jobs—It’s
Everyone’s Business” five year campaign. In addition to the Summit, AFP
will be providing education and networking opportunities through an interactive
online community, newsletters, and webinars.