Alliance Center for Independence
ACI is working with 5 student volunteers from Kean University's School of Interior Design to redesign our office and to make better use of our expanding space. The students will be supervised by Kristina Junkroft, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Interior Design. We are excited to be working with such an energetic and creative team!
On April 1st, ACI had a great follow up of assignments from last month's Advocacy Group meeting.
We had a chance to meet some very interesting new members who spoke of their own accessibility issues. Many concerns were expressed including public transportation and many multiple public places not being accessible, all the while with discussing possible solutions.
The group went over various topics such as updates, ADA compliance requirements and grievance procedures when contacting local county governments, and some really strange examples of architectural "accommodations" that were shared, as this lead up to a precursor apparently which will eventually lead up to an upcoming SUMMER ACCESSIBILITY TOUR!
Next meetings are May 13th and June 10th!
ACI had the honor to attend the 31st Annual Career Options Day at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. This was Sanjida's (one of ACI's volunteers) first time to participate in such a great event. We had the chance to meet lots of other professionals and career-ready individuals.
On April 2nd, Gateway School in Carteret hosted a Transition Fair for young adults graduating high school and their families. Representatives from Federal, State and County Agencies were on hand to discuss what services are available after graduation. Thank you Pat Gutowski for organizing the event and inviting us.
This past Wednesday, ACI enjoyed an indoor Nature Tour at the Union County Trailside Nature & Science Center! About a dozen of us joined in the tour, including Scotch Plains schools. We learned many new things about New Jersey's Animal Kingdom, such as dinosaur bones found in Westfield and Cranford and the 21 species of snakes in the Garden State. We also learned about the Native American Lenape Tribe of NJ and how they lived many years ago. Thank you to all who joined us!
On March 21st, Luke Koppisch and ACI volunteer, Courtney Cardona, spoke to a class of 35 interior design students at Kean University in Union, NJ. Courtney spoke about designing buildings and homes for people with visual impairments. This was the second year in a row that ACI was asked to present to Professor Linda O'Shea's class.
Thank you Professor O'Shea for giving us this opportunity and to all the students who asked some great questions!
