Disaster and Disability Organizations Meet at ACI for Emergency Planning

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On August 16th, the Core Advisory Group (CAG) held its monthly meeting. CAG, hosted by ACI, is an effort, sponsored by FEMA, to include people with disabilities directly in emergency planning. Thank you to Joe Geleta of NJ 211, John Fergurson of Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management, Joe Amoroso of NJ Division of Disability Services and Jim Flemming of FEMA for their presentations.

If you would like to attend our next CAG meeting and live in Middlesex County, then please register on our website.

NJ DCR Discusses Discrimination Against Employees with Disabilities

On August 11th, 15 people attended a workshop on New Jersey's law against discrimination and employment. The workshop was conducted by Edward Haas, Legal Specialist of the NJ Division on Civil Rights. Thank you to Edward for the useful information!

Be sure to look for similar workshops on the civil rights of people with disabilities that ACI will be holding periodically.

Tell Us Why YOU Should be the Parade Marshal for NJDPP 2015!

Let us know why you have what it takes to be the Parade Marshal for #NJDPP 2015! Send us your essay (no more than 100 words) by September 4th and we will choose a Grand Marshal to lead the parade! Please include a picture of yourself with the submission.

You can email your paragraph to NJDisabilityPride@adacil.org with NJDPP Marshal in the subject line or mail a hard copy to ACI. Entries will be chosen by committee.

Thank you for Supporting ACI at the Alex and Ani Fundraiser

On July 29th, 2015, ACI held another Charity by Design Fundraiser at the Alex and Ani store in Red Bank, NJ. We would like to thank everyone who came out and supported ACI as well as the people who called in to place their orders. A special thank you also goes out to the amazing staff at Alex and Ani: Danielle, Roxy, Mel and Amanda!

ACI's Social Rec Group Tours the Newark Museum

ACI's Social Recreation Program recently enjoyed a grand highlight tour of the Newark Museum. The tour started with various art pieces from such backgrounds as Japanese, Native American, African and Early American, followed by a special tour of the word famous Ballantine House, which at the time was at the center of the country's industrial movement. The group even got a chance to see NASA's newly constructed 7-layered golden mirror telescope, which will ultimately replace the Hubble Telescope. Thank you to the Newark Museum for providing this free tour to our group! Everyone had a great time!

ACI Receives Grant from Wells Fargo

The Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) was awarded a $1,000 grant on July 29th by Wells Fargo to support the organization’s mission of supporting the philosophy of independent living for all individuals with disabilities.

Founded in 1986, ACI is the designated Center for Independent Living for Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties in New Jersey. This region is the most populated in the state with over 1 million individuals identified as disabled. ACI's primary goal is to promote and protect the rights of individuals for independence and inclusion in their community.

“At a time when donations from the public and private sectors are down due to the economy, we truly appreciate the support Wells Fargo has provided,” said Carole Tonks, Executive Director of ACI. “We will use this grant to provide programs and assistance for the disability community.”

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The grant was awarded as part of Wells Fargo’s Community Connections program, which provides local branch managers the opportunity to make a $1,000 charitable contribution on behalf of Wells Fargo to a nonprofit of their choice.   

Wells Fargo’s 54 branches in the Southern New Jersey-Central Jersey area distributed a total of $54,000 in grants to support nonprofit groups - $1,000 for a nonprofit identified by each store manager.  

“Our local branches see which nonprofits are out in the community making a difference every day,” said Linnette Shaver-Johnson, Wells Fargo’s Central Jersey area president.  “We use this as an opportunity to celebrate and say thank you to ACI for all of the value they have provided to our community over the past year.  

The Community Connections program offers Wells Fargo store managers the opportunity to provide additional grants to local nonprofits of their choice in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. A total of $140,000 in Community Connections grants is slated to be distributed throughout the month of July in Southern New Jersey.

Youth Game Night

ACI recently held it's first ever Youth Game Night for on Friday, July 24th, 2015! It was an exciting night of competitiveness as the group played a fun and fast paced magnetic board game YIKERZ, as well as Tumbling Towers and a huge ice-breaker dice game. ACI plans on holding these youth groups every month, so stay tuned!