Maryland Independent Living Network to Present at National Independent Living Conference!

Independence Now is pleased to welcome Ering Ashinghurst, Deputy Director and Director of Programs at Accessible Resources for Independence, as a guest blogger.

In case you missed it, this year the Independent Living (IL) Legislative Committee collaborated to create a toolkit for the purpose of expanding Maryland Statewide Independent Living Council (Maryland SILC) and Center for Independent Living (CIL) statewide legislative advocacy. While creating this toolkit, we developed a training to share our goals and strategies to advocate for policy change in Maryland. This winter the IL Legislative Committee hosted the “Raising Our Voices: Empowering IL Communities to Engage in Legislative Advocacy” training, participated in direct advocacy, and submitted a proposal to speak at this summer’s National Conference on Independent Living (NCIL). 

Of the many proposals submitted to the conference subcommittee, we are honored to be 1 of the 25 presenters selected to speak at 2023 NCIL this summer. The IL Legislative Committee will present our toolkit, progress made, and lessons learned at the 2023 NCIL happening July 2023. We hope to meet you there!

The IL Legislative Committee is also pleased to share about the passing of one piece of legislation we were advocating for, SB608. This legislation will provide statutory authorization for the SILC to promote its stability, independence, and ability to incorporate. It will also allow the SILC to be more effective and contribute meaningfully to the goals of advancing independence and inclusion as well as hire staff that can be supervised and directed by the SILC. 

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Maryland Independent Living Network to Present at National Independent Living Conference!
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