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First FIG Meeting (Fall, 2024) – CUNY Unlimited Campuses Unite!
First FIG Meeting (Fall, 2024) – CUNY Unlimited Campuses Unite!
The first Kingsborough CUNY Unlimited Faculty Development Group (FDG) meeting of Fall 2024 brought together 15 participants to share, discuss, and explore the latest initiatives, challenges, and future plans regarding the inclusion of students with intellectual and other disabilities in higher education at Kingsborough, CUNY campuses with the CUNY Unlimited program, and beyond.
Participants included undergraduate alumni and alumni from the Melissa Riggio Program, faculty, and administrators from both the Melissa Riggio Program and Kingsborough’s Accessibility Office. Also in attendance were Ingrid Geier from Salzburg University, who will serve as the Fulbright Scholar in residence, and Penny Soden, who works with Perkins funding. We also welcomed the new head of Access-Ability at KCC, Althea Maduramente. Additionally, Ruchika Chopra, our colleague from the CUNY Central Disability Office, joined us and was introduced. Unfortunately, Dean Carrie Shockley was unable to attend the meeting due to jury service.
The meeting began with introductions and news that two MRHEP students would have internships at Joan Snow Pre-K during their fourth and final year, having previously completed their fieldwork there. Special thanks to Professor Lisa Esposito for making this opportunity possible! Michael Lettman, an alumnus of the MRHEP, reminded us that October is Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Co-facilitators Jeremy Sawyer and Ruchika presented a summary of the new CUNY Unlimited Faculty Engagement Project, offering a brief overview. A discussion followed about Kingsborough being a model for other campuses but lacking Comprehensive Transition Program (CTP) approval. Various ideas for achieving this were suggested, including questions about how other campuses were able to gain approval while Kingsborough has not. Further conversations on this issue were recommended beyond the FIG meeting.
Concerns were also raised about the lack of faculty participation in hosting students and ongoing communication challenges between Kingsborough administration, faculty, and MRHEP administration. It was noted that once KCC is CTP-approved, many of these issues should be resolved. In the meantime, further discussions on these matters were proposed outside of the FIG meeting. Additionally, ways to increase the visibility of the MRHEP were discussed, including a film script created by Carol Carielli and Margot Cole to promote the program. Kensaku Matsuda from the MRHEP administration offered to provide information at department meetings or to department chairs, and Jeremy Sawyer volunteered to assist with scheduling information.
The meeting concluded with a short visual presentation of the Mural Project at Café Joyeux, an inclusive café where an MRHEP alumnus is now employed. Facilitated by Sue Carpenter, co-facilitator of the FIG, participants were invited to attend the opening.
Although no new faculty from other CUNY campuses attended this meeting, we remain hopeful that word will spread and that they will attend future meetings and drop-in sessions. Our next meeting will be a site visit to the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY), on October 28th at 3:30 p.m. CIDNY is located at 1010 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 301, New York, NY 10018. We will discuss their advocacy work in education and explore potential collaboration opportunities. We hope to see you there!
Sue & Jeremy
First FIG meeting of Spring ’24 – Live from Cafe Joyeux!
FIG 1 Spring Semester 2024 (March 12th)
Our first FIG of the Spring semester was a delightful hybrid meeting with 3 faculty and 2 student alumnae in person at the Café Joyeux at 599 Lexington Avenue on Manhattan: Inclusive restaurant and coffee shop – New York City – Café Joyeux US (cafejoyeux.com) The manager of the café Sarah Parkes together with Safia Alrawi alum of the Melissa Riggio Program from KCC gave an overview of the café’s history and philosophy and what the experience of being employed in the café was like.
Feedback from faculty included: ‘This was the best FIG so far’! We welcomed two new faculty which made a total of 16 attendees. News of a Disability Awareness week at Penn State University initiated by Margot Cole KCC alum. Together with international news of the Winchester University, the first UK university to set up an inclusion program made for an uplifting meeting! Please see the recording of the meeting below:
CUNY Unlimited 3nd Meeting, Fall 2023
For our 3rd CUNY Unlimited meeting of Fall 2023, Sue took us an amazing sweep of our FIG’s past and present… with lots of ideas for the future…
Below is the recording of our Hybrid Zoom meeting:
CUNY Unlimited 2nd Meeting, Fall 2023
We had 11 staff, faculty, and alumni attend our first ever hybrid FIG meeting, and it was a lively discussion kicked off by two great presentations! Carol led a presentation on universal design for learning, focusing on learning digital tools, that she is doing with her students. She showed a video she made, and a podcast she made with Margot Cole. Then Gail led a discussion of disability assessment and related issues in higher education, bringing her school psychology expertise to bear on the lively discussion with excellent questions posed by the group! Our next meeting will be on Tues, Nov. 21st, 10am.
Here is a recording of the meeting:
Fall 2023 – First CUNY Unlimited Meeting
We had a good start to our Fall semester, reconnecting with old friends like Ned, Margot, and Michael, and some new ones to our FIG. We updated each other on how various areas of work have been coming along, such as accommodations and changes at Access Ability Services (AAS), including the renewed CUNY focus on providing appropriate accommodations and Universal Design for Learning. We also discussed advocacy for changes in NY State education law, and employment options in education for Melissa Riggio students. Michael Lettman talked about his alumni transition, and his search for an internship in education, including possible work at the 9-11 museum, which seems like a great change to build his resume and gain experience as an educator and disability advocate. Also congratulations to Margot for being such a leader on her campus at PSU Harrisburg!
Here is a video of our FIG meeting, in case you missed it or wanted to review:
~Sue & Jeremy
CUNY Unlimited 3rd Meeting, Spring 2023
CUNY Unlimited 3rd Meeting, Spring 2023
Our final FIG of the Spring 2023 semester was memorable for a number of reasons. Dr. Stella Woodroffe Director of Accessibility is retiring from KCC after 15 years of service. Stella gave an overview of how accessibility/ inclusion had changed and progressed over her time at KCC. It should be noted that this FIG is part of that change in culture at KCC!
Various updates, and fun tributes were given to Dr. Woodroffe! And Dr Ingrid Geier a Fulbright Scholar in Residence applicant from Salzburg University was a guest. Ingrid hopes if successful be a Fulbright scholar at KCC in the Spring of 2025.
Prof. Esposito also reported on continuing working with statewide officials on creating a line for adults who do not have a high school diploma to work in educational settings. Prof. Esposito reported on Chris Treiber Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer of the InterAgency Council of Developmental Disabilities Agencies, Inc. (IAC), visiting her EDC 4000 course’s field site and observed a MRHEP student Michael Lettman. He was duly impressed commenting that Michael was part of the class community. The conversation now continues with Christopher Suriano is the Assistant Commissioner of Special Education at New York State Education Department (NYSED) Watch this space!
Finally, a presentation was given by Michael Lettman who is graduating from the Melissa Riggio Program this spring and is the first of that program to have completed a practicum course in the Education Program!
It was definitely a FIG to remember! Enjoy the recording below:
CUNY Unlimited 2nd Meeting, Spring 2023
We had 12 people join us for a successful 2nd meeting of our FIG. Below are notes from each portion of the agenda.
- News from FIG members
-Lisa’s updates on working to change NY State Law to include educators without HS diplomas:
-Lisa and Michael on education fieldwork
Chris Trieber reached out to a couple of the NY Regents about moving forward with creating a position for students without a HS diploma to work in education. Chris may ask to speak to Michael or Evelynn or the supervisors of the building when he visits Michael’s field site soon. There are 3- and 4-year-olds there at the Jones Snow Pre-K center, many of whom have disabilities. He will reach out to Ms. Ahmed from the DOE and State Ed. Michael offers thought-provoking questions in the class, and Lisa encourages him to continue. Michael shared that he is enjoying observing the children and learning a lot. Learning to connect with the children – his mentor is connecting well with them. He wonders if he will every work with children again like he did in his old job.
-Sue’s updates on the Inclusion in Higher Ed advocacy international group
Ceri Edwards Hawthorne visited University of Winchester with her non-integrated students and this went well! Ceri’s students have complex disabilities so this is an unusual inclusion moment at a University. This was exciting news and felt empowering to the students be at a University. The IHE also decided to do grassroots networking rather than becoming an official charity. Talking to 1-2 people and inviting them to the IHE (and perhaps or FIG can do similarly). Sue published an article too – congratulations!
-Carrie’s updates on CUNY Unlimited and her promotion (congrats Carrie!)
Carrie was promoted to Interim University Assistant Dean (hoping I got that right), with a Disability and Inclusion focus. She will have time to focus on CUNY Unlimited. The pilot year at Hostos (Kensaku knows as well), worked out issues with coding in CUNY First – registered in a different way that allows them to do their program. A student handbook has been developed for the Unlimited program! Also, a faculty handbook has been developed! [we should get these; Rushika – D75 advocate on adjustments, alterations, accommodations, and appropriate assessment measures for that class]. Still working on co- and extra- curricular activities and how this fits in to greater involvement in campus life. Onboarding and registering earlier to give faculty more of a heads up. Mariko Sekita is working on job development and advocacy at Hostos – dream jobs, as well as nuts and bolts of career fairs, job descriptions, debriefing on job-related experiences. We should engage the LEADS team for later year students, so they can focus on early year students. Queensboro (Brian Mitra – Student Affairs with Hostos person) will start Melissa Riggio brand new in Fall – AHRC has a person assigned to that campus. The State Budget was not the money CUNY was hoping for, will continue to explore to find the resources at KCC (to support admin goals and formalize to be consistent with marketing across the University).
Stella: $13 million was the ask statewide, got 2 million instead (shared across state – 270k for CUNY, based on enrollment in Disability Services relative to rest of state, in which we are lower in the city it seems…). Last year we got a bump in LEADS money, which could connect to Unlimited in a way (hidden gems). Partners in Albany are looking through the budget now. 30-year stagnancy in Disability Services funding at state level (got 2 million out of 15 after 3 years of advocacy, then another 2 million this year).
Sue: Looking for funds for part-time admin (to start). Hostos identified a person and brought them on in that role, and could at that time (but not a permanent line, will become part of AAS office?). Foundation interest (employment outcomes) and public-private partnerships but nothing concrete in terms of donations or grants. Don’t know Hostos costs. With fringe, costs of PT admin = $60k max. KCC looking for multi-year commitment (x5 for all the campuses). TAP funding – without additional costs, these students could be TAP eligible to defray some costs of the students. For students who are not Pell eligible, JFK Jr. Institute might have some funds to cover (year 1).
- Vision for the FIG
-Potential broadening FIG (UDL, advocacy) while still committed to CUNY Unlimited work
-FIG name change and outreach
We can go into this more next meeting, as we were running short on time. One idea that emerged was the thought of doing a workshop (a FIG meeting that is outward facing) to share information about M. Riggio with broader community. This could be a good outreach event to share our vision as well. We also raised the possibility of the video to promote MRHEP / CUNY Unlimited that we had discussed a while back with Margot and Carol. Carol said the script was submitted to the fellow KCC faculty member that Margot has worked with before. This would make a great kickoff for our public facing events at some point, if it is possible to produce and film this short video.
Finally, we discussed a possible hybrid meeting for our last FIG in early June to celebrate Stella and Michael’s time at KCC!
CUNY Unlimited 1st Meeting, Spring 2023
Our first Spring 2022 Cuny Unlimited meeting included 16 participants: Melissa Riggio students, mentors and staff, KCC faculty, alumni and staff.
The meeting began with Margot Cole remembering and honoring the life of Judy Heumann who had recently passed. Judy was an inspiring, dynamic and personable disability activist instrumental in the passing of the ADA Act and that had influenced all our lives for the better. May she rest in peace.
We followed with news from the ground at KCC in particular from Michael Lettman, his mentor and Prof. Lisa Esposito. Michael is the first MRHEP student to audit a field course. Finger printing was undertaken and Michael will be going to his field placement an early childhood center for the first time the week of March 20th.
Requests were asked of the MRHEP staff to make sure mentors are in contact with the professors at the beginning of the semester. A discussion then followed as to CUNY Unlimited roll out at KCC being put on hold and a conversation ensued regarding obtaining the specifics of the funds and job description of the coordinator that will be needed.
Lastly there was a brief discussion about whether to change the title of the FIG to include all inclusion at KCC. Details of the upcoming KCC Disability Day on April 4th was given and a shout out for the Reel Abilities Film Festival upcoming as well as the Pace University Disability Film Festival in Manhattan on Wed, 29th March.
CUNY Unlimited 2nd Meeting, Fall 2022
At our 2nd FIG meeting of Fall 2022, Carrie Shockley from the CUNY Central Disability Office spoke about the roll out of CUNY Unlimited, and shared several important updates about the program. In the latter part of the meeting, Sue shared parts of her keynote talk at the conference in Salzburg, Austria.
Because these were such important presentations, we recorded the meeting and have created an unlisted YouTube video, as you can watch below:
CUNY Unlimited 1st Meeting, Fall 2022
At our first FIG Meeting of Fall 2022 (9/19/22 at 3pm), we had 11 people attend. Margot updated us on her academic studies at PSU Harrisburg – Margot, and we met Safia, a 2016 grad from MRHEP. Gigi playhouse – tough finding a job. Also Karen Fung updated us on her club called “Students 4 Students” for students with or without disabilities to find a supportive and social place.
Stella gave us a CUNY Unlimited update, including that Hostos, BMCC, and Queensboro are currently in a process of rollout. Stella asked about KCC’s rollout and was told we need a person to coordinate CUNY Unlimited, but that KCC cannot afford to hire someone for the position. Hostos had someone already working in the college do the job on a PT basis, and Laura Armour is willing to do that at KCC (thanks Laura!). KCC needs to fill out application with NY State DOE, and then we expect 2-3 months to process it. Could be a Spring rollout if all goes well, fingers crossed.
Lisa gave us an employment advocacy update related to creating a sequence of courses for the MRHEP Education strand and later potential employment. The idea was to get NY State to create a new classroom-assistant type position that MRHEP students without a traditional high school diploma could work within after graduating and completing this strand.
Sue talked about the growing European movement for inclusion, and on Oct. 27-28th there will be a Salzburg Conference – and everyone is welcome to attend. European colleagues are getting together with U.S. colleagues. In addition, Sue has an upcoming INHEF presentation (with Michael Lettman)! This will take place in Republic of Ireland (south) in November. 20 colleges in Ireland formed a forum in 2019, many privately funded through charities. These programs will be government funded! The collectively lobbied their government. The IHE UK group that Sue started will form a not-for-profit charity that will allow the work to continue on an institutional level.
Finally, it was discussed that it would be good to strengthen our relationship with Students Unlimited in whatever way we can, and for a couple of us to attend a 4pm Weds. Meetings of Students Unlimited to meet them and talk about possible collaborations on mutual activities and support. And we shared the good news that the Disability Pride Parade is Back in NYC! on Sunday, October 2, 2022. 10am-12pm, Madison Square Park to Union Square Park. http://disabilitypridenyc.org/
