Our Nation's Capital

I loved spending time in our nation's capital. It was nice to be reminded of our great history and how far we have come. Visiting Abe Lincoln and reading the words he wrote so long ago was a reminder that civil rights and equality are virtues we have fought for throughout our history. I started my trip working with teaching artists at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, MD, one of KIT's national affiliates. We spent three hours exploring ways to make accommodations for children with autism spectrum disorders participating in theater and arts classes and programs. I also had the great pleasure of working with volunteer trainers and staff at Girl Scouts Council of the Nation's Capital in Washington DC. I am proud to welcome these talented women into the growing family of individuals trained to present KIT's core training curriculum Opening Doors to Inclusive Programs. Represented in the photo below are volunteer trainers, residential and community camp directors, Program and Inclusion Specialists who will now train fellow volunteers, leaders, and staff on including children with and without disabilities in their programs, helping to assure that every girl is welcome and supported at Girl Scouts Council of the Nation's Capital.

On the Road Again!

Typically, we don't do as much traveling and training in the summer. This is mostly because all of you are busy with your summer programs. The fall things get pretty busy, and this fall is no exception. In fact, we started early this year with the NIRI conference (National Inclusive Recreation Institute) in Eugene, OR where Mary Shea and Nili Mathews both presented workshops. Now it is Torrie and Alissa's turn to travel. This week, Torrie will be in Memphis to work on a project and Alissa will be in the Washington DC area to train the staff and volunteers from Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital and the staff from Imagination Stage. We are all excited to be back on the road, as the best part of this mission is talking to the dedicated people in our trainings who are working hard to ensure that children learn and grow in their programs.

Oh, and if you see us in an airport or a Starbucks in your city, please say Hello! You'll know us by our KIT shirts.

Heartland Adventure

I will never forget the training I facilitated last night with staff and volunteer leaders from Camp Fire USA Heartland Council. As we created inclusion action plans, a tornado warning had us retreating to the basement. Luckily it passed quickly and everyone was okay. The thunderstorms carried on throughout the night along the Kansas/Missouri line and the excitement of the lightning and thunder brought me back to my days as a young girl in New England.

I really enjoyed getting to know the staff at Camp Fire USA Heartland Council, one of KIT's national affiliates sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (that's them in the picture above), and learning about all the diverse programming they provide in their community. I went on a site visit to a Kid Zone after school program (a collaboration between Camp Fire USA and many agencies in the area). I also had the chance to visit camp Shawnee in Parkville, Missouri and do some training with the camp counselors and directors. What a beautiful place! I was so impressed with the camp staff's creative ideas for accommodations and suggestions for including all kids in games in activities.

If we can make it here...

We'll make it anywhere! Isn't that what Ol' Blue Eyes sings about NYC? KIT has a new national affiliate, sponsored by the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, whose offices are headquartered in the heart of Times Square. The After School Corporation (TASC) serves 125 after school programs in all 5 boroughs of New York City. I spent two days at their offices participating in planning meetings and presenting training to site supervisors of the after school programs and TASC staff members. It was fun to call my mom and tell her that my childhood dream had finally come true and I was working on Broadway! OK- it was just for two days...but still...it felt great to be walking along Broadway not as tourist, but on my way to work just like thousands of others those mornings.

Before the visit to NYC, I spent several days working in Bethesda, MD with one of our other new affiliates. Imagination Stage has a long history of serving children with disabilities and they are looking to strengthen their processes when it comes to inclusion. They have an amazing facility, a visionary founder/executive director, a talented and dedicated staff and wonderful children and families that they serve. While I was there I saw their beautiful production of Looking for Roberto Clemente, a work they commissioned about the baseball legend. I saw a performance that was held for school kids- this day all 6th graders- that included a talkback with the actors at the end of the show. One of the characters in the play has a disability and in the storyline he wants nothing more than to play baseball in a league with his brother and friends. He is allowed to be the bat boy and is repeatedly given the message that winning the games are just too important to let him play this time. The 6th graders were fascinated with this talented actor and asked him most of the questions in the talkback. "Can you really play baseball?" they wanted to know. It was great to see inclusion demonstrated in such a powerful way for hundreds of young people. The talented actor, JP Illarramendi, answered their questions with honesty and humor.

Both of these dynamic organizations have made a commitment to improve their service to children with disabilities. It is a delight to work with them and I know they will make great strides in their journey to inclusion. Next up- news from Nili's trip to visit Family YMCA in Blackhawk County, Iowa and Alissa's trip to see the Camp Fire USA- Heartland Council, Kansas City (which is in Missouri- funny story about that so watch for future posts!).

North Carolina Providers Trained on KIT Curriculum

Nili and I are back from our trip to North Carolina. We sure had fun on the East Coast, especially with our parters from Community Partnerships, Inc. It was amazing to see individuals from all types of programs (YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, early childhood, school age after-school programs, and parks and recreation) together to become trained to present KIT's Opening Doors to Inclusive Programs series. We were excited to try our first glass of "Sweet Tea" - boy, they are not kidding, it is sweeeeet! We also had the pleasure of zooming around Raleigh in a bright yellow rental car. Until next time...Alissa

Greetings from St. Pete's

I am excited to post my very first blog. Anything for KIT! I am currently in my hotel room in St. Petersburg, Florida (yay wireless!) I am here facilitating a two-day training of trainers for individuals from St. Petersburg, Naples, Tampa, and Clearwater City Departments of Parks and Therapeutic Recreation. I have enjoyed hearing their unique experiences with staff training on inclusion. They are so grateful to have a standardized curriculum to use to train summer camp and recreation staff throughout the year and cannot wait to get out there and empower their staff to include all kids. I am certainly loving the Florida sunshine and 80 degree weather...until next time - Alissa

The Party's at Our House!

This blog is intended to be about KIT's travels around the country providing training on inclusion to early childhood and out-of-school time programs. And, believe me, there will be a lot of that coming up. In the next month or so the KIT team of trainers will be hitting the road for northern California, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Iowa, Kansas and New York. Keep watching the blog for all the details!

Right now, though, we'd like to celebrate the coming together of over 200 people for KIT's 4th Annual National Conference on Inclusion. This April 2-4th, 2008 everyone came to our house (well, the Mission Valley Marriott to be exact) for three days of learning about inclusion, sharing ideas and strategies and networking with colleagues from around the country. Our keynote presentation was Dan Habib, award-winning filmmaker of the new documentary Including Samuel.

Thanks to everyone who presented, contributed and attended for an another amazing journey! If you weren't there please try to join us next year and see what all the excitement is about.