June 5, 2026 Advisory Board Meeting: Planning for July and October Disability Initiatives
June 5, 2026 Advisory Board Meeting: Planning for July and October Disability Initiatives
The meeting of the Disability Advisory Board (under the Human Relations Commission) convened on June 5, 2026, at 11:15 AM CT. Chairperson Brittany Crane led discussions on low-cost initiatives for the July ADA anniversary and October National Disability Employment Awareness Month, along with updates on the strategic planning consultant, a resource hub app, and a revised resource guide.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of April Meeting Minutes: Moved by Lee, seconded by Lisa Cook, and unanimously approved by voice vote.
Discussion Items
- July Initiatives (ADA Anniversary): The board reviewed several proposals: a community accessibility challenge (collecting barriers via QR code form), an accessibility recognition program for businesses, an open forum, an inclusive recreation day, a business self-assessment campaign, and an ADA story collection. Members favored the community accessibility challenge and a recognition program that highlights inclusive practices and success stories, rather than physical measurements (due to past labor intensity). The recognition program could run year-round, featuring a monthly spotlight. Forms will be created for submissions.
- October Initiatives (Disability Employment Awareness Month): Options included champion awards, an employer spotlight campaign, a disability employment roundtable, an accessible hiring practices review, and a disability employment data report. The board preferred the employer spotlight campaign and the data report. The roundtable was set aside due to planning demands and past experiences. A committee meeting will be scheduled to finalize details, and the spotlight campaign may be tied to the annual dinner in October.
- Lunch and Learn (Old Business): A proposed discussion on employment barriers and housing was tabled due to lack of capacity to organize at this time.
- Strategic Planning Update: Diane announced that a consultant has been selected and the contract is nearly complete. The consultant will provide dates for a board strategic planning session; members will be polled for availability. Full participation is encouraged.
- Resource Hub App Update: Delisa reported that she has built a low-cost (under $100/month) resource hub for disability services, populated with data from an existing PDF. She will share a link for the board to review and customize.
- Resource Guide Revision: Lee is updating the 2013 resource guide, removing obsolete TTY references and adding modern video relay service information. He will complete a final review and bring it for approval at the next meeting.
Key Outcomes
- July Plan: Proceed with creating submission forms for a community accessibility challenge and a recognition program for employers/employees demonstrating inclusive practices. Promote via QR codes and flyers; start with board members’ own workplaces.
- October Plan: Pursue an employer spotlight campaign (weekly features in October) and compile a disability employment data report. A committee will meet (date to be set) to flesh out details and possibly link to the annual dinner.
- Strategic Planning: Await consultant dates; board will be polled to schedule a session.
- Resource Guide: Lee to finish updates; next meeting will consider approval.
- Resource Hub: Delisa to distribute the link for board feedback.
- Next Steps: Chairperson will create draft forms and share with board for review; a committee meeting may be held virtually if needed.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. This meeting is being transcribed and summarized. All right. Awesome. Welcome everybody to the June meeting and happy pride. We are looking forward to talking about some ideas for July and October. So we're gonna talk about that today. We do have enough people for a quorum. So wait, no, we don't. I think we have to have five. Is that correct? Yes, okay. So we do not have enough people for a quorum today. So we can just review the meeting minutes, but we cannot approve it. Um, but we are gonna go ahead and start with the pledge. Oh, there's Lee. Awesome. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for wishes to hands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we've got Lee here with us, welcome Lee. All right, um, so let's go ahead and take roll call. Starting with in person, uh Brittany Crane, chairperson, Lisa Cook, and we'll switch over to um our online platform. Um please remember to turn your camera on while we vote and take roll. Um I'll start there with you, Cassandra. Sandra Rain Francis. Michelle, you're muted, Michelle Kirk. There we go. All right, Lee. Are you able to get your camera on? I'm trying to. I had this start video. This is unverified. So I don't know why it's not trimmed. Yeah, looks like he's the shutter on. Do you have the shutter on lady? I don't know. On the camera part. No, it says it's on. Unverified. Lights on. This is black. Okay. Um, we will hold off on. Can we still vote if we can't do video? Okay. Okay. Okay, well, that'll be fine then. Um we will go ahead and look at our minutes from last meeting. Um, we uh last meeting we had discussed um that uh Delisa's uh nonprofit was going to work on building the app for us at a very low cost, so we discussed that. Um we did a quick debrief on the fair housing summit and some initiatives that um we took interest in um for possibly October. Um and then we talked about some events.
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