ICYMI: Thank You and Reminders for ANCOR’s Virtual Annual Conference

We are reprising this content from the June 18 edition of Weekly Update for the convenience of our members.

Thank You for Joining Us at the 2021 ANCOR Annual Conference!

Wow, what a conference! We cannot thank you enough for joining us at the 2021 ANCOR Annual Conference: Meeting the Moment! If you attended, we hope you found it informative, engaging, unique but timely, and thorough.

If you weren’t able to join us, here are a few of the highlights, plus links to the presentations that are accessible to all ANCOR members, regardless of whether you attended:

• In our opening plenary, ANCOR Board of Directors President Heidi Mansir kicked off the Conference with the annual President’s Address, and then introduced the celebration 2021 Direct Support Professional of the Year Awards.

• We closed out the Conference with the presentation of the ANCOR Foundation awards, which included inspiring moments such as Mickey Mart receiving the ANCOR Foundation’s 2021 Community Builder Award, as well as the unveiling of three new inductees into the Legacy Leaders Circle! Congratulations to Julie Manworren, Gary Blumenthal, and Bill Loyd!

• On Tuesday, following her annual State of the Association Address, ANCOR CEO Barbara Merrill moderated a panel discussion about our community’s transition to more inclusive day programs and the quest to ensure everyone we support has a meaningful day, each and every day. The star-studded panel discussion included Alison Barkoff, Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Christopher Button, Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor; and Mary Sowers, Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services.

• Conference participants were treated to two thought-provoking keynote presentations by some of the most inspiring speakers we’ve invited to the ANCOR mainstage. On Tuesday, we heard from Allison Manswell, one of our nation’s leading thinkers on issues of diversity and racial justice, about why our efforts to ensure equity for people with disabilities demands a move away from color-blindness and toward racial consciousness. And on Wednesday, emotional intelligence expert and bestselling author JP Pawliw-Fry coached participants through what he refers to as the “last 8% situations”—those trickiest of scenarios that demand both refined leadership and emotional intelligence to truly set our organizations apart.

With the Conference behind us, we’re setting our sights on our next two events, and we hope to see you at both. Mark your calendars for the 2021 ANCOR Policy Summit & Hill Day, October 12-13, in Washington, DC, and the 2022 ANCOR Annual Conference, April 11-13 in Miami!