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2010 highlights.
2011 Highlights
December
When you meet Leroy Woods, you immediately notice his shiny, amber-color earring, his fast and easy smile, and his twinkling eyes. All that sparkle perfectly complements his outgoing and energetic personality. It’s easy to imagine him in his role as recreation assistant for Quantum LEAP, encouraging consumers with developmental disabilities to get up, get going, and reach their fitness and socialization goals. Now a LEAP staffer, Woods was a LEAP consumer himself not that long ago. As a participant in the Job Link program he was encouraged to stretch and reach his own life goals.
In My Own Words: Rosemary Musachio, Advocate, Writer, Poet, Adventurer Rosemary's adventurous and indefatigable spirit has made her a successful writer, blogger, web tester, and world traveler. Yet the doctor who delivered her at birth would have resigned her to an institution.
Four LEAP staff members will attend the second Alliance for Full Participation (AFP) Summit, “Real Jobs—It’s Everyone’s Business,” Nov. 17 and 18 in Washington, D.C. The summit will focus on an ambitious goal set in 2009: to double the employment of people with disabilities in integrated settings by 2015. As part of the newly formed Ohio AFP team, “LEAP is getting in on the ground floor, being part of new initiative for the employment of people with disabilities. We will be bringing back knowledge that will help shape Ohio policy,” said Melanie Hogan, executive director of LEAP.
October
 Sydenstricker Is a “Most Treasured Volunteer”
Longtime LEAP volunteer Jeanne Sydenstricker was one of five recipients of the 2011 Most Treasured Volunteer award, given by the Center for Community Solutions at its 69th annual Human Services Institute. The event was held Oct. 13 at LaCentre in Westlake, Ohio.
September
 Maximum Accessible Housing of Ohio (MAHO) recognized LEAP with a 2011 Maximum Access Award during a ceremony and dinner held Sept. 30 at the Holiday Inn in Independence. Board President Chuck Heindrichs accepted the award on behalf of LEAP. The other 2011 award winner was Kathy Cotman, a volunteer board member of MAHO and lifelong advocate for people with disabilities.
Customized Employment: Turning a Second Love into a Promising Business
 It all started because Andrew was frustrated with his bathroom. “I needed to get my sink raised,” he said. Since adolescence, Andrew has suffered from a debilitating spinal disease, and bending is impossible. “I called LEAP to find out if there was any funding to help me do this.” The LEAP staff person who took the call immediately recognized possibilities bigger than a bathroom sink and referred Andrew to LEAP’s customized employment demonstration project.
August
RSC Executive Director Miller Visits LEAP
 Executive Director Melanie Hogan and LEAP staffers and consumers welcomed Kevin Miller, executive director of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (RSC), to the agency’s Cleveland office July 27. “We were happy to introduce Executive Director Miller to a number of our unique programs that assist individuals in achieving their employment and community-inclusion goals,” Hogan said.
Julia Donovan has been appointed employment services director at LEAP. She replaces Pam Mazzocco, who is retiring Aug. 15.
Cuyahoga County Section 8 Wait List to Take Applications in August
Mark your calendars! For the first time since 2006, the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority is opening its wait list. An online lottery for 10,000 slots on the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) wait list will take place beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, August 15, 2011, through 11:59 p.m. Friday, August 19, 2011. For detailed information, visit the applicant/participant portal. Applications must be processed online, and no entries will be accepted at CMHA offices. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older. Seniors and persons with disabilities can contact the HCVP Call Center at 1-800-233-4969 for assistance with submitting a lottery entry. The order in which applications are received will not be a factor in the selection of applicants chosen to receive a slot on the wait list, since the drawing will be a random selection done by computer.
Six LEAP staff members attended the 2011 National Council on Independent Living annual conference, “Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize,” held July 13-16 in Washington, D.C. A primary component of the conference is visiting members of Congress, and the LEAP staff members met with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. “This opportunity gives us the chance to bring issues important to the disability community to the attention of national policy makers,” said Deborah Nebel, LEAP director of public policy.
Fourteen students from LEAP’s High School/High Tech and Job Link programs participated in the 12th annual Ohio Youth Leadership Forum, held July 18-21 in Columbus. The LEAP contingent was the largest delegation from any agency in the state. Sponsored by the Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities, students are accepted to the conference through competitive application based on their demonstrated leadership abilities.
LEAP’s Students Beat the Odds for College Enrollment
Of the 14 students who participated in LEAP’s High School/High Tech program in 2011, five were graduating seniors. Had this group of graduates been typical, only one of them would be heading to college. Instead, these determined young adults have beaten the odds, and all five are enrolled in two- or four-year college programs.
Good things come to those who work. And Natasha works very hard. Her winning combination of strong technical skills and extraordinary care for her patients resulted in several job offers and a quick promotion.
June
LEAP Advocates Highlight Needs Met and Unmet
LEAP’s Director of Public Policy Deborah Nebel moderated a panel discussion that highlighted the need for social safety-net services and the effects proposed cuts to Ohio’s budget would have on the area’s vulnerable people. The panel, held June 16 at the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland, included service providers and consumers who discussed how services have benefitted people and brought attention to the fact that many are not yet being served. To see videos of the panelists, including LEAP self-advocate Kathy Cotman, go to the AOF’s news story. For more information, read AOF’s fact sheet on seniors and people with disabilities. The event was organized by Cleveland members of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, including the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition, the Ohio Olmstead Task Force (OOTF), and groundWork.
Six young men who participate in LEAP’s Job Link and High School/High Tech programs were part of a group of 21 Ohio high school students, all deaf or hard of hearing, who spent an April weekend touring Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of the colleges that make up the Rochester Institute of Technology. Sponsored by the Columbus nonprofit organization Deaf Initiatives, the bus trip exposed students to a possible future that includes higher education within the deaf culture and success in a professional career.
Global Youth Service Day: An Annual Rite of Spring for LEAP Youth
More than three dozen young adults involved in LEAP’s youth transition programs, as well as the entire youth transition staff, participated in two service projects as part of Global Youth Service Day, held this year on April 15.
Ben efits Telethon Handles More than 700 Calls
The April 11 Access Your Benefits (AYB) telethon hosted by Cleveland’s WOIO Channel 19 Action News lasted just eight hours, but it handled a total of 732 calls--nearly 100 per hour--from people seeking assistance. Twenty-five telephone-bank volunteers from AYB partner agencies, including four from LEAP, worked shifts at the telethon. “The station personnel said they have never seen such a response to a telethon,” said Donald Hill, coordinator of the Access Your Benefits program at MetroHealth Advantage.
When Deborah Nebel, director of public policy, and a group of disability advoca tes went to Columbus April 5, the schedule for the group included attending a rally at the Statehouse followed by appointments with state representatives in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts. The schedule was disrupted, however, when security personnel at the Riffe Center called in the state police for assistance in crowd management. One of the officers who responded came with a canine trained in bomb detection, which intimidated some of the advocates, Nebel said. The incident was covered in an April 22 article in the Plain Dealer.
LEAP has been recognized by CARF International, an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services, for its excellent service to the community, commitment to continuous improvement, and encouragement of consumer feedback. LEAP has been accredited by CARF since 1991, and this is the 7th consecutive time that it has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation, the longest term given.
 LEAP Grassroots Advocate Donna Prease testified at the March 22 hearing of the Senate Highway and Transportation Committee in Columbus. Her statement focused on the importance of public transit and was quoted in part in both Gongwer’s and The Hannah Report, two state news services. Amanda Woodrum, a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio and organizer of the statewide Save Transit Now Coalition, of which LEAP is a member, also testified.
LEAP Pilot Project Exemplifies Possible Cuts in Proposed 2011 Federal Budget; LEAP Urges Constituents to Act
LEAP’s High School/High Tech program is leading a six-week pilot project that’s putting personalized, portable, and affordable assistive technology (AT) into the hands of 23 students with disabilities at Valley Forge High School in Parma. The technology will allow the students to become more independent in school and, in the future, more successful at work. The project—featured on WEWS Channel 5’s “Live on Five” program Feb. 16—is funded with a grant from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) and, if successful, its long-term goal is for LEAP to become a vehicle where persons with disabilities can have access to such technology. Because funding for future similar projects is slashed in a current 2011 federal budget proposal, LEAP is urging its constituents to contact their elected officials.
In 2010, every student preparing for a career as a state-tested nursing assistant (STNA) in LEAP’s health-careers training program passed the state examination on the first try. Just eight years ago, the rate was much lower: only 30 percent of students passed the exam, and that was on the third try. What’s behind such extraordinary success?
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