{"id":269782,"date":"2018-02-09T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T20:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=269782"},"modified":"2018-02-09T06:00:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T20:00:51","slug":"first-lady-calls-creation-one-stop-disability-center-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/first-lady-calls-creation-one-stop-disability-center-2\/","title":{"rendered":"First lady calls for creation of One-Stop Disability Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-269782 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/firstladywithdisabilitypartners2\/'>FirstLadyWithDisabilityPartners2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/firstladywithdisabilitypartners\/'>FirstLadyWithDisabilityPartners<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-269775'>\n\t\t\t\tFirst lady Diann Torres, seated second from left, recently convened a meeting with representatives of disability-related support agencies. Representatives from Northern Marianas College, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, xCouncil on Developmental Disabilities, Northern Marianas Protection &amp; Advocacy Systems, Inc., Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Center for Living Independently in the CNMI, CNMI Office of Grants Management, and Voices of the CNMI attended the meeting.  (Contributed Photo)  \n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>First lady Diann Torres called for a meeting with representatives of local disability-related agencies to discuss ways in which the Lady Diann Torres Foundation could assist in improving services to individuals with disabilities as they transition from school to career or to higher education.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The meeting was facilitated by Floyd Masga, director for the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the Northern Marianas College, and included representatives of disability-related agencies including the Council on Developmental Disabilities, Northern Marianas Protection &amp; Advocacy Systems, Inc., Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Center for Living Independently, and V.O.I.C.E.S\u2013Saipan Chapter.\u00a0\u00a0A representative of the Grants Management Office under the Governor\u2019s Office also attended.<\/p>\n<p>Torres was visibly emotional when recollecting working with former students with disabilities whom she taught in high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always wondered what happened to certain kids in my classes after leaving high school, whether they were able to successfully get jobs, go to college, or support their families,\u201d she said. \u201cI have this vision of a one-stop center where our kids with special needs can go once they leave school\u2026a kind of stepping stone or training ground to help them transition into the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course,\u201d she adds, \u201cI wanted to hear from this group first\u2026 any thoughts or ideas about what is needed, but beyond that how we might be able to collaborate to help this particular population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This initial meeting was to garner support and suggestions from current disability partners\u00a0and to align each organization\u2019s objectives toward the realization of this collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The group looks to explore further the feasibility of a one-stop disability center that would serve as a central location for the disability network to provide information and services to individuals with disabilities and service providers, with added input from representatives of the Special Education Program\/Public School System, Northern Marianas Trade Institute, and Commonwealth Office of Transportation Authority.\u00a0They plan to reconvene in mid-February.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been a dream of LDTF for a long time, and I am grateful for the overwhelming support of the CNMI Disability Network partners at today\u2019s meeting,\u201d said Torres. \u201cWe are all very excited to work toward this goal.\u201d <strong>(PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First lady Diann Torres called for a meeting with representatives of local disability-related agencies to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5106,3706,163,19933],"class_list":["post-269782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-developmental-disabilities","tag-floyd-masga","tag-kids","tag-ldtf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}