March 17, 2021

Description

The fifth stop in the MCOTA volunteer driver virtual forum series, Minnesota’s Road to Volunteer Drivers, provided training for volunteer drivers on person-centered practices, disability etiquette, cultural diversity, and equity.

Forum Materials

Person-Centered Practices and Disability Etiquette for Volunteer Drivers

Cultural Diversity and Equity Training

Speakers

Abbie Wells-Herzog is the autism specialist for Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS), a division of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Abbie has worked in the disability and employment sector for more than 30 years. Abbie began working for the State of Minnesota as a VR counselor in 2000. Abbie is involved in the VRS person-centered initiative and customized employment training. She serves on the state Autism Interagency Committee, the PACER Board, and the Autism Council. She has an M.S. in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Arizona.

Ann Macheledt is a staff training and development specialist for Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS), a division of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Ann has worked in rehabilitation and the disability arena for more than 25 years. She has been with VRS for more than four years and co-leads the person-centered community of practice. Prior to that, she directed a corporate accommodation and return-to-work program for UnitedHealth Group. Ann also worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 15 years as consultant, serving more than 550 companies and agencies to help meet their ADA/ADAAA compliance, training, and retention needs. She has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling psychology from UW-Madison and is a national certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC).

Heather Stein is interim director of diversity and equal opportunity with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Heather has more than 10 years of experience as a diversity, equity, and inclusion leader working with diverse populations in adult education, human resources, and equal opportunity. She specializes in leading organizational change to celebrate the diversity of employees and improve inclusive workplace cultures, strengthening employee engagement, and enhancing service delivery to diverse clients. She has been with the State of Minnesota for nearly six years, most recently serving as the affirmative action officer at the Department of Education and inclusion and engagement director at the Department of Corrections. In her current role at Minnesota DEED, Heather oversees diversity recruitment, ADA and EO compliance, harassment and discrimination investigations, and diversity and inclusion training and consultation.

Professional Development Hours

To the best of our knowledge, this course meets the continuing education requirements for 2.0 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for the morning session and also 2.0 PDHs for the afternoon session. If you participated in the virtual forum and would like to request a PDH form, please email kkirk@umn.edu. We will email the form to you.

More Information

Please contact Kaydee Kirk at 612-626-5854 or kkirk@umn.edu with any questions.

Sponsors

Sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Minnesota Council on Transportation Access (MCOTA) in partnership with the Minnesota Volunteer Driver Coalition.