CEA's Spring Conference: May 9th & 10th, 2023
Buy tickets here and read more about our location here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-community-employment-alliance-spring-2023-in-person-conference-tickets-565744084787
To book your accommodations for the conference with our host, DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center – Please use the link below:
COMMUNITY EMPLOYMENT ALLIANCE (hilton.com)
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-community-employment-alliance-spring-2023-in-person-conference-tickets-565744084787
To book your accommodations for the conference with our host, DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center – Please use the link below:
COMMUNITY EMPLOYMENT ALLIANCE (hilton.com)
Thanks to our AMAZING Sponsors!
Conference Agenda & Activities
May 9th, 2023
8:00-9:00- Check-in/Network
9:00-9:05- Tami Dillion and Brian Nichols Welcome!
9:05-9:30- Sponsor Mary McDirmid, ChSNC, ChFC - Special Needs Financial Planner – Special Abilities Network
8:00-9:00- Check-in/Network
9:00-9:05- Tami Dillion and Brian Nichols Welcome!
9:05-9:30- Sponsor Mary McDirmid, ChSNC, ChFC - Special Needs Financial Planner – Special Abilities Network

When Mary isn’t helping families navigate the world of special needs financial planning, she is being a wife to Jay and a mom to Charlie and Ruth. Not to mention her leadership role as founder of Special Abilities Network and a volunteer advocate for kids with rare diseases. She takes the title “Mom Boss” seriously, just ask her!
She understands the emotional and financial aspects of caring for a loved one with special needs because she is the parent of a special needs child herself. Let her guide you toward making educated financial decisions for your unique family situation. She’s been there and is there for you now.
She understands the emotional and financial aspects of caring for a loved one with special needs because she is the parent of a special needs child herself. Let her guide you toward making educated financial decisions for your unique family situation. She’s been there and is there for you now.

9:30-10:30- Please welcome our Keynote Speaker, Taylor Crisp.
Taylor will share her story and why we need to keep focus on individuals with disabilities.
Taylor is a 31-year-old woman, self-advocate, and mom of a child with disabilities. At the age of 5, after battling pneumonia, Taylor suddenly stopped talking, and was eventually diagnosed with Autism.
In Taylor’s words: “I remember the school psychologist labeling me as “mentally retarded” and telling my parents that I would never amount to anything, that I would never be able to be independent or self-reliant. Throughout my life, I’ve been treated differently for my disability. My childhood wasn't the easiest and I’ve had my fair share of trauma, including withdrawing from middle school because the bullying was so bad. However, I did end up graduating high school on honor roll, getting my driver’s license, having a child, and marrying the love of my life. I knew I wanted more. More for myself. More for my daughter. I didn’t want to live out my life struggling, on SSI, and homebound. I knew there was more in store for us and our future. I found the reason to believe in myself again.”
Since working with The Arc of Spokane, Taylor has grown into herself and understands the value of sharing her lived experience as a neurodivergent mother of a neurodivergent child. Taylor is trailblazing in the world of IDD. She is the first person to represent Eastern Washington as the co-chair for Advocacy Days. She provides presentations to high school students about the importance of the disability vote. She’s inside of local schools, building relationships with the special education teachers to improve services for students with disabilities. She is testifying to our legislators and advocating for policy change that benefits the lives of all people with disabilities. Taylor influenced the passing of HB 2008, requiring DDA to remove IQ scores from its eligibility requirements. Taylor is passionate about “Nothing About Us Without Us,” intersectionality, offering culturally sensitive services, and reaching the most marginalized of communities.
10:40:12:40- State of Community Round Table to include representatives from: DDA, Counties, DVR, OSPI, and Providers- More specific information to come!
1:00- 2:00 *Lunch* TBA
2:15-3:15: *Breakouts*
Michael Goodwill- Join me in a discussion on a new way of thinking about staff retention and the world of work. Learn what to expect and add a new lens to your perspective when thinking about recruitment.
Brandi Monts- What will it take to help more folks with IDD join boards, commissions, councils and committees to impact change? Come share your ideas and thoughts about how to support more people at leadership tables. *Guests to be announced*
Aaron Dickson- Inclusion in Safety Planning – You’re Probably Not As Prepared As You Think
Agencies, businesses, and schools all have boxes to check for safety requirements; however, those boxes might not be keeping us all safe. Join Aaron Dickson as he shares two personal stories of supporting people with disabilities through an active shooter and a false alarm fire drill. Additionally, he’ll share some lessons learned from disabled people who went through 9/11, and what these lessons can teach us all about more inclusive emergency planning.
3:15- That’s a wrap!
5:00-6:00- Social Hour
May 10, 2023:
8:30-9:00- Networking
9:00-12:00- Grounding, Framing Brave Spaces, and Practicing Brave Spaces. Join us on discussing the challenges in front of us and getting around them together.
Facilitators: Hadley Morrow & Alex Barrouk
HADLEY MORROW (they/them/she/her) Consultant, Facilitator
Collective Impact Facilitation – Strategic Planning – Anti-Racism, Culture of Belonging, Leading with Radical Love workshops and coaching – Change Management – Conflict Resolution and Healing Spaces – Team Values and Vision building – Power Analysis / Equity Audits – Community Engagement – Participatory Budgeting and Design – Advocacy and Community Action planning – Community and Policy Organizing
Hadley Morrow was born and raised in Spokane and, typical for many local teens, left for college intent on moving as far away as possible and never coming back. They went to University of Denver and gained a BA in International Studies hoping to join the foreign service. During this time she studied abroad in Rwanda in a program for Post-Genocidal Reconciliation and Peacebuilding and experienced a personal awakening of curiosity around the intersections of systems of oppression like colonialism and racism with holding community trauma and healing. With a new perspective they returned focused on building community capacity for transformation, healing and radical love, and committed that the best place to do so would be alongside the community that raised her.
Hadley was most recently with Better Health Together for 7 years, serving as Director of Movement Building while the organization convened over 100 organizations across eastern Washington towards collective approaches to transforming our health care delivery system. In this role she directed strategic initiatives that focused on shifting voice and power in decision making to those who had typically been left out, using tools of participatory design and culture of belonging building. They are most proud of supporting the Better Health Together board through a transformation from a 17 member sector representative board to a 30 person relational community board with explicit goals for intersectional representation to truly insure community voice drives decisions. They also feel privileged to be actively supporting people to meaningfully engage in racial equity work as an Executive Committee Member of the Spokane NAACP since 2020. She is deeply in love with Spokane where she can be found walking her dog in local parks, regularly attending city council and neighborhood meetings, never missing a Terrain art event, and slack-lining, skiing, climbing and playing video games with their partner.
ALEX BARROUK (he/him/his) Founding director, consultant, business development, vision activator, facilitator.
Strategy – planning and execution – business growth and profitability – leadership development and executive coaching – change design and management – culture – stakeholders engagement – communications – workshop design and facilitation.
As the founder of ABCD consulting, and a growth strategy consultant, Alex’s role is to serve as your company’s primary care provider: he diagnoses organizations, and helps them find the path to healthier dynamics and growth-oriented models. He sees people, systems, and organizations for their potential rather than focusing on where they are currently stuck.
Throughout his career, he has focused on three distinct areas of expertise: business management, project management, and psychology. Combining these experiences with best practices learning, Alex has designed a unique consulting approach that focuses on vision and execution, organizational psychology and leadership development.
Alex’s vision for ABCD is to gather a team of subject matter experts with extraordinary skills that will serve leaders and ‘change the game’ of any organization. We never drop knowledge and leave. We walk the path with our clients, to train them and their teams to become execution experts.
Alex’s clients have included top-level decision makers at all types of medium-to-large organizations over the years, and his ability to untangle problems to find a strategic path has been demonstrated across cultures, countries, and a broad variety of organizations. Alex is also part of the Coaching Bureau at Gonzaga’s University’s Leadership Training and Development department.
12:00-1:30- *Lunch*
1:30-1:50- Sponsor Executech Presents!
1:50-2:10- Raffle
That’s a wrap!
Taylor will share her story and why we need to keep focus on individuals with disabilities.
Taylor is a 31-year-old woman, self-advocate, and mom of a child with disabilities. At the age of 5, after battling pneumonia, Taylor suddenly stopped talking, and was eventually diagnosed with Autism.
In Taylor’s words: “I remember the school psychologist labeling me as “mentally retarded” and telling my parents that I would never amount to anything, that I would never be able to be independent or self-reliant. Throughout my life, I’ve been treated differently for my disability. My childhood wasn't the easiest and I’ve had my fair share of trauma, including withdrawing from middle school because the bullying was so bad. However, I did end up graduating high school on honor roll, getting my driver’s license, having a child, and marrying the love of my life. I knew I wanted more. More for myself. More for my daughter. I didn’t want to live out my life struggling, on SSI, and homebound. I knew there was more in store for us and our future. I found the reason to believe in myself again.”
Since working with The Arc of Spokane, Taylor has grown into herself and understands the value of sharing her lived experience as a neurodivergent mother of a neurodivergent child. Taylor is trailblazing in the world of IDD. She is the first person to represent Eastern Washington as the co-chair for Advocacy Days. She provides presentations to high school students about the importance of the disability vote. She’s inside of local schools, building relationships with the special education teachers to improve services for students with disabilities. She is testifying to our legislators and advocating for policy change that benefits the lives of all people with disabilities. Taylor influenced the passing of HB 2008, requiring DDA to remove IQ scores from its eligibility requirements. Taylor is passionate about “Nothing About Us Without Us,” intersectionality, offering culturally sensitive services, and reaching the most marginalized of communities.
10:40:12:40- State of Community Round Table to include representatives from: DDA, Counties, DVR, OSPI, and Providers- More specific information to come!
1:00- 2:00 *Lunch* TBA
2:15-3:15: *Breakouts*
Michael Goodwill- Join me in a discussion on a new way of thinking about staff retention and the world of work. Learn what to expect and add a new lens to your perspective when thinking about recruitment.
Brandi Monts- What will it take to help more folks with IDD join boards, commissions, councils and committees to impact change? Come share your ideas and thoughts about how to support more people at leadership tables. *Guests to be announced*
Aaron Dickson- Inclusion in Safety Planning – You’re Probably Not As Prepared As You Think
Agencies, businesses, and schools all have boxes to check for safety requirements; however, those boxes might not be keeping us all safe. Join Aaron Dickson as he shares two personal stories of supporting people with disabilities through an active shooter and a false alarm fire drill. Additionally, he’ll share some lessons learned from disabled people who went through 9/11, and what these lessons can teach us all about more inclusive emergency planning.
3:15- That’s a wrap!
5:00-6:00- Social Hour
May 10, 2023:
8:30-9:00- Networking
9:00-12:00- Grounding, Framing Brave Spaces, and Practicing Brave Spaces. Join us on discussing the challenges in front of us and getting around them together.
Facilitators: Hadley Morrow & Alex Barrouk
HADLEY MORROW (they/them/she/her) Consultant, Facilitator
Collective Impact Facilitation – Strategic Planning – Anti-Racism, Culture of Belonging, Leading with Radical Love workshops and coaching – Change Management – Conflict Resolution and Healing Spaces – Team Values and Vision building – Power Analysis / Equity Audits – Community Engagement – Participatory Budgeting and Design – Advocacy and Community Action planning – Community and Policy Organizing
Hadley Morrow was born and raised in Spokane and, typical for many local teens, left for college intent on moving as far away as possible and never coming back. They went to University of Denver and gained a BA in International Studies hoping to join the foreign service. During this time she studied abroad in Rwanda in a program for Post-Genocidal Reconciliation and Peacebuilding and experienced a personal awakening of curiosity around the intersections of systems of oppression like colonialism and racism with holding community trauma and healing. With a new perspective they returned focused on building community capacity for transformation, healing and radical love, and committed that the best place to do so would be alongside the community that raised her.
Hadley was most recently with Better Health Together for 7 years, serving as Director of Movement Building while the organization convened over 100 organizations across eastern Washington towards collective approaches to transforming our health care delivery system. In this role she directed strategic initiatives that focused on shifting voice and power in decision making to those who had typically been left out, using tools of participatory design and culture of belonging building. They are most proud of supporting the Better Health Together board through a transformation from a 17 member sector representative board to a 30 person relational community board with explicit goals for intersectional representation to truly insure community voice drives decisions. They also feel privileged to be actively supporting people to meaningfully engage in racial equity work as an Executive Committee Member of the Spokane NAACP since 2020. She is deeply in love with Spokane where she can be found walking her dog in local parks, regularly attending city council and neighborhood meetings, never missing a Terrain art event, and slack-lining, skiing, climbing and playing video games with their partner.
ALEX BARROUK (he/him/his) Founding director, consultant, business development, vision activator, facilitator.
Strategy – planning and execution – business growth and profitability – leadership development and executive coaching – change design and management – culture – stakeholders engagement – communications – workshop design and facilitation.
As the founder of ABCD consulting, and a growth strategy consultant, Alex’s role is to serve as your company’s primary care provider: he diagnoses organizations, and helps them find the path to healthier dynamics and growth-oriented models. He sees people, systems, and organizations for their potential rather than focusing on where they are currently stuck.
Throughout his career, he has focused on three distinct areas of expertise: business management, project management, and psychology. Combining these experiences with best practices learning, Alex has designed a unique consulting approach that focuses on vision and execution, organizational psychology and leadership development.
Alex’s vision for ABCD is to gather a team of subject matter experts with extraordinary skills that will serve leaders and ‘change the game’ of any organization. We never drop knowledge and leave. We walk the path with our clients, to train them and their teams to become execution experts.
Alex’s clients have included top-level decision makers at all types of medium-to-large organizations over the years, and his ability to untangle problems to find a strategic path has been demonstrated across cultures, countries, and a broad variety of organizations. Alex is also part of the Coaching Bureau at Gonzaga’s University’s Leadership Training and Development department.
12:00-1:30- *Lunch*
1:30-1:50- Sponsor Executech Presents!
1:50-2:10- Raffle
That’s a wrap!
**If you have any additional questions, or would like assistance with Spring Conference details, please contact**
Jason Peterson at jason@communityemploymentalliance.org when
Jason Peterson at jason@communityemploymentalliance.org when
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