2011 Annual Conference: Thanks for Attending!

Dear Friends:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of UCP and myself, thank you for attending Life Without Limits: It’s All Local, UCP’s 2011 Annual Conference.  Your participation in New Orleans this week helped strengthen UCP’s network of close to 100 affiliates across the globe that are advancing the civil rights movement for people with disabilities.

We learned a great deal from one another over three days in the “Big Easy.”  Here’s what you can expect in the coming weeks from UCP National as we synthesize our learnings:

• Online resources: We’ll be working with all our presenters to post PowerPoint slides, articles and a list of recommended further readings and resources so you can continue to dive deep into our the topics we covered.  We also will be posting many of the sessions in a series of online videos that you can refer to or share with others.

• Continuing the celebration: UCP’s Awards for Excellence highlighted outstanding examples of social enterprise projects, deep volunteer engagement and inspirational stories of people with disabilities who are overcoming obstacles to create a life without limits.  We will feature these and other stories on our website and in national marketing materials to let others share in the stories of triumph we observed.
• Planning for 2012: While you settle back into your home communities, we want to continue the feedback loop of what worked, what didn't’t work and what more we can do as we plan for the 2012 Conference in Washington, DC next April.  We’ll be synthesizing the feedback you gave us in the opening and closing plenary and asking you for further thoughts as we start our planning for 2012.  Thank you in advance for your candor.

Thank you again for your active and spirited participation in the 2011 Conference.  It’s just the beginning of our ongoing conversation to help create a life without limits for people with a spectrum of disabilities.

Stephen Bennett
President & CEO
United Cerebral Palsy