During the Spring 2016 period of the project in Eastern Europe, U.S. community organizers and advocates will be traveling to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. They will be visiting the countries of the people that they hosted, which means that there will be shifting of the U.S. group between two countries during the first half of the trip and then they will re-form into new groups for the second half.
Amber Smock is part of the group
visiting Bulgaria and Hungary. In the fall of 2015, she coordinated a
visit for Stoyan Pavlov, a special education teacher and advocate from
Bulgaria, and Anett Csordás, a parent and disability advocate from
Hungary. They were also joined occasionally by Antoaneta (Toni) Nenkova,
a journalist and human rights investigator from Bulgaria. This blog will
follow Amber's experiences visiting Stoyan, Anett and their advocacy colleagues
in their home countries, accompanied by American Sign Language interpreter
Kristen Gaspar.
Amber and Kristen will travel to
Bulgaria with:
- Joanna Brown, Logan Square Neighborhood Association Chicago IL
- Mike Griffin, Neighborhood Organizing for Change, Minneapolis MN
- Regina McGraw, Wieboldt Foundation, Chicago IL
- Anthony Shields, Neighborhood Organizing for Change, Minneapolis MN
- Leah Torrey, United Valley Interfaith Project, Meriden NH
Amber and Kristen will travel to
Hungary with:
- Jaquie Algee, Service Employees International Union, Chicago IL
- Ronnie Harris, Go Bronzeville, Chicago IL
- Branden Snyder, Michigan United, Detroit MI
Many thanks in particular to Elizabeth
Balint, our project coordinator, whose attention to detail has made this trip
possible, and whose commitment to inclusion helped secure support for an ASL
interpreter. Thank you to Lori Clark of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, who
initially referred Anett and Stoyan as fellows for Access Living.
Thank you to the terrific staff at Access Living who helped support Anett and Stoyan in learning about disability advocacy in Chicago, and who will be covering for Amber while she is in Europe. Thank you to Reba Pope, Access Living's staff ASL interpreter, who helped coordinate ASL support while Stoyan and Anett's visits, and whose efforts helped secure Kristen Gaspar's services. Thank you to Kristen for saying yes!
Thank you to the terrific staff at Access Living who helped support Anett and Stoyan in learning about disability advocacy in Chicago, and who will be covering for Amber while she is in Europe. Thank you to Reba Pope, Access Living's staff ASL interpreter, who helped coordinate ASL support while Stoyan and Anett's visits, and whose efforts helped secure Kristen Gaspar's services. Thank you to Kristen for saying yes!
A personal thank you to Michael Bailey
for his love and support.
Most of all, thank you to Anett and
Stoyan for your hard work and learning while in the US, and for your terrific
efforts in your home countries. Your efforts help us all towards a better
future.
