(Press Release) — The State Rehabilitation Council, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and Council on Developmental Disabilities collaborated and cooperated on a three-day event from Dec. 4-6 at the Pacific Islands Club.
The event included an orientation focused on the role of SRC, a retreat building on leadership and teamwork, and SRC’s first general membership meeting for fiscal year 2014.
The council activities kicked off with an orientation and training facilitated by Felicitas “Tee” P. Abraham on Dec. 4. After the “Overview of the Public Vocational Rehabilitation Program” presentation by Ms. Abraham, the E-Rehab SRC training series was introduced. The event was interactive and primarily aimed at promoting and encouraging SRC members and OVR staff to obtain certification.
The activities continued on Dec. 5 with a presentation entitled, “Leadership Concepts and Problem Solving” facilitated by Dr. Carmen Fernandez. During lunch, Dennis Mohatt, vice president for behavioral health at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education discussed the WICHE Mental Health Program, an organization dedicated to improving behavioral health systems of care in the West and beyond.
Further into the day, Abraham concluded the SRC training series and the day ultimately came to an end with fun and energizing team-building activities and a trivia game facilitated by Tom Thornburg and Greg Borja of the Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy Systems Inc.
The three-day event concluded on Dec. 6 with the first general membership meeting for FY 2014 with SRC chairman Isidro K. Seman calling the meeting to order and vice chairwoman Pamela Sablan taking roll call of all members. During the meeting many important issues were discussed such as the FY 2013 Annual Report, Community Statewide Needs Assessment, Federal Monitoring Review scheduled for March 2014, OVR Fiscal Matters, Consumer data, and updates on OVR/SRC activities on Rota and Tinian, among other things.
SRC’s collective purpose is to advise OVR regarding the administration and management of the CNMI Public Vocational Rehabilitation Program. They represent the voice of people with disabilities and promote the independence and employment of qualified individuals with disabilities in the CNMI.
For more information, contact the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation at tel. no. 322-6537/8, TTY 322-6449, fax no. 322-6536 or e-mailnmidir@ovrgov.net.