Maine’s “NEAT” Team Outlines Self-Advocacy Strengths and Needs

The Maine Team from the federally funded 6-state North East Advocates Together (NEAT) Peer-to-Peer Connections Technical Assistance Project welcomed new member Abbott Philson and compiled an annual self-advocacy strengths and needs assessment for the project.

NEAT’s goal is to develop a group of peer mentors among self-advocacy organizations in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont who will in turn, teach other self-advocates leadership and social media skills. Each state has four representatives (three self-advocates and one Developmental Disabilities Network ally) serving on the NEAT Advisory Committee. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS), Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), serves as the DD Network ally for Maine.

Photo caption: Pictured from left to right: Speaking Up for Us (SUFU) Program Director, Monique Stairs; SUFU member Abbott Philson; Maine DD Network representative (CCIDS) Sandra Horne; and SUFU member Jon McGovern. Missing from the photo: SUFU member, Kim Christensen. Photograph by Bonnie Robinson.