Community Living Ontario

7th annual ACE conference to be held Sept. 16-17
Wednesday August 18, 2010 -- Deron Hamel

Creating opportunities for people to meet, share ideas and build friendships are the key objectives of the upcoming Advocates for Community Education (ACE) conference, which is being held in Trenton Sept. 16-17.

The ACE group is made up of people connected to Community Living Campbellford Brighton. Melissa Cowey, supports and services co-ordinator for the agency, says the event has been successful for the past seven years.

The greatest success, she says, has been the relationships the conference has created over the years.

“You see the same people coming back and you get to know people and you build those relationships (through) networking,” she says.

“Now you can meet some people from different organizations and agencies, and maybe they have new ideas that can help you out.”

The conference, she adds, builds awareness of issues people who have a disability are facing, particularly in areas of citizenship and inclusion.

The event, which is being held at the Holiday Inn Trenton, will include presentations from former member of provincial parliament for the Prince Edward-Hastings riding Ernie Parsons, self-advocacy groups and representatives from Amigos, a community program developed by Heads Up for Inclusion, a Peterborough-based non-profit organization.

The Drum Cafe, an internationally renowned motivational group focusing on team-building, will also be leading a session.

Cowey says she’s hoping to see a lot of participation at the event.

“The more people who can come the better, the more awareness the better,” she says.

“If you get a bigger group coming, then you get the word out there and you get people talking more about inclusion, and they pass it along to their friends.”

For more information please call 705-653-1821 or click here for more information.

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