The fall season is well under way, and the CIL has been celebrating!  We are so excited that in-person classes have been BACK at the CIL, so please join us this November!  We are still offering one online class per week for those of you who prefer that option.

Independence Hacks (ILS) classes will be on Tuesdays in Ocala, Wednesdays on Zoom, and Thursdays in Gainesville.  All classes will be from 10:30am – 12pm.

Youth Leadership and Social Group classes are still on Tuesdays from 3:30-5pm.  So far, they will continue to be conducted online until further notice. 

For every online class, the meeting username is 352-378-7474 and the password is cilclass!

Please be sure to share this with anyone who would like to participate, and contact Terri Poucher at 352-378-7474 or tpoucher@cilncf.org with any questions.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

Image Description: Dark brown, wood floor background with the CIL logo at the top left and to the right of the logo is an orange text heading that reads, “November Calendar”.  Underneath to the left are pieces of pumpkin pie with dollops of whipped cream with “Tuesdays”, “Wednesdays” and “Thursdays” inside, in white text.  The class titles and meeting times are to the right in bright orange text, next to their corresponding weekday, and the meeting ID and password is written in bright orange text at the bottom of the image.   

CIL Team members have been busy tabling and spreading the word about the CIL this month at a variety of community events! 

Mid-month, Kevin and Sada attended the Union County Public Library Fall Festival in Lake Butler, speaking with community members and families who wanted to learn more about the CIL.  Andrea attended the Lake/Sumter Transition Fair at Lake Sumter State College, in collaboration with the Lake County Interagency School.  She met with several parents and transitioning students to explain services offered by the Center.  Additionally, Sada attended the Resource Fair at Santa Fe College for their Disability Awareness Week, where she connected with students with disabilities.

Special thanks to everyone for helping us get the word out, and informing our surrounding communities and rural areas, about how much of a resource the CIL can be for people with disabilities!

ID:  Image is of three pictures.  Picture to the left is of Kevin (left) and Sada (right) standing behind their table filled with brochures at the Fall Festival, picture to the top right is of Andrea standing behind the CIL table filled with brochures and giveaways at the Transition Fair, and picture to the bottom right is of Sada standing behind the CIL table filled with brochures and giveaways at the SFC Resource Fair.

Please join us for a training event at the CIL in Ocala on Tuesday, November 1^st at 10am!  The “Florida Visually Impaired Assistive Technology Training” is a collaboration with the Florida Visually Impaired and Blind Services, and the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology (FAAST) Program.    

This training will cover Assistive Technology that helps accommodate for reading small print, seeing distances, and more!  Space is limited, so if interested, please call Brandon Palermo at 352-368-3788 to reserve a seat!

ID:  Image is a flyer for the event, containing all of the information mentioned above, with light blue borders on the left and right sides.  The FAAST logo is at the top of the image to the left and the Florida Visually Impaired and Blind Services logo is at the top to the right.  The CIL logo is towards the bottom.

We are officially in the Fall and Halloween season, and our Ocala office is getting ready to celebrate with these fun and festive decorations around the office!  Have a great weekend everyone and stay warm! 

ID:  Two images with pictures of Ocala staff and Halloween decorations. 

The first image contains five pictures, top left is a wooden sign of a purple witch’s hat, with orange belt around the base, and yellow buckle.  Spider webs are at the top and on the bottom left brim, with a spider hanging down from the tip of the hat.  Below the hat, there is a sign pointing to the right that says, “Happy Halloween” and “In”.  Top right is Andrea’s face in the middle of a spider graphic.  Bottom left is Colleen’s face in a bat graphic and she is upside down hanging from a tree branch; in the middle it says, “Boo!” and at the bottom it says, “Have a scary Halloween!”  Bottom middle is Lauren’s face in a wicked witch of the west graphic, and bottom right is Amanda’s face in a ghost graphic.

The second image contains four pictures, top left is a picture of Kevin’s face in a Frankenstein graphic, top right is a picture of Lucinda’s face in a purple cat graphic with a witch hat, bottom left is a picture of Brandon’s face in a skeleton graphic, and bottom right is a picture of various Halloween trick or treat buckets and decorations on a table.

The Independence and Opportunity Network of Gainesville (ION) is having their next Bingo Night for young adults with disabilities this Friday, October 21^st from 7pm – 9pm, at the Center for Independent Living, 222 SW 36^th Terrace, Gainesville, FL!  Cost is $5 at the door and includes pizza, drinks, dessert, prizes and karaoke!

Special thanks to the event volunteers:  HEROES from UF and additional CIL volunteers. We couldn’t do this without all of you!

Please note, there will not be an online option this month, however, ION is exploring this option for future events.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact Trish Thoburn at iongainesville@gmail.com or call at 352-339-6278, and feel free to share with other young adults who might be interested.

ID:  Bingo flyer that includes all of the information listed above, with a colorful border containing bingo cards in the bottom left corner and numbered bingo balls in the remaining corners. The ION logo is centered up top, the CIL logo is to the upper right, the HEROES logo is towards the bottom left, and a small Karaoke Party graphic with microphone is in the middle towards the bottom.

With cold and flu season coming around, now’s a good time to protect yourself and our community by vaccinating against COVID-19!

Come out to our accessible vaccine clinic this Monday, October 17the from 10am to 2pm at the Marion Senior Center to get your (free!) vaccine/booster shot and be entered into our raffle. There will be three winners selected for a $50 gift card. The clinic is wheelchair accessible, and ASL interpreters will be provided on-site. Other accommodations will be provided as needed.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

ID: Pale pink background with a half circle that is orange. At the top of the graphic is the title, “Accessible COVID-19 Vaccines”.  Below the title to the right, is clip art of a man in a wheelchair holding hands next to a woman who is walking by his side. Below the title to the left, is the Marion Senior Services logo, and a list of details about the event:  primary vaccines and booster shots, the clinic is accessible with wheelchair entrances, ASL translators, and transportation provided as needed. Below that is the date of the event, and it says, “Call (352) 378-7474 with any questions or accommodation requests.” At the very bottom, from left to right is the Disability Rights Florida logo, CIL logo, Interpreting hands symbol, and the location, Marion Senior Center, 1101 SW 20th Court, Ocala, FL 34471.

Today we wanted to highlight the awesome efforts of CIL’s throughout the state working together in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.  Three Florida CIL’s were completely damaged by flood waters and needed immediate assistance for their consumers, who were severely affected by the storm. 

Kevin Towles, CIL Consumer Specialist, received a call at the beginning of last week that the CIL in Daytona Beach, disAbility Solutions for IL, needed assistance after taking on waste high water at their facility.  Through Operation BBQ, Kevin picked up food at Sonny’s BBQ in DeLand, FL, and delivered lunch and dinner in the parking lot of the CIL in Daytona Beach throughout the day.

Operation BBQ aids communities and first responders affected by natural disasters by providing one hot meal that matters during times of need.  This program, with a network of volunteers and equipment across the country, can mobilize immediately following natural disasters and be serving hot meals within 24-48 hours of the disaster.

The Sonny’s BBQ in DeLand donated over 200 meals that day to disAbility Solutions for IL’s consumers with disabilities, which is amazing!  Thank you so much Kevin for your immediate response to help a fellow CIL in need! 

ID:  Three pictures within the image; the picture on the left is of Kevin (far right) with three Sonny’s staff members standing in front of Kevin’s open car trunk that is filled with bags of food.  The top right is of Kevin passing out food to a consumer at the CIL in Daytona Beach, with his open trunk behind them, and the bottom right is also of Kevin passing out food to a consumer.

We hope you are having a relaxing weekend!  At the end of last month, the FAAST Program hosted Michael Mcquilkin with CaptionCall for a vendor presentation here at the CIL in Gainesville! 

If your phone calls are difficult to hear, CaptionCall can help by letting you hear and read what someone is saying on the device.  And the best part?  There is NO cost for people with hearing loss who need captions to use the phone effectively! 

Everyone who attended enjoyed the presentation and also learned more about the FAAST Program from CIL Assistive Technologies Specialist, Claudia Avendano. 

To learn more about CaptionCall and all it has to offer people with disabilities, please reach out to Michael at 352-409-7987 or by e-mail: mmcquilkin@captioncall.com

Image Description:  Picture of Michael (left) and Claudia (right) the CIL activity room.  They are standing to the sides of a long table in between them that displays the CaptionCall device and flyer information.

Our Employment Program continues to make a difference each and every day for our consumers!  Please enjoy a recent success story below and have a wonderful Homecoming weekend!  

Teresa had dreamed of working at Santa Fe College. She came to the CIL with passion and determination to achieve this compelling goal.  Ammal, CIL Employment Consultant, assisted Teresa with her On-the-Job-Training (OJT) at Santa Fe College as an Office Assistant.  Teresa worked hard to prove herself to the management leaders and staff, and Ammal continued to follow up carefully with the supervisors at Santa Fe College to ensure that Teresa was doing well and continuing to work hard.

After 90 days of the OJT, Teresa successfully completed it and earned a job offer from Santa Fe College to work as a permanent Office Assistant!  She is truly enjoying this opportunity, and recently received a raise to $14 per hour!  The CIL also helped Teresa purchase some clothes for work, thanks to generous donations from The Amazing Give.  Teresa was thrilled and thankful for all the help and support she received through the CIL, where her dream came true.

ID:  Image consists of two pictures.  The one to the left is Teresa sitting at her desk in her office at Santa Fe College, and the one to the right is Teresa (sitting to the left) with Ammal (standing to the right) in front of her computer, in her office.

This month, we wanted to highlight our ADA Paratransit Program!

The CIL has a strong record of advocacy in the area of accessible public transportation, which is often a huge challenge for our consumers with disabilities.  In support of consumers need for better access, we are contracted with area public transportation systems to provide support services for riders with disabilities wanting to utilize fixed route and paratransit services.  We provide screening, eligibility determination and travel training services in Alachua and Marion Counties.

This year, we are gearing up to do over 1,000 eligibility interviews for ADA Paratransit Eligibility Certification.  Starting in January 2022, we were able to successfully transition from paper to digital intake and document management.  This in turn, has helped us expedite the turnaround time of certifications for our consumers.  Our Paratransit Team has worked tirelessly to conduct ADA eligibility interviews and process all the documents required to complete the certification. 

We want to give shout outs to our newest team members, Cammeron (ADA Paratransit Specialist), as well as Destini and J’Mari (Front Desk/ADA Paratransit Support).  Additionally, Sada (Community Outreach Specialist), Terri (ILS Coordinator) and Mark (Five Core Services Director), have also given us a tremendous amount of support this year.  We want to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has helped the ADA Paratransit Team here at the CIL!

If you know of anyone who might benefit from this program, please contact us at 352-378-7474 or cilncf.org@gmail.com.

Image Description: Three pictures of the Paratransit Team. To the left is Terri, top right is Sada and bottom right are Alex (left) and Cammeron (right).