Access-Ability Resource Committee (AARC)

The Access-Ability Resource Committee (AARC) provides leadership, resources, and support to the BBBSEM community to address access barriers and create a culture of awareness and celebration of all abilities. AARC collaborates with agency stakeholders and other Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) teams to achieve agency values of Innovation, Representation, & Inclusion.

The vision of AARC is to strengthen, empower, and educate our staff, volunteers, and families. Through the use of collaborative advocacy and inclusive practices from a disability justice perspective, our goal is to create an accessible community. As an agency, our priority is serving current and future matches with an informed, empathetic, and equitable approach. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to creating guidelines when it comes to accessibility. AARC will tailor recommendations in partnership with agency leadership to meet the needs of specific departments. By doing so, we will contribute to the BBBSEM vision of healthier families, better schools, brighter futures, and stronger communities.

OUR GOALS

Awareness and Celebration

Creation of a programming calendar in collaboration with additional DEI committees
- Celebration of Disability Awareness Month (October 2020) and other relevant dates of cultural significance
- Quarterly Lunch & Learns
- Monthly resource blast

Policies and Practices

Conduct a “Disability Inclusion Assessment” to target priorities for policy review
Implement a system for feedback from families and volunteers, staff, and partners
Capture demographic data
- Utilize Salesforce processes to capture current demographics
- Utilize intake process to capture potential match demographics

Education

Target outputs of the Programs team
- Create and proliferate an Accessible Match Activities Guide
- Begin creation of an Accessibility Language Guide to be distributed to volunteers and staff
- Update all external facing documents and resources to be screen-reader friendly, accessibly formatted, etc

Meet Our Committee!

Amanda Melvin

Co-Leader

Amanda Melvin

I’m honored to work with this team in building a more equitable agency for our staff, volunteers, youth, and families of all abilities. Disability is an often overlooked aspect of identity, so I’m thrilled to witness the growth of BBBSEM as we become leaders when it comes to accessibility!
Kaylah Wicks

Co-Leader

Kaylah Wicks

I am excited to partner with the other members of our newly formed committee to focus our efforts on creating and maintaining inclusive and accessible spaces for Littles, volunteers, and families with disabilities. All children deserve the opportunity to participate in our program to the fullest extent and that is our goal!
Elise Babigian

Elise Babigian

As a member of the Enrollment team I am so excited to now be part of AARC, in the hopes of helping make our process and program more accessible and inclusive for all. I am proud to be part of an agency that is prioritizing these things, and I look forward to where it will take us!
Deanna Bodeau

Deanna Bodeau

As a member of the Program Services team, I am excited to be part of the AARC committee to make programs accessible to our families and everyone we serve.
Nichole Firmani

Nichole Firmani

While our agency has been making huge strides in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for some time, it is thrilling to now have a committee dedicated to Access-Ability. I’m most proud of BBBSEM for continually focusing on the prioritization of DEI initiatives.
Julie Giragosian

Julie Giragosian

As someone who creates events that externally present our mission to the public, I want to make sure they are representing our internal values and priorities. I am thrilled to work to incorporate all we learn in AARC in an effort to make all our events as accessible for all abilities as we can!
Katherine Lynch

Katherine Lynch

I am excited to be a part of AARC to work to expand accessibility for the families and youth we serve. I feel passionately about growing our resources and providing new opportunity to readily support our communities to ensure that we are creating an inclusive and welcoming program for all families and volunteers.
Emily Morrison

Emily Morrison

I joined BBBSEM in 2017, and it has been incredible to see the agency’s growth in the areas of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I am excited to continue this work through AARC and in my role supporting the agency’s technology administration.
Irene Moutsoulas

Irene Moutsoulas

My name is Irene and I have been a member of the Program Services team for 2.5 years. I joined AARC because I am passionate about accessibility and social justice. I hope that by being a part of this committee I can help contribute to making program participants and my co-workers feel fully recognized and considered in day to day happenings
Samantha Norton

Samantha Norton

As a member of the Program Services team, I am thrilled to be a part of a committee that ensures all of our programing is accessible to everyone!
Michael Wright

Michael Wright

I’m thrilled to be a part of the newly-established AARC committee and utilize the initiatives and resources we develop internally to make sure we are effectively engaging with potential Bigs and Littles of varying abilities to take part in our programs!