Harkin Summit

It was an awesome experience and great conclusion to 2024 attending the Harkin Summit in Washington, D.C. Thank you, Daniel Van Sant and team for your hard work in organizing this Summit! The presentations were excellent and impactful. It was extra special seeing the presentations by Gallaudet University President Dr. Roberta Cordano and Leah Katz-Hernandez, Social Impact @ LinkedIn. I was extremely proud of our team of SCSU Deaf, Visiting Scholars from China who were on a panel focused on advancing Deaf education and employment in China. Shengquan Wang, Wei Lu, Guowei Yang, and SCSU Adjunct Faculty Xiaorong Zhou did an excellent job sharing their knowledge, expertise and experiences during their time as Visiting Scholars. A special guest of our panel was Todd McKean from Apple who shared about the company’s mission for hiring more people with disabilities in China. Currently, over 8000 Deaf people are employed in the supply chain in manufacturing in China! We hope to work with Apple to have more of these individuals advance in leadership roles in the companies. It was also a great honor to have the team meet and talk with Senator Tom Harkin, a contributing author/sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act. His legacy expands beyond the borders of the U.S. through being so involved and available during the Summit to participants from around the world. For the first time, we were each also provided an opportunity to hold a medal from the Paralympics through meeting Rep. Joshua Turek, Representative for Iowa House District 20. Rep. Turek shared a powerful message on the significance of sports for young people with disabilities and how this intersects with their future employment. Being in Washington, D.C., our team was also able to visit the P.R.C. Embassy. We were able to share about the collaborative research and work with the Minister of Education Shen. Having conversations about the impact of their scholarly work and goals upon their return to China was extremely beneficial. It was great having Todd McKean join us for this meeting too so he could also share more about the work of Apple in China. Through these efforts, we are embracing and promoting “Deaf Diplomacy,” launched by the U.S. State Department in the spring of 2024.??We are incorporating this into our strategic planning for our shared vision of advancing Deaf rights in China. The leadership skills, knowledge and expertise that our team of scholars from China have gained during their year-long exchange program holds immense potential for significant impact in China. Thank you to our team of ASL interpreters, Katie Maxwell and Karen Magoon, who provided equity and access to our team in all of our meetings and events in DC! #deafdiplomacy #harkinsummit #disability #signlanguage

"Those with disabilities who are working are paid 12 per cent less per hour than other employees, on average, and that three-quarters of this gap – 9 per cent – cannot be explained by differences in education, age and type of work. In low and lower middle-income countries this disability wage gap is much larger, at 26 per cent, and almost half cannot be explained by socio-demographic differences." states the International Labour Organization (ILO) Working Paper 124 "A study on the employment and wage outcomes of people with disabilities", available at https://lnkd.in/dZmYyr2c Also, the recent Harkin Summit hosted the session "Wage Equity: Perspectives on Progress", available at https://lnkd.in/eZ_sS5jU The ILO Global Business and Disability Network will host a webinar on the #DisabilityPayGap on 11 March. Stay tuned. #enable2work

As we return from the holidays, we’re reflecting on the great opportunity our Assistant Secretary had to represent ODEP at the Harkin Summit in December. She spoke about the impact of this annual event in a panel, “Harkin Over the Years,” with Andy Imparato of Disability Rights California and Jessica Rafuse of Microsoft. She noted, “We must build long, strong, lasting relationships that go beyond one administration or summit. I want us to continue to have an opportunity to build relationships—meaningful relationships that we can leverage to make change over the coming years and decades.” Later, Assistant Secretary Williams sat down with U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration Commissioner Danté Allen for a fireside chat that included a discussion on artificial intelligence and its impact on people with disabilities and the workforce system. They spoke candidly on how the workforce system can and should innovate to ensure people with disabilities can be prepared for and thrive in the workplace as #AI is more widely adopted.? #HarkinSummit24

Attendees of last month's (last year's?!) Summit will remember Special Advisor Minkara's announcement of the Playbook. You can find the link to this resource in her post below:

What a great conference! Congrats to Daniel Van Sant and The Harkin Institute team for putting together an incredible conference on disability inclusive employment. From inspiring keynotes to extremely educational and entertaining sessions- you thought of everything. So glad to be a part of it as attendee, speaker and exhibitor.

What a month. December has been full, commemorating and highlighting important goals and history of the Disability Community, and the role that Wells Fargo has played and is playing to make those goals successful. Earlier this month, I was quite honored to receive an honor on behalf of the work of Wells Fargo at "10 Years of the ABLE Act," where we were the only corporate honoree amongst giants of the disability advocacy space, including congressional leaders, and the family of the late Stephen Beck, Jr.; for whom the ABLE Act is named. ABLE allows for a robust savings and investment strategy for anyone with a disability, particularly those effected by asset limits through SSI or Medicaid. It is operated by the same 529 tax code as College Savings programs, so nearly every state has its own program. We at Wells Fargo's Foundation believe it is a vital tool to build wealth. That's why the rest of my month was slammed to get together the final touches to an announcement we made at the The Harkin Institute's Employment Summit last week - a multiyear $2.3MM grant split between National Association of State Treasurers and National Disability Institute to both further the efforts of ABLE and continue developing more robust and holistic financial counseling for those with disabilities. It's a whole-bank project - my Philanthropy team making sure we're in the streets marketing ABLE accounts--which Wells Fargo does *not* manage, our Diverse Segments team making sure we're continuing to champion all of these issues internally, and our Advisory team leaning into our Special Needs Trust expertise to serve the long-term financial needs of families. The events of this month could not be done without folks across those teams, especially Elaine Eisenbaum, PhD, MSW and our Chief Accessibility Officer Andrew Holbrook; my boss and advocate Bonnie Wallace, and across our Advisory team's Jeremy Jones, Joanne Shallcross, and Alan Hotard There’s no rest for the weary or the wicked. I can't wait to share the progress made with our partners, some of which is already underway.

Had the opportunity to speak twice at this year’s Harkin Summit - first as the opening keynote, a really great fireside chat with Sara Minkara, and on a panel talking about AI and disability benefits led by my dear friend Rebecca Vallas. Grateful to close out the working year seeing friends and being with community. ID: 1. A white man wearing a brown suit and black face mask, sitting across from a woman in a black suit wearing a grey hijab. Behind them is a backdrop that says Harkin Summit. 2. A white man speaking into a microphone and sitting next to a Black man on stage during a panel. 3. A picture of a large screen showing a white man speaking into a microphone.

A Spark of Inspiration with Senator Harkin at the The Harkin Institute Summit opening reception with Tiffany A. Yu, MSc! #CreateSparks #Leaders #leadership #DisabilityInclusion

I am deeply honored and privileged to have not only attended but also spoken at the prestigious 2024 Harkin International Disability Employment Summit Harkin Summit in Washington, D.C., held on December 18-19. This remarkable event brought together global leaders, changemakers, and innovators in disability inclusion and employment. A heartfelt thank you to the incredible Daniel Van Sant my coach and mentor and his team for making sure that this dream turns into reality. organizers and donors who made this opportunity possible. The insights, networks, and wisdom I gained were invaluable. Engaging with thought leaders like Tiffany A. Yu, MSc , Betty Siegel. A special shout out and thank you too Luis-Bill Perez who volunteered at the summit, at the same time was also my guide, ensuring that I fully participate in every aspect of the summit, I am deeply grateful for your service. A brilliant gentleman indeed. in this space has renewed my perspective and energized my commitment to advancing disability inclusion—a mission that is deeply personal to me. In my session, I had the privilege of amplifying African voices and exploring how governments across the African diaspora can get disability employment right. Africa is on the brink of a historic transformation: by 2050, it is estimated that Africa will have the youngest labor force in the world, contributing to a quarter of the global workforce. This demographic shift represents a massive opportunity for the continent—but only if we harness the full potential of our human capital, including the 7% of Africa’s population with disabilities. My presentation emphasized how shifting our mindset about disability can transform it into a competitive economic advantage. Inclusive employment is not just a moral imperative—it’s an economic necessity for Africa to thrive in this era of change. Let’s reimagine disability inclusion and pave the way for an equitable and empowered workforce across Africa and the world. #DisabilityInclusion #HarkinSummit2024 #AfricaRising #InclusiveEmployment #FutureOfWork #HumanCapitalRevolution #DisabilityAdvocacy #InclusiveLeadership #EconomicInclusion #AfricanVoices

It was a pleasure to meet Senator Tom Harkin at the 2024 Harkin Summit. Many thanks to Daniel Van Sant and the incredible team for organizing this wonderful event. Attending the Summit was a high point to close out the year. Image description: Tony and Senator Harkin are standing next to each other in front of a blue backdrop, which has text in large yellow and white letters. The yellow text reads "Harkin takes all my friends to the Summit.” The white text reads "Harkin Summit D.C. 2024"