The Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association (PRA) is committed to the advancement of rehabilitation to promote full inclusion of people with disabilities into the mainstream of our society. PRA is pleased to offer our community the opportunity to learn about issues in disability and rehabilitation, and to become empowered to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. PRA is a private, voluntary, membership association comprised of professionals from a variety of disciplines, persons with disabilities, their families, students, and other interested citizens.

It is the purpose of PRA to:

• Promote the development of best practices in the delivery of rehabilitation services to people with disabilities
• Educate our community about disability
• Advocate for the public policy to support full inclusion of people with disabilities in our society
• Encourage and foster the recruitment, professional growth, and retention of qualified, competent, dedicated personnel in the field of rehabilitation.

My fellow PRA Members:

PRA is excited to promote our new website! Please make sure to visit the website, as this will be the hub of information about ways to join our network, find out about opportunities to learn, get the latest on legislative and policy updates, as well as a page devoted to inspiring tomorrow's leaders.

The Summer 2010 edition of the PRA newsletter is our first electronic one. The newsletters are generated and housed on the PRA website, so you can access them at any time in the future. If you are receiving a hard copy, please contact Roger Barton at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to provide him with your email address, since we'd like to be 100% green!

The primary purpose of this newsletter is to honor the PRA Awardees. During the PDI, they received their recognition and awards. Congratulations to each and every one of them for being leaders in the field of vocational rehabilitation.

This year's Professional Development Institute was attended by almost 120 participants. The PDI was a great success, receiving a 91% excellent overall rating. The theme of this year's PDI, Leveraging Change: New Days, New Ways provided participants with an opportunity to learn, capitalize upon, and influence the changes that are occurring at the federal and state level. We opened the event with an inspiring keynote presentation, Vocational Rehabilitation as the Great Socio-Economic Equalizer by The Author...The Speaker...The Inspiration, Mark E. Smith. We are also very fortunate to have the Honorable Senator David G. Argall, 29th District of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to talk with us about effectively communicating with our legislators. Bonnie Hawley, the National Rehabilitation Association President, will share the national perspective about the changing environment and priorities and how to capture opportunities for Pennsylvanians with disabilities. Throughout the PDI, many very informative and exciting topics are being discussed including the important topic of ethics in our profession, generational diversity, the shifting world of job opportunities, and getting linked in through social media. For the second year in a row, the PRA Board is pleased to feature Rehabilitation Student Posters! Undergraduate and graduate rehabilitation students from across the state were invited to display posters at the 2010 PRA PDI. Please notice the SAVE THE DATE for the 2010 in this newsletter.

The PRA board is very interested in creating opportunity for leadership of students and possibly sponsoring a Pennsylvania Student Chapter of PRA. We invite all students who may be interested in learning more to get in touch with Dr. Rebecca Spirito Dalgin at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The next PRA board meeting is scheduled for Friday, August 27th in the Harrisburg area. Please get in touch with me if you'd like to attend! Stay tuned for additional information about regional training opportunities. Our first series will focus on the ADA Amendments Act. Visit our website for additional information.

Please feel free to contact me at any time at 717-368-6548 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). I'm here to serve our community!

Joan Kester
PRA President