To: From: Date: RE:

RespectAbility Board/Donors Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi April 2014 Performance Report

Thank you so much for caring about people with disabilities (PwDs) and for being a part of our start up as we work to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream. RespectAbility is now nine months old and it is time to take stock, evaluate our progress to date, and make any needed mid-course corrections. Thus, as we look at our own performance metrics, here is a look back and ahead. In a very short time we have achieved considerable success. Our business plan and launch outlined a number of specific sectors critical to achieving our goals and we have already met many of our initial objectives for each sector. Public Opinion Research: As a strategic communications organization, public opinion research underpins all our work. To date, RespectAbilitys team has conducted 4 polls on disability issues one nationwide sample of voters, one of the landscape of opportunities for children with disabilities at overnight Jewish camps, one of 3,800 Americans (half with disabilities and half loved-ones and professionals) on employment, and lastly a poll on faith issues with Jerusalem University. We have seen that the majority of people with disabilities WANT to work and be independent, despite the fact that 70% of working age people with disabilities are outside of the workforce. Additionally we have conducted three focus groups in Washington, D.C. of Republican/conservative Hill and think-tank professionals, working age individuals with disabilities seeking employment and professionals and loved ones of working age people with disabilities. This research provided important insights into the disability community and gave us a glimpse into the real and perceived obstacles to achieving the American dream. All of our communications and outreach work is based on the results of this and other research. Communications Strategies: A key goal is to create standard, proven messages for spokespeople and other PwDs advocacy organizations that will work across the political and ideological spectrum so that everyone is speaking with one constructive voice (message repetition and reinforcement) using messaging that is proven to be effective. While we have created preliminary messages and shared these with spokespeople and other PwDs advocacy organizations, published op-eds and blogs, distributed newsletters, created media and leadership training units, held numerous conference calls and in person training seminars, not every group understands yet how the use of effective bi-partisan messages can increase their impact. Indeed, many disability groups and leaders are still framing people with disabilities with pity alone, and focused on protecting benefits. They do not yet see the full potential of focusing on employment and empowerment, while still leaving a safety net intact for those who need it. We also will not feel fully confident in our messages until we have completed an extensive national phone voter survey, which will be expensive and vital to do.

We have engaged many advocacy groups and also partnered with a successful Hollywood writer and a noted producer as well as MTV star T.J. Lavin to create our first public service ad (PSA) which has so far aired in Washington on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, MTV, CNBC and other networks. We would like to do additional PSAs. One idea is to do a variation on super talents with disabilities, but all creative must be tested in public opinion research for effectiveness before we invest in it. Many of our efforts have focused on positioning RespectAbility as a trusted source of information for each of our specific target groups. Our biggest impact has been our ability to encourage governors to speak out in favor of improved employment prospects for PwDs but we are also becoming known for our ability to effectively promote conferences, policy initiatives, press articles, TV ads, and events - all achieved through our extensive media, policymakers, social media and philanthropists databases developed by our Fellows over the past 9 months. In our work to develop new Capitol Hill champions we have become extremely close to the Congressional teams of Congress people Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Pete Sessions and Brad Sherman. We have also reached out to highly influential conservative political leaders who have no previous positive contact with disability leaders. Our CEO was able to speak 1-1 with possible Presidential candidates Former Gov. Jeb Bush, Rep. Paul Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker, Governor Chris Christie, as well as 30 other governors, on jobs for people with disabilities. Promotion of Successful Work Programs for People with Disabilities (PwDs): Giving toplevel decision makers the ability to make personal connections with people with disabilities and witness successful employment programs remains a priority for us now that our administrative infrastructure is more secure and some of our base-line research has been completed. We have established a strong Fellowship program in fact the work of our Fellows has been essential to our progress over the past nine months and many of our initial objectives such as site visits for Hill staff and building relationships with key leaders and journalists prior to the pre-Presidential forums are starting this month. The following highlights our successes with each of our target groups: 1. Elected Officials, Policy Makers and Government Our most important impact so far has been with governors. We focused on this group because of the leadership of then National Governors Association chair Gov. Jack Markell, who made this issue a priority in A Better Bottom Line: Employment for People with Disabilities. Governors have a tremendous impact on public education and workforce development. We have spoken face to face with 32 governors about employment for people with disabilities, seen several of those governors already make dramatic improvements in their policies (i.e. DE, WI, IA, MS, ND), and are seeing big potential in other states (NY, NJ, IL and others). We have also sent materials repeatedly to the remaining 18 governors with whom we have yet to meet. Going forward, a key focus will continue to be governors I am grateful for all the work that you are and other top prospects from the Democratic, doing to promote Gov. Markells initiative Republican and Tea Parties who are running for and the work that you continue to do to keep President. governors engaged. We also repeatedly visited NY and NJ to follow up specifically with the top professionals/Cabinet officials on these issues per the direction of
You picked up the ball after the NGA focus and it is clear that the needle is moving. Rita Landgraf, Secretary, DHSS

Governors Cuomo and Christie, respectively. We are in discussions with teams from Governors in NM, VA, PA, IL, MO, CA, GA, NC and other states as well. We have also received important media coverage, completed multiple polls and focus groups, built critical databases of key contacts and hosted multiple educational opportunities including a highly successful event on Capitol Hill with Gov. Jack Markell, Rep. Pete Sessions and MTV Host T.J. Lavin. We have done two events with the White House, both of which were covered in the media. An important goal is for policy makers to know and trust us on disability issues so we can help them be more effective. Like any relationship building, this takes time. When we started it was disheartening to find that most disability groups were working with only a few offices on the Hill (almost all from the Democratic party), and that most Congressional offices had not even designated a staff person who would handle disability issues. Our Fellows went door to door multiple times on for days on Capitol Hill to find a point person for each office and we have dramatically expanded our lists to more than 900 political and policy contacts on all sides of the aisle and with over 300 top political consultants. Significant progress is being made. Since the NGA report came out and our outreach to them, the speed in which some of the governors are moving is outstanding. For example: Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) quickly improved policies and practices and made it a key point in his State of the State address. He has expanded to 20 Project Search sites in his state, which will help young people with disabilities go straight into jobs instead of a life of dependency. He has become a role model for expansion of opportunities for people with disabilities. Gov. Dennis Daugaard (SD) did the same in his State of the State address and has created a very specific plan to move ahead. Both of Gov. Daugaards parents are deaf, he has a special understanding of these issues. Iowas Governor Terry Branstad has been working with Sen. Tom Harkin on solutions. He hosted a statewide summit on jobs for people with disabilities and is working systematically to make progress possible. Governor Rick Scott (FL) recommended and the Florida Legislature approved $500,000 this year to fund job internships and Supported Employment for people with developmental disabilities. This is in addition to programs that provide job coaches to more than 3,000 people with developmental disabilities. Governor Jerry Browns California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) is sharing best practices that were initiated through membership on the CSAVR National Employment Team (NET) which works with employers to meet their business needs in the hiring and retention of individuals with disabilities. The DOR is engaged in many promising practices, which have positively impacted the employment of people with disabilities, including new partnerships with Lowes and Safeway. Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois started employment first policies. Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia committed to focus on employment for PwDs at a rally with the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities where RespectAbilitys CEO was co-keynote. (http://www.gcdd.org/component/tags/tag/2-disability-day.html). Governor Markell of DE and his team are the farthest along. The state helped bring together the IT firm CAI and an international organization called Specialisterne, which is dedicated to employment of individuals with autism. CAI is committed to hiring people who have autism for more than 3% of its workforce by 2015, recognizing that these individuals are especially qualified for technology roles. The Governor has advanced the Specialisterne model within his administration and several departments have hired or are actively recruiting through

Specialisterne. Governor Markells initiative created a major spark in Delawares Department of Labor with an increase of 8.6 % of individuals with disabilities becoming actively employed from 2011 to 2013 and Delaware is utilizing options available through the Medicaid program to expand community resources and services to create Pathways to Employment. The Health Care Association made up of Delawares hospitals has signed on to the Governors initiative and is developing internships, expanding Project Search and building recruitment from these efforts into employment. 2. Disability Groups We are now working with dozens of disability groups and we are especially close to our host group, the Autism Society, as well as those who have leaders on our Board of Advisors such as NICL and NACDD, plus USBLN, Best Buddies, NFB, The approach RespectAbility is using Project Search and AUCD. However, some groups are is needed and I am certain, with time, nervous that our positioning will undermine the pity will be fully embraced by all. factor that helps generate funding for the safety net for Scott Badesch, President and COO The Autism Society people with disabilities. Some have invested heavily in that image and feel it is vital for government benefits to continue. We are sensitive to these issues and will do a focus group soon in cooperation with these groups so we can find messages that work across the board. But polling clearly shows the majority of people with disabilities want to work, and data consistently shows there has been no substantial progress on that front in since before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. There are about 100 disability leaders in Washington who work closely together. Many were surprised that we do not sign onto their lobby letters as we do not lobby (there is a legal difference between education, which we do, and asking for specific bills which we do not do). However, we are asking these groups to sign onto letters to Governors, political consultants and Hollywood insiders to encourage employment of people with disabilities. One of the great successes has been our work with Development Disability Councils (DD Councils) around the country. For example, RespectAbilitys CEO co-keynoted a major rally in Georgia with the DD Council (during this event Gov. Deal made commitments to make progress on jobs for PwDs), and briefed leaders of these groups at their national meeting in April. Our partnership with the DD Council in Wisconsin has been important to the success with Gov. Scott Walker. Project Search is also a major partner as they are getting the best performance metrics nationally and we are bringing Capitol Hill and Governors staff members to see their site at the Smithsonian on April 24th. 3. Private Sector We have had a lot of success in highlighting the private sectors use of disability stories in their for-profit marketing TV and web ads particularly the Guinness beer ad and the Duracell ad featuring Seattle Seahawks Derrick Coleman who is deaf. RespectAbility showcased these ads widely to get them even more press and traction. Respectabilitys CEO published two op-eds on the ads, which won the attention of Derrick Coleman and he will be doing an event with RespectAbility in the future at the National Press Club.

Our partner USBLN is doing an outstanding job with employers as the new 503 regulations start to create important opportunities for PwDs (the White Houses 503 regulations established new guidelines for federal contractors regarding hiring PwDs). RespectAbilitys CEO traveled to CA for the USBLN annual meeting and trained their staff. As there is push back from the private sector on what they see as coercion in the 503 regulations, it is important for the private sector to be exposed to many case studies that illustrate employees with disabilities who have enabled companies to make more money. This is a major priority for us going forward and we are already planning a series of webinars on this issue with successful private sector employers from EY, Walgreens, AMC and others. 4. Faith Based Groups Faith-based organizations play a major role in American society, leadership and civil rights and are an important component of our work. Because both our chair and CEO are so active in the Jewish community, RespectAbility started with a major focus there. Our CEO has published approximately two-dozen pieces on disability inclusion in Jewish publications. We have built a strong list of Jewish leaders and email them regularly. We have already done polling in the Jewish community, and our recent poll included many questions that were important to understanding other faith groups as well. We were able to release separate data for Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals and Jews. We are seeing significant progress as the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox movements. The Jewish Federation of North American and Jewish Council for Public Affairs have both released terrific aspirational goals in terms of inclusion. There is significantly more media on this topic in the Jewish press, including real traction for the New Normal, a blog of the NY Jewish Week on disability issues in the Jewish community in which we publish regularly as well as in other publications. We have done two events with the White House, both widely covered in the media. 5. News Media We have built lists of media contacts and are emailing them regularly, but as we do not yet have sufficient funding for paid staff, we have not had the capacity to deliver enough stories yet. Perhaps the most influential segment we delivered, even so, was the CNBC segment we inspired and helped craft: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000193204. We also have seen traction with a special target audience publications read by human resources managers who are in a position to hire people with disabilities. Even so we have published dozens of op-eds in all, including in USA Today, Des Moines Register, Milwaukee Journal, The Hill and Huffington Post. In addition, we have met with the NJ Star Ledger editorial board, NPR, The NewsHour and have met twice with a key reporter from USA Today. 6. Celebrities/Hollywood/Entertainment Media We are extremely fortunate to have three key individuals in our court: leading scriptwriter, Murray Siegel; reality-TV pioneer Jonathan Murray (who is credited with inventing the genre of reality TV with his first show the Real World on MTV); and MTV Host T.J. Lavin who stared in a PSA for us and came to Capitol Hill to participate in an event for RespectAbility alongside Gov. Jack Markell, Rep. Pete Session and a Paralympic gold medalist which attracted dozens of Hill staffers. We recently connected with actor Danny Woodburn who is eager to make a difference.

We sent letters to 300 of the most powerful decision makers in the television and movie industry asking them to include more PwDs in their work as we believe that this would have incredible transformational potential. We are also working to get other disability groups to send letters to these same leaders. We will soon be releasing poll data from our poll of 3800 people in the disability community on how they view Hollywood and the news media. 7. Philanthropists We built a list of major philanthropists and sent a letter to more than 900 of them asking them to ensure that the organizations that they support do not discriminate against people with disabilities. Many funders were surprised to learn that religious organizations are exempt from ADA laws and do discriminate. We have also published op-eds urging the use of the power of the purse for good. We would like to thank all 182 donors who believe in us, are encouraged by the difference that we are already making, and who have donated $271,000 to achieve our progress so far. We would also like to thank our tireless Fellows who receive only a transportation stipend yet have been critical to our progress. The following section outlines some of our plans for the rest of 2014 and we look forward to continuing to keep you updated on our progress. Moving Forward Overall, RespectAbility is much further ahead than anticipated on some goals, in particular our work with governors, basic polling, database development and outreach to different constituents. Much of our success is due to the efforts of Gov. Jack Markell in his NGA initiative, plus our Fellows. Many of our challenges are due to lack of funding, our current location outside of Washington DC and lack of a permanent staff person to run the office and supervise the Fellows as well as to help on other issues. Going forward we will focus on the following initiatives and events particularly to support preparations for the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in June 2015: Public Opinion Research: In order to continue to refine our messaging we must conduct additional focus groups with Hill Staff, opinion elite voters, young people, CEOs and small business employers, teachers and administrators, parents of PwDs, and of course PwDs themselves. This qualitative research must be followed by a quantitative study of American voters, conducted with a bi-partisan team so that results can be shared and accepted widely in the halls of Congress, in state legislatures, and up and down K Street. We will also need to do focus groups in the early primary/caucus states of Iowa and New Hampshire so we can highlight the importance of voters with disabilities, alongside their experiences and goals. Elite School Study: Numerous studies demonstrate that a disproportional number of Americas top CEOs and leaders hail from a small group of elite high schools which are feeder schools into Ivy League universities and other institutions. These schools routinely do not include PwDs in their student bodies or faculties. Leaders entering these schools in 2015 will be Americas leaders starting in approximately 2025 yet will have had little to no contact with PwDs during their formative years, impacting attitudes and presumably future hiring and other practices. We plan to create a report card for the top private schools in America so that they can do their own internal strategic plans to become inclusive. To do this, we will develop a questionnaire on inclusion practices in the schools and conduct focus groups of academic admission officers, heads of schools, and board members on inclusion of students with disabilities. We will write, design, and distribute a full formal report on the findings of the report cards and research.

Paid Fellowships: We will continue to recruit and train college-educated people with disabilities for placement in policy and media jobs. Creation of public service materials that show the ABILITIES of people with disabilities: Our plans going forward include: 1) Winning hearts and minds for inclusion: Focus groups and a poll to test what messages and images will make people WITHOUT disabilities more open, aware, and engaged in supporting inclusion of people WITH disabilities, especially in employment. 2) A picture is worth 1,000 words: Photo contest for best photos to capture people with disabilities included in the workforce and other aspects of life. 3) Public service ads (video/print creation in support of inclusion for people with disabilities) for broad use in campaigns for employment of people with disabilities and and also for faith inclusion Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month and beyond. 4) 25th Anniversary of ADA Inclusion Scorecards elite private schools and for faithbased organizations. 5) Library inclusion project- Creating a partnership to encourage the creation and dissemination of childrens books that have themes and characters with disabilities included in normal life. Advocacy: RespectAbilityUSA.org has a new website which, while already live, is in the process of being completed. Soon we will have the capacity to do national grassroots advocacy, enabling disability leaders and other activists to send letters to the editors, reporters and their elected officials though an automated system. We already have 22,000 people on our email list. We have thousands of people following us on Facebook and Twitter and are very active in using social media to achieve our goals. However, this will be dramatically expanded when the website is completed. Soon our grassroots advocacy will enable elected officials and the media understand that voters expect more in terms of results on employment for people with disabilities. Our website also has a special resource section so that policy makers and job seekers with disabilities alike can have more tools to help them succeed. However, none of this will be possible without funding for this vital work as well as funding for: new office space as the Autism Society can no longer host us and a full-time permanent in-house staff person to manage the RespectAbility office and supervise/mentor the Fellows as well as other staff. This would free up our President/CEO Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi to focus on contacts, training, fundraising and taking the steps necessary to propel RespectAbilityUSAs work to th e next level. Moreover, we need funding for our public opinion research, educational efforts, public service ad creation and advocacy. Donations at tax deductible and should be sent to RespectAbility, a project of the Autism Society, and sent to 4340 East West Highway, Suite 350, Bethesda, MD 20854. Questions? Contact Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi at JenniferM@RespectAbilityUSA.org or 202 365 0787.