Join NCIL’s Advocacy and Public Policy Committee Orientation on June 22
Dear NCIL Membership,
This summer, NCIL’s Advocacy and Public Policy (APP) Committee is taking NCIL’s member-led advocacy to the next level. We are hosting an orientation next week for members who are interested in being part of the APP Committee!
We will hold an open orientation to the APP Committee on Monday, June 22, 2026, from 2:00–3:30 p.m. Eastern. Members interested in supporting NCIL’s national disability advocacy are welcome to join the orientation and learn more about what it means to be involved in APP.
What kinds of skill sets does APP need from interested NCIL members? APP includes both experienced and new NCIL members who are advocates. Here are some examples of skills that can be helpful for APP:
- Strong intersectional issue analysis / point of view
- Subject matter and lived experience cross-disability expertise
- Policy writing ability
- Toolkit drafting and social media savvy
- Good at relationship building
- Experience dealing with elected officials
- Community organizing and mobilization
- Follow-through: ability to get things done
We’re open to other skills too!
If this sounds like you or someone you know, please join our orientation on June 22 to learn more.
What does the APP Committee do? APP supports NCIL’s historic policy and advocacy work by:
- supporting NCIL staff with the development of policy priorities,
- engaging with policymakers and community leaders,
- providing education on advocacy issues for NCIL’s membership,
- drafting public comment and other written materials, and
- helping to mobilize NCIL membership and our allies.
The APP Committee is a great forum for those who want to bring their disability advocacy skills to support the national disability movement.
What kinds of issues does the APP Committee work on? APP works on a wide range of national topics, including healthcare / home and community-based services (HCBS), transportation, disability civil rights, housing, disaster response, international disability community building, and much more. We don’t work on every issue all the time, but we do work on both rapid response and necessary long-term advocacy projects.
What’s next for the APP Committee? On June 26, we will hold the first official APP Committee monthly meeting from 2:00–4:00 p.m. Eastern using our new agenda structure. All current APP subcommittee members are invited to this meeting space, where we hope to benefit more effectively from your combined experience. We also have three monthly specialty knowledge area subcommittees / working groups that will meet for one hour per month: International, Disability and Disaster, and Chronic Pain.
In July, due to the NCIL conference, we will be on hiatus to focus on our work in Washington, DC. If you attend the NCIL conference, look out for the APP Committee leaders. We’ll be glad to connect!
In August, we will begin our full regular monthly cadence of meetings. We will hold one two-hour APP meeting, one one-hour meeting for rapid response work only, and one meeting each of International, Disability and Disaster, and Chronic Pain. So, keep your eye out for schedule updates from APP!
Questions may be directed to NCIL Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org.
