The ABLE National Resource Center (ANRC), a collective group of leading, national disability organizations united to help realize the promise of the ABLE Act, seeks to identify nine (9) ABLE account owners to participate as an Advisor Group to the Center in 2019. This will be ABLE NRC's second cohort of ABLE Advisors. You can learn more about the first cohort of 2018 ABLE Advisors at http://ablenrc.org/meet-our-2018-able-advisors. (This link is no longer active.)

ANRC is looking for parents and working-age adults with disabilities that represent a diversity of experiences in terms of their reasons for opening an account, their short and long-term financial goals related to the account and how they hope the account will help increase their health, independence and/or quality of life. ANRC is also looking for diversity represented by selection and participation in different state ABLE programs, type of disability, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity.

Benefits of becoming an ABLE Advisor: As an ABLE Advisor, your experience and opinions matter and will help inform the ABLE NRC's work for the benefit of other ABLE-eligible individuals and existing ABLE account owners. ABLE Advisors receive a $500 contribution to their ABLE account at the end of the year, based on full participation in the Advisor program. This includes all meetings, regularly scheduled interviews and submission of pictures that will be used to define the ABLE experience.

Role as Advisor: As an Advisor, it is important that you are comfortable with the Center sharing your ongoing experience as an ABLE account owner with the public through various platforms, including the Center’s social media, website and as part of trainings and presentations on ABLE. Additionally, ABLE NRC will meet with Advisors individually during brief monthly update calls and convene Advisors as a group, via conference calls, six times per year to collect information related to:

• The Advisor’s ongoing personal experience with their ABLE account
• Innovative education and outreach strategies
• Critical knowledge and skills to successfully open, grow and manage an ABLE account
• Webinar and short video topics - Gathering insight from an ABLE account owner perspective on needed policy development
• Peer-to-peer support strategies
• Resource materials to help individuals and families make informed decisions
• Needed advice from federal agencies
• Other ways the Center can continue to provide leadership on ABLE implementation outcomes to be achieved - Advisors selected will help:
• Put a human face on the ABLE experience by sharing personal stories
• Extend the leadership and effectiveness of the Center to meet the information needs of potential and current ABLE account owners
• Define the next generation of activities of the Center, supporting growth of the number of opened accounts and effective management of accounts to meet individual needs

ABLE NRC is looking forward to your application!

APPLICATION

• Send us a picture of you and your family, and tell us about your circle of support.
• Tell us why you opened an ABLE account and what you hope to accomplish.
• Tell us which state ABLE program you signed up for, and how long have you been an account owner.
• Tell us why you would be an excellent advisor to the ABLE NRC? (What are your strengths? What are your past and current use of ABLE NRC resources?)
• What else should we know about your background and experiences that would support your selection?

Finalists will be interviewed by Center staff and selections made by the end of November. 

Email applications to: [email protected] -- Subject Line: 2019 ABLE Advisor Application or by mail to Miranda Kennedy, M.P.P., Director, ABLE NRC, National Disability Institute, 1667 K St, NW, Suite 480, Washington, DC 20006

Applications are due by Wednesday, October 31, 2018.