Hearing Loss Magazine January/February 2013 - 16

Who? Young adults with hearing loss! Destination? Portland, Oregon!
adult events and scholarships at future conventions. We felt the urge to step forward with a new sense of responsibility as a young adult group, creating a powerful declaration, pledge, and mission: • We declare that 100 young adults will be present at Convention 2013 in Portland, Oregon, June 27-30. • Our pledge is to welcome 100 young adults to Convention 2013. • Our mission is to inspire creativity, collaboration, and committed membership among young adults with hearing loss around the country. With the declaration, pledge and mission, a bold and inspiring initiative is born. What comes with it is a challenging but exciting responsibility for the young adults. We look forward to an exciting future for young adults with hearing loss, which we believe will begin with the 100 Portland initiative. The 100 Portland ad hoc committee is comprised of young adults from all over the country, involving HLAA Chapters and online groups managed by young adults. • Hotel rooms for a group of young adults • Transportation costs (bus/car rentals) • Financial contributions

By Zac La Fratta
100 Portland’s sole focus is to unite young adults, ages 18-35, with hearing loss at HLAA Convention 2013, and from there, great things will follow. The 100 Portland initiative was established by a small group of young adult attendees during Convention 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island, as a measure to reverse a trend of declining attendance among young adults with hearing loss. Our informal discussions turned into all-nighters in our hotel rooms fueled by inspiration and excitement. Their abundance of energy and motivation to create something new was enough to keep my 36-year “old” body going. It is such a privilege to work with the young adults as an advisor to 100 Portland and for HLAA activities planned for this age group.

100 Portland Facebook Group: Foundation for Self-Leadership The 100 Portland Facebook group was designed to promote self-leadership and simplicity with one goal in mind—getting 100 young adults to Portland with creativity, collaboration, and committed membership. To keep the efforts simple and clean, the group page has eight categories for participants to contribute. Action Participants are instructed to state the action, timeline, and expected outcome, and report on the outcome. Most importantly, participants are asked to keep the action simple and fun. Brainstorming This category provides opportunities for the participants to generate ideas, suggestions, and discussions that forward 100 Portland. They are reminded to stick to the mission— “Be Creative. Collaborate. Participate.” General Comments Participants are encouraged to provide general comments about the 100 Portland project. This is space for administrative updates, socialization, networking, encouragement, appreciation, and acknowledgement. Lodging This category is a running list of potential affordable and fun lodging options

Birth of an Idea During some lengthy discussions, our small group observed that the decline in attendance is due to the low return rate of attendees, most of whom received a scholarship to attend their first convention. The young adults appreciated the rigorous efforts of HLAA staff to secure scholarships and acknowledged that staff have been central in bringing young adults to HLAA’s Conventions; nevertheless, the decreasing number of young attendees have indirectly impacted the scheduling and sponsorships for young
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How Can Young Adults Participate? We collaborate through the 100 Portland Facebook group page—the official vehicle for driving this project. Anyone can join to forward the initiative with their creativity, collaboration, and participation. Tell everyone you know. Check out captioned video excerpts of young adults’ experiences at past HLAA Conventions by visiting the 100 Portland channel on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/ 100PortlandHLAA. How Can People Contribute to 100 Portland? Sponsor young adults by pledging any of the following: • Registrations for the convention

Hearing Loss Magazine January/February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hearing Loss Magazine January/February 2013