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Empowering Future Leaders: Dahlia Shaewitz's Journey with the Civic Leadership Institute




Dahlia Shaewitzs joined the CLI with a purpose: to make a greater impact on a field that she knew and loved. With over 20 years of experience in the disability field and coming from a deaf family, she knew she wanted to build on her knowledge and experience to envision a more welcoming and inclusive community for all. “I know that disability is a natural part of the human condition, but it is too often ignored or stigmatized,” she said. “I hope to shine a light on what has been a blank space in conversations about community.”


Joining her partner Adil Mayo in pursuit of this goal, the two decided to create a survey that would assess how people with disabilities feel their needs are being addressed in the community, especially pertaining to development projects. It is their understanding that with this information, they would be able to share the data with key decision makers and create a better experience for the greater community. “While real and effective community engagement in development can be challenging, it is particularly important to include the input of those members with disabilities,” Shaewitz said. “Community services and activities impact residents with disabilities and their families directly; our project intends to gather their input into the Blue Line Corridor development to ensure it is inclusive, accessible, and reflects their needs.”


While they are still in the beginning stages of the project, Shaewitz and Mayo hope to be able to make their project one that includes input from the entire Blue Line Corridor community and addresses the insights and needs of key demographics, including the Spanish-speaking community, elderly, parents of children with disabilities, and those across the disability-diversity spectrum. 


With such a comprehensive goal, it seems no surprise that Shaewitz has been met with challenges along the way. “Without funding, I cannot bring on the partners with disabilities that would be of great value to the project,” she said. “To value people with disabilities they should be paid for their time, but too often they are asked to volunteer, even as they struggle to find good quality jobs with good salaries and benefits. It’s important to respect their time and value their input by paying them for their participation.”


Despite these challenges, Shaewitz is confident that the CLI provided her and the team with the tools necessary to address them and continue to make an impact with their project, even as they seek to build a model that can be used long-term by county and state planners, and possibly be implemented by other communities across the country. Shaewitz says she is grateful to the CLI creators and staff for the opportunity. “LISC and their CLI initiative was fantastic as a catalyst [...]It’s so wonderful to have a project that I can get excited about. I’m passionate about the issue, and I feel we can make a valuable contribution to the local community, our county and state, and potentially the nation with a new community survey tool.”

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