Working Together to Benefit ALL Students

The following organizations and agencies may be of interest to you

Pennsylvania’s State Task Force
The primary purpose of the state task force and the twenty-nine (29) local task forces (one in each intermediate unit) is to ensure that the intent and spirit of the Right to Education Consent Agreement is carried out throughout the Commonwealth or Pennsylvania.

Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership (PEAL): http://www.pealcenter.org
The PEAL Center is an organization of parents of children with special health care needs and disabilities reaching out to assist other parents and professionals. As Pennsylvania’s Family to Family Health Information Center (F2F),PEAL serves all of Pennsylvania.
The PEAL Center is a Pennsylvania Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) serving Western and Central PA.

Parent Education Network (PEN): http://www.parentednet.org
Parent Education Network (PEN) is a Parent Training and Information Center, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. PEN provides technical assistance, resources, and support to parents of children and youth with disabilities, birth through adulthood. PEN serves parents in Philadelphia and 23 counties in eastern Pennsylvania, Adams, Berks, bucks, Carbon, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming, and York. PEN promotes mutual respect and collaboration between parents and professionals for the knowledge, skills, and abilities each contributes to the education and development of children and youth with disabilities. PEN’s services, publications and resources are free and available to parents, professionals and interested others.

Hispanics United for Exceptional Children (HUNE Inc.): http://www.huneinc.org
HUNE is a not for profit organization established in 1998. They provide free bilingual English and Spanish training, technical assistance and individual assistance to parents of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities and to professionals who work with children. This assistance helps parents to participate more effectively with professionals in meeting the educational needs of children and youth with disabilities. HUNE works to improve educational outcomes for children and youth with all disabilities (emotional, learning, mental, and physical) from 0-26 years of age.

Mission Empower: http://www.missionempower.org
Mission Empower has been helping families in Erie County who have children with disabilities get the supports and services they need to be successful at school and in life since 2007. Mission Empower provides advocacy services, parent training and community education services. Advocates work with parents to solve problems, design creative solutions and collaborate effectively with their child’s school.

The Mentor Parent Program: http://www.mentorparent.org
Created in 1989 by parents of a child with special needs, MPP is a community-based parent project. Mentoring Parent Programs’ (MPP) goal is to support and assist families of children with disabilities from the rural Appalachian region of Pennsylvania by linking them to education, service providers and other related professionals. MPP has a number of services and programs available. Various workshops are delivered by parent consultants and other related professionals in the field. A quarterly newsletter keeps parents and the community informed of upcoming events and announcements. A new initiative in 2013 is the Challenger Program, a division of the Punxsutawney Little League Association. This new program enables developmentally and physically disabled children ages 6-18 years old an opportunity to play in an adaptive little league game. MPP offers a wealth of supportive resources to families. “Links to Friends” enables visitors to connect to a comprehensive list of useful resources via the internet.

Other partners include:

Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR)
ODR provides the resources for parents and educational agencies to resolve disputes concerning the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities, students who are gifted, and children with disabilities served by the early intervention system.

ODR also provides help for your special education questions and concerns through ConsultLine. ConsultLine advisors are available to answer questions and provide information about special education programs and the laws governing these programs for parents of, and advocates for, children with disabilities, or those who are thought to have a disability. You can reach ConsultLine at 1-800-879-2301 (Toll Free in Pennsylvania) or 717-541-4960, ext. 3332 (Outside Pennsylvania). Simply leave a message with your question or concern, and the appropriate advisor will return your call within three business days. ODR’s Parent Resource Library was developed for parents and others who want information about regulations, rights and procedures in special education.

The Pennsylvania Resource and Information Center (PA PIRC)
PA PIRC provides training and consultation to urban, rural, and suburban communities throughout Pennsylvania. Our priority is to deliver services to schools and communities that have families who live in poverty, minority families, families for whom English is a second language, and families whose children have learning delays or disabilities.

The Pennsylvania Training Partnership for People with Disabilities and Families
The Partnership provides statewide training, technical assistance, mentoring and leadership development by people with disabilities and families for people with disabilities and families.The Partnership brings together five agencies to educate and empower people with intellectual disabilities and their families. The five partners that make up the partnership include: ACHIEVA, Institute on Disabilities, Mentors for Self Determination, Self-Advocates United as 1, and Vision for Equality.

Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania
For over 36 years, Parent to Parent programs across the country have been providing emotional and informational support to families of children who have special needs, most notably by matching parents seeking support with an experienced, trained “Support Parent.”