Inclusion Celebration

For the past two years, PIE has been working with the DOE to collaborate on an Inclusion Celebration for students throughout the City.  The project has involved students submitting artistic pieces relating to the inclusion of students with disabilities in school communities. Both years the initiative ended with a celebration in May where over two hundred students attended. In 2010, the celebration took place at Scholastic, Inc. and included featured remarks from the former school’s Chancellor Joel Klein along with NY State Assemblyman Micah Kellner.  This past May 2011, the Celebration took place Baruch College and speakers included the school’s Chancellor Dennis Walcott, the Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky, the Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office on People with Disabilities, Matt Sapolin, and a representative from the “I am Norm” campaign, which is working to breakdown stereotypes associated with people with disabilities.

During the 2011-2012 school year, we are working with the DOE to restructure the project to be more of a student leadership-building initiative for selected students with and without disabilities throughout the City.