Summary: <p>Hi, Y’all!</p> <p>Look, I know there are a lot of organizations competing for your attention on #GivingTuesday.</p> <p>So I’m going to make this message short and give you three reasons why I think you should support the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education and help us reach our goal of <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw">raising $5,000 today</a>!</p> <p><strong>Number One. </strong>MCIE is partnering with school systems (right now) around the country to implement inclusive education that lasts. Students with significant disabilities are being included in general education classrooms (sometimes for the first time) and finally feel like they belong like the student in Calvert County, Maryland, who spent the vast majority of his schooling in “life skills classes” and is now in his home high school taking regular classes with his peers. Even teachers see the benefits of inclusive education with their very eyes. Like the teachers in Delaware who implemented the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction and saw students make and achieve meaningful goals for their lives. Please help us keep the momentum going by <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw">donating today</a>!</p> <p><strong>Number Two.</strong> We believe that amplifying disabled people’s voices is vital to changing people’s mindsets. This year we committed to pay disabled writers to tell us their stories, and we are just getting started. Ben, a nonspeaking autistic activist, writes, “It is a common misconception that if you can’t talk, then you can’t learn and you don’t know anything.” Rasheera, a disability justice activist, writes that it is time to “reframe what special education looks like and continue to build a framework that addresses disability in the educational setting from a model that fully submerges the disability experience into the mainstream educational space.” <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw">Donate to MCIE</a> today so we can continue to pay and amplify disabled voices!</p> <p><strong>Number Three.</strong> Inclusive education has a public relations problem. And frankly, I’m tired of it. We have the research that says it works. We have the models around the country that are being implemented. We have the stories of families and educators whose lives have been impacted. But what we need is a communication campaign. And all of that costs money. It is pricey to produce media. But fortunately, we have you. We have big plans to produce more podcasts, videos, articles, newsletters, and even things we haven’t thought of yet to spread the word that inclusive education benefits all students. Please <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw">donate to MCIE today</a> so we can keep the communication channels open. We can’t do this without it.</p> <p>You are a vital part of the work we do every day.</p> <p>Thanks for your time and attention.</p> <p>DONATE: <a href="https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw">https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bvp2tw</a></p> <p>Tim Villegas</p> <p>Director of Communications for MCIE</p> <p>Found of Think Inclusive</p>
