2026 NEPACT Follow Up Forum: On June 2 and 3, NEPACT hosted its 2026 Follow-Up Forum in Crystal City, bringing almost 60 attendees together to explore how we can achieve collective impact across our region. The event featured a powerful panel of Parent Center leaders from RIPIN, AFCAMP, PICNH, SPAN, and PPMD, who shared key insights and strategies surrounding Early Childhood (EC). Additionally, the Empowering Staff for Success workgroup led an interactive scenario skill-building session for Region A Parent Centers on "Engaging Families in a COVID-Fatigued, Divided (and Traumatized) World," which served as a recap and follow-up to a webinar held earlier in the year. The forum also included federal policy updates, and following the main event, the Military Families convening took place on June 4. The evaluation results indicated that the follow up forum and the Military Families convening were rated over 3.7 out of 4 (93%) on Quality/ Relevance/Usefulness. Check out the recap from the workgroups, and access all event materials here.

• Early Childhood: At the NEPACT Follow-Up Forum, the Early Childhood CI group hosted a panel on growing early childhood programs, expanding outreach, and securing funding. During the session, they unveiled a working draft of their new Early Childhood Tool Kit, featuring a Self-Assessment, Action Plan, and resources, to gather network feedback. We also shared a fact sheet about the early childhood collective impact of Parent Centers, Parent TA Centers, and Early Childhood Technical Assistance and Dissemination Centers (please provide your feedback as soon as possible to this fact sheet that was emailed to you after the forum). Moving forward, the group will hold monthly meetings to finalize the toolkit and explore new ways to build Parent Center capacity for serving families of young children.

• Empowering Staff for Success: The Empowering Staff for Success Collective Impact Workgroup met to review their accomplishments from this project year and outline their remaining initiatives for the rest of this grant year and the coming year. Before the current grant year ends, the group will host a webinar on Trauma-Informed Support on August 20 from 2:00-5:00 pm, as well as a follow-up coaching meeting for Executive Directors and Project Directors (still to be scheduled). Looking ahead, the workgroup has identified four key priorities for the upcoming grant year:

1. Developing a "staff de-stressor" toolkit.
2. Presenting a special session for all Region A Parent Center staff titled, "How Did We Get Here...and What's At Stake if We Go Back: A Brief History of the Disability Rights/Parent Center Movement."
3. Facilitating an informative webinar on how to set up a fee-for-service program.
4. Reaching out to Parent Centers that have not yet completed the Empowering Staff for Success self-assessment, encouraging their participation so the results can continue to shape the group's priorities moving forward.

• LEP and Immigrant Families: Participants discussed escalating challenges for immigrant families, including reduced school engagement due to immigration fears, disability stigma, and special education barriers for families relocating to Puerto Rico. To address these issues, the group is collaborating on a comprehensive emergency preparedness toolkit. They also praised two new, easy-to-understand eLearning modules covering education rights and language access.

• Military Families: The Military Impact Group had a highly productive meeting, focusing on outreach efforts across the NEPACT region. The team reviewed and edited a script for a new public service announcement that highlights military-connected families and the support available to them through their Parent Centers. With the help of Nathan Markley from RIPIN, the group successfully recorded several individual and group pieces for the final video product. Additionally, participants reviewed their current training and outreach materials and mapped out activities for the upcoming year. The group is also thrilled to welcome three new members, and they encourage anyone interested in supporting military-connected families to join their efforts!

• Transition into Adulthood: The workgroup welcomed new members and exchanged strategies for supporting youth in postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. A major focus of the session was youth leadership, with Centers sharing best practices for establishing Youth Advisory Councils and effectively recruiting and engaging youth leaders.

• Native American: The workgroup is currently planning a virtual convening that will take place this September. The event will focus on sharing effective strategies for connecting with families and building relationships within Native American spaces. Registration is coming soon, so stay tuned for more details.

Here’s a glimpse of the 2026 NEPACT Forum and the Celebration of Carmen Sanchez: For more photos from the conference, click here to access the full photo folder.

Region A Drop-In Call: The next Drop-In call will take place on Tuesday, July 7, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM ET. Our featured presenter will be John Eisenberg from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).

CPIR Calendar: Don’t forget to check out the HUB Central Events calendar at the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR) for more webinars and events.