NEPACT E-News from Your Region A TA Center

Navigating Excellence - Parent Center Assistance & Collaboration Team

Region A E-News

Inspirational Quote

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress,

and working together is success."

– Henry Ford

Message From Diana & Jeannette

As we reflect on our time at the NE-PACT Region A Parent Center Conference, we are grateful for the opportunity to learn, connect, and grow alongside colleagues who share our commitment to Parent Center work and the families we support. We return energized and inspired, and we hope you do too. Together, let’s continue to be intentional in our work, support one another, and strengthen our impact on the families and communities we serve.

Featuring...

2026 NEPACT Conference: On October 6 and 7, NEPACT hosted its 2026 Regional Conference in Secaucus, NJ, bringing together 45 attendees from across Region A for two days of collaboration, skill-building, and networking. Led by Diana Autin and Jeannette Mejias, the conference featured a wide range of impactful sessions, including greetings from our project officer from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and a Military Panel featuring leaders from the Family and Community Support Network (FSCN, formerly the Federation for Children with Special Needs), Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN), Disability Rights Center of the US Virgin Islands (DRCVI), and Parents Place of Maryland (PPMD) focused on supporting military families. Attendees also explored the Center for Parent Information and Resources’ (CPIR) dedicated military family resources. The second Collective Impact group to present was the one focused on Transition/Working with Youth and Young Adults, who presented strategies for advancing youth and young adult leadership (presented by the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network [SPAN], REAL, and RIPIN), and partnership approaches with the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: Collaborative (NTACT:C) as well as resources such as the Allyship toolkit.

Day two focused heavily on staff development and regional strategy, featuring the Empowering Staff for Success Collective Impact workgroup, with insights on Parent Center self-assessments and staff competencies from Diana Autin (NE-PACT), planned activities for 2026–2027 introduced by Jenny Hutkowski (Starbridge), and past project outcomes presented by Meredith Peterson (Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership [PEAL] Center). Michele Tyler and Ellie Santiago from CPIR also presented on new E-Learning Hub Learning Paths and staff toolkits, followed by interactive Collective Impact workgroup sessions focused on operationalizing the Parent Center Staff Core Competencies.

Overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the conference earning an overall rating of 96% satisfaction for quality, relevance, and usefulness across attendee evaluations.

Supporting Military Families: The Military Panel and CPIR’s Military Resources presentation provided practical tools for network inclusion and outreach.
Youth & Young Adult Leadership: Sessions on cultivating youth leadership and engaging young adults through NTACT:C partnerships rated exceptional, with attendees praising the interactive discussions, real-world examples, and actionable resources shared by presenters.
Empowering Staff for Success & CPIR Tools: The staff development session and CPIR's presentation on staff-related toolkits and e-learning paths highlighted valuable frameworks and training opportunities for center growth.

Attendees can access all event slides and resources here.

Here’s a glimpse of the 2026 NEPACT Conference

For more photos from the conference, click here to access the full photo folder.

Upcoming Events/Dates to Remember

Region A Drop-In Call : The next Drop-In call will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM ET. Our featured presenter will be Kishma Francis from the Disability Rights Center of the Virgin Islands (DRCVI).

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.

ABOUT THE REGION A PARENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER

The Navigating Excellence-Parent Assistance and Collaboration Team (NE-PACT), the Region A Technical Assistance Center, provides technical assistance to federally-funded parent centers -- Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) and Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) - NEPACT Logo located in the states of CT-AFCAMP, CT-CPAC, DC-AJE, DE-PIC, MD-PPMD, ME-MPF, MA-FCSN, NH-PIC, NJ-SPAN, NJ-ASCF, NY-AFC, NY-CIDA, NY-LIAC, NY-UWS, NY-Starbridge, NY-INCLUDEnyc, NY-Sinergia, NY-PNWNY, PA-HUNE, PA- ME, PA-PEAL, PR-APNI, RI-RIPIN, VI-DRVI and VT-VFN. These Parent Centers are independent non-profit organizations. We also provide support to emerging parent centers and parent organizations serving families of children with or at risk of being identified as having disabilities. In addition, we work with early intervention and education agencies (local, state and federal level) seeking information regarding best practices in involving parents of children with disabilities in systems improvement.

The center activities are specifically designed to:

Enhance the capacity of parent centers to provide effective services to families of children with special needs and to work effectively with their states to improve special education and early intervention systems; and,
Facilitate their connections to the larger technical assistance network that supports research-based training, including educating parents about effective practices that improve results for children with disabilities. For more information click here.