July 2025 Newsletter
July is Disability Pride Month!
Disability Pride month is upon us! Come celebrate with ACT and SAM throughout the state! Here are dates for SAM Disability Pride events this month:
-North East: 7/9
-North West: 7/26
-Central: 7/26
-South East:7/26
-South West: 7/11
-Metro: 7/17
Each event is lead by their SAM region, be sure to reach out to your leaders! You can also find more information for each event here: Link to Events
What is happening in July?
In addition to the pride festivals throughout the month, we will have normal programming during July!
- Coffee Chats will take place on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th
-Disability Power Day is back on the 3rd, 10th, 24th, and 31st
-Book Club is meeting on the 2nd,16th and 30th
-Happy Hour is taking place on the 24th at Dual Citizen Brewing Co.
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July Happy Hour
We are excited to be partnering with Dual Citizen Brewing Co. again for happy hour! We will have a table with information on Disability Pride Month to celebrate!
To keep the momentum going from the Pride Festival at the capitol, we will be hosting a raffle for Self-Advocates! Be sure to join us July 24th!
ACT Spotlight - Jennifer Walton
Each month ACT interviews someone from our community to shine light on our team. This month we checked in with Jennifer Walton. Jen works is the Executive Director here at ACT. When asked what she does here at ACT, she had this to say: A lot of learning! Learning about the organization, our programs, our partners, our incredible staff, self-advocates, and volunteers. Learning about disability pride and disability justice and learning how to fight ableism and build inclusive communities - ACT's Mission! About Jen:
Coffee, tea, or something else?
- Iced Coffee and Matcha - Seperate, not mixed in the same cup!
Favorite Animal?
- Currently, my cat Cici
Passions outside of work
- Family, friends, binging good streaming series, documentaries, and travel.
Creative Corner - Numbers
Each month, we want to open the newsletter up to our readers. With the amount of creative folks in the community showcasing people's talents is the least we can do! If you have artwork of any variety you want to share, send it our way!
This month, we have a piece from Ryan (aka Numbers). Numbers is known for his 'question of the day' in which he asks a question (usually math related) that often stumps his audience. The work submitted for this month is done with pen and colored pencils. Numbers loves to create and mentioned how excited he is to try out water colors in the near future!
If you would like to submit artwork to the newsletter, please send inquires to act@selfadvocacy.org.