Disability Resource Network Members

Michael Morris

Michael Morris, the founder of the National Disability Institute, Inc. (NDI), has over 20 years of experience in systems change activities to advance employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for individuals with disabilities with the collaboration of government, the business community, and private Foundations. Mr. Morris has served as project director on numerous federally funded grants with the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, SSA, and NIDRR. He currently serves as the Interim Co-Director of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center (LHPDC) of the University of Iowa College of Law.

Mr. Morris received his undergraduate degree with honors in political science from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio and his law degree from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1981, Morris was named the first Joseph P. Kennedy Fellow in Public Policy and came to Washington, D.C. to work in the Office of Connecticut Senator Lowell Weicker, as legal counsel to the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped. Mr. Morris also served subsequently as counsel to the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee.

From Capital Hill, Mr. Morris went to work at United Cerebral Palsy Associations first as Director of Government Relations, then as Director of Community Services, and finally as National Executive Director. During his 14-year tenure, his leadership put a focus on needed assistive technology and its essential role in accommodating people with disabilities in the areas of employment, education, communications and daily living.

In 1998, Mr. Morris became Director of the NIDRR, U.S. Department of Education funded Research and Training Center on Workforce Investment and Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities that is part of the LHPDC. As director of this Center, Mr. Morris focused his technical assistance activities on helping state Departments of Labor and local Workforce Investment Boards improve interagency collaboration and the blending and braiding of individual funding streams to improve long-term supports for working age adults with disabilities. Since 2001, Mr. Morris has served as the Director of Technical Assistance to the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration for Work Incentive Grantees (WIG) and the Disability Program Navigator Initiative (DPN). He continues to be the lead policy expert on asset development, individual budgets, person centered planning, work incentives, interagency collaboration, employment, housing, and long-term services and supports.

Johnette T. Hartnett, Ed.D.

Johnette Hartnett, the co-founder of the Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour), has an extensive background in advocating for persons with disabilities. As the daughter of a college professor who was born with cerebral palsy and a mother who survived polio, she is personally familiar with the struggles of this population. Dr. Hartnett is the Director of Research and Strategic Partnership Development for the National Disability Institute (NDI). She is also a senior researcher with the Law, Health Policy, & Disability Center (LHPDC) at the University of Iowa, College of Law. Dr. Hartnett provides national leadership in the development of traditional and non-traditional partnerships across Federal agencies, foundations, and the private and non-profit sector on a variety of public policy issues relative to the employment, asset development, and long-term service and support needs of Americans with disabilities.

Dr. Hartnett graduated Summa Cum Laude, from Trinity College, in Vermont, majoring in psychology and gerontology. She obtained her Ed.D. in Policy and Educational Leadership from the University of Vermont. Prior to her role at the National Disability Institute, Dr. Hartnett was Vice President of the NCB Development Corporation, and Assistant Research Professor, in the Department of Education and the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion, at the University of Vermont. She was a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Congressional Fellow in the 107th Congress where she worked for Senator Rockefeller on behalf of low-income individuals with disabilities in the reauthorization of welfare.

Dr. Hartnett is co-principal investigator of the Asset Development and Tax Policy Project (AATPP) for persons with disabilities, a National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research funded grant at the LHPDC. AATP and its strategic partners, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, the World Institute on Disability, and Southern New Hampshire School of Community Economic Development are researching the barriers and facilitators of tax and other public policies to the advancement of economic independence, social empowerment, and community integration for individuals with disabilities.

Dr. Hartnett’s research and publications have been in the areas of special education finance, welfare reform, asset development and long-term services and supports for individuals with disabilities. In addition, Dr. Hartnett has authored a series of books on coping with loss. Dr. Hartnett is dedicated to working on policy and research issues that forward the quality of life and the economic well being of Americans with disabilities.

Sharon Brent

Sharon Brent is a national expert on multiple Federal policy issues related to the employment and self-determination that improves economic status of youth in transition and adult individuals with disabilities. She is Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the National Disability Institute, and is a Program Associate with the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center, University of Iowa College of Law. Her expertise is in youth and adult issues regarding employment, housing, health care, asset development, Social Security programs (BPAO certified), and CMS programs. Ms. Brent has over twenty years of experience as an accomplished public speaker, curriculum developer, trainer, and advocate for people with disabilities. Ms. Brent has developed curriculum for Benefits Training specific to Federal and State programs related to employment of people who are receiving SSA Benefits and State Medicaid Health Insurance, Food Stamps, Section 8 housing subsidies, IDA’s, and other local programs for individuals who fall into the low income category who want to become or are already employed.

As a parent of a 31-year-old son with Cerebral Palsy, Ms. Brent has the ability to apply personal as well as professional knowledge that provides credibility and technical information to a full range of stakeholders. She is clear that knowledge is power and all stakeholders need the same information to create an equal partnership that will advance economic empowerment for people with disabilities.

Jamie Robinson

Jamie Robinson has worked in the disability field for over 10 years and currently works for the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center of the University of Iowa, where she provides technical assistance for disability and employment initiatives nationwide. Jamie also works with the National Disability Institute on a variety of projects and initiatives involving asset development and financial education for people with disabilities. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Deafness Rehabilitation from New York University, Jamie coordinated a vocational program for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing adults to enter into competitive employment. She worked at The Independent Living Center of N.E. Florida as a certified Benefits Planning, Assistance and Outreach Specialist (BPAO), assisting individuals receiving SSI/SSDI to use social security work incentives to return to work. As a BPAO Specialist fluent in American Sign Language, Jamie primarily provided benefits counseling throughout the d/Deaf community. Jamie also worked as a Disability Program Navigator for three comprehensive One-Stop Centers in Massachusetts, guiding the workforce system to more effectively serve customers with disabilities. As a Navigator, Jamie helped to organize a local Disability Action Committee comprised of diverse stakeholders representing the disability, workforce development and business community.

Miranda Kennedy

Miranda Kennedy has over seven years of experience working at the local, state and national level on systems change activities promoting and supporting the employment of individuals with disabilities. In her work with the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center (LHPDC) at the University of Iowa’s College of Law, Ms. Kennedy is part of the national technical assistance team for the Disability Program Navigator (DPN) projects funded through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA). Ms. Kennedy leads the technical assistance and training activities with the newer thirteen DPN states plus the District of Columbia. She communicates directly with state project leads, visits onsite, and conducts workgroups with the DPNs to creatively problem solve implementation issues. Ms. Kennedy has Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of Denver’s Institute for Public Policy Studies.

Laura Farah

Since completing graduate school in 1994, Laura Farah has worked on behalf of programs and projects that benefit youth and adults with disabilities and their families. For the past six years, she has served as the lead staff member of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center (LHPDC) of the University of Iowa College of Law for technical assistance activities for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funded Work Incentive Grants (WIGs) and the DOL jointly funded with the Social Security Administration (SSA) Disability Program Navigator (DPN) projects. In her capacity as part of the LHPDC TA team, Ms. Farah is responsible for implementing the knowledge transfer pieces that comprise the Center’s technical assistance activities, which include information exchange, training, and evaluation. Ms. Farah received a B.A. degree in Psychology from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and a M.A. degree in Child Study from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study (now Child Development) from Tufts University in Medford, MA.

Judy Stengel

Judy Stengel recently retired from Internal Revenue Service after 25 years of service. During the last three years she was a member of the IRS National Disability Team working on the IRS Disability Toolkit. She was influential in starting the Wichita, Kansas Disability Initiative which has gained national recognition as a model progam reaching out to People with Disabilities. Judy has a 40-year old son who is developmentally disabled thus her passion for assisting this population to achieve their maximum potential of independence.

Elizabeth Jennings

Elizabeth Jennings is honored to work with the disability community of Palm Beach County to align resources and to identify opportunities for stakeholders to collaboratively address existing gaps and barriers to service as well as opportunities to make systems change. As the Director of United Way of Palm Beach County’s Promoting Independence for People with Disabilities Impact Area, Elizabeth works with partner agencies to increase the capacity of the funded partners to serve individuals who are in need of services but currently are on waitlists for State funded supports. Prior experience includes Benefits Planning with Gulfstream Goodwill’s Benefits Planning, Assistance Outreach program, providing one on one training to individuals with disabilities on employability skills, assisting individuals in obtaining employment and identifying natural supports.

Eugenia M. Hernández

Eugenia M. Hernández has been a Program Associate with the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center since November 2006. Ms. Hernández was a practicing attorney prior to joining the LHPDC. She opened her own law office in January of 2003. Ms. Hernández was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1971. She completed her preparatory education at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993 with majors in History and Spanish and a minor in French. After graduation, Ms. Hernández was accepted in the graduate history program at the University of Iowa. She was later accepted to the University of Iowa College of Law. She completed her Juris Doctorate in 1999 and was accepted into the Iowa Bar in May of 2000. She has practiced in the areas of workers’ compensation, personal injury and immigration law. Ms. Hernández also aided clients in accessing Social Security benefits, vocational rehabilitation services, and workforce development services. She is fully bilingual in Spanish and English with a working knowledge of French. She is knowledgeable of cultural differences in ethnic and racial populations, including the treatment of disability and employment issues in different cultures.

Copyright 2008. NDI Inc.