After I’m Gone: Self-Advocate Panel
Wednesday, November 4 @ 3:00PM

In planning for the future, it’s critical we keep the individual with a disability voice at the center of planning.

Join a panel of self-advocates in a discussion on future planning. Panelists will discuss their experience navigating the transition to independence as an adult, including housing, transportation, communication, technology, and creating a social support network. Panelists will also share their goals for the future and how families can support their adult child with a disability to ensure the right supports are in place to achieve these goals.

This panel will be moderated by Nicole Homerin, Program Associate, After I’m Gone.

Shaping Our Legislative Agenda Together:
How Your Survey Feedback Helped Build Our Priorities
Thursday, November 12 @ 12:00PM

Your voice drives our advocacy! As we look ahead to the upcoming legislative session, The Arc of Massachusetts Government Affairs team invites you to join us for a crucial update on our priority-setting process.

During this interactive webinar, we will pull back the curtain on how our community shapes public policy. We’ll walk through our process, share how your direct feedback from our recent community survey was evaluated and incorporated, and provide general updates on our ongoing advocacy on Beacon Hill.

What We Will Cover:

• The Priority-Setting Process: A transparent look at how The Arc evaluates, selects, and structures its legislative agenda to maximize impact for individuals with IDD and autism.
• Your Voice in Action: A breakdown of the findings from our recent legislative survey, highlighting how community insights directly shaped our focus areas for the upcoming session.
• General Legislative & Advocacy Updates: The latest news and upcoming opportunities to make your voice heard.
• Q&A: An open forum to ask questions, share feedback, and connect directly with The Arc’s Government Affairs team.

Bridging the Gaps: Creative Supports for Families
Monday, November 16 @ 12:00PM

When supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the surrounding family ecosystem can face distinct, overlooked challenges. True community inclusion means ensuring no one feels isolated or left behind—whether that is a sibling navigating their own unique dynamics, a young woman seeking a safe and empowering peer community, or parents managing complex, high-intensity behaviors without judgment.

By bringing together Best Buddies, The Soul Project, and The Huddle for Families, this webinar highlights innovative, lived-experience programs specifically designed to fill these critical gaps and uplift the entire family.

• Best Buddies: Recognizing the essential role of siblings and creating dedicated spaces for them to connect, share, and build confidence.
• The Soul Project: Elevating safe, empowering spaces specifically tailored for young women with IDD and autism to build community and self-worth.
• The Huddle for Families: Reaching families in the midst of complex, challenging behaviors with free, non-judgmental expertise and lived-experience empathy.

After I’m Gone: Factors to Consider in Future Planning
Thursday, November 19 @ 12:00PM

Building a plan with roots today that keeps growing tomorrow

Planning for After I’m Gone is the conversation most families of a loved one with a disability carry privately and rarely have out loud. This session is that conversation, held in the open and organized around the Five Factors of Special Needs Planning.

Alexandria Nadworny, CFP® of Sequoia Financial Group will be presenting. She is a wealth advisor who has spent years helping families build plans that outlast them, and she is a sister who is stepping into a successor role in her own family. That combination shapes how she approaches this work: not as a set of documents to execute, but as a life that must keep running after the people who have been running it are no longer able to.

The session gives closest attention to the financial factor. What does a lifetime of support actually require? Where does the money come from, in what order, and how does it get directed so that benefits eligibility survives the transition? We’ll work through the tools families use to fund a plan across two generations, and the common, preventable mistakes that undo years of careful saving.

We’ll also briefly cover what the funding depends on: the legal documents that give people authority, the government benefits that carry much of the weight, and the team of family members, friends, and professionals who will one day carry the plan forward. You’ll leave with concrete next steps and ideas on how to identify and prepare your successors, including how to set a review cadence that keeps the plan current as your family changes.

Roots planted today are what let the plan keep growing tomorrow. The families who do this well start long before they need to.