Message From The Superintendent - April 2024

Greetings! 

We hope everyone is doing well! Here are the updates.     

Portage DD welcomed Crystal Stone, a new SSA, to our team in March. Crystal joins the Portage DD team after working as a Referral and Support Specialist and SSA with the Summit County Board of DD. Additionally, Crystal brings years of experience from school districts to her in various roles. Please join me in welcoming Crystal to the Portage DD team.

We have distributed grant instructions and an application to the Portage County community. The grant will be an Accessibility and Inclusion grant to make Portage County more accessible and inclusive. This grant will be awarded in Portage County for things such as accessible playground equipment, universal changing tables, accessible paths/trails, etc. We have received ten applicants and have approved nine of the ten proposals, with the last one still pending further review. We hope to receive more. The grant application and instructions are on the Portage DD website or at this link: https://www.portagedd.org/grant.

We now have the flyer for our annual Trailblazer camp at the Happy Day Services building. The camp will last seven weeks. Each camper can register for a maximum of four (4) weeks to allow everyone to come to camp this summer. If spots remain open closer to summer camp, we will allow families to sign up for additional weeks. The weeks of camp will be June 10-14, June 17-21, June 24-28, July 8-12, July 15-19, July 22-July 26, and July 29-August 2. ¾ of the slots are full, so please sign up to reserve your spot. The registration link and instructions are at this link: www.gotcamp.org 

DD Awareness month is over, but we wanted to commend the Community and Provider Relations Department, the DD Awareness Committee, and all the Portage DD staff who volunteered time and effort to make this a tremendous month of awareness. We also wanted to thank the families, individuals, and providers who supported all the wonderful events. Thank you all!!   

As we turn the page to April, we look forward to the spring and all the new possibilities. 

Believe in People! 

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU.

Sincerely,

John Vennetti