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Tag: Autism Community Ventures

  • Dr. Maureen Dunne Invited as Keynote Speaker at Global Education Summit in Panama

    Dr. Maureen Dunne Invited as Keynote Speaker at Global Education Summit in Panama

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    Press Release
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    Feb 13, 2023 20:00 CST


    CHICAGO, February 13, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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    Autism Community Ventures is proud to report that Dr. Maureen Dunne will appear as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Global Early Education Summit (“GEES”), which will take place April 14-15, 2023, in Panama City, Panama. 

    The Summit theme is “Preparing Children for an Unknown Future.” Click here for more details and to register for the Summit: Event | Global Early Education Summit | Panama (geesummit.com).

    The GEES is the very first global education summit based in Latin America to bring together the world’s top minds to discuss how leaders must adapt to a rapidly changing world to best prepare children, teachers, students, and professionals for an uncertain future. 

    GEES aims to provide an atmosphere for provoking thoughtful discourse and a global conversation as the world prepares for a future marked by rapid economic, technological, and social change. The Summit will also serve as an incubator for professional training, networking, and other opportunities.

    Dr. Dunne will speak about educational leadership in navigating an uncertain and evolving context. A key focus will be on the important role neurodivergent children and non-linear problem solvers may play in our collective future. 

    “We live in a world increasingly defined by accelerating change,” remarked Dunne. “This has enormous implications for how we approach education. The corner is getting closer, sharper, and more difficult to see around. How we handle cognitive diversity and universal design in early education stands to become one of our most pressing questions in shaping the world we live in decades from now.”

    Other renowned educators who will appear as key speakers at the Summit include Dr. Flossie Chua, Principal Investigator of Project Zero, Harvard University; Professor Nissim Ben-Arie at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Dr. Americo Amorim, a New York University scholar, among other leading scholars and professionals.

    In March, Dr. Dunne will also appear as an invited Plenary Speaker on broader topics related to the Evolving Role of Community Colleges and Higher Education at the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET) Annual Conference, held this year in Nashville, Tennessee. A panel discussion, moderated by NCCET board member Dr. Joseph Cassidy, will take place on March 2 with Dr. Dunne, Dr. Corbin (NACCE), and Joel Vargas (Jobs for the Future). 

    Source: Autism Community Ventures

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  • Dr. Maureen Dunne Featured as Keynote Speaker at the 2022 Stanford Neurodiversity Summit

    Dr. Maureen Dunne Featured as Keynote Speaker at the 2022 Stanford Neurodiversity Summit

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    Dunne featured last month at The Atlantic Festival in D.C. on similar themes and topics related to neurodiversity inclusion

    Press Release
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    Oct 26, 2022


    CHICAGO, October 26, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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    Autism Community Ventures (“ACV”), a public benefit corporation with a global network of partner organizations and a mission to drive social, economic, and financial inclusion among neurodiverse jobseekers, is pleased to announce that its founder and neurodiversity expert Dr. Maureen Dunne was featured this week as a keynote speaker at the 2022 Stanford Neurodiversity Summit (the “Summit”), which took place virtually from Oct. 23-25.

    Dr. Dunne’s keynote presentation, “Investing in Neurodiversity to Build a More Inclusive Future”, centered on the importance of innovation and investment in neurodiversity inclusion through private sector projects and funding, as well as the critical role neurodiversity will play in driving organizational performance and social progress in the years ahead. Dunne’s experience as senior neurodiversity expert for the LEGO Foundation’s $20 million Play For All Accelerator Fund, which launched earlier this year, was highlighted. Her presentation also offered an original framework for models of authentic inclusion. 

    The presentation will be available for on-demand viewing in the near future. More information can be found at the Summit’s website.

    Dunne also moderated a panel at the Summit to introduce entrepreneurship as a vital opportunity pathway to meaningful employment among the neurodiverse community. Panelists included business leaders selected for sponsorship as part of the Neurodiverse Entrepreneur Program, which was formed earlier this year through a partnership between Innovation DuPage (ID) and Autism Angels Group (AAG) to provide ongoing support to neurodivergent entrepreneurs.

    The Stanford event follows Dr. Dunne’s participation as an invited speaker at The Atlantic Festival 2022 (the “Festival”), which took place at the Wharf in Washington D.C. in September. Dunne was invited by The Atlantic as a key speaker as the Festival addressed the topic of neurodiversity within the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion segment for the first time in its history. The session was moderated by celebrated journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist John Donvan who authored the New York Times bestseller, “In a Different Key: The Story of Autism.”

    About Autism Community Ventures
    Autism Community Ventures is a public benefit corporation with a global network of partner organizations and a mission to drive social, economic, and financial inclusion. 

    Source: Autism Community Ventures PBC

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  • Inclusive Coding Academy Launches First Strength-Based Transcript and 21st Century Skills Certificate

    Inclusive Coding Academy Launches First Strength-Based Transcript and 21st Century Skills Certificate

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    Press Release
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    updated: Nov 1, 2020


    CHICAGO, November 1, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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    Inclusive Coding Academy (“ICA”), an organization that offers diverse 21st century skill-building workshops and coding bootcamps, is excited to announce the formal launch of a proprietary strength-based certificate and transcript offering. In partnership with Autism Community Ventures and private donor networks, ICA’s previous bootcamps have incorporated a strength-based assessment process. That process is now being formalized as part of a unique evaluation and certificate offering.

    President and CEO, Maureen Dunne, Ph.D., a former National Science Foundation Research Fellow and Rhodes Scholar, remarked, “The Academy is unique in that it not only offers an inclusive space to learn from renowned instructors and faculty, but offerings tailored to closing the historically wide gap between 21st century skills demanded by employers and the skills prospective jobseekers are bringing to the table. Another aspect unique to our programs is that each project team embraces the power of neurodiversity and includes at least one neurodivergent individual.”

    Many of ICA’s programs embrace project-based learning with themes meaningful to the students. The online “Introduction to Web Design Course” kicked off this past weekend, and the students brainstormed several ideas for their final group project together. In the end, they decided to build a website for a nonprofit initiative called “The Spectrum PPE Project”, founded and led by Dr. Dunne. Spectrum PPE designs and distributes sensory friendly Personal Protection Equipment for neurodivergent children and adults. Some volunteers for the project previously learned 3D printing skills in a prior workshop sponsored by ICA.

    Students who sign up for a course, coding bootcamp, or collection of workshops all receive not only a certificate of completion but also a strength-based transcript that they can show employers to demonstrate both their strengths and the skills they have mastered. No grades are provided. Instead, students are both highly encouraged and expected to deepen their collaboration, problem solving, team building, and communication skills – so-called “soft skills” that are increasingly important in the 21st century economy.

    A prior participant of an inclusive “Introduction to Coding Games” workshop was a talented, young adult with autism who had been unemployed for years after graduating high school. He never attempted college as he was discouraged after so many rejections from employers. In the grant funded workshop, this participant excelled, quickly mastering Unity, a popular platform for coding 3D games. He even completed his independent game project an entire hour ahead of any other student at the event and won the workshop’s Grand Prize for Best Student Game at the associated Hackathon. The experience helped this student appreciate his many talents and the wider opportunity pathways, including higher education, that may be available to him in the future.

    As part of the strength-based skills transcript, Dr. Dunne also includes written evaluation comments, highlighting key strengths exhibited and skills mastered within the context of a system developed over many years of research.

    “Some bootcamp teams may decide to build a startup company after the program,” Dunne added. Dunne is also the co-founder and Managing Partner of the Autism Angels Group (the “AAG”), an organization helping to foster the formation and success of businesses promoting Neurodiversity. “The AAG investor network is interested in receiving pitches for such pre-accelerator projects, assuming they spin out into a startup company and meet our criteria with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and evidence of early traction. The fact that all of these project teams include at least one neurodiverse student and that ICA seems to attract a lot of students interested in entrepreneurship also make the program a natural partner for AAG as well as later stage social impact funds.”

    Upcoming workshops include Introduction to Rapid Prototyping, Introduction to 3D Printing, Intro to Python, Machine Learning and Society and additional sections for the Intro to Web Design Course.

    Media Contact:
    Alexander Richards
    Email: info@inclusivecodingacademy.com

    Source: Inclusive Coding Academy

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