On October 14th, Partners for Youth with Disabilities had the pleasure of presenting at the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF) annual board meeting, which was held at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) in Cambridge, MA. MEAF has been a longtime supporter of PYD and our work serving youth with disabilities. One of PYD’s five programs, the Young Entrepreneurs Project (YEP), has also partnered with MERL for job shadows trips and career mentoring. Last spring, YEP students attended a job shadow at MERL and learned about everything from 3-D printers to video programming. MERL has also hosted PYD youth as summer interns!
We were thrilled to be invited to the board meeting and Regina Snowden, PYD Founder and Executive Director, welcomed the group and gave a brief history of our programs. Marissa Drossos, YEP Director, then presented about YEP’s current programming and our partnerships with MERL. The highlight of the meeting was hearing the presentations by PYD youth. Michael Chu, a YEP alum, spoke to the group about his experience in YEP and how the professional skills he gained continue to help him today as a student at Bunker Hill Community College. Tayla Whitehead, a PYD participant, shared her experience with PYD in our Making Healthy Connections program and the wonderful opportunity she had as an intern at MERL.
In the afternoon MEAF representatives from the United States and Japan visited the our offices and saw presentations about each individual PYD program. It was a wonderful day of learning and sharing, and PYD is deeply grateful for the continued support from MEAF and MERL!