2021 EXPO Announcement
For 14 years, DISABILITY Resource Expo: Reaching Out for Answers has continued to advance our mission of giving people with disabilities and their loved ones easy access to resources needed for a wonderful quality of life. We take the Expo and its mission very seriously. Nothing is more important to us than offering a well-organized, enjoyable, diverse, inclusive, and safe event for everyone.
With that in mind, the DISABILITY Resource Expo Steering Committee met with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District on several occasions over the past few months to discuss the feasibility of hosting an in-person Expo in 2021.
It is with heavy hearts that we announce we came to the decision not to host an in-person Expo on October 16th, 2021. We assure you that this decision was not made lightly. We understand that Illinois has entered Phase 5 and restrictions have been lifted. However, many members of the population we serve must still take precautions to protect themselves from COVID-19 for medical reasons. We did not feel we could safely hold an in-person Expo and include those individuals, so we chose to serve Champaign County and surrounding communities in a different way. The spirit of our Expo has always been accepting and inclusive of everyone and that is something that we never want to change.
We are sad to have made the decision to cancel an in-person Expo for the second time. We look forward to hosting an in-person Expo in the future, whenever we are certain that we can do so with the truly inclusive spirit that has become synonymous with our events.
For now, our energy will be focused on enhancing our Disability Resource Guide by making it available in other languages and including more videos in a digital format. The resource guide is divided into six different categories to help make it easy to use. The categories are Education and Recreation, Healthcare and Equipment, Self-Help and Support Groups, Service Advocacy and Legal Organizations, Vocational and Residential, and Transportation. We will be partnering with other organizations in hopes of distributing our comprehensive resource guide, which includes 200 organizations, to individuals and families all over East Central Illinois.
The resource guide can be accessed at any time via the Expo website at https://www.disabilityresourceexpo.org/resource-guide. Read the press release regarding our plans for 2021 at https://www.disabilityresourceexpo.org/press-release. Be sure to check this website in the coming months for exciting enhancements as we continue to fulfill our mission of giving people with disabilities and their loved ones easy access to resources needed for a wonderful quality of life.
Sincerely,
The Champaign County Developmental Disabilities Board, The Champaign County Mental Health Board,
and The DISABILITY Resource Expo Steering Committee