What is the Focus of the Program?

Partners in Leadership is an eight-session leadership training program designed to help individuals become confident community leaders and effective advocates for people with disabilities and special health care needs. It is an innovative leadership program that teaches participants how to influence systems and policy change at the local, state, and national levels.

The program is delivered through eight weekend sessions, each structured as a two-day conference-style training led by experienced advocates and policy experts from across the country. Because each session builds on the previous one, attendance at all sessions is required.

Participants gain practical knowledge about how education, disability, and community systems function and how individuals and families can shape change within them. Programs of this depth and quality would typically cost thousands of dollars to attend, but Partners in Leadership is offered at no cost to participants who are committed to fully engaging in the program.

Participants learn how to:

• Understand how disability, education, and community systems function
• Learn how policy and legislative processes impact services and supports
• Build foundational knowledge of governance, public policy, and civic engagement
• Develop leadership skills grounded in collaboration, communication, and ethical advocacy
• Translate lived experience into effective advocacy through testimony, public comment, and community leadership
• Engage constructively with school districts, agencies, community organizations, and elected officials

Who Should Apply?

Partners in Leadership is designed for individuals who want to strengthen their ability to advocate and lead within their communities.

We welcome applications from:

• Self advocate adults with disabilities or complex health care needs
• Parents or guardians raising children with disabilities or complex health care needs

Participants are selected through an application process that seeks individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and geographic regions of the state.

What You Will Gain

Through the program, participants gain the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to become effective advocates and leaders.

Participants will:

• Learn how disability policy and systems work at the local and state level
• Develop confidence in communicating with policymakers and decision makers
• Build relationships with other advocates, families, and community leaders
• Gain practical skills in advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement
• Become part of a growing network of leaders working to strengthen disability systems and community inclusion

Graduates leave the program better equipped to advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities while helping shape policies that impact people with disabilities.

Partners in Leadership is a leadership training program designed for self advocates and parents or caregivers of children with disabilities or special health care needs who are interested in strengthening their leadership and advocacy skills. Submitting an interest form and/or applying to the program does not guarantee acceptance, as participants are selected through an application process intended to build a diverse cohort of individuals who are committed to completing the full program. Partners in Leadership is based on the original program model developed in Minnesota and utilizes that framework. It does not incorporate curriculum, learning objectives, or materials from other advocacy or leadership programs. Raising Voices Coalition is the contract holder responsible for the execution of this program in Arizona for the 2026–2028 program period.