[Video description can be found below. If you use a screen reader and need to access the English or Spanish caption file transcript, go to "More..." and click on "Transcript"]

Enjoy President Melissa's last video for the 2016-2018 term! She discusses the five priorities from 2016-2018, shares a quick update for some committees, and encourages you to join us in Hartford -- it's not too late!

Priorities Update: Link

Join us in Hartford: Hartford.nad.org


VIDEO DESCRIPTION AND TRANSCRIPT: Melissa is standing outside in front of bright green bushes. A small white NAD logo appears on bottom right corner.

MELISSA: Hi, this is my last video for the 2016-2018 term! It's hard to believe so many things happened in the past two years! Everyone at the NAD, including the staff, the board, volunteers, and our friends put in a lot of work. There are three areas I'd like to share. First, the five priorities that were assigned to the NAD two years ago: National Employment Resources Center, Enhance NAD Information Clearinghouse and Communications Strategy, Child Protective Services and Best Practices with Respect to Language/Culture, Campaign to End Language and Cultural Deprivation, and Creation of Mental Health Training Program and a Communication Hub on Health Related Information. We made significant progress on all of these priorities, and the work on some of these priorities will be ongoing. You can go to Link to view the status report for all five priorities. The second thing is to recognize the contributions of the committees. While there are many wonderful committees, I will highlight the work of three specific committees. The Youth Strategy Team has been active for six years and they recently evolved into a Youth Section of the NAD. Anyone interested in youth development and programs can join the Youth Section. The second committee worked on developing the Gift of Language Campaign, which seeks to provide information for parents and families who have deaf children. The campaign encourages these families to use sign language with their deaf child at an early age. And the third committee: the Interpreter Referral Agency Accreditation Committee has been exploring different possible systems to determine best practices and accreditation for agencies. Next, the last thing I wanted to discuss is about the NAD Conference which is approaching fast. Some of you may have thought you missed your chance to register for the conference - It's not too late! You can purchase at the door during the conference! You'll be able to register to attend the workshops, the exhibits, or the NAD@Night events. Join us in Hartford!

Video fades to a soft white background with several different font types showing “NAD” very quickly. Copyright video ends with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo centered. Blue text below the logo appears, “The National Association of the Deaf / (copyright) 2018 All Rights Reserved / Link . After a few beats, a yellow highlight appears with the URL.