PA Residents Honored as Community Leaders

Friday, February 10th, the White House Office of Public Engagement will host 150 of The ARC’s leaders, members, advocates, and staff from across the country as part of the White House Community Leaders Briefing Series. The ARC is one of the largest national community-based organizations advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. 

 

The White House Community Leaders Briefing Series, a weekly program that began in the summer of 2011, is a unique opportunity for grassroots leaders to start a two-way dialogue with the White House about issues that are affecting their communities and to ensure that they are well-informed about government policies and programs and how they can use or maximize these resources.

Two Pennsylvania residents are among those attending:

Bruce Hulick and Joe Hulick, Pennsylvania

Bruce Hulick is the executive director of The Arc of Philadelphia, and his son Joe Hulick, 29, will join him in Washington.  Joe has down syndrome and until recently, he worked at three different retail jobs.  In these tough economic times, Joe was laid off from two of those jobs. 

 

Bruce served in the Marine Corps and the Hulick family moved around a lot when Joe was growing up.  The Hulicks usually lived off base and Joe went to public school.  That meant having to start over each time to try to get the education services Joe needed. The Hulicks also started chapters of The Arc in places where they didn’t exist at the time, in South Carolina and in Orange County, California, so that there would be a network for families.