Transcripts For CSPAN Public Affairs 20130225

Protein and so forth. We tried to reformulate the School Lunch Program to provide more food fruits and legibles vegetables, less fat, sodium, and sugar. We improved programs to provide more healthy choices. We have used our Step Education efforts to educate those who are on the Food Stamp Program how they might be able to stretch their dollar a little bit better by purchasing fruits and vegetables. We have done a study suggesting they are not as expensive as some people think they are. We have expanded opportunities to use snap cards of farmers markets so folks have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Looking at several other initiatives we will launch this year. So that has been jinn the terms of particularly the school lunch and School Breakfast program, dealing with the obesity issue and the hunger issue. They are twin evils. Too many of our youngsters are suffering from either one of those. They do not perform as well and school, they have chronic diseases to take into adulthood , which obviously impedes their quality of life, and increases healthcare costs. There is quite a bit of activity. We have a super Tracker Program that over one Million People are currently using that provides tips and information on how you might be able to make healthy life choices. It is on our website. I get an email once every couple weeks about whether or not i am doing what i said i would do with fruits and vegetables. So i think there is a concerted effort. I think you probably see a bit more promotion of the in the upcoming months as we launch School Nutrition month. That is an opportunity for us to emphasize this. The last thing i would say is we have seen a dramatic increase in gardens and Community Gardens and school gardens. I often comment that i appreciate the first lady gets a lot of attention on her garden. We now have 1800 peoples gardens throughout the United States and around the world. These are usda sponsored efforts. Working with keep america beautiful. As a result we donated nearly 3 Million Pounds of produce to food kitchens and food banks. So she gets a lot of attention for her garden, but i guess she is first lady so she should. We do have 1800, mentoring gardens. I would just add that i think first of all i applaud the secretarys efforts here. I think we have made great progress. We have a long way to go. We are at the 20 yard line with 80 yards to go. I think we all have to recognize that far more collectively than we do today, how much of a challenge we have in changing our Healthcare System to a wellness system. That means far greater degree of attention to exercise as well as nutrition. Nutrition really has two components. It has the combination of foods we eat, but it is also a factor of our portions. Our portions are so much bigger. We have to begin to address that part of it as well. We have the caloric intake for children, leading to a situation where Life Expectancy is actually going down in the country. We can turn that around. But it is going to take a lot more education and a concerted effort around nutrition and taking personal responsibility for ones health. In a wellness system rather than a health system. The honor of the last question. Wait, i will go way over there. I am from fresno, california. This question is for the entire panel. iqr m .  . 1so . I want to do more. I am embarrassed to say i have some connection with that. One of the things the governor asked me to do was to relay a story i relayed last october. I will do that. I grew up in eastern south dakota along the minnesota border. The plains are so flat that if your dog runs away, you can see him for several days. [laughter] corn and soybean country. My grandparents came from denmark in 1903. They were teenagers. Got married in iowa and bought a small farm in south dakota, where my father was born three years later right in the farmhouse there on that firm where they had bought. Farm. Dad was bought born was born profoundly deaf. I had to laugh when i was with him at a doctors appointment and the nurse tried to take his temperature was one of those birkenau the monitors. Of course, that had no ear canal the monitors. Of course, he had no ear canal. Back in those days, it was still farming with horses. He was one of four children. Two were profoundly deaf. What was going up, dad would tell me how they would get up in the morning and they were Still Using Oil lamps when he was young girl. Young. They would get up in the morning when it was still dark and my grandfather would milking cows for milk for the household. My uncle howard would harness the horses and get them ready for the field work and that would feed the cattle and the halt and they would come back in for breakfast. That was the beginning of their firm base. Farm days. Dad talked about in those that was the beginning of their farm days. They would harness the horses through a wagon and go to turn into their business. On the way home, it was about 10 miles involving several corners and turns. They could just go to sleep because the voices knew the way home. That was horses knew the way home. That was farm life in those days. They attended school 25 miles away. Was to been far to go in those days every day. It was too far to go. They rode the train and they will live in sioux falls at the dorm and come home on some weekends. In those days, technology was limited and there were few services for the deaf. My mother was born in Council Bluffs i wish theCouncil Bluffs Council Bluffs, iowa. She was born profoundly deaf. She had severe hearing loss. Only if she had her hearing aid and was looking right at you. Mom and dad met in their late thirties and got married and settled around on our family farm. . Parents were gone by then dads parents were gone. Mom and dad lived there in the same firm house where dad had been born. Both of my parents taught me the value of hard work and i saw their pride and so sufficiently. When i was going up, we had a herd of milk cows. For me, it was up every morning at 5 00 to milk the cows with dad and back at it every evening after school. The farm was not big enough to making going of its with just that quarter going of it with just that quarter section. Dad had an offfarm job, too. I remember when the cabinetmaking shop where dad was a cabinetmaker closed. Dad could not find work. I was little, but i remember still today, parents argued in sign language, which is vigorous and quiet. [laughter] how they argued about unemployment. Dad did not want to accept unemployment. Mom was worried about food on the table. Dad found a job as a janitor where he ended up demonstrated the same loyalty to the employer. He worked there for another 10 years. And my mom worked as well. He was trying to make firm payments at the time. Farm. I do not know how he kept it up, but he did she was trying to make farm payments at the time. I cannot know how he kept it up, but he did. There were a few products offered to help the deaf. A microphone was caught in the crib when i was an infant. Kept in the crib. When i would cry, it would cause a switch to cause a light two so that my parents would know i was crying. A light to flash so that my parents would know i was crying. In this world, people with disabilities often develop higher levels of determination and a compass men because they have to. And accomplishment. With the support of their friends, those disabilities can drain just as we all do with what has disabilities or not. Can dream. We are all challenge. If we aspire low, we will achieve to lay low. If we aspire higher, we will achieve higher whether we have a disability or not. Some would get people with disabilities and say he cannot or she cannot. They focus on the disability. It is more important for all of us. It is what is inside. Persons with disabilities are no different from those without disabilities. They are the same in the most important way. We have our own well. Will. A person is going to fail if they think like a failure. When my parents were first married and my mother became pregnant a year later, people in our own family wondered how they could raise children, these two of people. Deaf people. How would the children learn anything . How would they learn to talk temple they were focusing on the disability. Fainted how would they learn to talk . They were focusing on the disability. My sisters and i were high achievers. Our pens and still seeing right to values in us. Our parents instilled the right values in us. My sisters were at the top of their classes aunt clara successful in their careers, but i went into politics. Sorry, mom. My father helped linda and me when we build our home. We bought the farmhouse and move in with them and build our own home with our own hands across the yard. I would never have done that if the fund had not set, you can do this. We hired someone to dig i would not have done that if my father had not said, you can do this. I would never have had the courage to try that if my dad had not said, we can do this. And we did. When i was growing up, my sisters and i were the interpreters for dad and mom when outsiders came to the farm or when we went out in public. If dad had an appointment with the doctor, i would go and interpret. Or when outsiders came to the farm. More often than not, if i was not there, they would communicate by writing on a piece of paper back and forth to communicate. When a Television Show was playing, that would watch the pictures, but the conversations or inaccessible to him. If he wanted to contact one of his the french, i would have to contact a neighbor so friends, i would have to contacting able to walk over and find out if the french friend was at home. Or dad would just go 25 miles. Today, if that were still living, i could call him on my cell phone and dial a Relay Service and reach an mean the operator and the relay operator with, thats internet protocol operator and a light would flash on top of the television in mind that would pick up the remote and he would push the button on the remote and instead of watching the cbs evening news, he would be looking at a video interpreter say, hi, dad, its dennis calling, how are you . I am on my phone in the office and he is in the living room. Changes to not happen overnight. Dad had to adapt to that. He could not watch television in his underwear anymore. [laughter] the point i am making is that technology has provided meeting tools to workers with disabilities. Tools. New whether they are video Relay Services or electric wheelchairs or whatever they may be, a lot of technology has made the world of work more accessible to citizens with his ability than it ever was before. In south dakota, in our Custer State Park, the State Game Lodge has a guest week named for president calvin coolidge. In the days before air conditioning, he wanted to get out of hot and humid d. C. In the summer. He went to our Custer State Park any life is so much he stay for three months and made it the summer white house. One of the swede is named for kelvin clueless. I mention that because he says something was i think isnt one of isuites is named for kelvin of the suites is named for calvin coolidge. He said the world is full of educated derelicts. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Today, we talk about and recognize people like my parents, who surmounted disabilities and achieve success in the world of work. These are people who have worked harder than most. They had to. They are people with determination and courage. I am unearned 1 i am among them. We also honor their employers. I am honored with i am among them. These employers know that hiring people with disabilities is good business. Adversity builds character and people with character and good employees. Thanks for giving me your time and attention. I have enjoyed this panel. I have enjoyed being with you last october, jack. I thank all of the players here who open their minds and job sites to which employees with disabilities. By helping them, you are helping yourselves. Your efforts also unlocked doors formally formerly closed to workers with disabilities. You give people like my parents a chance to live their lives with dignity. Theiro provide for d little boys back home. Thank you. [applause] governor, thank you very much for that powerful, a personal story. You can tell by the reaction how much of a buddy is tinged by that. How much everybody is kept by that. I just want to ask you one short followup question. Because of your own experience and what you have seen and what you have left, what is one thing you as a governor can do to make employing people with disabilities more possible, more realistic for employers in your state and other states . I have been impressed with the past the steps that are offered to talk about the leadership from the top and involve people with disability involving people with disabilities. Implement first is a policy that your state is going to follow. Employment first. Citizens with disabilities the best service the government can give is help with finding employment. To help parents understand that if they have a child with disabilities, they can inculcate in that child the notion that i am expected to work when i become an adult instead of the notion that, i am disabled and i cannot work. It is all in ones head. For those with disabilities who wants to work, we should be racing to find opportunities for them to work. It is usually beneficial. Mutually beneficial. I would like to turn next to governor malloy of connecticut. You have worked with walgreens. You want to tell us about your experience. I spoke with the prospect of walgreens and we use that Distribution Center as a role model to bring people in and out of there on a constant basis. We have centers being built nearby. It is our hope that everyone will model walgreens on that. We have taken a holistic approach. One of the big problems for people with disabilities and can work is that frequently they can only work part time. A twist between working part time with no benefits and causing you to a choice between working part time with no benefits and losing benefits because you are working. We have designed a particular program. If you are a person with disabilities can you get a job, we are still going to provide the Health Benefits that you need that are not provided to your pull employer. Provided through your employer. You want people to have the experience of working. This is a commonsense approach to make sure people with disabilities do not have to choose between but the they are going to see their doctor or whether they are going to work. In the walgreens situation, they provide the level of benefits. A lot of employers are not in a position to do that. We also have a connection to work program. We work with people with disabilities to link them to employers who are willing to employ them or give them a shot or give them an interview. It is an activist program. All of our social Service Agencies are heavily involved in this. We have another Program Content ability that works across disabilities and age groups to remove all the barriers that prevent people from being able to work. Connectability. We provide Information Tools and Technical Assistance to job seekers and we offered to help train a employers on how to interact and how to employ a person with disabilities. Lots of people have a desire in the heart to do it, but they do not have the experience to do it. We are trying to provide a system that will speak areas to employees employee is to hiring people with disabilities. We try to make sure people can learn from a distance to get the skill sets they mean that they will be able to use in an employment situation. We are taking this very holistic. I have all of my social Service Commission to get the on a regular basis. We talk about employing people with disabilities. I mentioned this yesterday. The scene of the reasons we are interested in doing this and are so committed to it in connecticut are twofold. We have seen an increase in disabled veterans as a result of these two wars. That pipeline is going to continue long after the wars are over as people get to a level of rehabilitation that might allow them to be employed parttime or fulltime. We all it to these patriots to make sure that i have a child. We owe it to these patriots to make sure they have a job. We should do everything in our power with respect with that. There is another issue. More people are being diagnosed with all the testing that goes with autism. The numbers have gone up significantly diagnosed with autism. People with severe altus and autism will be able to work at least parttime. We have to make sure the job pipeline is there. Warehousing people. We have done that in our country for a long time. Some of our states have made Real Progress on that away from large warehouse to smaller where houses. The best place to spend your day if you have a disability or if you have autism or if you are a veteran who has the engine is in a job fulltime or parttime. Who has been injured ins in a job in a fulltime or part time. Job to bring down the barriers. I would like to turn to the governor of iowa. You have your own set of experiences. Judy, thank you very much. Id like to acknowledge emily, who contributed coffee products that are part of the greenbacks that goodie bags that mrs. Markell is committed. She is a disabled Business Owner and is successful. We have embarked on a program in i will call the skilled iowa initiative. This is designed to improve little skills. Middle skills. We have a metal skills gap in our state. We travel throughout the state and we talk to employers that have Jobs Available, but they cannot find people with the right skill set. It is a publicprivate partnership. We have gotten some private sector people to contribute to help people upgrade their skills. This program is not just limited to people with disabilities. We are specifically focusing on maximizing the opportunity for people to improve their skills and their competitiveness and people with disabilities are an important part of this. We are partnering and collaborating with the private sector with on the job customized training. Customized to the individuals means so they have the skills sense for those jobs that are out there in the marketplace skills sense skillsets for those jobs that are out there in the marketplace. We have many i will companies and many state agencies involved in this. Iowa also has a Transition Program for use with disabilities to assist them in making the transition from high school to the workplace or on to higher education. Iowa has expanded our opportunities through Virtual Access points for people seeking employment and we have Onestop Career Centers to allow the state. Centers throughout the state. These Onestop Career Centers are open on saturdays so that they are more accessible to people to assist iowans with disabilities in counseling. We recognize this is critically important. Senator harkins from iowa has been a real eye as a kid. Real advocate. A quick followup. Is there an obstacle to doing more of what you have done . What would you say is the main thing that is holding you back . Is it just funding . The other speakers have addressed this. Part of it is a mindset, getting people to think outside the box in little bit. Hearing from other employers who have had good success. People with disabilities have greater determination. They have less absenteeism. They are great employees. Those businesses that have had experiences hiring people with disabilities find that out and become really good applicants. Good advocates. We have to utilize those people. We are from walgreens yesterday as amicus to convince others to try it. Have a kid advocates to convince others to try it. It has got to be individualized. It does vary depending on the individual and the workplace. We need to customize it to meet the needs of the individual, but also with the accommodations that might be necessary. As you have heard, those are not that expensive. I want to call on governor herbert of utah. You have also been thinking about this issue and have your own experiences in utah. Thank you, judy. We all think about it and nothing been thinking about it more thanks to governor markell. I think all of us are such an impacted by people with disabilities. In my family, i have a couple of special needs children. We have friends and quinces and acquaintances with children with disabilities. We all have limitations. Some are more noticeable than others. We are all in that group of humanity where we are not perfect. I appreciate this issue being brought forward. I just say amen to all that has been said already. I have a lady that works for me, i director of Workforce Services. She has been very good at dishing out to the department of Workforce Services good at reaching out to people with disabilities. Shes a graduate of Brigham Young university. She has a 3. 9 gpa. Pretty smart lady. She has studied abroad and work abroad. She was part of maryland governors cabinet. She was the secretary of the First Department of disabilities. The first in the nation. She ran for Lieutenant Governor in maryland. She has been successful in public and private life. She moved back to utah and we put her in the department of Workforce Services. She has done some great things. We have a people with disabilities network, which she helped organize. It is designed to reach out to businesses, of which we have 328, and help them connect with people with disabilities, actually targeting people with disabilities for their open positions. They have a job fair ataxia. We have training at the companies sunday they have a job fair twice a year. Chris has done a great job in reaching out. She has done such a great job that i just promoted her to be my budget director and the director of our office of management and budget. She set a high bar for all of us to follow in what she has done in our department of Workforce Services. The goal is to improve utahs government efficiency by 25 percent over the next five years. Four years. It is not what she has done, it is what she has overcome. She is blind. She is an inspiration and a motivation for anybody she is around. Just like judith in your inspirational message and others that we note with us to do more and make sure we are giving them that we know to motivate us to do more and make sure we are giving them every opportunity. As judith and dennis have said, it is a mindset. Chris would tell you that she had a good role models, people in her family and who encouraged her. People have that cando spirit. We have to make sure they believe they can do it. We also need to say we believe you can, too. That is the mindset and shift we need to embrace. It is that a matter of what you cannot do. It is what you can do. We need to find opportunities to help them. I grabbed chris resume before i came over. It is six pages long. She said people with disabilities are just like everybody else. If they want to have a home and a family and continue to society and have a job and give that can help others. Contribute to society. That is a desire we all have. There is no difference. We have differences and limitations. We all have liabilities and it is really us working together that is the important thing. I appreciate markell for bringing this to our attention. What we are doing is learning from each other best practices. We are more sensitive to those that we are maybe a little more ambivalent in our activities in life. We need to reach out more. It is not just government that needs to reach out. It is our privatisation. Private businesses are finding ways to employ those with disabilities it is our private organizations. And they are improving their bottom line. This is a great forum for us to learn from each other. At the end of the day, we are all trying to find ways to give extended opportunity to those who have disabilities so that they can give back to society and helpless allpro and progress of the. Help us all grow and progress together. Thanks, jack to those who have disabilities so that they can give back to society. Thanks, jack. I want to make sure the the body was to contribute to this discussion, who has an experience make sure everybody who wants to continue to this discussion, who has an experience of their own. Governor walker, i want to hear from you. I know this is an area of interest and i want to give you a chance to weigh in on it. Thank you. Thanks to governor markell. Where i grew up was the home of the circus. It was also the home for the school of the deaf in wisconsin. Both of my neighbors or death, so thank you for mentioning that. Thank you for reinforcing the message about how powerful this is. Weve got a program in wisconsin, verisimilar to what we heard yesterday from greg in terms of walgreens, walgreens is expanding a program where we work with a number of our not just about finding people with disabilities, finding positions for them, but rather working with employers to find out where their needs are. The governor mentioned this in terms of iowa and finding out with the skills work. In our case, the most exceptional jobs in our hospitals for areas where they have incredible need. We toward one of our hospital sunday for sterilizing surgical equipment. They need to find people without any without any error rate. We had people who could do repetitive work. They could do it well every time. Critz fulfillment. It was wonderful in terms of the therapeutic work that was being done. In return, the hospitals cut dedicated, wellprepared, will focus to employees. Dedicated to, well prepared, wellfocused employees. We heard about that. The other thing i mentioned i mention this to chat as well i had the honor to jack as well. I had the honor of going out to take our legislators to work today. We had a company where a young man named patrick works at a company where they make wristbands for festivals or events or Amusement Parks. More of these or wristbands per year. He coordinates all of this. He makes sure that it is lined up. Patrick, he has a Developmental Disability. The only is it good for the employer in terms of feeling good, he has increased their productivity. The other employees are excited. It has been a morale boost. People look forward to coming to work when he is them because of the motivation he gives to other the police who may not have the same Developmental Disability that he has. To other people. We all have our own deficiencies one way or another. We have heard from a number of individuals. What the state governments need to do to begin to identify those employers who have certain needs that can be filled by people with disabilities . What is that process like . I would like to hear from you and anyone else. We learned a lot of useful information. Those goingone of beyond just focusing on people with disabilities, to get into what probably all of us are focused on, which is workforce development. We hear over and over again from employers that there are Jobs Available at, but there are skills gaps. To the extent that we can get people disabilities who may have expertise either fulltime or parttime, not just to help people with disabilities, if we could do a better job of that, it would be a benefit to our employers. You had your hand up. Part i would like to say that all of you are employers, some of the biggest interstates. I would like to reiterate what i said earlier. Some of you are doing this. It is important to have a team of your senior people that are being held accountable. Theres been a lot of work going on for many years, state departments of labor where there are working more closely together with various programs getting information on what they are actually doing and h looking at whether people are moving up or not. Also, looking at what you are doing with the department of rehabilitation. Its 80 federal, 20 state. Some states are not meeting that. I think its a program that if you are really Holding People accountable, it is one that is really focused on working with the public and privatesector. And so, i think it is something to look at. Otherwise, dollars are not coming into the state. Theres a new program that is currently being pushed forward, which some of you may want to look at. It is the promise program, focusing on where credit is for individuals who are in high school and are on ssi. Pure states are able to apply for it. I encourage you to look at that. At the end of the day, all of you sitting at this table are doing it not just because it is an initiative of governor marc markell, but it is if you are committed to diversity. Making this a nonpartisan issue where we can year after year see increasing numbers of disabled people being maintained, advancing, and recruited in the public and private sector, i think will produce all the results you have all discussed. And that disability is no longer an edge issue but one that we look at when we discuss race and age and gender. Anyone else want to weigh in on the point she just made . I would like maybe to hear again from anyone about what is stopping this from happening . What are the pressure points that we should be focused on this morning . What is holding it back in any place where it is being held at . Prof. Van horne or neal. I mentioned earlier that fear can finish to prevent our jobs as employers, to share our success stories, to get in front of any organization that we can, if be local groups, ptas or whatever groups where we can share our story, because its compelling. Ptas work because we have young people coming into the workforce. Any opportunity you have as employers to tell your success stories. It does not always work, but the success is very much out wave of failures. Its our job to be the advocates, our job to be in front of as many people as we can, be it through the internet or public speaking or by making ourselves available to mentor someone whos thinking about hiring and maybe are sitting on the fence. The arc has use me and i have a 100 success rate because they come in and see what we have done. It changed peoples minds. I think everybody wants to do the right thing, but theres always that fear, that concern. One of the concerns is how much will this cost . We are in that same boat. Our cost was less than 500. Well worth it. The track record of our employees with disabilities bears this out. They are always at their quotas and among the best attendees we have in our organization. Theyre always happy to be at work and are always leading the rest of us by their enthusiasm and ability. The arc is in all 50 states . Thats right. Governor herbert . What is the optical . I think a lot of it is because there is a question in some minds of can they do the work . That is a stigma that needs to be changed and we find more and more how capable of these folks are. With a little training and accommodations, they can be better and more productive than those we consider not disabled. In utah, we have a Faith Based Organization sponsored by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. They have been involved in this for many, many years. Picture a goodwill store, used products and things. It has a lot of labor. It is designed to be a Training Ground for people that need help and work and for people with disabilities, it teaches them how to work and they convince themselves i can work, i can do the job. So it reinforces their self estimations of their capabilities and it also shows to the privatesector world out there that folks are doing. They have already been doing the works successfully. With a twoyear training, these people transition from unemployment to privatesector employment because of a Faith Based Organization stepping up. It teaches them they can do it and it teaches other people they can do it. An example of all sectors working together. Professor . I just wanted ads, the best way to address this question is to help employers find qualified workers, which is what i think all governors want to do. If that person happens to have a disability to, to make sure that does not become a barrier of the person getting a competitive job, because as weve said before, the idea that people who are disabled cannot work is a myth. There are many qualified people. Theres some momentum. Im optimistic, because i see not Just Companies here today but many of the largest especially the Retail Companies in the United States, whether its walmart, cvs, toysrus, blows come improvement, going out to hire people with disabilities, because they know it is a successful business homeice lowes improvement. Government should make sure the services are necessary person can find a fulltime job. When the employer is seeking qualified worker, that disabled workers are also a priority on a list of people qualified to work. I am optimistic that theres some momentum here notches because of this meeting but but because of what i see in the private sector, a change of attitude, a greater sensitivity, and a better understanding of the business case, because it really is an opportunity for them to have productive workers and to make money, which is what they are all about. I think its great to end. Just one last chance appeared just to be able to take a look at peoples disabilities that we bring in as employees, they work with out products and services. In the areas of the atm, working with the white house for the blind, and in partnership with state agencies, to enhance the products, and that becomes a demonstration that its not just a discussion but we are demonstrating to that population that we understand your needs, value your contributions, and come work with us and for us. And the same thing with video relay. An employee asked for that as an accommodation and a step forward and said there is a large deaf population in my community, could we do this as a channel to reach out to them, to make the type of business and sucked reach out to them . We were like, lets do it. Success stories all around. Thank you. Thank you for that. I was going to say, its great to end on a note of realistic optimism, because of this conversation we have all learned something from the personal stories we have heard and the experiences the governors have had and from those of you on the panel. I want to thank all of you. Prof. Van horne, mrs. Mcgovern, mr. Christopher, and judith heumann, and governor markell. Just real quickly, we spoke yesterday about medicaid and waivers yesterday. We were able to work through over a threeyear process to get partnership for hope, a medicaid waiver for Work Training and other services. We were the only state in the country and to have that. The governors want to see how you go through that. I at least know what the tussles are through the bureaucracy. It is provided 2500 families and we will add another thousand families this year. We focus on folks with disabilities beyond the age of 18 because of the challenge. In high school theres a lot of socialization and training. What we were seeing in missouri those were falling off and heading into much darker lives without opportunity. So we took the 18 and above section and a together a waiver that included local, state, and federal and worked our way through the process. We will have 3500 folks that have been on a waiting list for services, all sorts of services, job coaches, physical rehabilitation services. Some of those have been on the waiting list of through nine years. We have been able to get those down. Its our hope that within 20 months we will have that waiting list down to nothing. So those services will be directly provided. Ands been a Incredible Program for me. There was a young fellow when he graduated from high school was able proof physical training to walk all the way around the track and his Old Highschool class applauded him. He made a quarter mile. He could not afford services after high school and there were carrying him up and down steps within a few years to get to his bedroom. Now he has a job working at a theater. There are countless stories. There are ways to make it through existing programs. Anybody wants to give me or my colleagues anybody wants to get with me or my policy folks. With a cap at 12,000 or whatever, we found that families that were involved in the process, the vast majority of them accessed far fewer services than the cap, because they only took what they knew. We communicated from the front that if you only take what you need, that we will be able to serve more people. So we have exceeded every target as far as the number of people serviced by explaining to the families that only to access exactly what you need and what you can do is help others in line behind you. Instead of having we originally thought we would have won a thousand and instead we got 1500 and so on. I think we will vastly exceed 3500 families and move the waiting list down to zero. We call the Program Partnership for hope. You are trying to prevent folks from having to go to institutions later in life because of physical disabilities. So we have a lot of stuff on that if people want to know how doorsng on the right feds and force them to do stuff. [laughter] judy, thank you for moderating this panel. I want to thank governor markell to bring the issue to light that many times is not discussed as much as it should be across our nation. We have heard some great examples on how we can help our very special americans, special families across our nation. We wanted to thank the companys debt step forward and create great partnerships. In oklahoma we have some great partnerships and programs with Great Success in helping those with disabilities be able to find great quality of life and work and improve the whole situation of how they live their lives. One of the things that came to light in listening to all these discussions is that in our state we have a very low unemployment rate. So we have a challenge between employers and employees, looking for jobs, how do you maks the two together . We established a website through the department of commerce that takes skill sets of employees to prepare a resumes and it puts the employers into the system itself that need skill sets. One of the areas that have just come through light for me is we need to integrate those who have disabilities with those skills since into this Job Match Program so we can better hope of our employees with those looking for skill sets and matt kemp. Hook up our employees. So thank you for that. One last thing, listening governor Dennis Daugaards story, i just want to sell your story about your parents is absolutely remarkable, a true american story of true grit true grit, never giving up. Your parents greatest accomplishment has been producing a son whos the ceo and taking care of the whole state. And that is you, governor. [applause] i certainly agree with that. Judy, thank you very much. Youre really helped us to elevate the conversation today. So much appreciate you taking the time. To all the panelists, very grateful to you. You did a great job, very insightful. I want to thank the other governors who participated as well. It was really interesting. The nga staffas done as a normal job on the project and we still have several months ago. I want to thank my secretary of health and social services in delaware. Rita has been a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities. She is our cabinet secretary, as well as missy weir from our washington team. I want to remind everybody about the governors institutes that are coming up in may. One will be in pittsburgh, hosted by the governor. We appreciate that. One of them will be in washington state, most either governor. It is intended for governors and senior advisers. The purpose of this it will take even one level more specific in terms of practical, sensible things that states to do. I think we talk about a bunch of them here. Governor herbert was talking about expectations that we set. One of the things that came up a couple times today is for our young people, instead of getting them prepared to sign up for benefits when they are 17, get them accustomed to the fact that when they turn 70 or 18 they will be able to work and continue education in some cases. Its really important, the expectations issue. Governor bransted mention the work done by senator harkin. We would not able to get this work done had it not been for the senators work. I want to thank his staff here today who have been helpful in us developing our work. Senator harkin has been joined in congress by number of others. Congressman Pete Sessions from texas has been a very forceful advocate as well. Theyre not the only two, but they are two of the real leaders in this arena. We have an Incredible Opportunity. We have an Incredible Opportunity to move the needle. , by telling your story, that will most people in a way that a bunch of policy folks never could. The governors here today, i hope they will share that with other governors. When you combine doug story and the emotion behind it, the real emotion when you combine that story and the emotion behind it with things we can do, that is the holy grail. I think that is what will come out of these governors institutes. A day or a day and a half of your time is really a practical information and conversation and will have the potential of positively and profoundly impacting hundreds of thousands of people across this country. I really appreciate everybody spending so much time on it today. That includes that concludes our special session. Thank you. Thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] we will have more from the National Governors association today in a conversation with dr. Oz on Healthy Eating at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. Next, keith richburg. At 7 00, your calls and comments next on washington journal. The Arms Control Association holds an event today with a former ambassador on Irans Nuclear capabilities and a possible diplomatic solutions. The event is live at 2 30 p. M. On cspan3. We know Foreign Countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, our air Traffic Control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real perhaps to our security and our economy real threats. Year lot of concerns. One of the concerns we hear and we see it reflected. You have shared information with us about stuff that happened three months ago. What about now . Thats one reason were trying to increase our timeliness so we are out ahead of the issues. Were making progress. I think over the last year in particular we have really improved our ability to share information faster with the private sector. I also hear concerns from different sectors about ensuring that the of receptors that they rely on also are increasing their cybersecurity. If you are bank, and you are reliant on power and water and transportation to conduct your business. I frequently hear is that all the Companies Want to make sure all the Critical Infrastructure sectors are moving together to increase their cybersecurity, because everything is so interdependent. The president s new cybersecurity executive order, tonight at 8 00 eastern on c span2. On route 66, people were travelling either for fun or troubling looking for a job or maybe pull on their way to the grand canyon or on their way to work in agricultural field in california. At first group 66 was just a way to get somewhere. Your destination was in california. Later on, after all the snake pits started blossoming and all these tourist traps and attractions and cafes and motels and trading posts, Indian Trading posts, and those things started springing up, it almost became like a big Amusement Park along route 66 and became the destination. So it was not like can we go to the beach in californiagodad. It was can go down wrote 66 . Route 66 . Its one of the places youll see next weekend as we look behind the scenes of the history and literary life in albuquerque, march 2 and third on cspan2 and cspan3. March 2 and march 3. This [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] this week on q a, author and former reporter keith richburg. Keith richburg, what is the first thing you tell people about china . The first thing i tell people when they ask me about china, france coming over, people i meet who are not familiar with meet who are not familiar with it, is there is no one china