Bio
Ms. Maxson is the Project Director for the Expanding Networks through Recreation and Empowerment (ENTRE) project.
Prior to heading up this project, she served as Logistics Coordinator for the Rural Institute’s Adult Community Services and Supports Department for the past 10 years. In that capacity she has developed and overseen the management plan for all project publications and dissemination activities. She edited and formated all the publications for the department, including the quarterly newsletter the Rural Exchange (circulation 5,000), annual monographs, and Ruralfacts, two to four page fact sheets on a range of training topics.
In addition to her work at the Rural Institute, Ms. Maxson has worked with Montana People First for the past nine years. She served as the Missoula People First Chapter advisor for five years, supporting members to write their by laws and guiding them through the Aktion Club Chartering process under the stewardship of the local Kiwanis group. For the last seven years, Ms. Maxson has advised People First on the state-wide level. She organized, developed, and led a series of trainings for representatives from the various Chapters that resulted in their writing a constitution for the group and forming the Montana People First Senate. Currently she facilitates the Senate meeting and trains the Senators on organizational development at bi-annual meetings.
For the past five years Ms. Maxson, on behalf of the Montana Citizen Advocacy Coalition (MCAC), has developed proposals and procured funding for Montana People First. She has written the annual grant to the Montana Council on Developmental Disabilities, which provides primary funding for Montana People First, yielding a total of $250,000 in grant funds. Additionally, Ms Maxson has successfully written grants from the National Center for Self Determination and 21st Century Leadership and the Region VIII RCEP-CTAT for Montana People First. For Missoula People First, Ms. Maxson wrote and administered two grant funded projects: Get Tiffany a Job, $5,000 from CTAT and License to Independence, $17,000 from the Montana Council on Developmental Disabilities, which provided funding to teach People First members how to drive and get their licenses and leveraged an additional $87,000 in funds for people to purchase their own cars.
As part of her work with People First, Ms. Maxson supervises publication of the state-wide newsletter, the People First Press. This newsletter features stories written by adults with disabilities.
Ms. Maxson has an MA in English and a BA in History, both from the University of Montana.
|
