On Thursday, July 11, 2024, at 10:00 am, The Matthew Reardon Center for Autism will welcome REV UP Georgia for a seminar on voting. The seminar will be live-streamed and recorded.

Georgia is home to more than 650,000 eligible voters with a disability. However, citizens with disabilities were 5% less likely to vote than those without disabilities. MRCA will host Jessica Mathis and Derek Heard of REV UP Georgia for an informative seminar on the importance of the disability vote. They will discuss why it’s important to vote, how to register to vote, basic voting rights, and much more.

Jessica Mathis is a community and disability advocate in Savannah, Georgia. Jessica, a person with cerebral palsy, began her advocacy career shortly after graduating from Windsor Forest High School and volunteering at Living Independence for Everyone (LIFE, Inc.). A 2013 Georgia Southern University Armstrong Campus graduate, Jessica currently serves as Executive Director of Mixed Greens Savannah Incorporated and is Co-Chair of Rev Up Georgia.

Derek Heard Jr. is a graphic artist, entrepreneur, public speaker, and disability justice advocate from Albany, Georgia. A Fannie Lou Hamer Leadership Fellow, Derek also serves as a Georgia Youth Voice and Youth Choice Ambassador, Rev Up Georgia leadership member, Save my Vote Georgia Founding member and intern, Stacey Abrams Disability Council member, Uniting for Change founding member, Sangha Unity Network board member, and is the artist/owner of Derek’s Doodles, a graphic art business located in Albany, Georgia. He was awarded the 2018 Easter Seals Southern Georgia Annette Bowling Award, the 2022 the Employment Advocate of the Year through the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, the 2023 the Creativity Award through New Disabled South, and the 2024 Creativity Award for Synergies Works.

To register for this seminar, visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_f13zespSlnJuWkVAc7jHxBdEYCmGOpaHw30owemDxwKVPg/viewform?usp=sf_link.

REV UP Georgia is a statewide non-partisan volunteer coalition of individuals and groups dedicated to increasing participation in the electoral process by people with disabilities. This includes but is not limited to, helping people navigate the registration and voting process, assuring that they are able to cast their vote, engaging them to participate in all forms of the political process, and educating the public and candidates about disability issues. REV UP is also a national initiative.  REV UP stands for “Register, Educate, Vote, Use your Power!” REV UP’s mission is to foster civic engagement and protect the voting rights of Americans with disabilities. The REV UP network is composed of grassroots coalitions and partner organizations that work to advance the Disability Vote.

Established in 2000, the Matthew Reardon Center for Autism, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation in Savannah, GA, provides autism-related advocacy and outreach across southeast Georgia and operates southeast Georgia’s only accredited, year-round day school for children with autism. To learn more about the Matthew Reardon Center for Autism, visit matthewreardon.org.