The Special Needs Consortium, a nonprofit organization, will partner with the Institute for Nonprofit Leadership at Slippery Rock University to host a new event, the Butler County Disability Summit, on May 16.

The summit will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Robert M. Smith Student Center on the campus of Slippery Rock University, and will provide information about the transition from childhood to adulthood for people with disabilities and special needs.

Special Needs Consortium spokesperson Chris Sherry said the program will serve as a “one-stop-shop” for anyone looking for information about how to prepare for the transition to adult life for young people with special needs. The event is not limited to only parents, but it is aimed at adults, she said.

“Those with disabilities who are 18-plus who want to learn more for themselves, and professionals that work with them, anyone who can really benefit from this, we’re really hoping they’ll come and see what we have to offer,” she said.

The keynote speaker, Marque Rudolph Stansberry, director of support services and program development from Jasmine Nyree Homes, will speak on transitional challenges to expanding services to the underserved.

The event’s online registration page also invited social workers, therapists, educators and human services professionals who have, or work with, individuals with special needs to participate.

Information available at the summit includes sessions on financial and estate planning, transition, Individualized Education Programs, autism and law enforcement, and advocacy, according to the event’s online registration page. The summit also will feature a vendor resource fair.

“I am, myself, a special needs parent, and I know it is learn-learn-learn,” Sherry said. “I feel it’s a one-stop-shop to meet all these agencies, groups and different people and to find out what they all do. It’s amazing how much information is out there, but there’s not one spot to find it all.”

The Special Needs Consortium, which was founded in 2017, has been planning the event with the Butler County commissioners since before the pandemic, she said.

“We work with all of the different agencies, schools and local governments in Allegheny, Butler and Beaver (counties) — the southwestern Pennsylvania area,” Sherry explained. “We’ve done some small things, so this is kind of the unveiling of our big thing. We’re looking forward to doing more things. We feel that we need to be a place where all these advocacy groups, support groups and different places come together.”

People can register for the summit at https://sncdisabilitysummit.eventbrite.com. The registration fee is $49 with no additional cost for continuing education credits. The summit has been approved for five continuing education credits for state licensed social workers.