Momentum
A quarterly newsletter of the Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities
Winter 2026 edition
LCBDD Superintendent/CEO Alex Corwin: 'We want to hear from you!'
"I am excited to join LCBDD as our current strategic plan comes to an end in 2026.
Throughout this year, we will build a variety of opportunities for people and families served, partners and staff to provide input into LCBDD’s priorities for 2027 through 2029.
Our focuses will include building an inclusive Licking County through education, housing, and hiring practices; supporting advocacy skill development and opportunities for self-advocates to be heard and connecting families with each other for peer support and mentorship.
Regardless of how you support or are supported by LCBDD, please feel empowered to share your story and vision for an inclusive Licking County.
The first stakeholder group we will be targeting are the families and caregivers of children and youth with disabilities.
Of the roughly 2,700 people we serve, roughly two-thirds of them are under 21. Many of these families are engaging with LCBDD for the first time or recently received a disability diagnosis for their child. Their experiences are important to us.
Please take a moment to click here to respond to our short survey. Over the next few months, you may see this survey at community events or receive it from your Service Coordinator. We need your vision of an inclusive Licking County to guide our organization."
LCBDD News
Join us in celebrating DD Awareness Month!
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and there are many ways to celebrate!
LCBDD will be reaching out to our county municipalities to share information about DD Awareness Month and donating an inclusive children’s book to every first grade classroom in our county. We will also be unveiling a new format for our annual report that celebrates the stories of people we support. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages (@lcountydd) where we will share more information throughout the month.
If you want to engage with others around Ohio, check out the virtual broadcast of DD Awareness and Advocacy Day at the Ohio Statehouse at 10 a.m. March 4 at facebook.com/OhioDDAwareness.
Learn more about Coffee, Tea & Autism!
Coffee, Tea & Autism is a parent-lead support group in Licking County that focuses on supporting parents and guardians of children with disabilities. The group meets at 4 p.m. on the third Sunday of the month at Liberty Christian Academy in Pataskala. For more information, email ctaconnectingadults@gmail.com.
Learn more about the Blue Envelope program!
Now in 84 Ohio counties, the Blue Envelope program provides information to officers, deputies or emergency personnel to support a driver or passenger with disabilities.
Each envelope has space for emergency contacts, notes that help support the person and can hold copies of important documents that can he helpful during a traffic stop. LCBDD staff members have been working in cooperation with local law enforcement to spread the word that envelopes are still available.
People supported by LCBDD should ask their Service Coordinator about the program. Envelopes can also be picked up at the LCBDD office at 116 N. 22nd Street in Newark during business hours ( 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday- Friday). For more information, contact Anna Jeffries at anna.jeffries@lcountydd.org or 740-322-6911.
Click here learn more and read Nicole’s story (pictured above).
Momentum Refresh is BACK!
Mark your calendars for these upcoming events and make plans knowing that there will be a fully accessible restroom — with a universal changing table with a hoist, and accessible toilet and sink — that will be available for anyone who wants to attend!
You can find our most current list of events below or by clicking this link for the schedule on our website.
Please help us share this far and wide, because we know that accessible restrooms makes a huge difference that goes far beyond the DD community. When events are more inclusive, our entire community benefits!
- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 14: Licking Regional ESC Inclusive Family Fun Fair at Heath Middle School, 310 Licking View Drive, Heath.
- 4 to 7 p.m. May 2: LCBDD’s Summer Kickoff, Canal Market District, 36 E. Canal St., Newark.
- 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 19: LCBDD’s Family Fall Festival, 5000 Taylor Road SW, Pataskala.
We can’t do our job without the support of the community! LCBDD staff members are using this space to express our gratitude to providers and members of the community who have gone above and beyond.
I’d love to give a shout out to Travis King! Travis moves mountains for his clients, as well as all of their families and Service Coordinators. He goes above and beyond to help everyone he crosses paths with, and makes sure tocommunicate to be certain that everyone is on the same page and feels heard. I feel incredibly grateful to work alongside Travis, and can’t say enough great things about him! —Emily Knapp, Service Coordinator
I would like to give a shout out to the VocHab Coordinator at PALS, Ryan Nethers. —Aly Nethers, Service Coordinator
To Pascal and Henriett from Divine and Favor Residential: They have been so helpful and generous to a person we support. They go out of their way to make sure she has what she needs. They are very responsive and knowledgeable. I can tell they genuinely care for her. And they’ve been able to be flexible with helping with respite care. They are very dependable! —Tiffany Tom, Service Coordinator
To St John’s United Church of Christ: Thank you for helping a family we support with Christmas gifts for their children. —Hallie Gulley, Service Coordinator
Shout out to Project Construction for being amazing to work with during recent home construction projects! Each can present a unique set of challenges (lot splits/combos, rezoning, easements, etc.) and they do everything in their power to be a partner in keeping the project moving forward.
A huge thank you to Red Heart Homes for their enthusiastic pursuit of housing for people supported by LCBDD! They’ve been presented with some new creative ways to develop additional housing in recent years and they are always willing to come to the table to figure out a way to make it happen.
Thumbs up to the Licking County Coalition for Housing for maintaining quality housing for people we mutually support and always keeping an open line of communication.
Thanks to MEORC for thinking of LCBDD to pilot an Employee Resource Network (ERN) for participating provider agencies and contributing funding for this purpose.
Thanks to DODD’s Capital Housing Team and the Licking County Prosecutor’s office for providing documentation to complete our housing files in order for them to be digitized. —Angie Finck, Chief Operations Officer
To Licking County Job and Family Service, Licking County Transit and Newark City Schools for being willing to help us on short notice when we were looking for space for a training.
To Samantha Nousak, Accessible Ohio Specialist from OOD, thanks for sharing some great resources with us.
To Kelli Gothard of the Southern Ohio Council of Governments (SOCOG) and Felica Serrano from The Works for your support of some
recent success stories.
To Licking County Job and Family Services Intake Supervisor Courtney Turner and to Kristen Bortle and Colleen Wallace of Nationwide Children’s Hospital for providing great trainings to our staff.
To EZ Integration, Talk to Me Technologies, Licking County Aging Partners’ Center for Visual Improvement, and the Ohio Tech Ambassadors for making our first Tech Tuesday presentation of 2026 a success. Thanks to all the families, LCBDD team members and community members who attended! — Anna Jeffries, Public Information Officer
Save the Date!
Don't miss these great events and opportunities
LCBDD has a busy spring planned and you won’t want to miss any of these great events:
- Mark your calendars for our 2026 Summer Kickoff, which will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. May 2 at the Canal Market in Downtown Newark. Learn about community resources while enjoying family friendly activities, a petting zoo, food trucks and more. Momentum Refresh will be there too!
- The transition to middle school, high school and beyond can be intimidating but LCBDD offers a variety of supports, specifically designed for this age group. Learn more about what’s available at our Transition Supports Info Night from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on April 9 at the E.S. Weiant Center. More information to come!
- Join us on Zoom at noon on April 14 for the next session in our series of Tech Tuesday Lunch and Learns. This time, we will welcome several assistive tech providers who will share information about devices that provide fall detection. Sign up to receive the Zoom link by clicking here.
LCBDD Board meetings:
The Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities' Board of Directors meet monthly on the third Wednesday of each month. Here is the information for the next few meetings.
- 4:45 to 6 p.m. Feb. 18, March 18, April 15: LCBDD Board meetings, E.S. Weiant Center, 116 N. 22nd St. Newark.