Talina Jones is currently the Chair of the NYS Early Intervention Coordinating Council, whose role it is to advise and assist the Department of Health with the administration of the Early Intervention Program. She is a trainer for the Early Intervention Partners Training Project. In addition, she serves on the CNY chapter of NYCLU. As a parent of a child with a disability, she represented families as a member of the Code of Conduct Task Force and the team that wrote the new code to bring Syracuse City School District into compliance to shift to a more restorative justice focused form of discipline. She also participated in the National Council on Disability’s meeting which discussed the ways in which IDEA could disrupt the School to Prison Pipeline.
She has been a presenter and a co-presenter on the importance of developing and supporting leadership development in families that are culturally competent and family centered at OSEP Mega Leadership Conference, Ignite Session at 2012 and 2013 Annual DEC conference, and numerous class presentations to graduate students in Special Education.
Talina Jones is an advocate for families who have children with disabilities. She currently resides in Syracuse, but has lived most of her life in New York City. She and her husband Kareim Sr. have an 11 year old son Kareim. She will graduate in May from Syracuse University with a M.S. in Cultural Foundations in Education and C.A.S. in Disability Studies. Her research is centered on a black womanist understanding of disability and how that lens might impact the creation of future advocacy programs created for families of color.