Mary Willard has been the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for APRIL (Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living) since 2014. In her role, she helps support CILS and SILCs to serve people with disabilities to the best of their abilities through peer support opportunities, training opportunities, and through her partnerships on projects with RTC:Rural University of Montana and other allied organizations. Her favorite part of her job is helping to identify needs the in the community and offering platforms and opportunities to elevate all your voices in the field to help find solutions. With Community, we are Stronger! Previously she worked at Summit Independent Living Center as the Peer Coordinator, where she worked on curriculums for youth with disabilities and creating programming for youth, as well as running the peer support program training, supervising and creating opportunities for peer supporters. She was an APRIL youth Peer Mentor for seven years, assisting several CILS across the country to start, trouble shoot, or grow their youth programs, as well as helping to plan and execute the APRIL youth conference as a volunteer. Mary received her Master’s in Social Work in 2014, during which time she also worked at the Rural Institute on Disability and Research as a Student Research Associate. She spent four years on the executive committee of the Montana SILC, two of which were spent as the chair.
