Katrina Dubree Received Exemplary Advocate Award

Spotlight on Accessibility

Katrina Dubree, EMPOWER VI staff member, recently received the Division on Visual Impairments and Deafblindness (DVIDB) Exemplary Advocate Award. Quote from HilaryTravers' nomination form "Katrina serves as a cornerstone of accessibility for our project, EMPOWERing Youth with Visual Impairment, a federally funded initiative dedicated to supporting transition-aged youth who are blind or have low vision. From the outset, she established that accessibility is not an optional feature but a non-negotiable commitment. I will never forget an early project meeting in which our team celebrated a trendy flyer created in Canva. While others admired its visual appeal, Katrina firmly reminded us that the flyer was inaccessible—and therefore unusable. She immediately created an alternative accessible version, explaining that if we say our resources are accessible, we must mean it. Katrina once confided that she did not want to be viewed as the “accessibility czar,” but she refused to compromise on this principle. That moment set the tone for our project’s culture, and we are all better because of her unyielding advocacy. "

Katrina also received a Leadership Award from the Protection Of Minors office at Vanderbilt University for her work related to the EMPOWER VI Mentorship Program.