VersAbility Staffer Earns Seat on Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities
VersAbility Resources’ Lara Zawacki has joined the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities in Newport News.
Zawacki, Grants Manager and Disability Service Coordinator at the Hampton nonprofit, took the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony that was part of a City Council meeting on March 12.
The City established the Newport News Advisory Committee on Disabilities in 1989. The committee’s main duties included advising City Council of potential access problems throughout the City and making recommendations for access compliance. In 2014, after years of inactivity, the Committee was dissolved.
Last year, the City re-established an advisory committee, the Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities, consisting of nine members appointed by the City Council.
Zawacki, who earned a master’s in public administration from Regent University and has worked at VersAbility Resources since 2022, holds one of the seats. The nine-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard has vast experience rooted in advocacy and service to others.
“In a world where it’s easy to focus on ourselves, lending a hand to others isn’t just a nice thing to do—it’s downright essential,” Zawacki said. “It’s like watering the garden of kindness that helps us all grow together.”
VersAbility Resources provides comprehensive services to more than 1,500 people with disabilities annually in the Hampton Roads region, the 10 counties on the Middle Peninsula and beyond.
The Mayor’s Committee serves as an advisory body to the City Council. Its functions are:
-analyzing the needs of persons with disabilities in the city;
-determining and assessing resources available to meet the needs of persons with disabilities in the city;
-advising the mayor, City Council and city manager on the needs of persons with disabilities;
-assisting the mayor, City Council and city manager in responding to the needs of persons with disabilities by reviewing city code and city policy and recommending amendments to assure compliance with state and federal law and to remove physical and other barriers that confront persons with disabilities;
-assisting the mayor, City Council and city manager in conducting special events and awareness campaigns focusing on persons with disabilities;
-reviewing and make recommendations to the mayor, City Council and city manager regarding city diversity and inclusion policies and programming for persons with disabilities;
-providing a forum in which persons with disabilities and their advocates may make known the problems and challenges they face in daily life and making recommendations for corrective actions;
-reviewing and making recommendations to the mayor, City Council and city manager on programs, policies and services that might remove barriers faced by persons with disabilities in housing, transportation, building access, public accommodations, employment, health, social services and education;
-assisting the city in identifying outside funds available for carrying out programs, policies and services recommended by the committee.
