A first snapshot of NAME, Inc.'s work since founding in 2024, not a finished story. We are just getting started.
NAME builds advocacy that outlives us by equipping families, educators, and community organizations with the tools, knowledge, and confidence necessary to ensure equitable and inclusive educational experiences for all learners.
NAME envisions a future in which inclusive education is standard practice, families are empowered advocates, and community-based organizations are equipped to serve students with disabilities effectively and equitably across Maryland.
NAME, Inc. was founded in 2024 on a simple belief: every family deserves to understand and be heard in the process that shapes their child's education. That belief didn't start with a grant or a strategic plan. It started in IEP meetings, where I watched families sit across the table from systems that were never built to explain themselves clearly.
Before founding NAME, I served as an IEP Chair in Baltimore City Public Schools for three school years, carrying a caseload of 14 students with disabilities under a case management model. That meant more than writing IEPs: it meant coordinating three service providers per caseload, developing each student's program in accordance with IDEA and their right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and chairing the meetings where families were supposed to have a voice. I saw firsthand how often that voice got lost, not from lack of care, but from a lack of access to plain-language guidance and consistent support.
This report shares what we've built since 2024: the families we've walked alongside, the staff we've trained across our partner organizations, and the systems-level case for why this work is necessary in Baltimore City and beyond.
Shawna R. McMillan, M.Ed.
Founder & Executive Director, NAME, Inc.
Since our founding in 2024, NAME has provided direct, individualized advocacy support to families navigating the IEP and 504 process, and trained the staff of the organizations that serve them every day.
Baltimore City families are navigating a special education system that is, by design and by scale, difficult to access without support. As of the most recent statewide data, students with disabilities make up roughly 11% of Baltimore City Public Schools' enrollment, and 12% of enrollment statewide. Maryland is in the midst of implementing the Blueprint Special Education Workgroup's 27 recommendations, a statewide acknowledgment that the IEP process, family partnership, and inclusive access all need strengthening. Youth with disabilities also remain underrepresented in out-of-school-time and afterschool programming, even though afterschool participation is linked to stronger school-day attendance and engagement.
Sources: Maryland State Department of Education, Deep Dive: Students with Disabilities; MSDE Division of Special Education; National Afterschool Association, Baltimore OST Inclusion Collaborative.
The research is consistent with what we hear directly from families. Families often struggle to navigate the complexity of the special education system, including their rights under IDEA, and arrive at meetings carrying the weight of prior negative experiences with the process. Unfamiliarity with special education law and procedural safeguards, combined with real power imbalances in the room, can leave parents feeling excluded from decisions about their own children. The technical language of IEP documents and procedural safeguards is itself a documented barrier to meaningful participation, regardless of how much a parent cares or wants to be involved.
Sources: Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities (2025); Fairfield University special education research; NASET literature review on IEP participation barriers.
This is the gap NAME was built to close, not by replacing the school team, but by making sure families walk into that room prepared, and walk out still supported.
Before every IEP or 504 meeting, we sit down with families to walk through the agenda, translate the language they're likely to hear, and identify their priorities going in. After the meeting, we debrief what happened, what it means, and what comes next.
An IEP affects an entire household. NAME trains the whole family unit to understand and participate in the process, not just the parent listed on the paperwork.
Every family we work with receives monthly check-ins for six months following our initial engagement, so questions that come up later don't go unanswered.
Our flagship series trains school and OST staff on inclusive practice, IEP/504 implementation, behavior support, and staff wellness, in person and through a self-paced, five-chapter online course.
“My son has an IEP, and at times I felt like the school system was failing him. I have felt lost even with the help of other special education instructors. That is until Ms. Shawna came along. In his last IEP meeting, which Ms. Shawna willingly attended as his advocate, we were so overjoyed to find out it looks very promising that he will no longer need an IEP by next year. Ms. Shawna has truly been the icing on the cake for us.”
Mrs. Roxanne, Parent
A typical engagement begins with a family who has received an IEP or 504 notice and doesn't know where to start. NAME meets with them before the school meeting to prepare, attends or supports them through the meeting itself, and stays connected for six months afterward, helping them track whether services promised are services delivered, and building their confidence to advocate independently going forward.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Project Coordination (Staff Time) | $3,935.90 |
| Consultant & Subcontracted Services | $600.00 |
| Training Materials & Toolkit | $120.00 |
| Online Platform & Technology | $209.88 |
| Travel to Partner Sites | $134.22 |
| Total Grant Funding | $5,000.00 |
In addition to this grant award, NAME contributed approximately $1,200 in in-kind match, including donated staff time, materials, and volunteer coordination, to support this training cycle. With gratitude to our funder, the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council (MDDC Grant #26-SG-2). A full organizational financial statement will be included in future reports as our funding base grows.
| Shawna R. McMillan, M.Ed. | President |
| Keionna Spears | Vice President |
| Ebone Johnson | Board of Directors |
| Chennaya Bennett | Board of Directors |
| Jordan Mitchell | Board of Directors |
Engage and support 50 families through direct advocacy, and train 100 school and out-of-school-time professionals in inclusive practice through Access in Action.
Partner with at least 15 organizations and schools and deliver 30+ professional development sessions, establishing NAME as a leading provider of inclusive education training in Maryland.
None of this happens alone. We're grateful to our Board of Directors, our partner organizations, and the funders who have believed in this work since 2024. If you're a family navigating the IEP or 504 process, an organization ready to book Access in Action for your staff, or a funder who wants to help us reach our next milestone, we'd love to talk.
