[Jobs] FW: AAPD Disability Mentoring Day This Week across the Country

[Nightingale, Noel]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-justice at jfanow.org [mailto:owner-justice at jfanow.org] On
Behalf Of Justice For All Moderator
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 2:36 PM
To: justice at jfanow.org
Subject: AAPD Disability Mentoring Day This Week across the Country

AAPD Disability Mentoring Day This Week across the Country

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mariana V. Nork
(202) 457-0046

AAPD'S 2007 Disability Mentoring Day Program To Happen This Week in
Communities around the Country
	 	
Program Designed to Benefit Students and Job Seekers with Disabilities

WASHINGTON, D.C.  This Wednesday, October 17, the American Association
of People with Disabilities (AAPD) will host Disability Mentoring Day in
communities in every state. This program is commemorated annually in
October, which is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and is
the launching point for longer-term mentoring activities that continue
year-round. 

AAPD is honored to partner with Darden Restaurants, Inc. and
Disaboom.com, the lead sponsors, and the Social Security Administration
(SSA), lead public sponsor.

Disability Mentoring Day was designed to provide students and job-
seekers with disabilities a firsthand experience in learning about
career opportunities in their chosen fields. It promotes the importance
of encouraging students and job-seekers to develop the necessary skills
and experiences to compete in today's competitive workforce. For many
people with disabilities, their past participation in this program
resulted in ongoing relationships, internships, and ultimately jobs. The
program has expanded from a small DC-based event for three dozen
students, when it was a program conducted by The White House in 1999, to
a national event now hosted by AAPD. Last year almost 17,000 mentees
participated, in communities in every state and the District of
Columbia, plus Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and many
international locations. 

"Employers say that their own lack of exposure to people with
disabilities is one of the biggest barriers to hiring qualified disabled
employees," said AAPD President and CEO Andrew J. 
Imparato. "The Disability Mentoring Day program connects disabled
students and job seekers with employers who are working in a field of
interest to them. This is leading to a stronger connection between
employers and potential employees with disabilities, and ultimately,
this leads to a more diverse workforce, and more directed and motivated
students and job seekers with disabilities. 

In addition to Darden, Disaboom and SSA, AAPD is also proud to partner
with Verizon and the following sponsors: AIG, American Airlines,
AmeriGroup, Hewlett Packard, JCPenney, Microsoft, Pitney Bowes, SunTrust
Banks and Wells Fargo, as well as the U.S. 
Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. All of
these partners are playing significant roles in making Disability
Mentoring Day an effective public-private partnership and helping to
tackle the longstanding problem of unemployment and underemployment
among people with disabilities. 

For further information, contact AAPD at 800-840-8844 (V/TTY), by email
at dmdaapd at aol.com, or visit the AAPD website at:
www.aapd.com

                               * * *

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the
country's largest cross-disability membership organization, promotes the
economic and political power for the more than 50 people with
disabilities in the U.S. It was founded in 1995 to help unite the
diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family,
friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in
implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To
learn more, visit the AAPD website: www.aapd.com
_________________________________________________________________

For more DMD news, see:
http://www.dmd-aapd.org/press/pressroom.php

# # #

MODERATOR, Anne Sommers, JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the American
Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). To contact Anne, please
email her at JFAmoderator at aol.com. To respond to a JFA alert or to
submit an article, please see http://www.aapd.com/JFA/JFAcontent.html.

DISCLAIMER: The JFA Listserv is designed to share information of
interest to people with disabilities and promote dialogue in the
disability community. Information circulated does not necessarily
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JOIN AAPD! There's strength in numbers! Be a part of a national
coalition of people with disabilities and join AAPD today at
http://www.aapd.com.

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