II.  National Disability Mentoring Day:  A History, A New Tradition

In 1999, an event originally known merely as "Disability Mentoring Day" began as a White House 
effort to promote employment of people with disabilities and increase recognition of National Disability 
Employment Awareness Month.  Approximately three dozen students came to the White House from 
local area schools.

It was not until the following year when "Disability Mentoring Day" began to take on a national 
character all its own.   That second year, as the result of close collaboration between the White House, 
AAPD, and what was then the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, 
approximately 250 students from 14 states participated in the job- shadowing event.

On July 26, 2001, AAPD officially announced its role as the new National Host of what was renamed 
"National Disability Mentoring Day."  The idea then was to have AAPD take ownership of the program 
so that it could be rooted in the disability community.  This vision became a reality with the financial 
support of the Presidential Task Force (which provided AAPD with $75,000 to develop a sustainable 
model for extending Disability Mentoring Day across the country) and the US Department of Labor 
Office of Disability Employment Policy serving as an additional National Public Sponsor.  Within one 
month of this announcement, 13 major corporations joined in support, giving AAPD $5,000 each to 
build the endeavor.  With these additional resources in hand, AAPD built NDMD to involve more than 
1,600 participants.  For the first time, involvement was expanded to include not just students but job 
seekers of all ages, recognizing that unemployment of people with disabilities is a pervasive problem for 
the vast majority of adults, both young and old.  This was all under the leadership and visionary 
direction of Jonathan M. Young, who initially created and then spearheaded the mentoring event in 1999 
and 2000 from the White House, and ultimately joined AAPD as NDMD National Coordinator, taking 
the lead in 2001, subsequently in mid-2002 turning over the mantle to Olegario "Ollie" D. Cantos VII, 
the organization's new General Counsel and Director of Programs.

By standard practice, NDMD is now traditionally held on the third Wednesday of October in any given 
year.  This provides a sense of continuity from one year to the next while enabling organizers to plan 
events far into the future.  In keeping with this new tradition, NDMD 2003 will take place on 
Wednesday, October 15, and local organizers are already making preparations.