American Association of People with Disabilities

Corporations and Federal Agencies Provide Sponsorship For
AAPD's 2007 Disability Mentoring Day Program

Funding Makes it Possible for Disability Mentoring Day to be Commemorated
in Communities Around the Country on October 17

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is delighted to announce its partnership with Darden Restaurants, Inc., Disaboom.com, the Social Security Administration, and others from the public and private sectors to host the annual Disability Mentoring Day program this week. Disability Mentoring Day enables students and job-seekers to spend a day or part of a day visiting a place of business that matches their interests and has one-on-one time with employer mentors.

Sponsors play a significant role in making the Disability Mentoring Day program a truly effective public-private partnership. Through their support, they are helping to tackle the longstanding problem of unemployment and underemployment among people with disabilities. AAPD is proud to acknowledge all of them now. Lead Public Sponsor: Social Security Administration; Lead Sponsors: Darden Restaurants, Disaboom.com; and the following National Corporate Sponsors:

AIG, American Airlines, AmeriGroup, Hewlett-Packard, JCPenney, Microsoft, Pitney Bowes, SunTrust, Verizon (Lead National Corporate Sponsor), and Wells Fargo

In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy is a National Public Sponsor.

"Employers explain that their lack of exposure to people with disabilities is one of the biggest barriers to hiring qualified disabled employees," says AAPD President and CEO Andrew J. Imparato. "Disability Mentoring Day effectively connects disabled students and job seekers with employers who work in a field of interest to them. This informal exposure is leading to internships, job offers, and a stronger connection between employers and potential employees with disabilities – and this ultimately leads to a more diverse workforce and more directed and motivated students and job seekers with disabilities."

To be commemorated this Wednesday, October 17, in every state around the country plus many international locations, Disability Mentoring Day provides job-shadowing and career exploration opportunities for students and job seekers with disabilities. This AAPD program has expanded from a small DC-based event for three dozen students, to an event with a rapidly growing network of volunteer Local Coordinators all across the country plus 20 international locations - last year’s program had almost 17,000 mentees. It is designed to benefit from local creativity, with each community planning activities to best suit the interests and abilities of its students, job-seekers and local employers.

“Economic empowerment is at the heart of civil rights for people with disabilities,” adds Imparato. “By building relationships between students with disabilities and employer mentors, Disability Mentoring Day helps to create a pipeline of qualified workers for participating employers and gives disabled students greater direction and motivation to pursue their career goals. We applaud and thank these sponsors for embracing and helping to further this important national mentoring program.”

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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.

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American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503; Washington, DC 20006
VOICE: 202-457-0046 (V/TTY) * FAX: 202-457-0473 * www.aapd.com
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