Introduction
The Office on Disability is the lead agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to oversee the implementation and coordination of disability programs, policies, and special initiatives for this Nation's 54 million persons with disabilities. The Office on Disability takes this opportunity to share the significant progress made by HHS's agencies and offices on behalf of persons with disabilities.
In February 2001, President George W. Bush announced The New Freedom Initiative as a bold plan to tear down the remaining barriers to full integration into American life that are faced by persons with disabilities. In March 2004, the White House published The President's New Freedom Initiative for People with Disabilities: The 2004 Progress Report to highlight the accomplishments under The New Freedom Initiative since the May 2002 Progress Report.
The March 2004 NFI Progress Report provided an overview of the progress made by all of the HHS agencies and offices to address the needs of persons with disabilities. It was not possible to provide all the detail of the progress made in the following HHS agency/office summary tables, one for each entity. Therefore, comprehensive details of progress are provided here in the form of separate summary tables, one for each HHS agency or office.
Following the table by the Office on Disability, the remaining tables are organized alphabetically by name of the HHS agency or office. In each table, the NFI activity is organized (in the left column) by name and number of the five chapters of Delivering on the Promise1 . In addition, cross-references are provided for the six NFI domains (i.e., assistive technology, education, employment/workforce, homeownership, transportation, community integration), and the seventh domain, health, added the Office on Disability.
Each table provides details of the progress in NFI activity which was made in 2003 (center column); the federal funds which were used for these specific activities have been provided when available. Finally, each agency and office has provided "next steps" for NFI activities for 2004 and 2005 (right column), as an ongoing commitment to The New Freedom Initiative.
A separate Acronym List is provided, which defines abbreviations used in the NFI tables.
HHS continues to demonstrate its commitment to persons with disabilities. The Office on Disability will provide updates of this work as details become available.
1Delivering on the Promise can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/newfreedom/final/hhsfull.html
Last Revised: August 19, 2004