Grants Awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Disability Employment Policy
October 2003

Ending Chronic Homelessness through Employment and Housing Cooperative Agreements ($ 3,121,686):

ODEP and its partners within DOL, the Veterans and Training Service (VETS) and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), in cooperation with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), have designed cooperative agreements to increase and improve employment opportunities for chronically homeless individuals with disabilities through a local partnership with HUD housing providers. The goal of the DOL cooperative agreements is to enable persons who are chronically homeless to achieve employment and self-sufficiency, thereby preventing unnecessary institutional placements. The DOL awards to the communities listed below are supplemented by parallel HUD permanent housing grants. This program will afford ODEP the opportunity to evaluate whether partnerships of employment and permanent housing services result in a higher employment rate for people with disabilities. These demonstration grants will begin or expand the delivery and implementation of “customized employment” strategies for homeless individuals with disabilities so that they may live, work, and fully participate in their communities.

Grant Recipient & Amount

Worksystems, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
$625,000

Boston Private Industry Council
Boston, Massachusetts
$622,912

Private Industry Council of San Francisco, Inc.
San Francisco, California
$624,823

Indianapolis Private Industry Council, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana
$623,951

City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board
Los Angeles, California
$625,000

Working for Freedom, Opportunity and Real Choice Through Community Employment (WorkFORCE) Action Grant Initiative ($1,717,036):

These grants continue ODEP’s development and documentation of programs that address the capability of individuals transitioning from segregated environments, such as nursing homes and institutions, to successfully participate in community employment through utilization of customized strategies. These three new grants will continue this effort, begun by ODEP in FY’02, to begin or expand the delivery and implementation of customized community employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities so that they may live, work, and fully participate in their communities.

Grant Recipient & Amount

WayStation, Inc.
Frederick, Maryland
$620,646

The Arc of Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
$625,000

Columbia River Mental Health Services
Vancouver, Washington
$471,390

High School/High Tech (HS/HT) State Development and Implementation Grants ($ 1,586,396.00):

These grants assist states, working in partnership with the State Workforce Investment Board, in implementing a statewide HS/HT program, in integrating the HS/HT program into youth services funded under the Workforce Investment Act, and in ensuring sustainability of the HS/HT program through state-level management and coordination. HS/HT is a career development program designed to provide high school aged youth with disabilities with an opportunity to explore careers or gain further education that may lead to technology-related careers. These programs provide both in-school and out-of-school youth with disabilities with year-round work-based learning activities, including corporate site visits, mentoring, job shadowing, guest speakers, after school activities and summer internships.

Grant Recipient & Amount

HS/HT State Implementation Grants

Michigan Department of Career Development
Lansing, Michigan
$225,000

Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities
Columbus, Ohio
$225,000

Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Wilmington, Delaware
$225,000

Colorado Business Leadership Network
Colorado Springs, Colorado
$224,990

The Able Trust
Tallahassee, Florida
$225,000

HS/HT Development Grants:

Bethany Public Schools
Bethany, Oklahoma
$225,000

Maryland State Department of Education
Division of Rehabilitation Services
Baltimore, Maryland
$224,997

Innovative State Alignment Grants for Improving Transition Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities through the Use of Intermediaries ($3,856,557.00):

This grant initiative assists states to conduct resource mapping to assess their youth service delivery infrastructure in light of evidence-based transition operating principles. The grants are also intended to help states in: 1) developing, implementing, and evaluating a cross-agency multi-year state plan to improve transition outcomes for youth with disabilities through blending and/or braiding of federal, state, and community resources and the use of local intermediary organizations; and 2) conducting local pilot demonstrations to determine how, through community partnerships, intermediary organizations can best be used to ensure that youth with disabilities obtain transition services consistent with evidence-based operating principles.

Grant Recipient & Amount

Innovative State Alignment Grants

New Hampshire Workforce Opportunity Council
Concord, New Hampshire
$500,000

State of Iowa, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Des Moines, Iowa
$499,243

Vermont Department of Employment and Training
on Behalf of the Human Resources Investment Council
Montpelier, Vermont
$499,131

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division Partnerships
Anchorage, Alaska
$500,000

Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council
St. Paul, Minnesota
$500,000

Massachusetts State Workforce Investment Board
Boston, Massachusetts
$500,00

California Workforce Investment Board
Sacramento, California
$500,000

Department of Local Affairs/Colorado Workforce Development
Denver, Colorado
$358,183

Intermediary Grants for Mentoring Youth with Disabilities ($880,710.00):

The purpose of these grants, representing a collaborative effort between ODEP, DOL's Center for Faith- Based and Community Initiatives, and the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the Department of Education, is to build the capacity and knowledge of faith-based and community organizations to provide mentoring services to young people with disabilities through the funding of intermediary organizations. A substantial portion of the award will be sub-awarded by the intermediary to eligible local faith-based and community organizations to conduct mentoring activities including, but not limited to, adult and peer mentoring, e-mentoring, tutoring, job-shadowing, service learning, leadership development, and youth development. Grant funds may be used for activities that establish, implement, or support a mentoring program for youth with disabilities.

Grant Recipient & Amount

Partners for Youth with Disabilities, Inc.
Boston, Massachusetts
$150,000

Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Self-Determination (CSD)
Portland, Oregon
$150,000

South Coast Business Employment Corporation
Coos Bay, Oregon
$149,967

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
$150,000

Pangea Foundation
San Diego, California
$149,677

Maine Mentoring Partnership, Inc.
Augusta, Maine
$131,066

Customized Employment Grant Initiative ($ 3,427,459):

The Customized Employment Grant Initiative, begun by ODEP in FY’01, provides funding support to selected Local Workforce Investment Boards, to demonstrate how the workforce development system can better serve persons who are significantly disabled. The Local Board will be the lead entity in a consortium/partnership of public and private entities, to build the capacity in local One-Stop Centers to provide customized employment services to those persons with disabilities who may not now be regularly targeted for services by the One-Stop Center system. Grants funded under this program will also provide a vehicle for Local Boards to systemically review their policies and practices in terms of service to persons with disabilities, and to incorporate new and innovative practices, as appropriate.

Grant Recipient & Amount

Chicago Workforce Board
Chicago, Illinois
$750,000

Montgomery County Workforce Investment Board
Rockville, Maryland
$591,046

Workforce Investment Board of Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties
Utica, New York
$618,619

Genesee/Shiawassee Workforce Development Board
Flint, Michigan
$750,000

Montana Job Training Partnership, Inc.
Helena, Montana
$717,794

Home Modification Grants ($700,000.00):

For people with disabilities and older Americans, an often-cited barrier to participation in work and community life is the lack of affordable home modifications, such as ramps, widened doorways, lowered countertops and cabinetry accessible to those who use wheelchairs. Through the President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative (FBCI), these grants facilitate a leadership role for local faith-based and community organizations to assist individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes, or to move into accessible homes. To coordinate this effort, ODEP is partnering with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and HUD to promote the development of home modifications as a means to encourage the employment of individuals with disabilities. This unique partnership will allow the Federal government to promote both the spirit and the responsibilities of both the New Freedom Initiative and the Olmstead Executive Order, while concurrently recognizing the valuable community roles played by America’s faith-based and community organizations. Moreover, these grants will assist individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes or move into accessible housing and thereby directly facilitate and provide these employment supports to further their opportunities to seek and retain employment and training in their communities.

Grant Recipient And Amount

Volunteer Interfaith Caregivers
Sierra Vista, Arizona
$50,000

CHOICE, Inc.
Arlington, Virginia
$96,765

ASSIST! To Independence
Tuba City, Arizona
$100,000

Statewide Independent Living of Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
$100,000

Disability Resource Center
N. Charleston, South Carolina
$100,000

Council for Disability Rights
Chicago, Illinois
$100,000

ASSIST, Inc.
Salt Lake City, Utah
$100,000

Heartland Community Church
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
$53,235