Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security Announces Grant Awards to Illinois, Iowa, and New York

Commissioner Kenneth Apfel announced today that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will award grants to three additional States to develop innovative projects to assist adults with disabilities in their efforts to reenter the work force. These competitive grants are part of a five-year $25 million program designed to provide coordinated approaches to increase work opportunities for people with disabilities. Vice President Gore revealed the first nine States to receive grants awards under this program at a New Hampshire health care forum on September 18.

The grants are the first activity launched under an Executive Order signed on March 13, 1998, by President Clinton that created the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. This task force will establish a coordinated and aggressive national policy to bring working age individuals with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate similar to that of the general population.

The goal of the State projects is to return as many participants as possible to work. It is expected that the new approaches developed by States will create Federal/State partnerships and serve as models for other States to replicate.

"We want to make sure that those individuals with disabilities who want to work have access to programs that will allow them to do so," Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security, said. "These awards will help States develop state-wide programs of services and support for their residents with disabilities that will increase job opportunities for them and decrease their dependence on benefits - including Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)."

The grant funding levels for the three new States are as follows:

• Iowa, $425,196
• Illinois, $328,000
• New York, $683,604

The initial nine States receiving demonstration funding include:
(Click on each for the State projects to be awarded)

• California, $509,887
• Minnesota, $517,243
• New Hampshire, $464,284
• New Mexico, $660,690
• North Carolina, $290,549
• Ohio, $349,980
• Oklahoma, $292,625
• Wisconsin, 946,525
• Vermont, $341,481

Other federal agencies such as the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education will join the Social Security Administration in support of these projects.

SSA pays monthly disability insurance benefits to some 6.2 million workers and their families at an annual cost of $50.6 billion. Another 5.2 million individuals receive disability benefits under the SSI program, totaling $25 billion annually.

Note: copies of most SSA press releases, as well as other Social Security information and statistics, are available at SSA’s Internet site, Social Security Online, at http://www.ssa.gov