DALLAS – Sept. 21, 2006 – Richard E. Marriott, chairman of the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities and chairman of Host Hotels & Resorts; Rosemarie Allen, associate superintendent of Student Support and Special Services for Dallas Independent School District; and Pamela Ferrell, chair of the Dallas Mayor’s Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities, will honor Youth Achievement Award recipient Daniel Garcia and Dallas-area business Kroger Supermarkets for their exemplary involvement in the Foundation’s “Bridges…from school to work” program during a reception at the Dallas Renaissance Hotel.
“Bridges…from school to work” provides employment opportunities for youth with disabilities in their final year of high school. Since opening last November, over 40 youth are involved in the Dallas Bridges program and 30 have already been placed in competitive employment with local businesses.
Working in partnership with the Dallas business community, Bridges provides young people with disabilities with job training and work experience while helping employers gain access to a rich and underutilized applicant pool. In addition to Dallas, Bridges operates in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and the Washington, D.C., area, placing more than 8,900 youth into competitive employment positions with more than 1,500 businesses.
The Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities (www.marriottfoundation.org) was established by the family of J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott in 1989 and is supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services).
