SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 27, 2006 – Richard E. Marriott, chairman of the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities and chairman of Host Hotels & Resorts; Gwen Chan, interim superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District; and Darlene Rutkowski, district administrator for the San Francisco District of the State Department of Rehabilitation, will honor Youth Achievement Award recipient Andy Situ and San Francisco-area business Trader Joe’s for their exemplary involvement in the Foundation’s “Bridges…from school to work” program during a reception at the San Francisco Marriott.
“Bridges…from school to work” provides employment opportunities for youth with disabilities in their final year of high school. Since the San Francisco Bridges program’s inception in 1990, over 400 local employers have provided employment opportunities for more than 1,600 youth, giving young people with disabilities the opportunity to make the successful transition from school to work.
Working in partnership with the San Francisco 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 San Francisco, Bridges operates in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, 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).
