ATLANTA – Oct. 10, 2006 – Richard E. Marriott, chairman of the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities and chairman of Host Hotels & Resorts; Michael Thurmond, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor; and Nancy O’Hara, associate state director for the Georgia Department of Education Division for Exceptional Students, will honor Youth Achievement Award recipient Tiawan Britton, Leadership Award recipient Perry Guillard and Atlanta-area business Food Depot for their exemplary involvement in the Foundation’s “Bridges…from school to work” program during a reception at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center.
“Bridges…from school to work” provides employment opportunities for youth with disabilities in their final year of high school. Since the Atlanta Bridges program’s inception in 1996, over 150 local employers have provided employment opportunities for more than 1,200 youth, giving young people with disabilities the opportunity to make the successful transition from school to work.
Working in partnership with the Atlanta 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 Atlanta, Bridges operates in Chicago, Dallas, 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).
