PHILADELPHIA – Oct. 17, 2006 – Richard E. Marriott, chairman of the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities and chairman of Host Hotels & Resorts and Larry Aniloff, associate superintendent/director of career and technical education of the School District of Philadelphia, will honor Youth Achievement Award recipient Jerrell White, Leadership Award recipient Richard Kozlowski, and two Philadelphia-area businesses, The Tot Spot Early Learning Center and The Watermark Retirement Community at Logan Square, for their exemplary involvement in the Foundation’s “Bridges…from school to work” program during a reception at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.
“Bridges…from school to work” provides employment opportunities for youth with disabilities in their final year of high school. Since the Philadelphia Bridges program’s inception in 1999, over 200 local employers have provided employment opportunities for more than 600 youth, giving young people with disabilities the opportunity to make the successful transition from school to work.
Working in partnership with the Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia, Bridges operates in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, 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).
