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MARRIOTT SPOTLIGHTS ATLANTA SCHOOL-TO-WORK EFFORTS

October 22, 1999

The Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities has been working for 10 years to help students with disabilities make the transition from the classroom to the office, and this week the organization honored four who have demonstrated the effort is a success. The foundation honored three Atlanta employers and one former student, Carnelius Coleman, for the progress they have made through the foundation's "Bridges ... from school to work" program. The foundation chose to present its awards in October as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The foundation honored The Georgia World Congress Center as Atlanta Employer of the Year for hiring 13 students in the past year. The Rialto Center for the Performing Arts received the Small Business Award for "exemplary mentoring and employment support," and Ron Welcome earned the Leadership Award. As director of volunteer and program services at The Piedmont Park Conservancy, Welcome created a new job position for three students in the foundation program. Coleman was honored with the Youth Achievement Award for "exceptional employment-related success" at a company called T-One, Inc.

"Bridges ... from school to work" facilitates the employment of students with disabilities through paid internships when the students are in their final year of high school. In four years in the Atlanta area, the foundation has placed 220 students with 150 employers. Of those students, 96 percent received offers to continue their jobs after completing their internships. The Marriott Foundation also runs its Bridges programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and the Washington, D.C. area. In its 10-year history, the foundation has helped nearly 4,000 students get job experience with 1,200 businesses; 89 percent remained employed after their internships.

The foundation was established by the family of J. Willard Marriott and is supported in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.8