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The Florida Grantor, Spring 2007

FGA Update

Bay Point Schools, Inc. Shoots for the Stars with High School/High Tech

The Able Trust awarded $51,000 in grant funding to Bay Point Schools, Inc., in Miami, to implement a Florida High School/High Tech (HS/HT) program- a transition program designed to motivate and prepare high school students with disabilities for post-secondary education, as well as, jobs and careers in science, technology, engineering or math.

The Bay Point Schools HS/HT program will provide for 28 South Florida students to experience job shadowing, mentoring opportunities, corporate site visits, campus tours, service learning activities and summer internships.

The Bay Point Schools, Inc. grant is made possible through a collaboration between The Able Trust and the Florida Department of Education Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). Florida's Vocational Rehabilitation Program serves youth with disabilities transitioning from school to work and has partnered with the HS/HT initiative to meet the needs of these students.

The HS/HT program shows proven results year after year, with more than 90 percent of Florida HS/HT graduates entering post-secondary education, vocational training or securing employment in 2007. The HS/HT program serves nearly 1,000 students annually in 33 project sites statewide.

Providing educational vocational and therapeutic services to adjudicated teenage boys is the primary focus of Bay Point Schools -an alternative boarding school catering to teenage males who have engaged in anti-social behavior and criminal activity.

The joining of these two organizations is destined to produce positive results. Indeed, Bay Point Schools was rated the best program of its kind in the state of Florida by the Juvenile Justice Accountability Board and has also reported that over 90% of its graduate to never commit another crime after leaving the program.

With a 36 percent national high school drop-out rate for youth with disabilities and an increase in the South Florida drop-out rate, partnerships like Bay Point Schools and the HS/HT program will indeed assist in decreasing the drop-out rate among South Florida's high school students with disabilities.

For more information about the Florida HS/HT program, visit www.floridahsht.org.

US BLN National Conference

The United Stated Business Leadership Network (BLN) will host the exciting US BLN National Conference, September 24-26, 2007 at the Lake Buena Vista Palace in Orlando. The conference will feature CEO and President of the American Association of People with Disabilities, Andy Imparato, Neil Romano of America's Strength Foundation and Assistant Secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy, W. Roy Grizzard, Jr., Ed.D.

The Able Trust is pleased to support this conference and serve as hosts for the high school and college career fairs for students with disabilities. This career fair will offer students the opportunity to speak to business professionals and community organizations and to learn how to successfully enter the workforce. For more information about this conference, please visit www.usbln.org.

2007 DMD On The Way… Join In Today

The Able Trust is pleased to announce the sixth annual Florida Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), held October 17, 2007. Disability Mentoring Day is part of a national broad-based initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Commemorated during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, DMD is a national job shadowing event that matches students and job seekers with community and business leaders throughout the nation. In Florida, The Able Trust partners with various organizations- statewide- to host DMD.

This past year, on October 18, 2006, more than 13,000 students, job seekers and business professionals nation-wide participated in DMD. In Florida, more than 1,000 individuals took part in the fifth annual Florida DMD in 62 cities.

Are you interested in making a difference in your community? Join the more than 80 Community Liaisons that help facilitate successful mentor -to- mentee matches for Disability Mentoring Day. Sign up today and receive supportive materials and technical assistance through a listserv, extensive website and informative conference calls. The first conference call of the year will be held on April 26, 2007 at 3:00pm EST.

To learn more about becoming a Community Liaison or about the Florida DMD, visit www.floridadmd.org today!