About The Able Trust

In 2002, The Able Trust is celebrating 10 years of awarding over $10 million in grants to help Floridians with disabilities gain meaningful employment. Below is a snapshot of just some of the outstanding achievements The Able Trust has accomplished in just one decade.

1990

• Enabling legislation creates the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation (FEFVR)

1991

• Founding Board of Directors are appointed by Florida's Governor

1992

• FEFVR makes first grant awards totaling $35,771
• Projects relate to technology for the blind, employment training and transportation

1993

• FEFVR hires their first President & CEO
• Awards 38 grants totaling $214,906
• Grant activity reaches out to rural areas of the State

1994

• FEFVR initiates endowment program
• Awards 33 grants totaling $269,142
• Funds emergency deaf services for Hurricane Andrew Relief
• Partners with the Dole Foundation to fund initial High School/High Tech project in Florida

1995

• Awards 91 grants totaling $944,262
• Grant highlights include a marketing and disability awareness campaign for employers across the State of Florida, including a weekly radio program that addresses training opportunities for people with disabilities

1996

• FEFVR begins using The Able Trust™ as official Foundation name
• Develops Ability Awards program to recognize a nonprofit organization, an entrepreneur with a disability, employers and the media
• Sponsors the Atlanta Paralympic Games
• Annual grant awards exceed $1 million
• Awards grant to assist with emergency financial relief for education assistance due to Federal Government Shutdown
• Funds Bethune Cookman College study to address disability and employment outcomes for African Americans and Hispanics with disabilities

1997

• Florida's Governor signs Executive Order designating The Able Trust as the Florida Governor's Alliance for the Employment of Citizens with Disabilities
• The Able Trust/FGA becomes Florida's official liaison to the US Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy
• The Able Trust hosts first Symposium on Disabilities
• Awards 104 grants totaling $1,245,338
• Grant highlights include a University of Florida research project to evaluate abilities of Seizure-alert dogs for persons with Epilepsy

1998

• First Fundraising Gala held at The Mar-a-Lago Club raises over $150,000
• Awards 130 grants totaling $1,904,413
• Grant activity includes establishing an adaptive computer lab at Tallahassee Community College and developing an employment program for Native Americans with disabilities

1999

• Installed first and only accessible computer in Florida's Capitol for legislative bill-tracking purposes
• Governor helps kick off Florida Business Leadership Network
• Partners with Florida State University to perform cost-benefit analysis of the employment of Floridians with disabilities. Highlights show for every $1 spent on vocational rehabilitation services, $16 million are returned to society, with approximately $3 million to the Florida economy.
• Awards 94 grants totaling $1,486,357
• Addresses cultural diversity issues by awarding Bethune Cookman College and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Universities with research grants to address employment for African Americans with disabilities

2000

• First Youth Leadership Forum held in Tallahassee
• Awards 44 grants totaling $747,163
• First-time funding awarded to a Chamber of Commerce to develop a job-training program for students with disabilities

2001

• Awards 47 grants totaling $1,218,802
• Expands High School/High Tech to twelve projects statewide. Partnering employers include NASA, University of Florida Brain Institute and IBM
• Funds statewide workshop series to address new Ticket to Work legislation regarding Social Security benefits for persons with disabilities

2002

• Total grant awards exceed $10 million

©1999 The Able Trust. All Rights Reserved.
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