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National Center Opening Here

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy has awarded a $1.6 million grant to ILR's Employment and Disability Institute.

The institute and a consortium of national partners will establish a federal technical assistance center for employers on employment of people with disabilities.

The consortium will include the AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs, the Altarum Institute, the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, the Conference Board, the Institute of Educational Leadership, the National Business and Disability Council, Rutgers University's John J. Heldrich Center and the U.S. Business Leadership Network.

The purpose of the center will be to conduct innovative research, assist the labor department in developing demand-side policy, and share best practices with employers on the recruitment, hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities, according to the federal agency.

The cooperative agreement, announced in Washington, D.C., Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor, was awarded through a competitive process.

The Employment and Disability Institute in the ILR School has been involved in employer-related initiatives to promote employment of people with disabilities for nearly 20 years.

Susanne Bruyère, director of the Employment and Disability Institute and ILR's associate dean of outreach, said "This newly-funded USDOL-ODEP Center at Cornell University is a wonderful opportunity to bring all of the resources and learning from our prior efforts to fruition in one focused effort."

"These efforts are targeted at improving hiring and workplace retention of the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities," she said.

The ILR institute, known as EDI, conducts research and provides continuing education and technical assistance on many aspects of disability in the workplace.

About 20 ILR School faculty, staff and students, will be involved in the new center, Bruyère said.

Since 1968, researchers and practitioners at the Cornell ILR School with expertise in disability have helped companies, labor organizations, government agencies, schools and communities throughout the United States and abroad to accommodate and integrate individuals with disabilities in the workplace.

The EDI team consults with policymakers, disability advocates and rehabilitation program professionals.

Assistant Secretary for Labor for Disability Employment Policy Kathy Martinez said, "Employers must create workplace cultures in which employees with disabilities are as fully integrated and valued as those without disabilities."

"The national technical assistance center will be designed to identify how employers can change expectations and open the path to good jobs for people with disabilities," she said.

The Office of Disability Employment Policy provides national leadership on disability employment policy by developing and influencing disability employment policies and practices, building collaborative partnerships, and delivering authoritative and credible data on the employment of people with disabilities. For more information, visit http://www.dol.gov/odep.

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