National Business & Disability Council at NCDS Honored By U.S. Labor Department Office of Federal Contract Compliance

EPIC Award Distinguishes Albertson, NY Agency for Exemplary Service NBDC/NCDS One of Only Four Recipients Nationwide

"The Department of Labor's EPIC Award distinguishes the National Business and Disability Council at NCDS as a national leader in ensuring that people with disabilities can compete on an equal playing field in the job market," said Edmund L. Cortez, President & CEO of NCDS. "This recognition is a tribute to the hundreds of dedicated professionals at NCDS who are working to create a world where people with disabilities are treated simply as people and receive all the benefits society offers."

The 2003 EPIC Award is the second national honor in less than six months that an NCDS division has received from the U.S. Department of Labor. In October 2003, the organization's employment-services division, Abilities, Inc., was among ten businesses and non-profits — and the only non-profit in New York State — to receive the second annual Secretary of Labor's New Freedom Initiative Award, which recognizes exemplary and innovative public-private partnership efforts in furthering the employment objectives of President George W. Bush's New Freedom Initiative.

In conferring the EPIC Award on NBDC, OFCCP recognized the agency’s broad-reaching and varied programs that provide businesses with timely, accurate information that they need to diversify their workforce by including people with disabilities, as well as its menu of recruitment and training services.

Cortez said that since its establishment in 1997, NBDC has built its membership to over 200 businesses, including many Fortune 1000 companies. He pointed out that the organization's programs train more than 1,500 employer representatives per year in the hiring and retention of employees with disabilities.

NBDC information services comprise an information hotline, audio/visual library, a newsletter highlighting new guidelines, court cases and other compliance issues, and a Web site that reaches an average of 2600 separate visitors a month and includes Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunities Commission postings. In addition, NBDC provides recruitment and training services, such as conferences, career fairs, architectural and technological accessibility training, and customized programs to help employers with the full range of reasonable accommodation questions and other compliance issues.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, part of the Labor Department's Employment Standards Administration, administers laws and executive orders that ensure equal opportunity for workers employed by federal contractors.

Founded in 1952, the National Center for Disability Services (NCDS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a world where people with disabilities receive the same treatment as all other people and have equal access to the benefits society offers. With a staff of more than 400, including experts in education, human resources and technology, NCDS has grown to become a global leader in the full integration people with disabilities into everyday life. More information about NCDS and its wide range of services to individuals, organizations and private-sector businesses is available at www.ncds.org.