The Colorado Department of Education along with Front Range businesses will celebrate the contributions of employees with disabilities during the tenth annual Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), Wednesday, October 15. DMD serves as a valuable experience for students and job seekers with disabilities to learn about career opportunities in a variety of fields.
CDE and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation are co-hosting the DMD Celebration Reception, featuring a presentation by a youth panel of job seekers, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Tivoli Center, 900 Auraria Pkwy., Zenith Room 640. Dr. Ed Steinberg, CDE’s assistant commissioner for student support will offer opening comments.
DMD will showcase more than 125 mentees from 30 businesses in communities across the Front Range. Many of this year’s DMD participants are youth with disabilities transitioning from school into the adult world of work. With help from the School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP), a collaborative effort of the state and local school districts, these youth are afforded the opportunity to explore and prepare for future careers through DMD.
Organizations participating in DMD in addition to the Colorado Department of Education and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation include Access Center for Disability Accommodations and Adaptive Technology Metropolitan State College of Denver, 11 local school district SWAP partnerships, Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Denver Public Schools Career and Technology Education and Colorado Workforce Centers.
Employers confirmed to attend the DMD reception include Alameda East Animal Hospital, Aspen Seating, Best Buy, Camp Bow Wow, Denver Zoo, Echo Star/Dish Network, Ecographics Inc., Federal Valley Motors, First Line Insurance, Food Bank of the Rockies, Frederic Printing, Goodyear Auto Service Centers, Grand Hyatt, Integrated Airline Services Inc., JCPenney, Lockheed Martin, Plous and Adler Family Dentistry, Radisson Graytone Castle, Riverdale Elementary School, Safeway, UPS and West Bros. Inc.
For more information on SWAP, contact Barbara Palmer in CDE’s exceptional student leadership office at 303-866-6721 or palmer_b@cde.state.co.us
For additional information on DMD, contact Tom Muniz in the Denver Office of Economic Development at 720-865-5610 or tom.muniz@denvergov.org
