Oregon Department of Justice

Attorney General Hardy Myers today announced the award of grants totaling $340,000 from the Attorney General's Fund for People with Physical Disabilities, administered by the Oregon Community Foundation.

"These funds will be put to use throughout the state to provide vocational training and services for individuals with disabilities," Myers said. "This is a good example of the benefits that can be achieved by keeping Oregon's charitable assets working for Oregonians."

The Attorney General's fund was established with the Oregon Community Foundation in May of 2000 with funds collected by the Department of Justice Charitable Activities Section from a 1997 settlement. According to Oregon law, when a charity is converted to a for-profit enterprise, the assets of the organization must remain in the charitable sector. This can be accomplished through the payment of fair market value for those assets with the proceeds directed toward continued support of charitable causes. In this case, the Attorney General chose to distribute the settlement through an advised fund administered by the Oregon Community Foundation, for the benefit of disabled Oregonians.

Following are the grant awards:

• To St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation, Inc. (Portland), $100,000 to establish an Electronic Assembly Training Program to train annually 60 people with disabilities for employment in the electronics industry.
• To Advocates for the Visually Impaired (Salem), $35,000 to create an equipment lending bank for individuals with visual impairments, and $29,837 to help the Oregon School for the Blind expand its computer access and Braille production capabilities.
• To Another View (Portland), $59,830 to establish the Web Based Radio Communications and Training Center for the blind and visually impaired.
• To Independent Living Resources (Portland), $39,475 for the purchase of a Braille embosser to be used to promote accessible educational and employment related materials for the blind.
• To Spruce Up Enterprises (Salem), $33,000 to expand capacity to provide community based employment, assessment, and job placement services to 18 - 21 year olds with both visual and mental disabilities.
• To Bay Area Enterprises (Coos Bay), $15,408 for provision of educational and vocational readiness training to adults with disabilities followed by placement in the community.
• To DASIL Center (Medford), $15,000 to train Rogue Valley residents with disabilities as office support staff and provide them with job acquisition skills.
• To Blindskills, Inc. (Salem), $12,450 to strengthen and improve its toll-free information help line for blind and visually impaired individuals.

"We are grateful to the Oregon Community Foundation," Myers concluded, "for their assistance in evaluating and distributing these grants."