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MEAF Awards Grants to Support $3.2 Million Initiative

posted February 18, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC — The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation has announced $360,000 in new and continuing grants, raising the total investment in the Foundation’s five-year Inclusion Initiative to $3.2 million. A new national inclusion project will be funded at $40,000, and continuing multiyear projects will receive $320,000 to help children and youth with disabilities to be fully included in mainstream programs and activities. In addition, $125,000 will be awarded in matching grants and matching gifts to organizations selected by Mitsubishi Electric US employees in the communities where they live and work.

The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation is dedicated to helping young people with disabilities maximize their potential and participation in society. The 2009 grants build on the best practices and lessons learned from earlier inclusion projects and expands the Initiative to additional youth-service organizations, with the aim of making their programs more accommodating of and attractive to youth with disabilities.

“The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation’s investment in the Inclusion Initiative over the past five years has helped organizations like the Girl Scouts of the USA become more inclusive,” says Rayna Aylward, executive director of the Foundation. “This year’s grants will expand inclusion to other youth service providers, such as the YMCA, and we hope to grow our network of inclusion ‘champions’.” Last year, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation awarded its first Inclusion Champion Award to Marvin B. Laster, director of diversity at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, for his efforts in promoting inclusion of youth with disabilities in Clubs throughout the country. The 2009 Inclusion Champion Award recipient will be announced in March.

The new national grant project, which will receive $40,000 over two years, is a collaboration between the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University-Center for Summer Learning and the Raleigh NC-based Bubel/Aiken Foundation to help expand summer learning opportunities for all children. The project partners will develop and pilot a curriculum that youth-serving organizations can use to offer inclusive summer camp opportunities.

Continuing Inclusion Initiative projects include $72,000 to San Diego-based Kids Included Together for the second year of a program to train after-school providers on techniques to develop inclusive environments for youth. As part of its grant, KIT hosts and maintains the www.IncludingAllKids.org website as a clearinghouse for inclusion-related resources. The Corps Network will receive $30,000 for the third and final year of a project to develop the Inclusive Crew Model for use by the 113 community and conservation corps in the U.S. Girl Scouts of the USA and the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital will be awarded $75,000 for the second year of their three-year joint Include All Girls project. A grant of $40,000 will go to the Education Equity Center at the Academy for Educational Development in New York for the second and final year for the After-school Inclusive Math program, which partners after-school programs with science museums.

In other continuing grants, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation will provide $93,000 for the eighth year of its signature MEAF/AAPD Congressional Internship Program, for the Washington, DC-based American Association of People with Disabilities to continue placing college students with disabilities in summer internships in Congress. This past year, one of the interns served in the office of then-Senator Barack Obama. Talented college students with disabilities also served in the offices of Sen. Brownback, Sen. Clinton, Sen. Harkin, and Sen. Kennedy. In the House, the offices of Rep. Baldwin, Rep. Delahunt, Rep. Hoyer and Rep. Sensenbrenner also hosted an intern. In addition, AAPD will receive a three-year/$30,000 renewal grant for the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award, which is presented annually to emerging leaders in the disability field.

On the corporate side, the Foundation will continue sponsoring the Annual Mitsubishi Electric Hallway Golf Tournament, which is organized at Mitsubishi Electric locations across the U.S. More than 1,000 employees participated in the inaugural Tournament last year, raising more than $50,000 for Special Olympics and other charities serving youth with disabilities.

The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, based in the Washington, DC area, was established in 1991 by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan and the Mitsubishi Electric U.S. companies, which produce, sell and distribute a wide range of consumer, industrial, commercial and professional electronics products. With an initial endowment of $15 million, the Foundation has contributed more than $9 million to organizations assisting young people with disabilities to lead fuller and more productive lives.

For more information, please visit the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation’s fully accessible website at www.meaf.org.

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MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC AMERICA FOUNDATION
2009 NATIONAL GRANTS

New Grant
Johns Hopkins University (two-year grant) $40,000
Supports a joint project between the university’s National Center for Summer Learning and the Bubel/Aiken Foundation to develop a summer learning curriculum to help summer camps fully include youth with disabilities.

Continuing Grants
Academy for Educational Development (second year of a two-year grant) $40,000
Supports the Education Equity Center’s working in partnership with after-school program providers and science and technology museums to develop an After-school Inclusive Math program.

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) (three-year renewal grant) $30,000
Helps fund the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award, recognizing outstanding young leaders in the disability field.

AAPD (second year of a three-year grant) $93,000
This grant funds the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation/AAPD Congressional Internship Program, which provides summer internships on Capitol Hill for college students with disabilities.

Girl Scouts of the USA (second year of a three-year grant) $50,000
Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital (GSCNC) (second year of a three-year grant) $25,000
Supports the Include All Girls Initiative to develop inclusion tools at GSCNC and identify best practices from other Councils, which are then disseminated to Councils throughout the U.S.

Kids Included Together (second year of a three-year grant) $72,000
Funds the development of a National Training Center on Inclusion, provides training to 10 National Affiliates, and supports the maintenance of the www.IncludingAllKids.org inclusion resource website.

The Corps Network (third year of three-year grant) $30,000
Supports the development and replication of an inclusive crew model, giving opportunities for youth with disabilities to engage in volunteer service activities and develop leadership skills.

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