Media Advisory

• by New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

OMRDD UNVEILS EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE

At its ‘Works for Me’ Awards Ceremony

TOMORROW, OCTOBER 7

10:30 a.m. Hart Lounge,

The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany

FACT:

§ Employees with disabilities represent $1 trillion in annual aggregate consumer spending – and can better relate to customers with disabilities.

On Tuesday, October 7, 2008 in the Hart Lounge, Center for the Performing Arts at The Egg, Empire State Plaza, the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) will promote a major new initiative to address an 85 percent unemployment rate among the developmentally disabled who want to work and earn a paycheck – as well as honoring businesses that have done their part to lower that statistic. OMRDD Commissioner Diana Jones Ritter will be joined by Paterson Administration officials, Wall Street executives, honored businesses and individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

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