DISABLED ACCESS TO BE PROVIDED AT FWS FACILITIES NATIONWIDE THROUGH COOPERATIVE EFFORT WITH JOB CORPS

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Press Release
DISABLED ACCESS TO BE PROVIDED AT FWS FACILITIES NATIONWIDE THROUGH COOPERATIVE EFFORT WITH JOB CORPS
Disabled Americans will find it easier to visit Fish and Wildlife Service facilities due to a landmark cooperative effort involving the Interior Department agency and the Department of Labors Office of Job Corps.

Under a plan signed recently by Service Director John Turner and Job Corps Director Peter Rell, many Service facilities across the country will undergo reconstruction aimed at meeting Federal disabled access requirements by September 1995. Existing architectural barriers are to be removed by students enrolled in the Job Corps Vocational Skills Training Program at 108 Job Corps facilities nationwide.

"This partnership is a good deal for everyone," said Director Turner. "The students will learn valuable vocational skills while Service facilities receive much needed attention. Most important, disabled Americans will find it much easier to enjoy this nations wonderful fish and wildlife resources."

While enhancing their skills in carpentry, welding, painting, plastering, and masonry, Job Corps students will also develop an awareness and sensitivity toward the disabled community.
Providing disabled access has long been a Service priority, especially at many of the 488 national wildlife refuges, 84 national fish hatcheries, and 13 major research centers the Service administers. However, this partnership provides a new avenue for achieving disabled access in a more efficient, economical, and timely manner.

Potential projects include:

o Modifying or constructing piers and docks;

o Resurfacing or building designated parking spaces for disabled persons;

o Redesigning and correcting hallways, doors, restrooms, steps, and entrances;

o Modifying or constructing boating facilities, such as ramps, piers, and boardwalks;

o Constructing and erecting kiosks more readily accessible to the disabled; and

o Constructing and erecting hunting blinds and observation towers.

Established in 1964, the Job Corps is a major national training and employment program administered by the Department of Labor to address barriers to employment faced by at-risk youth age 16-24 throughout the United States. In 1991, 69 percent of students were placed: 54 percent entered employment and 15 percent enrolled in further education programs.

Job Corps centers are located in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Three of the 108 centers are managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and are located in New York, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov