Gov. Mike Leavitt's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities has honored three employers, a service-providers project and an individual with its 2003 Golden Key Awards for significant contributions in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
The employers are Buttons 'N Bows preschool and kindergarten, Valley Services and Teleperformance USA.
Service provider of the year is Projects with Industry, associated with Salt Lake Community College. Outstanding citizen of the year is David I. Memmott.
A special award to recognize an outstanding company or individual who uses innovative approaches or concepts to employ, train or accommodate individuals with disabilities was given to Intermountain Collaborative Transition Center. It was cited for its employment readiness program, a six-week course designed to help young adults with physical disabilities obtain the training they need to compete with other job applicants, with or without disabilities.
Projects with Industry is a federally funded computer training program for people with severe disabilities that has served more that 500 students in the past 18 years.
Buttons 'N Bows is a small community day-care center that was recognized for creating a job appropriate for a person with disabilities.
Valley Services operates five areas of business. About 100 of its 140 employees have disabilities or are disadvantaged. The majority of the company's team-leader positions are held by employees with disabilities.
Teleperformance USA was singled out for its effort to meet both the letter and spirit of Equal Employment Opportunity guidelines. The company strives to accommodate the needs of its employees with disabilities by providing special training programs to help facilitate the best learning environment, supplying special hardware to enhance computer-screen visibility and providing easy entry into the buildings.
Memmott is cited for turning his own life struggles into a stage for helping others. He works with homeless people with severe alcohol- and drug-abuse problems and is a former volunteer at the Volunteers of America detoxification unit.