ISLANDIA, N.Y., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- NEC Foundation of America today announced grants totaling $221,550 to six organizations that advance the independence and full participation in society of people with disabilities through the use of innovative technology.

"Through these grants, NEC Foundation of America continues its consistent focus of advancing the potential of individuals and of society through technology," noted Hisashi Kaneko, president of NEC Foundation of America. "We are confident that the impact of these projects will be significant for many years to come."
Organizations receiving grants are:

icouldbe.org
$35,000
New York, NY
To expand an on-line career development and educational planning and mentoring program that has been focused on at-risk middle and high school students to now include blind and visually impaired students. These youngsters will receive access to a pool of mentors with and without their same disability in order to explore career possibilities that too often fall outside their normal consideration. www.icouldbe.org

National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
$49,957
Rochester, NY
To conduct field trials and develop training materials for C-Print Pro Tablet(R), the next generation of C-Print technology which combines the real time captioning made possible through NTID-developed C-Print with graphical display output made possible through tablet PC technology. This combination of technologies allows for the simultaneous viewing of real time captioning of classroom lectures alongside graphs, charts, and other pictorial information commonplace in, and critical to the comprehension of, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses by secondary and college students nationwide. http://www.ntid.rit.edu/cprint/product.php

Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD)
$35,000
Boston, MA
For Partners for Youth with Disabilities National POL Program, to further develop its web-based infrastructures and model program and disseminate it to a national audience of mentors and mentees with disabilities in the coming year. Partners Online is fully accessible to users with a wide range of disabilities; it incorporates message boards, group chat rooms, one-on-one chat interface (IM) and email capabilities. www.pyd.org/partnersonline

The Seeing Eye
$12,750
Morristown, NJ
For Harness Up A Satellite: The Future of Independent Travel, GPS (Global Positioning System) demonstration sessions to take place in three U.S. cities in the spring and fall of 2008. Eight Seeing Eye staff members who are proficient in the use of GPS will train 40 blind participants at each demonstration session. Users will be able to 'test drive' three different commercial systems in order to determine which one best suits their needs and level of comfort and which can be integrated with current equipment. Participants will have the opportunity to purchase GPS equipment at special pricing during the event. www.seeingeye.org

TASH (Formerly known as The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps)
$35,843
Washington, DC
To support the development and launch of a Peer to Peer Resource Network, which will be the electronic version of what TASH has done in real-time since 1975: link self-advocates with significant disabilities, advocates, parents, teachers, researchers, policy makers, and caregivers to an Internet-based searchable database with the purpose of helping each other solve problems, give and receive support, and remove barriers. www.tash.org

University of Hawai'i Center on Disability Studies
$53,000
Honolulu, HI
For a pilot study to determine the applicability and effectiveness of the Remote Accessibility Assessment System (RAAS) to people with disabilities in underserved areas. Specifically, the study will evaluate accessibility in the built workplace environment of users of wheeled mobility devices in the Hawaiian Islands, as representative of remote/rural areas. Such areas have higher rates of disability than urban areas in the United States. www.cds.hawaii.edu

For more information about NEC Foundation of America, including application guidelines, please call 631.232.2212, or visit www.necfoundation.org. NEC Foundation of America was established in 1991 and endowed at $10 million by NEC Corporation and its United States subsidiaries. Income generated by the endowment is donated to nonprofit organizations in the United States in support of programs with national reach and impact in the arena of assistive technology for people with disabilities. Through its grants, NEC Foundation of America underscores its philosophy of advancing society through technology and enabling individuals to realize their full potential.

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