Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF) located in Washington, D.C., announced in January 2006 the awarding of a total of $883,000 in grants nationwide for the continuation of existing as well as the launch of new projects that serve young people with disabilities. MEAF's mission is to help young people with disabilities maximize their potential for unfettered participation in society. The Foundation's "Inclusive Initiative" focuses on helping mainstream American organizations make their programs more accommodating of and attractive to disabled youth, while working to change attitudes among people without disabilities.

MEAF provides support to the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) based in Washington, D.C., for a special program called the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation Congressional Internship Program. This program provides summer internships on Capitol Hill to college students with disabilities. Now in its fifth year, the program has been responsible for "life-transforming" experiences by the students who have successfully completed the internships.

Project SEARCH is a unique program at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, for training and placing young people with severe cognitive disabilities (including mental retardation) in careers in the healthcare and banking industries. Since 2003, the program has been able to sustain a 70 percent placement rate -- a phenomenally high rate for this population. A recent MEAF grant will extend the Project SEARCH program through at least 2009.

Disabled Sports USA is a Rockville, Maryland-based initiative that received a grant from MEAF for its innovative "If I Can Do This, I Can Do Anything!" program. The program is designed to train young, disabled veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to serve as mentors to young people with disabilities. It uses sports as a way of developing skills and self-confidence, to help all participants make meaningful and fulfilling contributions to society.

As part of its "Inclusion Initiative" program, MEAF funded the creation of an award-winning Web site by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) called Happenin' Habitats, which was viewed by some 500,000 students and educators. The Web site also made a profound impact on NWF personnel by exposing them to Web Content Accessibility guidelines, while promoting inclusive practices across programs.

After the Hurricane Katrina disaster that devastated the Gulf Coast region in 2005, Mitsubishi Electric employee volunteers mobilized to collect food, blankets, and other essential items to send to victims of the stricken region, while MEAF and Mitsubishi Electric Digital America (MDEA) facilitated the donation of 16 HDTVs to schools serving special-education students on the Mississippi Gulf coast. Total donations in cash and useful resources provided by Mitsubishi Electric US stands at $120,000 to date, including $10,000 that MEAF provided to the Disability Funders Network Disaster Relief Fund to assist people with disabilities affected by disaster, and $43,747 in matching funds generated by MEAF's Starfish Matches program.