Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 112 Part 2.djvu/231

 PUBLIC LAW 105-220—AUG. 7, 1998 112 STAT. 1115 " TRA DIT IONALLY UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS "SEC. 19. (a) FINDINGS. —With respect to the programs 29 USC 718. authorized in titles II through VII, the Congress finds as follows: "(1) RACIAL PROFILE.—The racial profile of America is rapidly changing. While the rate of increase for white Americans is 3.2 percent, the rate of increase for racial and ethnic minorities is much higher: 38.6 percent for Latinos, 14.6 percent for African-Americans, and 40.1 percent for Asian-Americans and other ethnic groups. By the year 2000, the Nation will have 260,000,000 people, one of every three of whom will be either African-American, Latino, or Asian-American. "(2) RATE OF DISABILITY.— Ethnic and racial minorities tend to have disabling conditions at a disproportionately high rate. The rate of work-related disability for American Indians is about one and one-half times that of the general population. African-Americans are also one and one-half times more likely to be disabled than whites and twice as likely to be significantly disabled. "(3) INEQUITABLE TREATMENT.—Patterns of inequitable treatment of minorities have been documented in all major junctures of the vocational rehabilitation process. As compared to white Americans, a larger percentage of African-American applicants to the vocational rehabilitation system are denied acceptance. Of applicants accepted for service, a larger percentage of African-American cases are closed without being rehabilitated. Minorities are provided less training than their white counterparts. Consistently, less money is spent on minorities than on their white counterparts. "(4) RECRUITMENT. —Recruitment efforts within vocational rehabilitation at the level of preservice training, continuing education, and in-service training must focus on bringing larger numbers of minorities into the profession in order to provide appropriate practitioner knowledge, role models, and sufficient manpower to address the clearly changing demography of vocational rehabilitation. "(b) OUTREACH TO MINORITIES. — "(1) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, the Commissioner and the Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (referred to in this subsection as the 'Director') shall reserve 1 percent of the funds appropriated for the fiscal year for programs authorized under titles II, III, VI, and VII to carry out this subsection. The Commissioner and the Director shall use the reserved funds to carry out one or more of the activities described in paragraph (2) through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. "(2) ACTIVITIES.— The activities carried out by the Commissioner and the Director shall include one or more of the following: "(A) Making awards to minority entities and Indian tribes to carry out activities under the programs authorized under titles II, III, VI, and VII. "(B) Making awards to minority entities and Indian tribes to conduct research, training, technical assistance, or a related activity, to improve services provided under this Act, especially services provided to individuals from minority backgrounds.

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