2021 Chapman Prize Awarded to PRIDE Industries, the leading employer of people with disabilities in America
With nearly 400 worksites across 16 states and Washington, D.C., PRIDE Industries is a non-profit social enterprise that creates employment for people with disabilities. PRIDE Industries offers a wide spectrum of services—vocational training, job coaching, transportation, job support technology, and accommodations—so that individuals of all abilities can realize their true potential, become self-sufficient, and contribute to their communities. PRIDE Industries provides business services such as facilities management, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain, and inclusive staffing and training to government and private businesses.
The Chapman Prize Selection Panel was greatly impressed by the organization’s mission to empower individuals experiencing unemployment or underemployment and their goal to create 100,000 jobs for people with disabilities. To that end, PRIDE Industries recently launched Inclusive Talent Solutions (ITS), a service built around their proprietary training and employment services model, to match people and their talents with employers. In addition to partnering with many community employers to facilitate job placement, the organization also provides businesses with training and certifications in how to champion an inclusive workplace and decrease employment barriers.
“We are honored to be awarded the Chapman Prize for 2021,” said Michele Bennyhoff, Director of the Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation. “It gives esteemed recognition to the unique power of our employment model designed to create access and choice in employment for people with disabilities. The impact of this award will benefit generations of people that are touched by disability, either personally or through a family member or friend.”
As winner, PRIDE Industries will receive a cash award of approximately $112,000.00 from the Trust that Virginia natives Colonel Daniel T. Chapman and Mrs. Barbara Chapman established to recognize each year the efforts and achievements of individuals and organizations that have contributed most significantly to improving the quality of life in America.
“The selection of PRIDE Industries as this year’s recipient of the Chapman Prize is in keeping with fulfilling the legacy of Colonel and Mrs. Chapman,” said Christopher Morgan, Vice President and Chief Fiduciary Officer at Burke & Herbert Bank. “We are pleased to serve as the trustee for the Chapman Trust and delighted about this year’s selection of an organization that is doing such important work creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities,” he added. Burke & Herbert Bank is a community bank headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, offering a full array of financial products and services, including trust and estate planning.
The Chapman Prize focuses on a different charitable theme each year. The Trust selected “Economic Prosperity” as the theme for 2021 in order to celebrate organizations that address economic mobility and economic inequality through effective programming. In 2022, the projected charitable theme will be “Educational Success.” This year, Sterling Foundation Management, LLC, of Reston, Virginia, served as administrator of the award. “PRIDE Industries is a true reflection of the type of organization Daniel and Barbara Chapman intended to recognize when they created the Chapman Prize” commented James W. Lintott, Chairman of Sterling Foundation Management.
Contact:
Sarah Reese
703-437-9720
contact@chapmanprize.org
