Congresswoman Barbara Lee to be Honored during the Grand Opening of the Ed Roberts Campus

Press Release

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) will speak and be honored during the ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the grand opening of the Ed Robert Campus, located at 3075 Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA, on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 1 p.m.

Congresswoman Lee has been a longstanding supporter of the Ed Roberts Campus project, working to direct $5.4 million in appropriated funding from 2004 to 2010 through six separate federal earmark grants to support the construction of the campus -- the first such project of its kind in the nation designed to accommodate all citizens, regardless of ability.

"The Ed Roberts Campus is really a national model for a new type of fully accessible disability service center that I hope will spread throughout the country," said Congresswoman Lee. "That's why I made it a priority to include it in my earmark requests every year. To me, the Ed Roberts Campus exemplifies in many ways why earmarks are so important. I knew the value of this project and its importance to the community and I'm so glad we were able to get it done and secure these funds."

Congresswoman Lee will be presented with the AT&T Community Leadership Award during the ceremony in honor of her longstanding commitment to the Ed Robert Campus project.

The center is named after Ed Roberts, the father of the independent-living movement, who passed away in 1995. The campus was conceived with the idea of enabling people with disabilities to reach their potential without discrimination or prejudice. Presently, the fully-accessible Ed Roberts Campus houses 11organizations, providing services, advocacy, education, training or recreation programs for citizens with various disabilities. Nine of the organizations are non-profit, and seven are founding partners of the Ed Roberts Campus, itself a non-profit entity.

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