Kaptur announces federal grant of nearly $300,000 for Ability Center
9/21/2010U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) announced the award Tuesday of a grant of $276,465 from the federal stimulus bill to help the Ability Center of Greater Toledo reach out to people with disabilities in its seven-county region.
Miss Kaptur, who is in a re-election battle with Republican challenger Rich Iott, said the agency earned the grant through a competitive process by the U.S. Department of Education.
"It's important that people understand what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has done and how it helps the community in which we live," Miss Kaptur said.
The two-year grant will allow the agency to hire two full-time minority outreach coordinators and increase services to children and young people, the Kaptur office said.
Tim Harrington, executive director of the Ability Center in Sylvania, said the grant will help the center identify individuals who need help in under-served parts of the Ability Center's region, which includes Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, Henry, Fulton, Defiance, and Williams counties.
The $787 billion stimulus bill in February, 2009, was part of President Obama's and the Democratic Congress's response to the ongoing recession and economic crisis.
Iott spokesman Matt Parker said, "It's another example of spending money that the federal government doesn't have." He said Miss Kaptur was using the project to "score political points in an election year."