Nomination Period Opens for Fifth Annual Ruderman Prize in Inclusion with Organizations to be Awarded a Quarter Million Dollars

The Ruderman Prize in Inclusion will be awarded to five organizations around the world that demonstrate model inclusion for people with disabilities

Boston, MA, June 21^st, 2016 — The Ruderman Family Foundation has opened the nomination period for its international Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, now in its fifth consecutive year of operation. Five individual $50,000 awards will be given to companies and organizations that operate innovative programs and provide services that foster the full inclusion of people with disabilities.

Five organizations from around the world will be selected for the Prize, which in total will amount to $250,000 that the Foundation will invest as recognition for the important work being done, and to also ensure that resources are available to allow them to continue.

“Although people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world, making up twenty percent of our population, they are amongst the most discriminated and segregated populations,” said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “In order to attempt to change this injustice, our foundation created the Ruderman Prize in Inclusion to recognize organizations across the globe who have led the way in including people with disabilities in all aspects of life.”

Nominating organizations for the prize can be nonprofit organizations or companies with an American nonprofit fiscal sponsor – 501(c) 3. This year, priority will be given to innovations in the fields of technology, entertainment, art and fashion, media, social businesses and advocacy.

25 organizations worldwide have been recipients of the Prize throughout its five-year history, including organizations in Russia, the U.K., United States, Mexico, Israel, South Africa, Australia, Canada and Argentina. Past winners include schools, religious places of worship, a dance company, university, bakery and an employment service.

The Ruderman Prize shines a spotlight on programs and organizations whose work best exemplifies the full inclusion of people with disabilities, celebrating them as inspiration and models that could be replicated elsewhere. The Prize is a signature program of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which believes that inclusion and understanding of all people is essential to a fair and flourishing community.

“Our foundation is constantly exploring new innovative ways to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in our worldwide society. We strive to highlight the rights of people with disabilities as civil and human rights, and this year’s Prize is dedicated to the entrepreneurial spirit that changes life as we know it and makes us a fairer, more inclusive society,” added Ruderman.

The first stage of the application is due August 9^th, 2016 at 5:00 pm EST. Organizations that pass the first stage of the application process will receive an email inviting them to submit a second, more detailed stage of the application.  The second stage deadline is September 12^th, 2016 at 5:00 pm EST.

Watch this video to learn more about the Ruderman Prize in Inclusion: 

For more information on how to apply for a Ruderman Prize, please visit: www.rudermanfoundation.org