Langston, Okla. -- Sodexo, an integrated food and facilities management company, received a commendation from Gov. Brad Henry Oct. 30 during the Governor’s Disability Employment Awards ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma City.

Sodexo was recognized for hiring persons with disabilities through their maintenance contract with Langston University.  Sodexo has more than 100,000 employees nationwide in various food and maintenance contracts.  This organization has discovered that hiring persons with disabilities is an untapped workforce that positively contributes to the success of their company as well as enriches the communities in which they are located.

“It is employees and businesses like these that have put Oklahoma ahead of every state in the nation at employing people with disabilities,” said Howard Hendrick, Cabinet Secretary of Human Services and Director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Hendrick presented the commendations on behalf of Gov. Henry who was unable to attend the ceremony.

“For the past three years, Oklahoma has led the nation in assisting people with developmental disabilities to find competitive jobs and become working taxpayers,” said Hendrick. “Today, 60 percent of individuals with developmental disabilities served by the OKDHS Developmental Disabilities Services Division participate in supported employment services.”

The Governor’s Disability Employment Awards are co sponsored by Gov. Brad Henry and Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, along with OKDHS/DDSD, the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Oklahoma Association of Persons in Supported Employment.

*To see Oklahoma’s ranking as compared to other states in regard to the numbers of persons with developmental disabilities in competitive jobs (supported employment) go to, www.statedata.info/.  This website is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, supported in part by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under cooperative agreement with additional support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education. 

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• Charles Wakefield | High Resolution Image | Charles Wakefield,right, accepts a Governor's Commendation on behalf of Sodexo from Howard Hendrick, Cabinet Secretary for Human Services and Director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services on behalf of Gov. Henry.