Search title image

TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE
June/July 2000

Unique Facility to Serve as "Beacon of Light"

The Ed Roberts Campus, which will bring nine organizations serving the disabled community under one roof, recently got a boost when the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded the project a $300,000 grant. As part of a week-long, whirlwind national tour, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater appeared at the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, the site of the future campus, to present the grant, which will largely fund architectural design of the facility.

Slater U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater presented a grant to MTC.

In awarding this highly competitive grant, the DOT recognized the facility as a unique model of transit-oriented development that makes maximum use of the BART system's accessibility, revitalizes the Adeline corridor in the vicinity of the Ashby BART station and provides critical services to the disability community.

Noting that the grant coincides with the 10th anniversary of passage of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, Slater said, "The Ed Roberts Campus will . . . serve as a beacon of light to all who would look to it and [be inspired] to do the same thing in other communities across the country and around the world."

The innovative facility is dedicated to the memory of Ed Roberts (1939-1995), an international leader and educator in the independent living/disability rights movement who headed the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley.

Scheduled to start construction in 2002, the campus will bring together the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, Center for Accessible Technology, Center for Independent Living, Computer Technologies Program, Disability Rights Advocates, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Through the Looking Glass, Whirlwind Wheelchair International and World Institute on Disability. Preliminary plans suggest a conference center, a library on the disability movement, a computer/ media resource center, a fitness center/gym, a cafe, a child development center and Head Start, and a mix of neighborhood-serving retail and leased office spaces.

MTC previously awarded the project two planning grants totaling $100,000 from its Transportation for Livable Communities program, and will administer the $300,000 federal Transportation and Community and System Preservation grant.

Contents