106 STAT. 4364 PUBLIC LAW 102-569—OCT. 29,1992

is 3.2 percent, the rate of increase for racial and ethnic minori-
ties is much higher: 38.6 percent for Latinos, 14.6 percent
for African-Americans, and 40.1 percent for Asian-Americans
and other ethnic groups. By the year 2000, the Nation will
have 260,000,000 people, one of every three of whom will be
either African-American, Latino, or Asian-American.

"(2) RATE OF DISABILITY.—Ethnic and racial minorities tend
to have disabling conditions at a disproportionately high rate.
The rate of work-related disability for American Indians is
about one and one-half times that of the general population.
African-Americans are also one and one-half times more likely
to be disabled than whites and twice as likely to be severely
disabled.

"(3) INEQUITABLE TREATMENT.—Patterns of inequitable
treatment of minorities have been documented in all major
junctures of the vocational rehabilitation process. As compared
to white Americans, a larger percentage of African-American
applicants to the vocational rehabilitation system is denied
acceptance. Of applicants accepted for service, a larger percent-
age of African-American cases is closed without being rehabili-
tated. Minorities are provided less training than their white
counterparts. Consistently, less money is spent on minorities
than on their white counterparts.

"(4) RECRUITMENT.—Recruitment efforts within vocational
rehabilitation at the level of pre-service training, continuing
education, and in-service training must focus on bringing larger
numbers of minorities into the profession in order to provide
appropriate practitioner knowledge, role models, and sufficient
manpower to address the clearly changing demography of voca-
tional rehabilitation,
"(b) OUTREACH TO MINORITIES.—

"(1) POLICY.—The Commissioner shall develop a policy to
mobilize the resources of the Nation to prepare minorities for
careers in vocational rehabilitation, independent living, and
related services.

"(2) Focus.—This policy shall focus on—

"(A) the recruitment of minorities into the field of
vocational rehabilitation counseling and related disciplines;
and

"(B) financially assisting Historically Black Colleges
and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions of higher
education, and other institutions of higher education whose
minority enrollment is at least 50 percent to prepare stu-
dents for vocational rehabilitation and related service
careers.
"(3) PLAN.—

"(A) DEVELOPMENT.—The Commissioner shall develop
a plan to provide outreach services and other related activi-
ties (such as cooperative efforts) to the entities described
in subparagraph (B) in order to enhance the capacity and
increase the participation of such entities in competitions
for grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements under
titles I through VIII.

"(B) ENTITIES.—The entities referred to in subpara-
graph (A) are-^

"(i) Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education, and