American Manufacturing and Packaging
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American Manufacturing & Packaging is a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation, in Cookeville, Tennessee, mainly concerned with hiring and training the severely disabled in the manufacturing of food products.[1] The company employs over 100 severely disabled people to manufacture and co-pack several private label brands and its own Millstone Traditions and Beachhouse Seafood brand[2]. On average, their brand portfolio reaches more than four million people around the world daily. AMP is the first non-profit agency in the country to operate a USDA approved (PL No. 47-011-02) facility[3] for the production of manufactured goods sold to the feeding programs of the US Government and private industry. AMP utilizes the manufacture of food items to create opportunities for severely disabled[4] in the development of work skills, vocational services and a better quality of life.[5]
History
The company can trace its history to the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act or JWOD, 41 U.S.C. § 46 et seq. This is a U.S. federal law mandating that all Federal agencies purchase specified supplies and services from nonprofit agencies employing blind persons or others with severe disabilities. The Act was passed by the 92nd United States Congress in 1971; it is named after Senator Jacob K. Javits, who led efforts to expand the Wagner-O'Day Act of 1938, named after Senator Robert F. Wagner and Congresswoman Caroline O'Day.[6].
Senator Javits led the efforts to expand the older law, which applied only to blind persons, and covered supplies but not services. The effort succeeded in spite of objections raised by organizations representing the blind, as expressed for example in Resolution 68-04[7] passed in 1968 by the American Council of the Blind.
The Federal agency charged with administering the program is currently known as the Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled. It replaced the Committee on Purchases of Blind Made Products established by the 1938 act. The agency decides which commodities and services the government should purchase under the JWOD Act. The program it oversees, known for over three decades as the JWOD Program, was renamed "AbilityOne" by Congress in 2006.[8]
AMP is the first nonprofit agency in the country to operate a USDA-approved facility for the production of manufactured goods sold to the feeding programs of the US Government and private industry. They manufacture over 125 different varieties of dry mixes, dairy blends and oil products for Federal customers such as the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense. AMP also produces for the private sector and participated in the reinvented Federal procurement Prime Vendor program by delivering to full-line food distributors who are contracted to deliver to Federal installations.[9]
References
- ^ 9/11 State of Tennessee, Department of Finance and Administration, Division of Mental Retardation Services article
- ^ AMP Website
- ^ Logline Magazine, Defense Logistic Agency permission at http://www.dla.mil/policy.aspx
- ^ abilityone.gov Ability One William M. Usdane South Regional Award
- ^ United States Congressman Bart Gordon letter
- ^ Ronald Reagan: 50th Anniversary of the JWOD Act, 1988
- ^ American Council Of The Blind
- ^ A Brief History of the JWOD Program
- ^ JWOD creating jobs abilityone.gov article