Could a well-intentioned government program become a cash machine for businessmen bent on enriching themselves at the expense of the disabled? In 1971, Congress created a program to channel federal contracts to charities that train and employ workers who are blind or have severe disabilities.
Known as JWOD (named after the law that created it, the Javits-Wagner-O'Day act), it eventually came to have a $2 billion dollar budget. But no one, it appears, was keeping track of where that money was going, until journalists from The Oregonian decided to have a look. What they found was abuse of the system and anemic oversight resulting in a massive bilking of taxpayers and precious few jobs for the genuinely disabled.
And watch the full episode when it premieres online, Wednesday, August 15, at 12 noon ET. (Or check your local listings for broadcast dates on PBS nationwide, beginning Friday, August 17.)
