Minnesota Diversified Industries Awarded Three Year CARF Accreditation

July 18, 2006

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 18, 2006 — Minnesota Diversified Industries, Inc. (MDI) announced today the recent award of its eighth consecutive three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) to provide Organizational Employment Services to employees with disabilities in St. Paul, Hibbing, and Grand Rapids, Minnesota. CARF is an international, independent, nonprofit accreditor of human service providers and networks in the areas of aging services, behavioral health, child and youth services, employment and community services, and medical rehabilitation.

Reviewers looked in detail at MDI service areas including business practices, individualized services and employment services. Colleen Haberman, Vice President of Human Resources, commented that the CARF accreditation is the highest level that can be awarded to a rehabilitation facility. “The survey team carefully looked not only at the quality of MDI services, but also at whether those services produce meaningful success for the employees who participate in programs,” she said.

Highlights from the CARF report include:
Commendation for systematic review of employee performance, including assessments and regular use by supervisors and employees to develop plans for future improvement.

Services to a diverse workforce include utilization of techniques to assist all employees to communicate and learn while respecting their individual differences.

A comprehensive wellness program, available to all employees, not only improves the health and well-being of participants but increases productivity, reduces accidents, and minimizes health-related expenses.

Excellence in financial reporting which enables MDI to make decisions at any point in time, maintaining optimal levels of productivity, quality and timeliness.

Presence of an ethics hotline enabling employees to report alleged violations of MDI’s ethics code is both unique and effective.

About CARF

Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of human service providers in the areas of rehabilitation, employment, child and family, community, and aging services. The CARF family of organizations currently accredits more than 4,800 providers at more than 17,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and South America. More than 6.3 million persons of all ages are served annually by CARF-accredited providers. For more information about CARF, go to www.carf.org.

About MDI

Founded in 1964, MDI exists to assist persons with special challenges by offering progressive development and job opportunities in a competitive business enterprise. MDI provides packaging and assembly services at its St. Paul site, and manufactures plastic corrugated products for a variety of industrial applications at facilities in Grand Rapids and Hibbing, Minnesota. The company employs approximately 255 people at its three locations. For more information about MDI, visit www.mdi.org.