AIDD Grant and Funding Announcements

Funding Announcement — 10/02/2012

AIDD Provides $930,000 in Funding for Employment First Initiatives

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Community Living (ACL), Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) has awarded two grants and one cooperative agreement under Projects of National Significance to fund two employment initiatives. These funds will be used to work towards improving employment outcomes and increasing competitive integrated employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Details of the awards are as follows:

Projects of National Significance:

Partnerships in Employment Systems Change

The grantee award recipients are:

• Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
• Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education (Anchorage, AK)

The grantees have been awarded a total of $732,000 for this initiative. These grants are in addition to the six grants that were awarded in September 2011 for the Partnerships in Employment Systems Change Initiative. By funding additional entities, AIDD can continue to work toward improving systems to support competitive integrated employment outcomes for individuals with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), with a focus on youth and young adults.

These projects will focus on systems change to prioritize employment as the first and preferred option for youth and young adults with I/DD. In addition, the grants will create partnerships in states to promote systems change efforts leading to the development of policies that support competitive employment in integrated settings for youth and young adults with I/DD.

As with the current Partnerships in Employment Systems Change grants, AIDD will ensure the success of the grantees’ efforts by supporting them with additional data collection, technical assistance, and evaluation activities.

Projects of National Significance:

Community of Practice for Supporting Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston has been awarded a $190,000 cooperative agreement to establish a community of practice composed of 5–10 states in the first year, with plans to expand as appropriate, build capacity, reform delivery systems, and improve strategies related to competitive integrated employment.

ICI will convene a Delphi panel to identify issues and emerging and promising practices across the country for consideration by the community of practice. The panel will include Employment First from the U.S. Department of Labor, the State Employment Leadership Network, and the Partnerships in Employment Systems Change projects.

Funding Announcement — 10/02/2012

AIDD Funds Data Collection, Supporting Families, and Training and Technical Assistance Projects

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) has awarded funding to support data collection and information dissemination, supporting families, and training and technical assistance projects under AIDD’s Projects of National Significance and the Help America Vote Act. Together, these projects will promote the self-determination, integration, and inclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their communities.

Projects of National Significance Data Collection and Information Dissemination Grants

• National Residential Information System Project
• State of the States in Developmental Disabilities
• Access to Integrated Employment: National Data Collection on Day and Employment Services for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities

AIDD has awarded a total of $1,050,000 to support ongoing data collection and information dissemination projects. These projects will plan, develop, and implement a longitudinal data collection and analysis program relating to financial and programmatic trends, employment status, and residential and in-home supports and services provided to families of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). The research and statistics will help policymakers, service providers, and people with I/DD and their families make the most informed decisions about policy and their own care and allow for a national evaluation of the conditions of people with I/DD in the United States.

The award recipients are:

• Research and Training Center on Residential Services and Community Living, Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota
• The Coleman Institute, University of Colorado
• Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston

The University of Minnesota will analyze and describe the settings where people with I/DD live in the United States and its territories. This project aims to maintain and extend national and state-by-state statistics on services and supports for people with I/DD. The project will include funding for supports and services from a variety of sources, including public and non-public, Medicaid-funded and non-Medicaid-funded residential and supportive services. The project will examine and report on the places where people with I/DD live and the innovative ways in which states are supporting those who live in the community.

The University of Colorado will collect, analyze, and report on data describing services and supports for people with I/DD. This project aims to conduct a national study that describes changes in public services and supports for people with I/DD by examining spending, including local, state, and federal spending, with a particular focus on long-term services and supports for people with I/DD.

The University of Massachusetts Boston will collect, analyze, and report on data describing employment services and supports for people with I/DD. This project aims to examine and report on the employment status of people with I/DD and related outcomes as a result of policies and programs that support their education and employment.

These three projects are mandated to collaborate with each other and work with AIDD to identify specific variables that will give the public a synopsis of each state regarding community integration and employment for people with I/DD. The purpose of this collaboration is to provide a more complete description of trends, services, and opportunities for people with I/DD in each state. The outcome of this collaboration will be a link on the grantees’ Web sites that will provide users with each state’s synopsis.

Supporting Families

• Projects of National Significance: Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

AIDD has awarded $250,000 to the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities to develop a community of practice designed to build capacity across and within states to create policies, practices, and systems to better assist and support families that include a member with I/DD across the lifespan.

The community of practice will develop a model framework for supporting families that builds on the 2011 Wingspread Family Support Summit outcomes and provides the foundations for work in five states to enhance family-related services and policies.

The project will make recommendations to improve policy and practice at both the state and national levels and develop mechanisms to disseminate data and best practice sharing across states. The training and technical assistance activities for this project will be conducted in partnership with the following entities:

• Developmental Disabilities Networks (State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, State Protection and Advocacy Systems, and University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities)
• State vocational rehabilitation agencies
• Consortia members
• Relevant state agencies

Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA)

• Projects of National Significance: Training and Technical Assistance for State Councils on Developmental Disabilities
• Help America Vote Act (HAVA): Training and Technical Assistance to Assist Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As) to Establish or Improve Voting Access for Individuals with Disabilities

The award recipients are:

• National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD)
• National Federation for the Blind (NFB)
• National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)

Training and Technical Assistance to Councils

AIDD has awarded $575,000 to the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities to improve program performance, statutory compliance, and program outcomes across the network of State Councils on Developmental Disabilities. The T/TA activities carried out under this grant shall be program specific and/or cross-cutting to the Councils.

Councils work to address the needs of people with developmental disabilities through systems change and capacity building efforts that promote self-determination, integration, and inclusion. The changing political climates, shrinking federal and state resources, increased need to demonstrate results, and the varying expectations held by a multitude of stakeholders creates extensive challenges for Councils. Now more than ever, Councils need the highest quality T/TA to meet the program requirements, improve performance, and demonstrate and achieve results.

Training and Technical Assistance to P&As

AIDD has awarded a total of $366,000 to the National Federation for the Blind and the National Disability Rights Network to provide T/TA to the nationwide network of P&As to assist them in promoting full participation in the electoral process for individuals with disabilities.

HAVA activities implemented by the P&As include assistance to individuals with disabilities to register to vote, cast a vote, and access polling places, and to develop proficiency in the use of voting systems and technologies, as well as support of policies, procedures, and practices that assist individuals with disabilities in such activities. Grantees will support P&As in these activities through T/TA activities. In order to assess the availability and use of voting systems and technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities (including blindness), the T/TA projects will support training in the use of voting systems and technologies, and demonstrate and evaluate the use of such systems and technologies by individuals with disabilities.

Funding Announcement — 10/01/2011

ADD Funds National Core Indicators (NCI) Project:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) has awarded a 5 year contract totaling $1.5 million to the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), of Alexandria, VA to increase their efforts with the National Core Indicators (NCI) Project.

"We are very excited about supporting the qualitative approach to understanding the DD service system that the National Core Indicators offers, and helping NASDDDS expand this effort to more States. The NCI data is a useful tool for service systems, researchers, policymakers, families and individuals with developmental disabilities, and will be a great addition to the longitudinal data projects that ADD funds."

In gathering the data, the project staff will collaborate with State organizations advocating for individuals with intellectual and evelopmental disabilities. Based on proven evaluation techniques, a standard set of performance measures will be developed that can be used by States to manage quality and across States for making comparisons and setting benchmarks. This will make it possible to track system performance outcomes on an annual basis and provide appropriate recommendations for future ADD evaluation efforts.

Funding Announcement — 10/01/2011

ADD Provides 3 million in Funds for Employment Initiatives:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) has awarded 6 Projects of National Significance: Partnerships in Employment Systems Change grants. These funds will be used to support consortiums aimed at improving existing state systems to increase competitive employment outcomes for youth and young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

These grants will be used to create partnerships in States to promote system change efforts leading to the development of policies that support competitive employment in integrated settings for youth and adults with developmental disabilities.

Improving access to appropriate employment supports is among the most important priorities expressed by the DD community. Beyond the opportunity to earn wages, the benefits of competitive, integrated employment include expanded social relationships, improved self-worth, transferable work skills, and increased self-determination. These grants will contribute to better employment outcomes for people with developmental disabilities." said Commissioner Sharon Lewis of ADD.

The grantee award recipients are:

• Regents of University of California/UCLA
• Iowa Coalition for Integrated Employment
• Mississippi Department of Mental Health
• University of Missouri
• University of Rochester
• Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities

ADD is further supporting these grantee efforts with additional data collection, technical assistance, and evaluation activities to ensure success of these efforts, as well as creating strong replication and dissemination avenues. Funding has been awarded to the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) to provide training and technical assistance to the 6 newly awarded grantees. ICI will also collect data, analyze, and report on the employment and economic status of youth and young adults, ages 16 to 30, with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Finally, the Lewin Group has been awarded a multi-year contract to evaluate the Partnerships in Employment Systems Change efforts.

Funding Announcement — 10/01/2011

ADD Funds Data Collection For Supporting Families Project:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) announces the award of $200,000.00 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota for fiscal year 2012 to plan, develop and implement a longitudinal data collection and analysis project relating to supports and services provided to families of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD).

"As more families continue to be the primary support structure for many people with developmental disabilities across the lifespan, we need to better understand the needs of these families, and what services and supports are available to them. This project will provide important data to inform service systems, researchers, policymakers, and families." said Commissioner Sharon Lewis of ADD.

States vary greatly in the ways they support families, and how they define “family support” services. Some of the services and supports that states currently offer include in-home care assistance, respite services, financial services such as cash subsidies and vouchers, assistive technology and environmental modifications, adaptive medical equipment, family counseling, family training, parent support groups. Often “family centered” supports planning processes are utilized to determine the supports and services necessary for families, while “person-centered” planning provides the opportunity for an individual with a disability to direct their supports and services.

The project, collaborating with an Expert Advisory Panel, made up of families of people with ID\DD, and other groups, will examine data that have been previously collected by states on supports and services, develop key definitions related to supports and services; create a standard set of key state indicators that can be used to benchmark progress; and develop a profile of such supports and services that can be updated and used to track trends. The culmination of these efforts will be an online data dashboard that can be used to track, compare and contrast progress made on achieving outcomes at the national and state levels.

ADD also funds a project at the University of Minnesota to analyze annual state-by-state and national statistics on residential services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). For more information about ADD projects, please visit www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/add

Announcement of FY 2012 Estimated Allotments — 07/15/2011

Notification of fiscal year 2012 (Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 136 / Friday, July 15, 2011 / Notices) estimated Federal allotments to State Councils on Developmental Disabilities and Protection and Advocacy Systems. The tables provide estimates for fiscal year (FY) 2012 funding (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2012).

The allotments listed are preliminary estimates only for FY 2012 and are likely to change dependent upon final data and appropriations.

FY 2012 P&A Estimated Allotments [70KB PDF]

FY 2012 DDC Estimated Allotments [66KB PDF]

Announcement of FY 2011 Estimated Allotments — Revised 05/24/2011

Notification of fiscal year 2011 estimated (revised) Federal allotments to State Councils on Developmental Disabilities and Protection and Advocacy Systems. The tables provide estimates for fiscal year (FY) 2011 funding (October 1, 2010 – September 30, 2011).

FY 2011 P&A Estimated Allotments [23KB PDF]
FY 2011 DDC Estimated Allotments [27KB PDF]
FY 2011 HAVA P&A Estimated Allotments [23KB PDF]
FY 2011 HAVA SOS Estimated Allotments [23KB PDF]