the advocacy monitor

Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Funding Opportunity Announcement: Nursing Home Transition Grants Offered to CILs for Individuals Living with Paralysis

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Paralysis Resource Center’s (PRC) Nursing Home Transition (NHT) Grant Program is partnering with Centers for Independent Living (CILs)* across the country to award four grants up to $40,000 each to transition people living with paralysis in nursing homes back into their homes or a community-based setting of their choice.

The PRC, in partnership with the Administration for Community Living (ACL), has focused on Nursing Home Transition as part of its mission to help seniors and individuals with disabilities live in their homes and fully participate in their communities. The NHT Grant expands on the shared mission of the ACL and the PRC to improve the quality of life for individuals with paralysis and other conditions that result in permanent mobility challenges.

For this grant purpose, the term paralysis includes anyone who sustains difficulty and/or inability to move their arms and/or legs due to a neurological condition such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, ALS, and many other chronic conditions that coexist with developmental, congenital, and acquired disabilities.

* The NHT grant is open to Centers for Independent Living as described in the 2014 reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act. The term “center for independent living” means a consumer-controlled, community-based, cross-disability, nonresidential private nonprofit agency for individuals with significant disabilities (regardless of age or income) that (A) is designed and operated within a local community by individuals with disabilities; and (B) provides an array of independent living services, including, at a minimum, independent living core services as defined in section 705(17) as: information and referral, independent living skills training, peer counseling, individual systems and advocacy, and transition/diversion facilitation.

CILs interested in applying for the NHT grant are invited to attend a webinar on Thursday May 4. Participants will learn about the application process and have the opportunity to ask questions. Register for the webinar

Program Timeline – 2017

  • Application Opens: April 20, 2017
  • Application Technical Assistance Overview Webinar: May 4, 2017 at 3 – 4 pm EST
  • Submission Deadline: May 15, 2017 (11:59 pm local time)
  • Decisions Announced: May 31, 2017
  • Checks Mailed: June 15, 2017

When complete, the granted projects will have a direct impact on individuals living with paralysis who have successfully transitioned from an institution into the community. The Nursing Home Transition Grant Program will decrease the number of unnecessary institutionalizations across the nation, and provide opportunities to address formal barriers identified through the process.

For detailed information, please visit the grant web page.