ACL's National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is announcing several 2023 Field-Initiated Projects (FIP) Program grantees and four 2023 Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT) Program grantees.
FIP Program Grants
The planned project period for these grants is September 1, 2023-August 30, 2026, with an estimated funding amount of up to $200,000 per year for each grantee.
The purpose of the FIPs is to develop methods, procedures, and rehabilitation technology that maximize the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, especially individuals with the most severe disabilities. Another purpose is to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Funding is also allocated to improve the capacity of minority-serving institutions (MSI) to conduct high-quality disability and rehabilitation research and development under the FIP-MSI projects.
FIP Grant Recipients:
- Baylor Research Institute, Dallas, TX: Early Robotic Gait Training After Stroke.
- Baylor Research Institute, Dallas, TX: Cultural Modification of an Evidence-Based Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for People Post Stroke Who Identify as Hispanic/Latino.
- Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI: Opening the Door for Accessibility Ratings in the Community—Stage of Adoption.
- Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH: A Randomized Trial of I-InTERACT Preterm—A Novel Approach to Improving Outcomes Among Children Born Very Preterm.
- Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA: Exploring Community Mobility and Participation of Autistic Adults Using Smartphone-Based Global Positioning System and Ecological Momentary Assessment.
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA: Developing Evidence-Based Wheelchair Cushion Prescription Using Interface Pressure and Postural Stability Measurements.
- Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, NJ: A Research-Community Partnership to Enhance the Potential of Travel Instruction Services for People Living with Disabilities.
- Kessler Foundation, East Hanover, NJ: A Strength-Based Tool to Enhance Employment for Adults on the Autism Spectrum.
- Live and Learn Society, Morro Bay, CA: The Reclaiming Employment Journey—An RCT of Business Coaching and Education for Self-Employed Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities.
- Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY: Evaluating the Use of Mixed Reality Smart Glasses for Real-Time Captioning Display and Interpreting Services.
- Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ: Exploring Oral Health Experiences for People with Severe Mental Illness and Developing Stakeholder-Informed Guidelines and Training.
- Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Chicago, IL: Intensive Attention Training to Treat Brain Fog in Individuals with Long-COVID.
- Temple University, Philadelphia, PA: The Daily Relationship Between Personal, Interpersonal, and Environmental Factors and Metabolic Health Behaviors Among Individuals with Serious Mental Illness.
- Temple University, Philadelphia, PA: Getting Out of the House—Using Behavioral Activation to Increase Community Participation.
- Temple University, Philadelphia, PA: Community Mobility Plans—Improving Community Participation Through Travel Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
- University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO: Advancing Communication and Care in Safety-Net Systems to Include Black and Latinx Equity.
- University of Houston, Houston, TX: The Impact of Community Healthcare Worker Model Based Disability Sport Programming on Latinx with Mobility Impairments.
- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX: Interplay of Physiological, Psychosocial, and Functional Outcomes in Burn Survivors.
NIDILRR funded the highest-ranked 14 FIP applications in rank order. NIDILRR funded an additional four FIP grants out of rank order from among the high-scoring FIP applicants. These applicants present unique opportunities to advance knowledge to improve the lives of individual with disabilities, per 45 CFR 1330.25 (b)(1).
FIP Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) Grant Recipients:
- California State University, Northridge: Development of Semi-Autonomous Wheelchair and Socially-Aware Robot Health Aid to Encourage Community Participation for Persons with Low Mobility.
- The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL: Everybody Move! Supporting Access to Leisure-Time Physical Activity for Individuals with Disability from Racial and Ethnic Minority Backgrounds.
- The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL: Training Parents of Adolescents with Disabilities Using Telehealth (PATH).
- The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX: Healthcare Transition Readiness Among Racially/Ethnically Minoritized Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
- Florida International University: Building Managerial Capacity Through Employer Training: Creating Lasting Employment Supports for People with IDD.
Contact Radha.Holavanahalli@acl.hhs.gov at NIDILRR with questions about the FIP Program and Shelley.Reeves@acl.hhs.gov at NIDILRR with questions about the FIP-MSI projects.
ARRT Program Grants
The planned project period for these grants is five years, with an estimated funding amount of up to $200,000 per year for each grantee.
The ARRT grants are intended to increase the number of high-quality disability and rehabilitation researchers. Grants are made to institutions of higher education to provide research training to individuals with doctorates or similar advanced degrees. The disability and rehabilitation researchers trained by these grants will improve community living and participation, employment, and health and function outcomes among people with disabilities.
ARRT Grant Recipients:
- ARRT on Community Living and Participation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA: This project will work to increase the number of rigorously trained researchers specialized in assistive technology provision and policy for community living and participation.
- ARRT on Community Living and Participation—Collaborating with Stakeholders to Create Meaningful Change, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH: The goal of this ARRT postdoctoral training program is to increase the number of researchers — especially researchers with disabilities — who are prepared to conduct high-quality rehabilitation research to improve community living and participation outcomes of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).
- ARRT on Employment, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA: This project will train doctoral degree holders in occupational therapy to conduct research toward identifying and addressing employment barriers and facilitators experienced by people with disabilities. The grant will also provide training toward translating findings for vocational rehabilitation counselors, engineers, therapists, and employers to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
- ARRT on Health and Function, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD: The goal of this project is to train advanced rehabilitation researchers on improving functional independence and community living among older adults with disabilities, particularly those with neuromotor and musculoskeletal impairments.
Contact anne.ordway@acl.hhs.gov at NIDILRR if you have questions about the ARRT Program.
To stay current on NIDILRR grant opportunities, please visit grants.gov and search: NIDILRR or 93.433.
NIDILRR, part of ACL, generates new knowledge and promotes its effective use so that people with disabilities can perform activities of their choice in the community. NIDILRR also works to expand society’s capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for people with disabilities.