The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, is awarding seven Quality of Life Nursing Home Transition (NHT) grants totaling $280,000 to seven Centers for Independent Living (CILs) nationwide. Funding for the grants is made available through the Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) operated by the Reeve Foundation under a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The PRC’s Nursing Home Transition Grant Program funds Centers for Independent Living across the country to transition people with paralysis living in nursing homes back into their homes or a community-based setting of their choice.
Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) passed in 2014, CILs are charged with supporting individuals to transition into community-based settings as a new core service, but CILs often lack the resources to do so robustly. The PRC’s NHT grants serve to supplement the work CILs are already doing to fulfill their responsibilities under WIOA and to help achieve the Reeve Foundation and ACL’s shared mission of full community participation for people with disabilities.
The applicants were chosen based on their innovative project designs and scaling up capacity. These funds will allow flexibility in purchasing a variety of nursing home transition needs that are not currently covered by other funding sources such as rental and utility deposits, first month’s rent, moving costs, purchase of home furnishings, assistive technology, personal care attendant services, internet access, and other startup cost and services. The applicants will also be able to hire more staff or increase staff hours to help address rural isolation, assist very low income individuals, and provide post transition services.
See the press release for more details about these grant awards.
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ACL funds the Paralysis Resource Center to provide comprehensive information for people living with spinal cord injury, paralysis and mobility-related disabilities and their families. Resources include information and referral by phone and email in multiple languages including English and Spanish; a peer and family support mentoring program; a military and veterans program; multicultural outreach services; free lending library; quality of life grants; and a national website.