ACL Awards Several Field Initiated Projects (FIP) Program Grants

November 1, 2022

ACL's National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is announcing several 2022 Field-Initiated Projects (FIP) Program grantees. The planned project period for these grants is September 1, 2022 – August 30, 2027, with an estimated funding amount of up to $200,000 per year for each grantee.

The purpose of the Field Initiated Projects is to 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:

Utah State University, Logan, UT: Transition Readiness Toolkit: Filling a Gap in Assessing Pre-Employment
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA: Enhancing Community Participation Outcomes Among Young Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses Through Peer-Delivered Decision Support
University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA: The Impact of State Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Agency Employment Contracting Methods and Service Payment Rates on Employment for Individuals with IDD
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA: Community Participation Navigators: Testing a Peer Intervention for Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses
Thresholds, Inc., Chicago, IL: Assessing Efficacy of the Emerge Model: Evidence-Informed Multidisciplinary Care for Adolescents and Young Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities
Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH: Impacts of Internalized, Interpersonal, and Systemic Ableism in Healthcare Services and Systems: A Field-Initiated Project Program
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA: Promoting Access, Inclusion, and Success of Students with Emotional Disturbance in Career and Technical Education
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Chicago, IL: Enhancing Immune Health Literacy and Behaviors among People with Psychiatric Disabilities
Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI: Developing Tools to Assess Vehicle Crash Safety for Occupants in Wheelchairs
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH: Using Remote Support Services Technologies to Enhance Independent Living
Liberating Technologies, Inc., Holliston, MA: Clinical Outcomes Associated with at Home Use of Non-Powered vs. Powered Prosthetic Knees by K2-Level Individuals with Transfemoral Amputations
The Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC: Preparing PHOENIX to Fly: Building Capacity for Research on Spinal Cord Injury Peer Mentoring
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ: Internet Assisted Career-Oriented Soft-Skills Training for Transition Age Youth: A Randomized Controlled Trial
The George Washington University, Alexandria, VA: New Return on Investment Models (ROI) for the Public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program: Develop an Enhanced and Simplified ROI Model
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX: Latinx Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities and the Families Who Care for Them: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Latinx Family Sociocultural Context
The Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY: Barriers to Inclusion: Quantifying Disability-Related Out-of-Pocket Costs and Unmet Needs for People with Disabilities with a Focus on Underserved Communities
Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI: Evaluating Wheelchair Crashworthiness for Potential Use as Aircraft Seating
University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham, AL: Technique to Enable Return-to-Work by Employees with Long COVID Brain Fog

FIP Minority-Serving Institutions Grant Recipients:

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., Atlanta, GA: Effect of a Humanoid Robot with Virtual Reality Games to Train Arm Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Chicago, IL: Parents Taking Action eHealth Adaptation and Pilot for Latinx, Black and Chinese Families of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC: Promoting Successful Employment Trajectories for Youth with Disabilities During School-to-Work Transition: The Role of Personal, Family, and Workplace Experiences

NIDILRR funded the highest-ranked 16 FIP and 2 FIP-MSI applications as planned. NIDILRR funded an additional two FIP grants and one FIP-MSI grant out of rank order, from among the high-scoring FIP and FIP-MSI applicants, that present unique opportunities to advance knowledge to improve the lives of individual with disabilities, per 45 CFR 1330.25 (b)(1).

View more details about these projects. Contact Theresa SanAgustin at NIDILRR with questions about the FIP Program and Shelley Reeves at NIDILRR with questions about the FIP-MSI projects.

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.