ACL is pleased to welcome Julie Hocker as the Commissioner of the Administration on Disabilities. Hocker brings to the role extensive experience in operational process improvement, risk management, and effectiveness assessment. 

ACL has awarded three grants to continue and enhance the collection and analysis of national longitudinal trends pertaining to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities around the issues of state spending for developmental disabilities services, residential services, and employment services. Along with its commitment to continue funding high quality longitudinal research, ACL has emphasized the need for this research to be understandable and usable by the public, including people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD).

ACL awarded five new grants totaling $1.96 million over five years (or $392,000 for each grantee) to help develop and test model approaches for enhancing the quality, effectiveness, and monitoring of home and community-based services (HCBS) for people with developmental disabilities. The projects funded by the new grants begin on September 30, 2018. 

ACL recently awarded grants totaling $4,877,699 to Adult Protective Services systems in 14 states. The three-year grants will be used to enhance statewide APS systems, evaluate and improve practices, and improve data collection and reporting to ACL’s National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS).

The Administration for Community Living has awarded three new grants totaling more than $700,000 to advance elder justice and independent living in Indian Country.

  Notice of Intent to Apply Due: Wed., October 10, 2018, 5 p.m. ET Application Deadline: Wed., November 7, 2018, 5 p.m. ET

The opioid crisis cuts across demographics, affecting people of all ages, races, income classes and genders, in all geographic areas, and both with and without disabilities.

The Office of Nutrition and Health Promotion Programs is looking for examples of how congregate meals sites encourage participants to make voluntary contributions.   If you or your organization run a congregate meals program, we want to hear about what strategies you've used to collect or solicit voluntary contributions, and what worked well. A few select examples will be rolled out to other sites around the country and tested for their effectiveness, as part of an effort to learn what works and develop recommendations for congregate meals sites nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the availability of $6.3 million in competitive grant funds for transit coordination projects that improve access to healthcare. View Notice of Funding Opportunity (Federal Register) Applications due: November 13, 2018

As Hurricane Florence makes landfall in North Carolina, we know that people with disabilities and older adults may face unique challenges as they prepare for and recover from the storm. ACL staff are standing by to assist all of our grantees in affected areas, and we will check in periodically to get your assessment of the situation in your areas.