The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation launched the inaugural Quality of Life Nursing Home Transition grants with the awarding of a total of $280,000 in funds 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 US Department of Health and Human Services, explains a media release from Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
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 release continues.
The following organizations were awarded the inaugural 2017 Nursing Home Transition Grants: Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF), Los Angeles; Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living, Topeka, Kansas; Liberty Resources Inc, Philadelphia; Memphis Center for Independent Living, Memphis, Tenn; Progressive Independence, Norman, Okla; and Resource Center for Independent Living Inc, Utica, NY.
These 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; and startup cost and services. The majority of the funds will be used to purchase home furnishings, assistive technology, personal care attendant services, and Internet access, per the release.
[Source(s): Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Business Wire]
