The Administration for Community Living (ACL)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a letter to ACL grantees on the final rule implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The funding the rule contributes to advances the expansion of community living for disabled people and creates new compliance requirements for recipients of federal funding from HHS. The letter highlights the new fact sheet that helps ACL grantees understand the Section 504 rule and compliance obligations including web, mobile, and kiosk accessibility, reasonable modifications and effective communication requirements, and requirements for implementing the new rule.

The Administration for Community Living with the support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the National Association of Medicaid Directors has developed a resource for state Medicaid programs that details the benefits of leveraging Medicaid administrative claiming for No Wrong Door (NWD) System functions. The resource includes how state and community-based partners can obtain federal reimbursement for activities performed in support of Medicaid. Organizations like area agencies on aging, aging and disability resource centers, centers for independent living, etc. can benefit from this type of federal reimbursement.

On April 16, 2024, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) announced the Prevention and Public Health Fund Evidence-Based Falls Prevention Program Information Collection was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. This thirty-day notice collects comments on the information collection requirements related to the proposed extension of this information collection. Comments must be submitted electronically by May 16, 2024.

ACL has awarded a five-year grant totaling over $6 million to establish a national center to expand and strengthen the direct care workforce across the country. In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to strengthening the care economy, this initiative will provide technical assistance to states and service providers and facilitate collaboration with stakeholders to improve recruitment, retention, training, and professional development of the direct care workers who provide the critical services that make it possible for people with disabilities and older adults to live in their own homes and communities.

The Housing and Services Resource Center was created for people who work in the space of housing resources and homelessness services, behavioral and mental health services, independent living services and other supportive services. The Center is part of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand affordable housing, improve home and community-based services, and address bias in America's long-term care system.

This summary of research findings gathers research findings from a variety of National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research projects related to the impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities. The document highlights collects projects focusing on specific research areas including community engagement, rural populations, telehealth, students, and return-to-work accommodations.

In this blog post, Jill Jacobs, Commissioner on Disabilities at ACL, reflects on Developmental Disabilites (DD) Awareness month by highlighting recent innovations in ACL's DD programs, and the Administration on Disabilities (AOD) goals for the year ahead. AOD's upcoming priorities include continuing to address the DSP workforce crisis, investing in projects to advance equity and reach people with disabilities at the intersections of identity, and continuing to support individuals with both DD and mental health diagnoses. The blog post also shares experiences with disability that the new Commissioner brings to her role.

In November 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that ACL would receive $150 million to expand the public health workforce within the aging and disability networks. Over this past week, ACL began distributing these funds to its grantees and grantee networks.

On Monday, July 12, 2021 three ACL grantees released a digital book titled, 30 Years of Community Living for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities. The book shares personal perspectives on community living and inclusion shared by people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) who served as advisors to the project. The book was written by the directors of three longitudinal studies funded by ACL’s Projects of National Significance program.

Paula Basta, M.Div., Director, Illinois Department on Aging and ADvancing States Member, wrote a guest blog post for ACL about the unique challenges of LGBTQ+ older adults. The blog post highlights the specific struggles this population is facing in Illinios regarding descrimination, representation in aging services, chronic and mental health, and securing access to care, as well as touches on some inititiaves that are being developed to address these issues.