Prerelease Notice
National Council on Disability
Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs

May 6, 2008 – Initial Prerelease Announcement of Funding Opportunity

Funding Opportunity for a Cooperative Agreement:  NCD 08-03

Application materials will be made available on May 20, 2008 at www.ncd.gov

You can also request applications by writing to:

Joan Durocher
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC  20004

Or by e-mail request at:  jdurocher@ncd.gov

Applications will be due on July 1, 2008

Maximum amount available for this project:  $75,000

All potential applicants are eligible to apply

Cost sharing is not required

Project Overview:  

NCD plans to develop a research paper on the status of the United States’ human resources infrastructure supporting people with disabilities.  This research paper is envisioned as an intergovernmental review of: (a) existing public and private funding and resources targeted to building and/or strengthening communities’ human services infrastructure; (b) barriers and gaps in services, supports and accommodations needed by Americans with disabilities; and (c) demonstrated approaches to effectively address identified barriers and gaps.

The major issues expected to be the foci of this study include an evaluation of: a) the forces that shape the human services workforce including education, training, and salaries/pay; b) the ongoing chronic shortages in the area of nursing, teachers certified for special education, direct care service workers for community-based services, personal assistants for independent living, rehabilitation counselors, mental health treatment professionals, sign language interpreters, real-time captioners, nurses, and geriatric professionals; c) the further decreases expected in human service workers as baby boomers retire, d) the training geared towards understanding, working with, and serving people with disabilities in the overall profession(s); and e) retirements, recruitments, and succession planning, and their effect on the human services infrastructure including how to pass knowledge down to the next generation.

A critical part of this study will be recommendations to create a more efficient, effective, and equitable infrastructure of connecting people to the services, supports, and accommodations they need – in an era of shrinking government funding. The recommendations should reflect a broad spectrum of views, including consumers with disabilities. NCD believes that this research effort represents a real opportunity to inject systematic, coordinated and progressive infrastructure planning into federal (and state and local) systems, in a community-referenced manner.