Program Office: Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)

CFDA Number: 84.129, 84.246, 84.263, 84.264, 84.265, 84.265, 84.275
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants

Sec. 12(a)(1) of the Rehabilitation Act authorizes the commissioner of the U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to provide technical assistance and consultative services to public and nonprofit private agencies and organizations, including assistance to enable agencies and organizations to facilitate meaningful and effective participation by individuals with disabilities in workforce investment activities under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). In addition, Sec. 12 funds may be used to provide short-term training and technical instruction, conduct special projects and demonstrations, collect, prepare, publish and disseminate special educational or informational materials, provide monitoring and conduct evaluations.

Program funds are awarded through grants and contracts to procure expertise in identified areas of national significance and technical support in order to improve the operation of the vocational rehabilitation (VR) program and other programs under the Rehabilitiation Act, and the provision of services to individuals with disabilities under the Act.

Program improvement funds have been used to support activities that improve program effectiveness and accountability, and to enhance the U.S. Department of Education’s ability to provide technical assistance in critical areas of national significance in achieving the purposes of the Act.

The purpose of this program is to ensure that skilled personnel are available to serve the rehabilitation needs of individuals with disabilities assisted through vocational rehabilitation (VR), supported employment and independent living programs. The program supports training and related activities designed to increase the number of qualified personnel trained in providing rehabilitation services. Grants and contracts are awarded to states and public and nonprofit agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher education, to pay all or part of the cost of conducting training programs.

Awards may be made in any of 31 long-term training fields, in addition to awards for continuing education, short-term training, experimental and innovative training, and training interpreters for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and persons who are deaf-blind. These training programs vary in terms of content, methodology, and type of trainee. For example, the long-term training program supports academic training grants that must direct 75 percent of the funds to trainee scholarships. The statute requires trainees who receive assistance either to work for a period of time in public or private nonprofit rehabilitation agencies or related agencies, including professional corporations or professional practice groups that have service arrangements with a state agency, or to pay back the assistance they received.

The Training Program authority requires recipients of grants under the long-term Training Program to build closer relationships between training institutions and VR state agencies, promote careers in the public vocational rehabilitation program, identify potential employers who would meet the student’s payback requirements, and assure that data on the employment of students are accurate. Training of statewide workforce systems personnel is authorized under the Training Program, and such training may be jointly funded by the Department of Labor. Statewide workforce systems personnel may be trained in evaluative skills to determine whether an individual with a disability may be served by the VR state grants program or another component of the statewide workforce system.

Of the funds appropriated for the Training Program, 15 percent must be used to support the In-Service Training Program. This program is intended to assist VR state agencies in the training of state agency staff consistent with the state’s Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD). Under Title I, each state is required to establish procedures to ensure there is an adequate supply of qualified staff for the state agency, to assess personnel needs and make projections for future needs and to address the current and projected personnel training needs. States are further required to develop and maintain policies and procedures for job-specific personnel standards that are consistent with certification, licensure or other state personnel requirements for comparable positions. If a state’s current personnel do not meet the highest requirements for personnel standards within the state, the CSPD must identify the steps a state will take to upgrade the qualifications of their staff, through retraining or hiring. VR state grant funds may also be used to comply with these requirements.

Additional information about specific activities may be found in the following link at the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) Training Program.