Program Office: Rehabilitation Services Administration

CFDA Number: 84.128G
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants, Cooperative Agreements
Also Known As: Migratory Workers

The program is administered in coordination with other programs serving migrant agricultural workers and seasonal farm workers, including programs under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), Sec. 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. The program provides grants for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services, which include vocational evaluation, counseling, mental and physical restoration, vocational training, work adjustment, job placement, and postemployment services.

Supported projects or demonstrations provide vocational rehabilitation (VR) services to individuals with disabilities who are migrant or seasonal farmworkers and to members of their families who are residing with those individuals whether or not these family members have disabilities. This support includes the maintenance and transportation necessary for the rehabilitation of such individuals. Maintenance payments must be consistent with any maintenance payments provided to other individuals with disabilities in the state.

The Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program makes comprehensive vocational rehabilitation (VR) services available to migrant or seasonal farmworkers with disabilities. Projects also develop innovative methods for reaching and serving this population. Emphasis is given in these projects to outreach, specialized bilingual rehabilitation counseling and coordination of VR services with services from other sources. The goal of this program is to increase employment opportunities for migrant or seasonal farmworkers who have disabilities. Projects provide VR services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers and to members of their families when such services will contribute to the rehabilitation of the worker with a disability. Discretionary grants are limited to 90 percent of the costs of the projects providing these services. This is a current-funded program.

The Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program is administered in coordination with other programs serving migrant and seasonal farmworkers, including programs under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

States with projects funded through this program are better equipped to provide specialized services needed to effectively serve migrant and seasonal farmworkers with disabilities under the Title I VR State Grants Program. A 1995 study of services provided to migrant and seasonal farmworkers with disabilities found that grants under this Program are used by states to provide additional support services that assist the states in serving this population through the Title I VR State Grants Program. State agency personnel reported that they believed many more migrant and seasonal farmworkers with disabilities could be served if they could be located and encouraged to apply. The personnel surveyed indicated that the Title I VR State Grants Program is serving only 2 or 3 percent of the migrant and seasonal farmworkers who are potentially eligible for services. Grants under this program are typically used by states to hire additional staff who are often bilingual and can work more effectively in conducting outreach.