Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Awards $280,000 in Nursing Home Transition Grants

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit organization working with people living with paralysis, including cerebral palsy, has awarded a total of $280,000 in Quality of Life Nursing Home Transition (NHT) grants to seven Centers for Independent Living (CILs) in the United States.

Based on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) approved in 2014, CILs should help individuals with paralysis, including patients with cerebral palsy, who are living in nursing homes to transition back into their homes or to a community-based setting of their choice. However, CILs often lack the resources to do this properly or consistently.

The foundation’s NHT grants serve to complement the work done by CILs to fulfill their responsibilities under WIOA, and to help achieve the  mission of full community participation for people with disabilities.

With funding made available through the Reeve Foundation’s Paralysis Resource Center, under a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, grantee CILs may add a series of services to their portfolio.

The grants may be used not only to hire more staff, increase staff hours, address rural isolation, or assist low-income patients, but they may also be used to fund nursing home transition needs, such as rental and utility deposits; first month’s rent; moving costs; startup cost and services; home furnishings; assistive technology; personal care attendant services, or internet access.

The $40,000 grants awarded to each of the seven recipients are given to support fellow nonprofits that mirror the Reeve Foundation’s mission to promote community engagement, empower patients, facilitate an independent life, and promote health and self-esteem.

This year, the organizations receiving grants are:

• Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF), Los Angeles, California
• Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living, Topeka, Kansas
• Liberty Resources, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Memphis Center for Independent Living, Memphis, Tennessee
• Progressive Independence, Norman, Oklahoma
• Resource Center for Independent Living, Utica, New York
• The Whole Person, Kansas City, Missouri

“These grants are intended to improve the quality of life for individuals by becoming part of the solution nationwide to decrease the unnecessary segregation and isolation of individuals living with functional paralysis,” Maggie Goldberg, vice president of policy and programs at the Reeve Foundation, said in a press release.

“Our new program funding allows us to further help the aging and paralysis populations and create more community inclusion, which is our ultimate goal. We are excited to have this opportunity to expand our grant program, and hope to work with them again in the future.” Goldberg added.

To date, the Quality of Life Grant program has awarded more than $22 million to over 2,900 programs since it started in 1999.