NEW FUNDING POTENTIAL IN RT!

On November 10, 2021, Biden-Harris Administration announced that the Administration on Community Living (ACL) will receive a $150 million investment to expand the public health workforce in order to support the health and safety of people with disabilities and older adults who were disproportionately affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement came in response to the final report from the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

 

This is great news for recreational therapists as the purpose of the funding is to directly support wages and benefits of those who work to assist people with Disabilities and Older Adults.



Networks and organizations that are eligible to receive this funding include:


  • Independent Living Centers
  • Independent Living Designated State Entities
  • No Wrong Door Systems/Aging and Disability Resource Centers
  • Paralysis and Limb Loss Resource Centers
  • Protection & Advocacy Systems
  • State Assistive Technology Programs
  • State Councils on Developmental Disabilities
  • State Health Insurance Assistance Programs
  • State Units on Aging/Area Agencies on Aging
  • Traumatic Brain Injury State Partnership Programs
  • Tribes and tribal organizations, and
  • University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities



Here is the link to the ACL website  to follow updates on funding opportunities if you work (or desire to work) in one of the above settings.

The full briefing about this new funding can be found on the White House’s website as the third bullet point.


April 17, 2025
Dawn DeVries, ATRA's Director of Advocacy & Legislative Affairs presented at Social Prescribing USA's Community of Practice meeting. Dawn shared how as a profession, recreational therapists utilize elements and aspects of social prescribing with various groups of people with disabilities and various conditions, using different interventions from nature, coping, and arts. View the recording here and read the blog post here .
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