Opportunities for Engaging in Disability and Rehabilitation Research:

NIDRR Program Overview

November 13, 2014 Fort Valley State University Grantsmanship Institute

Shelley Reeves, M.A.National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)

NIDRR’s Mission

To generate knowledge and to promote its effective use to improve the abilities of individuals with disabilities to perform activities of their choice in the community; and

To expand society’s capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for its citizens with disabilities.

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Scope of NIDRR Mandate

Cross-Disability Work:

Physical and mobility impairments;

Sensory impairments;

Cognitive impairments;

Psychiatric disability

Cross-Lifespan Work:

Children, youth, and families;

Working-age adults; and

Individuals aging with lifelong and early-onset disabilities, and those aging into disability in mid- to later life.

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Employment (including Transition)

Community Living and Participation

Health and Function

Cross-Cutting Responsibilities

• Technology/Engineering

• Disability Statistics

• Cross-agency Collaboration

NIDRR’s Core Outcome Areas

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NIDRR’s 10 Grant Mechanisms

Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC)

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC)

Model Systems (MS) in Spinal Cord, TB and Burn Injury

Field-Initiated Projects (Research and Development) (FIP)

Disability Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP)

ADA National Network Regional Centers (ADA-DBTAC)

Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT)

Knowledge Translation (KT) Centers

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

Switzer Fellowships 5

NIDRR Funding FY 1993-2013

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FY 14 Appropriation$103,970,000

NIDRR’s Long Range Plan (4/2013)

Balance

Employment, Community, Health/Functioning

Disability type (Psychiatric, Developmental, Physical, Sensory)

NIDRR vs. Field-Initiated priorities

Relevance

Establishing Rehabilitation Research Advisory Council

Increased opportunities for stakeholder advise/criticism

Increased emphasis of relevance in review scoring

Quality

Increased size and quality of peer review pool: Donate your brain to science!

Improved training and staff support in peer review process

Stages of research 7

Reduction in Medical Rehabilitation RRTCs

New FI Opportunities to Compete

Increase Of Employment and Transition RRTCs

Increase of Community Living RRTCs

Changes in NIDRR Investments: FY 13-14

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National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC)80,000 publications and resources

Current and past NIDRR projects and their topics, contacts, products

http://naric.com

AbleData: Online Resources on Assistive Technology40,000 technology product descriptions

Info on resource centers, conferences, publications

http://abledata.com

News and Notes from NIDRR

Information on NIDRR Projects &Products

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New Director, same commitment to capacity buildingDiversity and Inclusion

Innovation and Improvement

Mentoring and Collaboration

Multi-pronged approach Increased outreach and technical assistance

Dedicated funding opportunities

Competitive funding opportunities

Peer Review (and other opportunities)Expert Panels, Focus Groups, RRAC

NIDRR’s Commitment to Capacity Building

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NIDRR’s Section 21 Capacity Building Program

Authorizing legislation – Section 21 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 21 of the Act requires that NIDRR reserve 1% of its annual appropriation to carry out minority outreach efforts

NIDRR Director shall use the reserved funds to carry out 1 or more of the activities described in paragraph (2) through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.

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NIDRR’s Section 21 Program Goals and Activities

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Diversification of Section 21 Program: Building Capacity Pathways

NIDRR Outreach

MSI-RRTC

MSI-Field- Initiated Program

MSI-Research

Fellowship Program

FIPRRTC &

DRRP Grant Programs

ARRT

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MSI - Field-Initiated Project – FY 2013

84.133G-4 (Research) and 84.133G-5 (Development)

Eligibility for this MSI-FI research and development grant was limited to minority entities and Indian tribes

Grantee: Southern University-H133G130301 (P.I.- Madan Kundu), 3 years, $200,000/year, 10/1/2013 start date

Project Work Opportunity Through Resource and Capacity Building (WORC): Transition Age African American Youth with Emotional, Intellectual, and Behavioral Disabilities -The goal of the project, collaboratively designed with Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (LRS), is to construct and validate Project Work Opportunity through Resource and Capacity Building (Project WORC), a service delivery model that has the potential to enable African American transition-age youth with EIB disabilities to achieve five guideposts that can steer families, service systems, and youth through the transition processes.

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Eligibility for this grant was limited to minority entities and Indian tribes.

Grantee: Howard University – H133G140261 (P.I. Tanya Alim), 3 years, $200,000/year, 10/1/2014 start date

Integrated Program to Improve Competitive Employment in Dually Diagnosed Clients – This project integrates the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model with a highly successful treatment program employing medication-assisted therapy to reduce opioid use, combined with a tailored cognitive behavior therapy approach. Using a randomized controlled design, this study evaluates whether IPS improves employment outcomes over a 12-month period.

MSI – Field-Initiated Project - FY 2014

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MSI Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Project (ARRT) – FY 2013

84.133P-3 Intended to improve the capacity of minority entities, as defined in section 21 of the Act, to develop and support disability and rehabilitation research post-doctoral training opportunities.

Eligibility for this grant was limited to minority entities and Indian tribes.

Grantee: University of Texas at El Paso-H133P130001 (P.I. Anthony Salvatore), 5 years, $150,000/year, 10/1/2013 start date

Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT) at UTEP -This project provides a multidisciplinary, doctoral-level rehabilitation research training in traumatic brain injury (TBI) that teaches six post-doctoral fellows techniques in rehabilitation counseling, speech-language pathology, public health, sports medicine, clinical laboratory sciences, diagnostic imaging, computer science, and kinesiology.

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MSI RRTC on Research andCapacity Building – FY 2013

84.133B-1 Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Research and Capacity Building for Minority Entities.

Grantee: Langston University-H133B130023 (P.I. Corey Moore), 5 years, $875,000/year, 10/1/2013 start date

This project engages minority entities (MEs) to generate new knowledge leading to improved outcomes for persons from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic populations and to enhance research capacity and infrastructure at minority serving institutions. The project works with 6 MEs to address research infrastructure challenges and enhance the research skills of their individual faculty scholars and students.  Grant highlights:

Implement a research team mentorship model across 6 minority entities; pilot-test an emerging research capacity-building and infrastructure model across six different MEs

Forecast the impact of new US citizen and legal permanent resident populations and trends on state vocational rehabilitation agencies’ system capacity to serve immigrants of color with disabilities

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Applying for Funding

Prospective applicants obtain advance notice of NIDRR competition (NIDRR website or through NARIC.com)

NIDRR publishes notification of competition and due date in Federal Register.

Applications due in 45-60 days (as announced).

Applicants submit applications electronically.

Review panel scores all eligible applications.

Awards usually start October 1.

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Further Information

Website: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/index.html

Click on “Grants and Funding” at the bottom of the page

Introduction to NIDRR Grant Funding and links to additional resources

Join the NIDRR Grant Announcement List (through NARIC.com)

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Contributing Your Expertise

Serve as a Peer Reviewer for NIDRR grant competitions

Forward your CV for consideration:

NIDRR-MAILBOX@ed.gov and OSERSPRS@ed.gov

Include a bulleted list of your areas of expertise

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