Human Dignity and Civil Rights for People with Disabilities | HHS 2019 ACL AOD DNHC 0362

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2019 ACL AOD DNHC 0362

The Human Dignity and Civil Rights for People with Disabilities grant opportunity (HHS-2019-ACL-AOD-DNHC-0362) is a discretionary, three-year cooperative agreement offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Administration for Community Living (ACL), specifically the Administration on Disabilities (AOD). Its central purpose is to reduce and prevent discrimination in health care settings experienced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) by creating practical, tested resources that medical and allied health professionals can use to uphold civil rights and provide equitable care. The overall aim is straightforward: improve access to general and specialized health care, including life-saving treatments and mental health services, so that people with ID/DD receive care based on medical need rather than bias, misinformation, or discriminatory policies and practices.

The funded project is expected to carry out three major activities that build on one another. First, the recipient must conduct a comprehensive gap analysis that looks across existing research and data, medical education and training curricula, and real-world policies, guidelines, and clinical protocols to identify where discrimination shows up and where the system fails people with ID/DD. The opportunity highlights specific problem areas that the analysis should consider, such as organ transplant eligibility and decision-making, prenatal counseling practices, aging-related care, end-of-life treatment, mental health referral pathways, and responses to suicide ideation, while also allowing applicants to name additional areas based on evidence and stakeholder input. Second, the recipient must convene a panel of partners and stakeholders to translate the gap analysis findings into concrete, validated protocols that help clinicians treat patients with ID/DD without discrimination. This step is not meant to be theoretical; it is intended to produce usable guidance and tools that reflect both medical expertise and disability civil rights principles. Third, the project must support national dissemination of the resulting protocols to audiences across medicine and allied health fields, with the goal of raising awareness of discriminatory patterns and equipping professionals with resources that can change practice.

A defining feature of this opportunity is its requirement for strong, formalized partnerships that shape the project from the start and remain active through implementation. Applicants are expected to partner with local, state, and national organizations and other relevant stakeholders, and the partnership must include at least one self-advocacy organization and at least one family-led organization. The grant emphasizes the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act) concept of advocacy as active support for policies and practices that advance self-determination and community inclusion for people with ID/DD and their families. To ensure the partnership is real and coordinated rather than symbolic, applicants must submit a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) describing how the entities helped develop the application and, more importantly, how they will work together to deliver the project’s goals and objectives. Across all partnership work, applicants are expected to show a commitment to civil rights across the lifespan, recognizing that discrimination can affect children, transition-age youth, adults, and older adults with ID/DD in different but equally serious ways.

The opportunity also sets clear expectations for meaningful engagement of two groups throughout the entire project life cycle: self-advocates and family members, and the medical community and subject matter experts. Self-advocates and families are expected to be involved in the gap analysis, the development and testing of protocols, and dissemination activities, serving in multiple roles rather than being consulted only occasionally. In parallel, medical and allied health professionals are expected to actively inform the project’s technical content and practicality, including the identification of gaps, the testing and validation of protocols, and their spread into professional practice settings. In other words, the project is designed to be co-produced by the people most affected by discrimination and the professionals positioned to change clinical norms, with both perspectives treated as essential.

Applicants must ground the project in a clear conceptual framework that guides design and decision-making. This framework should incorporate a civil rights lens, align with the DD Act’s core values, and draw on relevant evidence and theory related to discrimination and equal access to health care. The application is expected to explain how this framework will be used in all phases of work, not just as background language. Practically, that means the framework should influence what the gap analysis prioritizes, how protocols are written and evaluated, and how dissemination is structured to reach the right audiences and prompt behavior change.

Evaluation is another required pillar. The project is expected to use process evaluation methods to track whether activities are implemented as planned and whether they are being received effectively by the target audiences, while also identifying barriers, implementation challenges, and opportunities for refinement. Alongside that, a summative evaluation must assess overall outcomes and determine whether the project is meeting its intended results. The notice links success to broad, DD Act-aligned outcomes such as enhancing health and safety and supporting independence, social capital, self-determination, community integration, productivity, and participation. In practice, this points to an expectation that the project will measure not only outputs (like number of trainings or downloads), but also whether the protocols improve professional knowledge and practice and contribute to safer, more equitable care experiences for people with ID/DD.

Sustainability is treated as an expected outcome rather than an optional add-on. During the three-year period, the recipient is expected to develop the resources, partnerships, and strategies needed to continue and refine the work after federal funding ends. The opportunity explicitly mentions organizational, financial, and community sustainability, signaling that applicants should think about how protocols will remain accessible, updated, adopted by institutions, and embedded into ongoing training or professional standards rather than fading after dissemination.

The intended impact is described in several reinforcing ways. At the individual level, the protocols and their national distribution are meant to improve equal access to medical care and interventions for people with ID/DD, including critical and life-saving care and mental health supports. At the workforce and systems levels, the project is meant to strengthen the knowledge, skills, retention, and advancement of health care professionals working with ID/DD populations, while also strengthening the capacity of community partners that support individuals with ID/DD. The opportunity also highlights elevating leadership by self-advocacy organizations, family-led organizations, and peer support networks, positioning them as key drivers of lasting improvements in health care access. Finally, it aims to improve coordination and effectiveness among states, the broader DD Act network, and other entities in anticipating, avoiding, investigating, reducing, and remediating civil rights violations in health care environments affecting people with ID/DD.

Administratively, the opportunity was posted June 12, 2019, with an original closing date of August 12, 2019 (applications due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time). The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial federal involvement and collaboration during the project rather than a fully hands-off grant. The program falls under CFDA 93.631 (health category) and anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $442,868. Eligibility was broad, including various levels of government, public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and individuals, reflecting an intention to attract applicants capable of convening national partners and producing widely usable clinical resources.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Human Dignity and Civil Rights for People with Disabilities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.631.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 12, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 12, 2019 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $442,868.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for HHS 2019 ACL AOD DNHC 0362

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