Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Employment (Development) | HHS 2025 ACL NIDILRR DPEM 0113

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2025 ACL NIDILRR DPEM 0113

The Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Employment (Development) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), through the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Its central aim is to support work that increases the full inclusion and integration of people with disabilities in society, with a strong emphasis on improving employment outcomes, independent living, family support, and long-term economic and social self-sufficiency. The program is rooted in improving the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended), and it prioritizes benefits for people with disabilities who have the greatest support needs.

This specific funding priority focuses on a development project in the employment domain. Applicants are expected to translate existing research knowledge into practical, usable outputs that can directly improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. In other words, the project should not be basic or purely exploratory research; it should use what is already known from research and convert it into something concrete and beneficial for the target population. NIDILRR describes acceptable development outputs broadly, including materials, devices, systems, methods, measures, techniques, tools, prototypes, processes, or intervention protocols. The unifying theme is that the work should produce a tangible product or implementable approach that can be taken up by service systems, employers, practitioners, or other stakeholders to improve employment-related results.

While NIDILRR is making three field-initiated DRRP awards in the overall employment domain, the exact mix of award types (research, development, or combined research and development) depends on how applications are ranked by peer review. This particular notice is the development-focused opportunity, and proposals should be framed accordingly, with clear deliverables and a strong link between prior evidence and the product or protocol being created. The project period is 60 months, structured as five 12-month budget periods, which implies a long enough runway to design, build, refine, and potentially pilot or test the developed outputs and prepare them for broader use.

Eligible applicants are broad and include public and private entities. Eligible organizations include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than IHEs); for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses); small businesses; and other eligible entities as allowed by the announcement. Faith-based and community organizations may apply as long as they meet eligibility requirements. Foreign entities are not eligible to compete for or receive awards under this opportunity.

Key administrative details include the funding opportunity number HHS 2025 ACL NIDILRR DPEM 0113 and CFDA number 93.433. The award ceiling is $500,000, and the opportunity anticipates making 1 award under this announcement. The original application closing date is March 18, 2025, and the opportunity was created on January 14, 2025. Overall, this competition is best suited for applicants who can show a strong evidence-informed development plan, produce a clear employment-focused tool or intervention output, and demonstrate how that output will be useful to people with disabilities and the systems that support their participation in competitive, meaningful employment.

• The Administration for Community Living in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Employment (Development)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.433.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-01-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-18. (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 $500,000.00 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, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for HHS 2025 ACL NIDILRR DPEM 0113

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