Priority Impact Grants

The Priority Impact Grant Tiers (Tiers 2, 3, & 4) offer three increasing levels of grant funding. Priority Impact grants fund priority issues for individuals living with paralysis. Grantee organizations will demonstrate capacity to implement the grant without intensive technical assistance and capacity building, as well as demonstrate capacity for program development, evaluation and sustainability.

Tier 2 — Grants of up to $30,000 for the following Priority areas.

• Assistive Technology
• Disaster Preparedness
• Respite/Caregiving

Tier 3 — Grants of up to $40,000.

• Racial Equity
• Rural Unserved and Underserved Populations

Tier 4 — Grants of up to $50,000.

• Employment
• Nursing Home Transition

Tier 2 – Grants must be completed within 12 months

Assistive Technology – Assistive Technology grants are a new priority area that differs from the previous High Impact Innovative Assistive Technology (HIIAT) grants program (2015-2020) and the Direct Effect assistive technology project type grants. This new tier is open to all organizations with the continued emphasis on increasing the independence of people living with paralysis, to assist them to participate fully in the communities of which they are a part, and enhance their social, employment, education or finance-related quality of life through the use of assistive technology.

Disaster Preparedness – Grant funds support nonprofit organizations and programs that address the needs of emergency preparedness and the needs of people with paralysis in a natural disaster environment.

Respite/Caregiving – This grant area recognizes family caregivers and the vital role they play in caring for those with paralysis. Funds support nonprofits that offer exemplary and innovative respite care services that are evidence-based, appear promising, or are trying new service models.

Forms of respite supported through this grant area are:

• Emergency Respite
• Home-Based Services
• Sitter-Companion Services
• Consumer-Directed Respite
• Out-of-Home Respite
• Family Care Homes or Host Family
• Respite Center-based
• Adult Day Healthcare Centers
• Parent/Family Cooperative

Grant funds cannot be used to support respite in the following environments:

• Corporate Foster Home Settings for Children and Teens
• Residential Facilities
• Respitality Model
• Hospital-Based
• Hospice
• Camps

Tier 3 – Grants must be completed within 18 months

Racial Equity – The aim of the Reeve Foundation’s new Racial Equity grants program is to fund projects that explicitly benefit people and communities that are racially diverse and/or historically underserved living with paralysis and/or promote racial equity for people living with paralysis. The projects may focus on a number of issues (see below for examples) that enhance the quality of life of those individuals living at the crossroads of racial inequity and paralysis, especially those from Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and other marginalized racial groups.

We urge you to examine the needs of your communities. These projects should identify how your organization aims to address the injustices and inequalities affecting targeted population(s) within your community that are racially diverse and/or historically underserved.

Examples of projects serving those unserved communities noted above:

• Advocacy and Education
  • Addressing civil rights
  • Educating policymakers
  • Educating employers or employees on accessible workplace/workforce issues
  • Conducting surveys that lead to better understanding of data
  • Providing consultation services to navigate the college enrollment process
  • Providing financial literacy education
  • Providing assistance in navigating Medicare and insurance
• Health
  • Addressing inequality in access to basic health care Examining discrimination in health care
  • Providing opportunities to engage in health & wellness activities
  • Purchasing accessible examination tables to provide access to complete health assessments and/or to train medical professionals on providing complete accessible examinations
  • Providing access to healthy foods in areas where food deserts exist
  • Providing nutrition classes on health eating
• Justice/Civic
  • Understanding police involvement and exacerbated tensions and relations with racially diverse people who are also living with a disability
• Career
  • Eliminating barriers and creating career opportunities that lead individuals out of poverty and into gainful employment

Please review the full program details and rationale for detailed information prior to submitting an application.

Rural Unserved and Underserved Populations – The aim of the Reeve Foundation’s new pilot grants program is to fund projects that explicitly benefit people living with paralysis in unserved and underserved rural communities.

Projects will focus on promoting accessibility and participation in rural communities through foci such as (not inclusive):

• Transportation
  • • Providing access to safe and affordable transportation options
    • Providing accessible driver’s education/training programs
• Assistive Technology and Durable Medical Equipment
  • • Short-term AT Equipment Loan Programs
    • Ramps
    • Broadband internet
    • AT Demonstration Centers
• Employment and education
• Peer and Family Support Groups
• Health
  • • Rural Community Health Centers or Veterans Hospitals
    • Care Coordination
    • Telehealth
• Agriculture and access to healthy foods

Please review the full program details and rationale for detailed information prior to submitting an application.

Tier 4 – Grants must be completed within 24 months

Employment – The Employment – Priority Impact grants are one of Reeve’s top priorities because employment is fundamental in achieving and maintaining independence, while being one of the most challenging obstacles to individuals living with paralysis. In addition, gainful employment allows people living with paralysis to achieve enhanced financial security, higher quality of life, and improved community connections.

Grant funds support programs and projects that:

• Assist individuals living with paralysis to enter, re-enter, remain, and advance in the workplace;
• Create career pathways to meaningful, living wage jobs; and
• Provide job development services to people living with paralysis, including career education, adaptive technology and career training with the goal of finding gainful employment.

Grants funds may not provide stipends and funds may not be given directly to workers or program participants as salaries or other incentives.

Nursing Home Transition – Funds support Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and other organizations that provide transition services across the country to transition people with paralysis living in nursing home back into their homes or a community-based setting of their choice. Funds also support projects focused on diversion (keeping people living with paralysis who are at-risk from entering a nursing).