ACL was built on the fundamental principle that all people, regardless of age or disability, should be able 

to live independently and fully participate in their communities. By advocating across the federal 

government for older adults, people with disabilities, and families and caregivers; funding services and 

supports provided by networks of community-based organizations; and investing in training, education, 

research, and innovation, ACL helps makes this principle a reality for millions of Americans.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) was established on April 18, 2012, bringing together 

federal advocacy for older adults and people with disabilities, along with most federal human services 

programs for older people and people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The 

agency grew quickly, with the transfer of programs with similar missions from other agencies, including 

independent living, assistive technology, and traumatic brain injury programs; paralysis and limb-loss 

resource centers; programs that help people navigate their Medicare benefits and the health care system; 

and the federal government’s primary disability research organization.

As one agency, ACL’s programs are better able to leverage learnings and best 

practices for meeting the similar needs of people with disabilities and older 

adults. Joining forces in one agency also gave the disability and aging 

communities a larger voice – together, they are better able to ensure that the 

unique needs of people with disabilities and older adults are considered in 

policies, programs, and planning. At the same time, ACL continues to advocate 

for and develop and manage programs related to the issues that affect only older 

adults or only people with disabilities. 

This work has never been more important. There are more than 77 million people who are 60 or older, and 

61 million people with disabilities living in the United States, and both populations are growing. Community 

living is overwhelmingly preferred by older adults and people with disabilities, and people are generally 

happier and healthier when they live in their own communities. Expanding community living also is critical 

to lowering health care costs – in most cases, it costs less to provide the services and supports people 

need to live in the community than it costs to provide institutional care. Finally, this work affects all of us – 

more than two-thirds of us will need assistance with daily activities as we age, and one in seven of us is 

providing that support to an older adult or person with a disability living in the community. At some point in 

our lives, nearly all of us will either need or provide the assistance that makes community living possible. 

In celebration of ACL’s 10th anniversary, we’ve pulled together some of the most significant milestones, 

accomplishments, and shaping events from our first decade, as well as some highlights of the work we are 

doing today.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 2 

Founding Milestones

• On April 18, 2012, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius combined the

Administration on Aging, the HHS Office on Disability, and the Administration on Developmental

Disabilities to form the Administration for Community Living.

• In the FY 2014 annual appropriation, Congress transferred to ACL the State Health Insurance

Assistance Program from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Paralysis

Resource Center from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 transferred the National Institute

on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research and the Independent Living and

Assistive Technology programs to ACL from the Department of Education in FY 2015. That same

year, the Limb Loss Resource Center was transferred from CDC to ACL.

• In the FY 2016 annual appropriation, Congress transferred the Traumatic Brain Injury Program

from the Health Resources and Services Administration to ACL.

COVID-19 Response and Recovery

People with disabilities and older adults have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 

pandemic. In addition to significantly increased risk of serious illness and death, many faced the serious 

threat of being forced to move from their homes into nursing homes and other institutional settings when 

they were cut off from the services they need to live independently due to physical distancing measures 

and workforce shortages. Many who contracted the virus were unable to return home following a 

hospitalization for the same reason. 

Those who remained in the community faced increased social isolation and barriers to accessing health 

care, including COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccinations. All of these effects were even more 

pronounced for people with disabilities and older adults who face additional barriers due to race, ethnicity, 

sexual orientation, gender identity, income, language spoken, or other factors. 

The following are just a few examples of how ACL and the aging and disability networks have been working 

together to address these issues since the start of the pandemic. 

Providing critical services and support to make it possible for older people and people with 

disabilities to continue living in the community

• As the pandemic took hold, the disability and aging networks quickly adapted programs and

formed new partnerships to continue to meet the pressing needs of people who had received

services before the pandemic. They also found ways to meet increased needs created by the

closure of locations that provide services in the community and difficulties families faced in

supporting loved ones due to physical distancing requirements. For example, the network

significantly increased the number of home-delivered meals and created “grab-and-go” meals

that could be picked up from congregate nutrition sites. They established virtual services, such

as wellness checks and telephone reassurance, and employed video-teleconferencing

services to promote face-to-face interaction for program participants with family members and

program staff.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 3 

• To support that work, ACL distributed more than $3.2 billion in supplemental funding in FY 2020

and FY 2021.

Upholding the civil rights of people with disabilities and older adults

• Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ACL has worked closely with the HHS Office for Civil

Rights (OCR) and our grantees to protect the civil rights of the populations we serve. For

example, ACL worked closely with OCR on guidance related to crisis standards of care to ensure

that people with disabilities and older adults do not face discrimination in accessing lifesaving

care. ACL’s networks have been at the forefront of the fight when discrimination has occurred,

bringing issues to OCR’s attention, providing legal assistance and other support to individuals

who were unable to access care, and providing technical assistance to help health care systems

correct discriminatory policies and practices.

Accelerating vaccination of older adults and people with disabilities

• In the spring of 2021, ACL, in partnership with CDC, awarded nearly $100 million in grants to the

aging and disability networks to support outreach, education, and direct assistance to help older

adults and people with disabilities get vaccinated. With these grants, the networks provided

assistance with scheduling vaccine appointments, transportation to vaccine sites, direct support

services needed to attend vaccine appointments, connection to in-home vaccination options,

education about the importance of receiving the vaccine to people with disabilities and older

adults, and more.

• This funding also increased the capacity of the Eldercare Locator, a national hotline that connects

older adults and caregivers to services and resources in their communities, allowing the service

to offer vaccine information to more than 63,000 people. It also allowed ACL to launch a similar

resource for people with disabilities – the national Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL).

Launched on June 1, 2021, DIAL has helped more than 40,000 people find the services and

resources they need.

Promoting access to masks and COVID-19 tests 

• Through a partnership between ACL and the Health Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA) announced in February 2022, HRSA-funded community health centers and rural health

clinics and ACL’s aging and disability networks are working together to distribute at-home test kits

and N95 masks to underserved and hard-to-reach older adults and people with disabilities.

• The Disability Information and Access Line also is helping connect people with disabilities to free

tests and masks. For people who can use an at-home test, DIAL operators are available to assist

with ordering free tests; understanding instructions for test administration and test results; or

providing alternative instructions for those unable to access, read, or understand the

manufacturer’s version. For those who cannot use an at-home test, DIAL operators can assist

individuals with ordering tests to collect a specimen that can be mailed back for results. For

individuals who cannot use either an at-home test or an alternative “swab and send” test, DIAL

operators can assist callers with locating their state or local health department and/or disability

and aging resources for additional assistance with other testing options that may be available in
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 4 

their community, including identifying potential in-home testing options, or assistance with 

transportation or companion support to visit a community-based testing site.

Sharing lessons learned and preparing for the future

• Expanding the public health workforce in the aging and disability networks: In January

2022, ACL began distributing $150 million in public health workforce funding provided through the

American Rescue Plan to ACL’s networks to expand the capacity of the public health system to

meet the needs of people with disabilities and older adults.

• Addressing the needs of people with long COVID: ACL is playing a leading role in the wholeof-government effort to meet the needs of people with long COVID. ACL is working closely with

partners such as the HHS Office of Civil Rights and the Departments of Justice, Labor, and

Education to raise awareness of long COVID as a potential cause of disability, protect people

with COVID-related disabilities from illegal discrimination, and connect people with long COVID

to the resources and supports they need.

• Supporting research about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the disability

community: ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation

Research has supported a number of projects that have explored the disproportionate effects of

the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disabilities. That work has illuminated the need for further

research and will inform the development of interventions to better support people with

disabilities, both during national emergencies and in daily life.

Looking to the Future: Strengthening the Community Living 

Infrastructure 

The pandemic both demonstrated the critical importance of the 20,000 community-based organizations 

that make up ACL’s networks and laid bare the fragility of our nation’s system of supporting older adults 

and people with disabilities to live in the community. The impact of the longstanding shortages in the 

workforce that provides paid care, our dependence on volunteers, and the extent to which family caregivers

must fill the gaps when services are not available quickly became clear. The pandemic also exacerbated 

the challenges of family caregiving. Balancing work, family, and caretaking became even more difficult, 

and in many cases, caregivers had to completely leave the workforce. 

The pandemic has created a new urgency and momentum for ACL’s work: Improving the availability and 

quality of home and community-based services, supporting families and other informal caregivers, 

advancing the inclusion of people with disabilities and older adults in all aspects of American life – in other 

words, strengthening the infrastructure of community living.

Advancing Equity for Older Adults and People with Disabilities 

Advancing equity is at the core of everything ACL does. Our work advances inclusion, integration, and 

independence throughout life, which includes ensuring equitable opportunities for education, employment, 

self-determination, and all other elements of American life. Most of our programs focus on those in greatest 

need, which often includes people who – in addition to being marginalized due to age and/or disability – 
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 5 

face additional barriers due to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, poverty, language 

spoken, or other factors.

In support of President Biden’s Executive Order 13985 Advancing Equity and Support for Underserved 

Communities through the Federal Government, ACL also has launched several new efforts focused 

specifically on advancing equity. These include:

• Older Adults' Equity Collaborative (OAEC): The Older Adults’ Equity Collaborative includes five

ACL-funded national Minority Aging Technical Assistance and Resource Centers that each focus

on serving a unique community. Together, they work to ensure access and equity across aging

services programs by providing technical assistance to the aging services network. To promote

and support collaboration, coordination, and cross-cutting efforts among the OAEC organizations,

ACL also funds a coordinating center administered by the Center for Healthy Aging at The New

York Academy of Medicine.

• Promoting employment opportunities for researchers from underrepresented populations:

ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)

has long emphasized the importance of applicants’ employment of people with disabilities and

others who have traditionally been underserved and/or underrepresented in the research

workforce. In March 2022, NIDILRR proposed to amend its regulations to include updated criteria

to better evaluate the extent to which grant applicants conduct outreach to and hire people with

disabilities and people from other groups that traditionally have been underserved and

underrepresented. With this change, NIDILRR seeks to strengthen true inclusion of people with

disabilities in every aspect of the disability research enterprise.

• Center for Equity, Disability, and Intersectionality: ACL will award a new grant in September

2022 to establish a national resource center to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities

and to improve the cultural competency of supportive services and other resources for people with 

disabilities.

• Advancing equity in disability research: In April 2022, ACL announced funding opportunities to

establish three new Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC) focused on equity –

one in each of the research domains funded by the National Institution on Disability, Independent

Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Employment, Health and Function, and Community Living

and Participation). Each will conduct research to generate new knowledge to support

development and implementation of evidence-based policies, practices, or interventions for

achieving more equitable outcomes among the heterogeneous population of people with

disabilities. In addition, the three Equity RRTCs will coordinate and share information with each 

other and with ACL’s other equity resource centers: the Center for Equity, Disability, and 

Intersectionality and the Older Adults' Equity Collaborative.

Expanding Access to Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)

A key priority of ACL is to expand access to services provided in people’s homes and communities to help 

people with disabilities and older adults live in the community instead of in institutions.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 6 

• Affordable, accessible housing and supportive services: In partnership with the Department

of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and in collaboration with Centers for Medicare &

Medicaid Services (CMS), the HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and

the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within HHS, ACL

launched the HHS-HUD Housing and Services Resource Center (HSRC) in December 2021. The

goal of the HSRC is to coordinate federal resources and facilitate state and local partnerships

between state Medicaid, disability and aging agencies; ACL’s disability and aging networks;

public housing agencies and authorities; and homeless, disability, and aging service providers.

• Supporting transitions from institutions to home: As opportunities to expand access to HCBS

grow through Money Follows the Person, supplemental services, and other value-based health

care programs, ACL is supporting the disability and aging networks’ ability to partner with nursing

homes and hospitals to safely transition individuals to home with services and supports. ACL is

working in partnership with CMS and HUD to provide technical assistance to states to strengthen

partnerships among the disability and aging network agencies, state Medicaid agencies, and

housing agencies to help people transition out of institutions, braid funding, and secure home and

community-based services and housing to live in the community.

• Strengthening and expanding the direct care workforce: Direct care workers (DCWs) provide

vital services to help people with disabilities and older adults live independently in the community.

Demand for these essential professionals is at an all-time high as the result of growth in home

and community-based services and an increase in the number of people with disabilities and

older adults who need support to live at home. With an average turnover rate of 45% and

significant challenges to recruiting and retention, however, the demand has far exceeded supply

for many years. The workforce shortage worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as direct care

workers were quarantined or left the workforce. Without an adequate number of direct care

workers, many people are unable to obtain the services they need, which limits full participation

and true inclusion in society.

There are multiple reasons for difficulties in recruiting and retaining DCWs, including low wages,

lack of benefits, lack of training and supportive supervision, few promotion opportunities, and

competition with other higher paid jobs. In 2022, ACL, in collaboration with the Department of

Labor, and CMS and ASPE within HHS, will launch a resource and technical assistance center to

help states begin to address these challenges and to strengthen and grow the direct care

workforce. The center will provide resources, technical assistance and, through learning

collaboratives, opportunities for states and providers of direct care services to share successful

strategies and learn from each other.

• Collaboration to improve the quality of home and community-based services: HCBS are

primarily funded by Medicaid, and ACL has a very close working relationship with the Centers for

Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). ACL is working closely with CMS on implementation of the

HCBS Settings Rule, which for the first time set standards to ensure that all people receiving

HCBS have access to the full benefits of community living. ACL and CMS also are collaborating

on initiatives around HCBS quality, strategies to strengthen the direct care workforce, and

institutional diversion and transition.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 7 

• Aligning health care and social services and addressing the social determinants of health:

Since 2012, ACL has worked with public and private partners to build the business skills and

enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the aging and disability networks.

More recently, these efforts have evolved to support expanding and strengthening the capacity of

ACL’s networks to effectively and efficiently partner with the health care sector to address social

needs. ACL also is working with partners across HHS to develop a department-wide Social

Determinants of Health Action Plan and to accelerate the formation of community-level

infrastructure to provide holistic, person-center services that support overall health and wellbeing.

Supporting Families and Caregivers

Families and other informal caregivers have long been the backbone of America’s caregiving infrastructure. 

Each year, more than 53 million people provide a broad range of assistance to support the health, quality 

of life, and independence of someone close to them. With the populations of both older adults and people 

with disabilities growing, supporting family caregivers is a critical public health issue that affects everyone, 

and is a key focus for ACL. 

• National Family Caregiving Strategy: In 2021, ACL delivered two reports to Congress on

issues facing family caregivers and recommendations for addressing them: the Recognize,

Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregiver Act report to Congress and the

Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandparents (SGRG) Act report to Congress. ACL is now

working with the RAISE and SGRG advisory councils and federal partners to develop a national

caregiving strategy, which will be delivered to Congress in fall 2022.

• Building dementia-capable communities: More than 5 million Americans are currently living

with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), and researchers expect that number to

double within the next three decades. Most people with ADRD will need day-to-day assistance

from family members in order to retain their independence, quality of life, and well-being. ACL is

working to expand dementia capability of communities across the nation, including tribal

communities, and to increase training and support for caregivers.

• Lifespan respite: Respite care offers caregivers temporary relief from the daily routine and

stress that can come with providing care. Respite can play a critical role in strengthening family

stability and maintaining the health of the family caregiver. Through the Lifespan Respite Care

program, ACL is working with states to enhance and strengthen their respite systems, improve

coordination and dissemination of respite services, streamline access to respite programs, fill

gaps in services, and improve the overall quality of respite services.

• Advanced care planning for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD):

Nearly one million families in the U.S. include adults with I/DD living with aging caregivers and

that number is expected to grow in the coming years. About two-thirds of these families do not

have advanced care plans in place, and families often are concerned with what will happen to

their loved ones with I/DD when they are no longer able to care for them. To build capacity across

the disability and aging networks to support people with I/DD and their families, particularly in

advanced care planning, in Oct 2021, ACL launched a new initiative to bring together State

Councils on Developmental Disabilities, state developmental disability agencies, and state aging

agencies.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 8 

Supporting people with behavioral and mental health conditions

• I/DD and co-occurring behavioral and/or mental health conditions: People with I/DD who 

have co-occurring behavioral and/or mental health conditions have tremendous unmet needs due 

to system fragmentation and a general lack of qualified mental health professionals who can 

provide specialized services to this population. In 2021, ACL awarded five National Training 

Initiative (NTI) grants to University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities to 

collaborate with state stakeholders to improve systems integration to more effectively address 

these barriers. In 2022, ACL will award a five-year grant to create a national resource center to 

provide integrated and culturally competent mental health services and home and communitybased services to people with I/DD, their families, and others in their support systems.

• Older Adults Mental Health Awareness Day: Mental health is critical to well-being at every age.

Since 2018, ACL has partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration (SAMHSA) to present the Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day, a day-long

symposium on meeting the mental health needs of older adults. The event has grown each year,

and registration for the 2022 event tops 4,000.

• Research on Mental Health: For 30 years, ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent

Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) has partnered with SAMHSA to fund research

related to disability and mental health. Two prominent research tracks have focused on youth and

young adults with serious mental health conditions, and adults with serious mental illness. The

research, training, and technical assistance that NIDILRR has co-funded over the years has

helped to both solidify the research-to-practice pipeline and to establish a number of evidencebased practices and approaches, including Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), a process

for creating action plans to achieve goals and support health and wellness; Helping Youth on the

Path to Employment (HYPE), a career development program designed for young adults with

mental health conditions to enhance long-term vocational outcomes; and more.

• Commit to Connect: To tackle the challenge of combatting social isolation – during COVID-19

and beyond – ACL pulled together partners from across federal government, the aging and

disability networks, philanthropy, and industry. Together, we created the Commit to

Connect campaign, a public-private partnership that challenges each of us to do our part – to

connect and engage ourselves, reach out to others to help them to do the same, and work

together to create tools and resources.

Protecting Rights and Preventing Abuse and Neglect

Abuse and neglect rob people of their fundamental human rights, erode equal opportunity, and harm health 

and well-being; equity and inclusion cannot be achieved in the face of abuse. Preventing abuse, neglect, 

and exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities has been a priority for ACL since its inception. 

• Elder Justice Coordinating Council: In 2012, then-Secretary of Health and Human Services

Kathleen Sebelius and then-Attorney General Eric Holder convened the first meeting of the Elder

Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC). In the years since, ACL has convened the EJCC on behalf

of the HHS Secretary. The EJCC provides national policy and program leadership on protecting

the rights and preventing the abuse of older adults.
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 9 

• Guardianship reform and advancing alternatives to guardianship: From the beginning, ACL

has worked to uphold the right to self-determination, regardless of age or disability, through

guardianship reform; development of an array of less restrictive options, such as supported

decision-making; and programs that provide legal assistance and support to people subject to

guardianship (including those who want to terminate their guardianship). ACL has been a key

funder of the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS) project,

through which states have created partnerships between courts and stakeholders to reform

unnecessary and overbroad guardianship systems and to prevent, detect, and address

guardianship abuse. Other ACL programs provide direct support to older adults and people with

disabilities. One example is the Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice, which helps young people

with disabilities learn about and arrange alternatives to guardianship as they leave high school.

• Creating a “federal home” for Adult Protective Services (APS): Over the past decade, ACL

has led federal efforts to support the critical work of APS programs through a variety of initiatives,

including developing Voluntary Consensus Guidelines containing recommendations and best

practices from the field and launching the first comprehensive national reporting system for APS

programs, the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System. In 2015, ACL awarded the first

federal grants specifically designated for APS, awarding $2.8 million to 11 APS programs. In FY

2021, ACL awarded $180 million in grants to states to fund – for the first time – the federal APS

program authorized by the Elder Justice Act in 2010. With those grants, states expanded remote

work capabilities, improved reporting systems, improved responses to scams and fraud, provided

direct services for APS clients, and more.

• Expanding and improving Long-Term Care Ombudsman services: In every state, long-term

care ombudsmen are advocates for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes, assisted

living facilities, and similar adult care facilities. They work to resolve problems of individual

residents; bring about changes at the local, state, and national levels to improve care; and help

residents and their families and friends understand and exercise rights guaranteed by law.

Authorized in the Older Americans Act in 1972, the program has achieved two major milestones

in ACL’s first decade. In 2015, ACL published a long-awaited final rule to improve the consistency

and quality of services provided to residents of long-term care facilities. In 2021, ACL provided

funding to states to expand the reach of ombudsmen into assisted living facilities.

• Improving quality of home and community-based services and safety of group homes:

With grants from ACL, eight states are currently developing, testing, and refining models for

integrating systems for community-based monitoring of people living in group homes and other

community settings and building capacity. The goal of this initiative is to provide states with a

range of models and promising practices that can be used to improve quality of home and

community-based services and strengthen protections against abuse and neglect of people with

disabilities living in the community. This complements work that ACL is doing with the Centers for

Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding quality measures, person-centered planning, and

assurances that address health and safety.

• Mitigating the impact of the opioid epidemic on older adults: The opioid crisis has had a

unique impact on many older adults. Because they are more likely to be prescribed opioids, they

are at increased risk of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Medication theft by caregivers can leave

them with unmanaged pain, domestic disturbances caused by family members with opioid
ACL Key Accomplishments and Milestones· 2022· Page 10

addictions are causing older adults to be evicted from their homes, and addiction can drive family 

members to target the life savings of vulnerable elders to pay for drugs – and to become violent if 

denied. Later this year, ACL will award up to 20 two-year cooperative agreements to identify 

effective strategies and solutions for serving APS clients impacted by the opioid epidemic and by 

other substance use disorders. In addition, through our support of the Advisory Council to 

Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, ACL is also working to improve the lives of older 

adults who step in to raise grandchildren whose parents are misusing substances.

Expanding Access to Competitive Integrated Employment

Employment is a critical part of community inclusion for people with disabilities. Securing and maintaining 

employment helps many people to achieve independence and financial security in their communities.

• In 2021, ACL made strategic investments to expand access to competitive integrated

employment through a Prize Competition and technical assistance support to its grantees. In

October 2021, ACL announced the winner of the Inclusive Talent Pipeline for American Business

Prize Challenge. The winner of the prize challenge was awarded $100,000 to expand its inclusive

technology recruitment platform to support employers and individuals with disabilities, particularly

those with developmental disabilities.

• ACL’s Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center is working with Centers for

Independent Living, State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, Protection and Advocacy

Systems, University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and grantees in ACL’s

Traumatic Brain Injury State Partnership Program to improve coordination and collaboration

within the state systems that support people with disabilities in securing and succeeding in

competitive, integrated employment. Through webinars, e-learning communities, and more, the

Center is creating opportunities for programs to develop and share strategies.

• Strengthening Federal Partnerships to Jointly Advance Competitive Integrated

Employment: As part of a federal interagency policy committee, ACL is working to address the

systemic unemployment of Americans with disabilities. Last year, as part of our celebration of the

anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, HHS, the Departments of Labor and

Education, and the Social Security Administration released a fact sheet on funding opportunities

to help states expand access to competitive, integrated employment people with disabilities. The

task force is working on additional interagency guidance that will be released later this year and

recently held an interagency webinar on braiding, blending, and sequencing federal resources.

Ensuring Access to Democracy for Voters with Disabilities

Consistent with Executive Order 14019 on Voting Access, ACL works to ensure that disabled and older 

Americans can participate in the electoral process. 

• The Voting Access Program authorized by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) provides funding to

Protection and Advocacy Systems to support their work to support people with disabilities in

registering to vote, casting a vote, and accessing polling places.