84.129 RSA Applications for New Grants

84.129 Long Term Training Regulations

Sec. 301. Declaration of Purpose and Competitive Basis of Grants and Contracts

(a) Purpose

It is the purpose of this title to authorize grants and contracts to‑‑

(1)(A) provide academic training to ensure that skilled personnel are available to provide rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities through vocational, medical, social, and psychological rehabilitation programs (including supported employment programs), through economic and business development programs, through independent living services programs, and through client assistance programs; and

(B) provide training to maintain and upgrade basic skills and knowledge of personnel (including personnel specifically trained to deliver services to individuals with disabilities whose employment outcome is self‑employment or telecommuting) employed to provide state‑of‑the‑art service delivery and rehabilitation technology services;

(2) conduct special projects and demonstrations that expand and improve the provision of rehabilitation and other services (including those services provided through community rehabilitation programs) authorized under this Act, or that otherwise further the purposes of this Act, including related research and evaluation;

(3) provide vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities who are migrant or seasonal farmworkers;

(4) initiate recreational programs to provide recreational activities and related experiences for individuals with disabilities to aid such individuals in employment, mobility, socialization, independence, and community integration; and

(5) provide training and information to individuals with disabilities and the individuals' representatives, and other appropriate parties to develop the skills necessary for individuals with disabilities to gain access to the rehabilitation system and statewide workforce investment systems and to become active decisionmakers in the rehabilitation process.

(b) Competitive Basis of Grants and Contracts

The Secretary shall ensure that all grants and contracts are awarded under this title on a competitive basis.

Sec. 302. Training

(a) Grants and Contracts for Personnel Training

(1) Authority

The Commissioner shall make grants to, and enter into contracts with, States and public or nonprofit agencies and organizations (including institutions of higher education) to pay part of the cost of projects to provide training, traineeships, and related activities, including the provision of technical assistance, that are designed to assist in increasing the numbers of, and upgrading the skills of, qualified personnel (especially rehabilitation counselors) who are trained in providing vocational, medical, social, and psychological rehabilitation services, who are trained to assist individuals with communication and related disorders, who are trained to provide other services provided under this Act, to individuals with disabilities, and who may include‑‑

(A) personnel specifically trained in providing employment assistance to individuals with disabilities through job development and job placement services;

(B) personnel specifically trained to identify, assess, and meet the individual rehabilitation needs of individuals with disabilities, including needs for rehabilitation technology;

(C) personnel specifically trained to deliver services to individuals who may benefit from receiving independent living services;

(D) personnel specifically trained to deliver services in the client assistance programs;

(E) personnel specifically trained to deliver services, through supported employment programs, to individuals with a most significant disability; and

(F) personnel specifically trained to deliver services to individuals with disabilities pursuing self‑employment, business ownership, and telecommuting; and

(G) personnel trained in performing other functions necessary to the provision of vocational, medical, social, and psychological rehabilitation services, and other services provided under this Act.

(2) Authority to provide scholarships

Grants and contracts under paragraph (1) may be expended for scholarships and may include necessary stipends and allowances.

(3) Related federal statutes

In carrying out this subsection, the Commissioner may make grants to and enter into contracts with States and public or nonprofit agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher education, to furnish training regarding provisions of Federal statutes, including section 504, title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111 et seq.), and the provisions of titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq. and 1381 et seq.), that are related to work incentives for individuals with disabilities.

(4) Training for statewide workforce systems personnel

The Commissioner may make grants to and enter into contracts under this subsection with States and public or nonprofit agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher education, to furnish training to personnel providing services to individuals with disabilities under title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Under this paragraph, personnel may be trained‑‑

(A) in evaluative skills to determine whether an individual with a disability may be served by the State vocational rehabilitation program or another component of a statewide workforce investment system; or

(B) to assist individuals with disabilities seeking assistance through one‑stop delivery systems described in section 134(c) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

(5) Joint funding

Training and other activities provided under paragraph (4) for personnel may be jointly funded with the Department of Labor, using funds made available under title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

(b) Grants and Contracts for Academic Degrees and Academic Certificate Granting Training Projects

(1) Authority

(A) In general

The Commissioner may make grants to, and enter into contracts with, States and public or nonprofit agencies and organizations (including institutions of higher education) to pay part of the costs of academic training projects to provide training that leads to an academic degree or academic certificate. In making such grants or entering into such contracts, the Commissioner shall target funds to areas determined under subsection (e) to have shortages of qualified personnel.

(B) Types of projects

Academic training projects described in this subsection may include‑‑

(i) projects to train personnel in the areas of assisting and supporting individuals with disabilities pursuing self‑employment, business ownership, and telecommuting, and of vocational rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation technology, rehabilitation medicine, rehabilitation nursing, rehabilitation social work, rehabilitation psychiatry, rehabilitation psychology, rehabilitation dentistry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and audiology, physical education, therapeutic recreation, community rehabilitation programs, or prosthetics and orthotics;

(ii) projects to train personnel to provide‑‑

(I) services to individuals with specific disabilities or individuals with disabilities who have specific impediments to rehabilitation, including individuals who are members of populations that are unserved or underserved by programs under this Act;

(II) job development and job placement services to individuals with disabilities;

(III) supported employment services, including services of employment specialists for individuals with disabilities;

(IV) specialized services for individuals with significant disabilities; or

(V) recreation for individuals with disabilities;

(iii) projects to train personnel in other fields contributing to the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities; and

(iv) projects to train personnel in the use, applications, and benefits of rehabilitation technology.

(2) Application

No grant shall be awarded or contract entered into under this subsection unless the applicant has submitted to the Commissioner an application at such time, in such form, in accordance with such procedures, and including such information as the Secretary may require, including‑‑

(A) a description of how the designated State unit or units will participate in the project to be funded under the grant or contract, including, as appropriate, participation on advisory committees, as practicum sites, in curriculum development, and in other ways so as to build closer relationships between the applicant and the designated State unit and to encourage students to pursue careers in public vocational rehabilitation programs;

(B) the identification of potential employers that provide employment that meets the requirements of paragraph (5)(A)(i); and

(C) an assurance that data on the employment of graduates or trainees who participate in the project is accurate.

(3) Limitation

(A) In general

Except as provided in subparagraph (B), no grant or contract under this subsection may be used to provide any one course of study to an individual for a period of more than 4 years.

(B) Exception

If a grant or contract recipient under this subsection determines that an individual has a disability which seriously affects the completion of training under this subsection, the grant or contract recipient may extend the period referred to in subparagraph (A).

(4) Authority to provide scholarships

Grants and contracts under paragraph (1) may be expanded to provide services that include the provision of scholarships and necessary stipends and allowances.

(5) Agreements

(A) Contents

A recipient of a grant or contract under this subsection shall provide assurances to the Commissioner that each individual who receives a scholarship, for any academic year beginning after June 1, 1992, utilizing funds provided under such grant or contract shall enter into an agreement with the recipient under which the individual shall‑‑

(i) maintain employment‑‑

(I) in a nonprofit rehabilitation agency or related agency or in a State rehabilitation agency or related agency, including a professional corporation or professional practice group through which the individual has a service arrangement with the designated State agency;

(II) on a full‑ or part‑time basis; and

(III) for a period of not less than the full‑time equivalent of 2 years for each year for which assistance under this section was received by the individual, within a period, beginning after the recipient completes the training for which the scholarship was awarded, of not more than the sum of the number of years in the period described in subclause (III) and 2 additional years; and

(ii) repay all or part of any scholarship received, plus interest, if the individual does not fulfill the requirements of clause (i), except as the Commissioner by regulation may provide for repayment exceptions and deferrals.

(B) Enforcement

The Commissioner shall be responsible for the enforcement of each agreement entered into under subparagraph (A) upon completion of the training involved under such subparagraph.

(c) Grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities

The Commissioner, in carrying out this section, shall make grants to historically Black colleges and universities and other institutions of higher education whose minority student enrollment is at least 50 percent of the total enrollment of the institution.

(d) Application

A grant may not be awarded to a State or other organization under this section unless the State or organization has submitted an application to the Commissioner at such time, in such form, in accordance with such procedures, and containing such information as the Commissioner may require. Any such application shall include a detailed description of strategies that will be utilized to recruit and train individuals so as to reflect the diverse populations of the United States as part of the effort to increase the number of individuals with disabilities, and individuals who are from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, who are available to provide rehabilitation services.

(e) Evaluation and Collection of Data

The Commissioner shall evaluate the impact of the training programs conducted under this section, and collect information on the training needs of, and data on shortages of qualified personnel necessary to provide services to individuals with disabilities. The Commissioner shall prepare and submit to Congress, by September 30 of each fiscal year, a report setting forth and justifying in detail how the funds made available for training under this section for the fiscal year prior to such submission are allocated by professional discipline and other program areas. The report shall also contain findings on such personnel shortages, how funds proposed for the succeeding fiscal year will be allocated under the President's budget proposal, and how the findings on personnel shortages justify the allocations.