Centers for Independent Living: Operationalizing Independent Living Services to American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

ACL will award a two year grant to identify and transfer lessons learned from the Native American Independent Living Demonstration project (NAILD) and operationalize them into specific tools to increase the effectiveness of activities and services for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations served by federal programs with a focus on Centers for Independent Living (CILs). The project will: Conduct a comprehensive analysis of services and activities conducted by NAILD projects, identifying key components to improving services and activities specific to AI/ANs with disabilities; Create and disseminate tools based on the findings from the analysis; and Provide technical assistance on the tools developed to assure successful implementation. The project will be expected to identify key measurable capacities of CILs to be improved. The project will also be required to work collaboratively with existing technical assistance and resource centers across the Administration for Community Living and other identified federal programs to prioritize strategies and dissemination ensuring long-term utilization of lessons learned and related tools.