MOD Municipal Improvement Grant

Massachusetts Office on Disabilities Municipal ADA Improvement Grant

EXCERPT

Grant Scope: The funding requested would be used for a self-evaluation and transition plan in line with the Title II administrative requirements to include:

• Self-Evaluation:
  • Identify all the public entity's programs, activities, and services; and
  • Review all the policies and practices governing the public entity's programs, activities, and services.
• Transition Plan:
  • A list of the physical barriers in a public entity's facilities that limit the accessibility of its programs, activities, or services to individuals with disabilities;
  • A detailed outline of the methods to be utilized to remove these barriers and make the facilities accessible;
  • The schedule of steps to achieve compliance with Title II.

Applicant History: The City is working towards Language Access Planning for Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Limited English Proficiency. An RFQ is currently on the City's Website for this project. The City also recently appointed members to the Commission on Disabilities for three years, starting 1/10/20.

Additional Planning Information: ADA compliance continues to be an unfunded mandate without this funding. There is momentum building for action items in this area; however, we need dedicated resources to complete the work. The self-evaluation and transition plan will build off a career from the Language Access Project.

Census Data: Per the Census data provided on the MOD website, 10,103 people have disabilities which is 10.9% of the population. Of those individuals, 5,015 are 18-64 years old with a disability. Of those, 976 have hearing difficulty, 670 have vision difficulty, 2,583 have cognitive difficulty, 2,458 have ambulatory difficulty, 834 have a self-care difficulty, and 1,743 have an independent living difficulty.