Help APRIL set a 21st Century base funding for Centers 

Greetings,

More than a decade and a half ago, a national effort was undertaken to establish a funding benchmark necessary to operate a center for independent living that was adequately carrying out the duties and responsibilities spelled out in Title VII.

This benchmark base funding, required to provide the four core services plus two others identified in the Rehabilitation ACT of 1973, is critical in our ongoing discussions with federal and state policy makers. It is difficult to argue for an increase in funding for general operations if we don’t have a rationale—or a bottom line—for engaging in the activities the law requires us to do.

That work years ago resulted in the “base funding” benchmark of $250,000 still in use in many parts of this country. We believe a minimum of $250,000 to deliver the four core services in proportionately, and with quality, across a multi-county service area is no longer adequate.

We need your help to establish that. If you are the director of an ILC, and importantly, a director of a center that serves rural consumers, APRIL would like you to use the budget template developed for this project. All data will be confidential, and only used in the aggregate once collected and analyzed.

In order to develop this method of gathering base funding data, a couple of assumptions are required. For example, this effort is designed to gather data from “fully functional” centers for independent living. That is, in this instance, a center that complies with section 725 of the rehab act in totality provides the four core services, plus two, across the identified service area.

Secondly “base funding” is defined as federal or state dollars awarded to carry out the requirement outlined in section 725 to be a center for independent living.

Please help determine a new base funding benchmark for our work going forward into the 21st Century by completing the base funding tool at the link below and returning it by email to Tim J. Sheehan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tim J. Sheehan
National Advocacy Chair

Download Tool for Base Funding here