Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects Program: Employment (Research) 2025 – US

The purpose of NIDILRR’s Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) is to conduct research or development projects that maximize the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of people with disabilities, especially individuals with the greatest support needs, to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

Funding Information 

• Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,000,000
• Award Ceiling: $500,000
• Award Floor: $495,000

Eligible Activities

• To contribute to this outcome, research DRRPs must:
  • Conduct research activities in one or more of the following priority areas, focusing on people with disabilities as a group or on people in specific disability or demographic subpopulations of people with disabilities:
    • Technology to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
    • Individual and environmental factors associated with improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
    • Interventions that contribute to improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Interventions include any strategy, practice, program, policy, or tool that, when implemented as intended, contributes to improvements in outcomes for people with disabilities.
    • Effects of government policies and programs on employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
    • Practices and policies that contribute to improved employment outcomes for transition aged youth with disabilities.
    • Vocational rehabilitation (VR) practices that contribute to improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities;
  • Demonstrate, in its original application, that people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds will be included in study samples in sufficient numbers to generate knowledge and products that are relevant to the racial and ethnic diversity of the population of people with disabilities being studied. The DRRP must describe and justify, in its original application, the racial and ethnic distribution of people with disabilities who will participate in the proposed research activities.
  • Focus its research on a specific stage of research. If the DRRP is to conduct research that can be categorized under more than one stage including research that progresses from one stage to another, those stages must be clearly specified. These stages: exploration and discovery, intervention development, intervention efficacy, and scale-up evaluation, are defined on ACL’s website.
  • Conduct knowledge translation activities in order to facilitate stakeholder use of the knowledge and products that result from the research activities.

Eligibility Criteria

• States; public or private agencies, including for-profit agencies; public or private organizations, including for-profit organizations; IHEs; and Indian tribes and tribal organizations.

Review Criteria

• Importance of the Problem
• Design of Research Activities
• Design of Utilization Activities
• Design of Dissemination Activities
• Project Staff
• Adequacy and Accessibility of Resources

Application Requirements

• Each applicant must limit the Project Narrative to the equivalent of no more than 60 pages using the following standards:
  • A page is 8.5″ x 11″ on one side only with 1″ margins at the top, bottom, and both sides;
  • Double-space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) all narrative text in the project narrative. You are not required to double space titles, headings, footnotes, references, captions, or text in charts, tables, figures, and graphs. Applicants who unnecessarily place narrative text in tables to avoid the double-spacing requirement run the risk of exceeding the page limit;
  • Use a font that is not less than size 12 and is Times New Roman, Courier, Courier New or Arial;
  • Include all critical information, including the Work Plan, in the Project Narrative, minimizing the need for additional appendices;
  • Ensure that you attach PDF files only for any attachments to your application. While you are able to attach files to your application in formats other than PDF, non-PDF files are converted into PDF format before reviewers see and evaluate your application. The conversion to PDF format may not maintain your original formatting. Therefore, to ensure the integrity of your application documents they strongly recommend that you attach only PDF files as you submit your application.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.