Rehabilitation Services Vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States

To assist States in operating comprehensive, coordinated, effective, efficient and accountable programs of vocational rehabilitation (VR); to assess, plan, develop, and provide VR services for individuals with disabilities, consistent with their stre

Eligible applicants include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. State agencies designated to administer the VR program will receive funds with the submission and approval of the State Unified or Combined State plan under WIOA, including a VR services portion of that Plan.

In order to be eligible for VR services, an individual must have a physical and/or mental impairment, which, for such an individual, constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment, and requires VR services to achieve an employment outcome.

The State agency must certify the availability of State funds for matching purposes.

Federal and State funds are used to cover the costs of providing VR services to eligible individuals with disabilities under an individualized plan for employment. Such services include: assessment, counseling, vocational and other training, job placement, reader services for the blind, interpreter services for the deaf, medical and related services and prosthetic and orthotic devices, rehabilitation technology, transportation to secure VR services, maintenance during rehabilitation, and other goods and services necessary for an eligible individual with a disability to achieve an employment outcome. Services are provided to families of individuals with disabilities when such services contribute substantially to the rehabilitation of such individuals who are receiving VR services. Funds can also be used to provide VR services for the benefit of groups of individuals with disabilities including the construction and establishment of community rehabilitation programs. Each State is also required to reserve and use at least 15 percent of its Federal VR State Grant award to provide or arrange for the provision of pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities in accordance with section 113 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Funds become available for obligations for the fiscal year for which they are appropriated and may remain available for an additional year if the matching requirement is met in the year of the appropriation. Grant awards are issued annually.

State VR agencies are required to submit a VR services portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan every four years describing the manner in which they will administer the VR and Supported Employment programs in their States including assurances. State agencies are required to update descriptions and submit amendments and modifications as required to the VR services portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan.

Grant awards are made to State VR agencies with an approved VR services portion of the Unified or Combined State plan. States are notified of their annual allotment under the funding formula. Grant funds are withdrawn under the Electronic Transfer System.

States are required to submit four-year Unified or Combined State Plans, including the VR services portion of that State Plan. At the end of the first two-year period of the State Plan, States must submit modifications to reflect changes or factors affecting the implementation of the State Plan. States must submit both the four-year State Plan, including the VR services portion of the State Plan, as well as the two-year modification to the Plan to the U.S. Department of Labor. States submitted the Program Year (PY) 2024 through 2027 State Plans in Spring 2024, with an effective date of July 1, 2024. States must submit their modification to that State Plan in Spring 2026, with an effective date of July 1, 2026. The next four-year State Plan will be due in Spring 2028.

Approval of the Unified or Combined State Plan, including approval of the VR services portion of that plan, is governed by section 102 of Title I of WIOA.

Appeal procedures with respect to the VR services portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan are governed by section 101(b) of the Rehabilitation Act. Appeal procedures for individuals with disabilities regarding services under the VR program are governed by section 102(c) of the Rehabilitation Act.