Accessibility Projects Grants

Accessibility Projects Grants 2024/2025
Promoting Inclusion and Accessibility for People with Disabilities

*Please note: Applications for the 2024/25 Accessibility Projects Grants are now closed*

Background

As part of the Province’s goal to improve accessibility for people with disabilities in BC, Disability Alliance BC was selected by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (MSDPR) to distribute funding to community based “Accessibility Projects” beginning in 2018. Since then, over 80 projects have been funded. This year the grants have reopened again with a total of $450,000 available to BC-based not-for-profit organizations to receive an up to a $40,000 grant. These grants are for community engagement projects focusing on one of the following objectives to increase accessibility for people with disabilities:

  • Accessible employment;
  • Accessible emergency planning and response;
  • Accessible arts, culture and tourism;
  • Accessible sports and recreation;
  • Accessible education and learning;
  • Accessible community participation.

Applications will be due on Friday September 13th 2024 (noon Pacific Time). Proposals will be evaluated by a Review Committee comprised of representatives from DABC and other BC disability or community service organizations, with decisions announced in December. If you have any questions, please contact the Accessibility Projects Grants Coordinator at ap@dabc.ca.

Call for Proposals and Application Package

To download the Call for Proposals, please click here. Please read this thoroughly before you apply.

A completed application package must include:

  • A completed application form. To download the application form, please click here.
  • A completed budget, in the format provided. Download the budget template and a budget sample.
  • Two letters of support from local organizations that are not directly involved in and who do not financially benefit from the project. These must be on letterhead, addressed to DABC and signed.
  • Optionally, you may also include one letter of support from a client/potential project participant and up to two letters of collaboration from Project Partners.

Applications that do not include all of the above documents may not be considered. Please do not send any additional documents other than those listed above, as they will not be considered.

Download screenreader friendly versions of the application form, budget template and a budget sample, below:

Please see American Sign Language (ASL) videos below:

Please note: for capacity reasons, we are unable to receive grant applications in ASL. However, applicants are welcome to contact us to request any further accommodations.

Key Dates

  • Applications will open on Friday August 2nd, 2024.
  • Online information sessions will occur on Thursday August 22nd at 1:00pm-2:00pm and Tuesday September 3rd at 11:30am-12:30pm. At these sessions, potential applicants will be invited to learn about the application process and ask questions. Live captioning will be available. With two weeks advanced notice, ASL interpretation can be booked on request and other accessibility requests will be accommodated whenever possible. To be notified of any changes to these sessions by email, please sign up for the DABC mailing list at https://disabilityalliancebc.org (scroll down and enter your email where it says Sign Up for Updates). To sign up for a session, please email ap@dabc.ca by the end of the day previous to the session.
  • Completed applications must be received by 12:00pm (noon) Pacific Time on Friday September 13th, 2024.
  • DABC will issue a confirmation by email by the end of the day your application is received. If you do not receive a confirmation, please communicate with DABC by emailing ap@dabc.ca within 2 business days (no later than Tuesday, September 17th at noon Pacific Time). It is your responsibility to make sure your application was successfully submitted.
  • Successful projects will be announced and funding will be distributed in December 2024 so that projects can begin in January 2025.The names of the successful projects will also be publicly available on our website at https://disabilityalliancebc.org/program/accessibility-projects/ after the evaluation/selection process is complete.
  • Successful projects will submit an interim written report to DABC by July 15th, 2025, detailing project activities up until June 30th.
  • Projects must be completed by December 31st, 2025 and a final written report must be submitted to DABC by Feb 9th, 2026.

Eligibility

  • Projects must be community engagement focused. Projects that focus on large capital costs, such as accessibility improvements to buildings and outdoor spaces, will not be considered. If you would like a list of other accessibility related funding streams, including some that will fund large capital costs, please reach out to ap@dabc.ca.
  • Eligible organizations must be not-for-profit organizations based in BC, Canada, that operate primarily for community benefit and whose services are open to the public and not restricted to the organization’s membership.
  • Organizations do not need to be a registered charity but must have a democratically elected volunteer Board chosen by its membership.
  • National or international organizations may be eligible, but only if they have a base of operations in BC and sufficient capacity to deliver services in BC.
  • Governmental bodies, including municipalities, First Nations bands, and public-sector organizations are not eligible as they are targeted by other funding streams.
  • Once an organization has received a grant they can reapply 5 years after their application was submitted (for example, if an organization applied in 2019 for a grant and did their project in 2020, they can reapply in 2024 to do a project in 2025).
  • Organizations that have a real or perceived conflict of interest with DABC must declare this on their application and this will be dealt with on a case by case basis. For more information, please see: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Conflict-of-Interest-Protocol.docx

For more information on eligibility, please see the Call for Proposals.

Past Successful Projects

See information about current and past successful projects at the links below: