Ability Central Announces 2025 Funding Cycle
$1M+ in funding available to nonprofits serving people with disabilities in California
Concord, California – July 9, 2024 – Ability Central, now in its 13th year of grantmaking, announced its 2025 funding year, focused on empowering California nonprofits to implement programs that expand access to communication and information for people who are Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent.
Ability Central revealed two funding priorities for its 2025 annual Communication Access Grants:
- Developing and training healthcare professionals in strategies and tools that improve access to care for people with communication disabilities.
- Career and leadership development projects for people with communication disabilities.
A total of $1 million in new funding is available, with grant awards ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Grant applications are accepted from July 9th, 2024 until September 13th, 2024.
The healthcare access training category focuses on developing, training, and implementing resources and programmatic models for people with disabilities who communicate and access information via methods such as braille, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), American Sign Language (ASL), and more. This initiative is intended to fund projects that train and equip healthcare professionals and healthcare systems with the knowledge, accessible resources, and multi-modal communication partner strategies to improve culturally responsive care for patients with communication disabilities and their care teams.
The career and leadership development initiative seeks to fund robust, scalable, and replicable projects that provide supportive and fairly-compensated career training opportunities for people with communication disabilities. Projects should include innovative strategies for long-term support for participants, establish relationships with relevant stakeholders, incorporate person-centered planning, and more.
For the 2025 funding cycle Ability Central is introducing a streamlined application process. In place of a Letter of Inquiry, the funder is implementing an eligibility quiz and will host calls with those who pass the quiz. After speaking with the grants team, those who meet the requirements will be given access to the full application.
To learn more about a grant from Ability Central, eligibility requirements, and a cycle timeline, including details on the application process and a webinar for applicants, visit https://philanthropy.abilitycentral.org/what-we-support/grant-opportunities/.
Based in the Bay Area, Ability Central is the philanthropic division of the California Communication Access Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2003. Ability Central is committed to serving as an educator, convener, and resource working to expand communication and information access for individuals who are Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent. Ability Central also offers technical support to other nonprofits working to help people with disabilities and provides online information and resources for people with questions about disabilities and communication access. Since 2010, Ability Central has granted more than $13.5 million to 200+ projects, serving more than half a million people with disabilities.
Contact: Grant Barringer, Communications Manager
gbarringer@abilitycentral.org