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How can people with disabilities interested in self-employment benefit from the resources available from the federal economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)?

The ARRA will result in federal spending of $797 billion over the next couple of years. While there are no funds specifically targeted to self-employment for people with disabilities, the bill does contain a multitude of possible options. These include funds from public vocational rehabilitation, increased micro-loan funding from the Small Business Administration, workforce development funding, and opportunities available via a wide range of infrastructure investments.

How is funding being distributed?

Economic stimulus funding is being distributed through a wide rage of federal, state, and local entities. In most cases, the entities being utilized are existing entities that typically handle various public funds. Much of the funding (particularly discretionary funding) is being administered at the state level, with some of this funding then passed on to the local level. In other cases, federal agencies are distributing funds through competitive grant processes, for which a wide range of entities may be eligible.

What is the best way to find out information about opportunities that might be available?

One of the major challenges of the ARRA, is that it is a massive piece of legislation (400+ pages) with funding going to a wide range of initiatives involving a multitude of federal, state, and local agencies. The good news is that the federal government is making a strong effort to have information easily available, and is encouraging states to do the same. The following websites are good starting points:

•   Federal site: http://www.recovery.gov/

Extensive information on the ARRA, with links to federal departments, state sites, announcements, and update sign-up feature.

•   Massachusetts: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=stimhomepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Fstim Contains detailed information on use of ARRA funds in Massachusetts.

•   Alaska: http://omb.alaska.gov/10_omb/budget/IndexEconomicStimulus.htm

Contains details on various projects being funded by the ARRA, and department fact sheets. A federal grant symposium will be held in Anchorage on April 14th.

•   Florida: http://flarecovery.com/

Includes wide range of information on Florida's plans for funds. Users can sign up for updates.

•   New York: http://www.recovery.ny.gov/

Includes wide range of information on New York's plans for funds. Users can sign up for updates and submit proposals

What other sources of information are available?

There are extensive additional resources available regarding the economic stimulus package. Given the extensive volume of information that is available, the biggest challenge is finding information sources that best meet your needs. At the end of this fact sheet is a listing of additional resources that may be particularly useful.

How can I best take advantage of the opportunities that are available?

In thinking about opportunities available vie the ARRA, it's important to recognize that while in some cases, a formal application may be necessary to access funds, in many cases funds are being used to expand existing programs (VR, workforce development, SBA micro-loans), and there may not be any specific process for accessing ARRA funds. In addition, many of the opportunities, particularly for self-employment business development, are going to be available as a result of the massive spending on infrastructure. Therefore, it is important to make every effort to link with the individuals, departments, and organizations administering and receiving those infrastructure funds, to identify potential entrepreneurial opportunities, rather than assuming a formal application process will be required.

How do I go about figuring out whether economic stimulus funds are an option for my specific needs?

•   Step 1 - Decide what your funding needs are: Are you looking for working capital? Training? Business opportunities? Support services? Given the broad scope of the economic stimulus package, and in order to be systematic in your approach, start by figuring what you need funding for.

•   Step 2 - Do some research: Spend time exploring the federal ARRA website (http://www.recovery.gov/), your specific state's website, and other resources. This will help you become familiar with options that might be available, and how to best connect with them.

•   Step 3 - Figure out who the funding decision-makers are: If you've determined that there may be opportunities and funding available that can assist you, the next step is figuring out how to go about accessing this funding, and who to contact. If there are contacts listed on a federal, state, or local website, use those as a starting point. However, given the multiple and competing priorities for which economic stimulus funding is being requested and targeted, it is also important that you use your existing network of connections to gain access to decision makers regarding the use of economic stimulus funds. (Yes, we are talking about the tried and true practice of networking.) Examples of who to connect to include: public VR officials, state and local workforce investment board staff, SBA micro-loan intermediaries, economic development officials, and various other state and local government officials.

•   Step 4 - Attend local information events and stay in the information loop: States and local areas are having a wide variety of events regarding ARRA funds. Make every effort to become aware of these events, and attend them in order to connect with decision-makers. In addition, sign up for any email alerts, and similar mechanisms to stay informed.

•   Step 5 - Apply/access funding and assistance: Once you've identified funding/resource options, follow-up and use the appropriate processes for accessing funding and resources. Remember that in some cases there may be a formal application process, and in others, it may simply be a matter of accessing resources through existing channels (e.g., VR, workforce development, SBA), or just networking with the right person to identify an opportunity.

•   Step 6 - Don't forget about direct federal funding: While a lot of  economic stimulus funding is being administered at the state and local levels, federal agencies will also be awarding some funds through competitive and discretionary grants. It's important therefore to continue to monitor activities at the federal level, particularly within specific areas and departments you may have targeted.

What specific items within the economic stimulus package might be particularly of interest in supporting self-employment for people with disabilities?

The following is a list of specific funding in the ARRA, that could potentially be utilized for self-employment. This list is by no means exhaustive, and it is suggested that you review the various information sources previously listed, as well as those at the end of this fact sheet, to identify additional options.

•   VR Funding: The economic stimulus plan includes $540 million in funding for state public vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs, to provide additional assistance to people with disabilities to find and keep employment. Massachusetts is receiving approximately $7.1 million in VR funds via ARRA. Allocations for Start-Up USA states are as follows:

Alaska - $1.8 million

Florida - $32.2 million

New York - $25.7 million

There is no state match required for these funds, and states are in the process of determining how funds will be allocated. Contact your state or local VR office to identify what your state's specific plans are for these funds. The economic stimulus plan also includes $140 million for Independent Living, under the VR funding provisions.

•   Workforce Development: The economic stimulus package includes extensive funding for programs administered under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). This funding could be used for training and other small business development activities that are administered and operated by your state and local workforce investment system and One-Stop Career Centers.

The workforce development funding allocation under the ARRA for Massachusetts is as follows:

State	WIA Adult	WIA Dislocated Worker	WIA Youth	Employment Service
Massachusetts	$10.1 million	$21.2 million	$24.8 million	$8.1 million

 

Allocations for Start-Up USA states are as follows:

State	WIA Adult	WIA Dislocated Worker	WIA Youth	Employment Service
Alaska	$1.7 million	$3.5 million	$3.9 million	$4.3 million
Florida	$19.4 million	$80.6 million	$42.9 million	$22.1 million
New York	$31.5 million	$66.4 million	$71.5 million	$22.9 million

 

•   Small Business Administration: A portion of funding and initiatives under the economic stimulus are occurring under the auspices of the Small Business Administration (SBA) (http://www.sba.gov/recovery). Much of these efforts are focused on freeing up the credit markets for small business people. Of particular interest for individuals interested in self-employment is expansion of the SBA micro-loan program. This program provides very small loans to so-called micro-businesses, typically firms with fewer than 10 employees. The ARRA appropriates $30 million for the micro-loan program, with $24 million dedicated to micro-loan technical assistance and $6 million for new micro-loans. Additional information and a listing of intermediaries that provide micro-loans is available at: http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/sbaloantopics/microloans

•   Infrastructure funding: A major portion of stimulus funds are being used for infrastructure funding for such areas as energy, transportation, housing and the environment. For individuals who are self-employed, the issue is whether their interests align with the targeted areas and the investments that are occurring with their state and/or whether there are opportunities that can be identified as a result of these infrastructure improvements. It is suggested that the primary mechanism for accessing opportunities via the infrastructure funding in terms of self-employment, will be through networking and identifying opportunities that present themselves as part of the massive influx of infrastructure funds.

Resources

Besides those listed above, the following are additional resources on the economic stimulus package that may be useful in identifying opportunities for supporting self-employment of people with disabilities;

•   The US Conference of Mayors has ongoing updates on all of the aspects of the stimulus package: http://www.usmayors.org/recovery

•   The US Department of Labor's information related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is at: http://www.dol.gov/recovery

•   The US Department of Education's information related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (which includes public VR) is at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html

•   The National Council of Nonprofits has a series of reports on the economic stimulus that provide good summaries of the legislation and options to consider: http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/?q=policy#Economic%20stimulus

•   The Center on Budget on Policy Priorities has a series of summary materials on the stimulus package including state summaries: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2355

By David Hoff, Institute for Community Inclusion, UMass Boston

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 617-287-4308 (voice); 617-287-4350 (TTY)

http://www.communityinclusion.org/

 

Editors's Note: This piece was originally written for Start-Up/USA, Self-Employment Technical Assistance, Resources, & Training, funded by the US Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (http://www.start-up-usa.biz/), and its three sub-national projects in Alaska, Florida, and New York. We thought this information would also be of interest to readers of MassWorks, and information specific to Massachusetts has been added to this publication version.