Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities - Television Access
Grant: Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities – Television Access
Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Division: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
Deadline: July 19, 2010
Description: The purposes of the Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities program are to:
- Improve results for children with disabilities by promoting the development, demonstration and use of technology.
- Support educational media services activities designed to be of educational value in the classroom setting to children with disabilities.
- Provide support for captioning and video description that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting.
Only projects that improve television access for people with disabilities will be funded through this program. Because the FCC does not require most television programs to have video description, which provides access for individuals with blindness or low vision, only a limited number of television include video description. Not all television programs that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting for children with disabilities are being video described or captioned.
The purpose of this television access grant is to fund cooperative agreements that will improve the learning opportunities for children with disabilities by providing access to television programming through video description and captioning. This project will support access – through video description and captioning – to widely available television programs that are appropriate for use in the classroom setting and are not otherwise required to be captioned by the FCC.
Applicants who propose both video description and captioning must provide assurances from potential program providers or program owners stating that programming captioned under this project would not otherwise be captioned to meet the FCC's captioning requirements, or are specifically exempt from the FCC's captioning requirements.
Fit for public broadcasting: This grant opportunity is specifically looking for applicants who can provide video descriptions for educational television programs that are used in a classroom setting. Public television stations who provide educational programs to local schools can use this grant to ensure that all programs have both video description and closed captioning.
In 2007, WGBH Educational Foundation was awarded $500,000/year for a three-year project to create video description for television programming of high educational merit, including WNET's "Nature," WGBH's, "Masterpiece Theatre," "Between the Lions, "Arthur" and "NOVA." Project partners include PBS, APT, ITVS, WNET, KCET, WETA, WTTW and WGBH. Read the abstract.
Eligibility: Stations can act as the lead applicant on this grant, as can state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), public charter schools that are LEAs under state law, institutions of higher education (IHEs), other public agencies, private nonprofit organizations, outlying areas, freely associated States, Indian tribes or tribal organizations and for-profit organizations are all eligible to apply for this grant.
Anticipated funding: An estimated $2,500,000 is available through this program. Awards will range from $400,000-$500,000, and it is estimated that five grants will be awarded. The project period for these grants is for up to 60 months.
How to apply: Applicants can obtain an application package from the Education Publications Center. Applications can be submitted electronically using the U.S. Department of Education's e-Grants website, or they can be submitted in paper format by mail or hand delivery.
Resources:
Program notice
Program website
Use the Office of Special Education Program's Discretionary Grants Public Database to search for past grantees.
