Independent Living Appropriations and Budget Update
Please read the latest update from The National Council On Independent Living:
As of: December 2, 2025
Dear Independent Living Community,
As promised, we are writing to provide you with an update on Federal Fiscal Year 2026 and 2027 funding and appropriations. We have urgent advocacy work ahead of us to protect our community’s federal funding. First, we’ll explain what is going on.
The Independent Living Program has two line items for federal funding appropriations. We frequently refer to these line items as Part B and Part C funds, in reference to their authorization within the Rehabilitation Act.
Part B funds are provided to the states to support and expand independent living services. State governments contract with and distribute Part B to the consumer-controlled Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) and Centers for Independent Living (CILs) as prescribed by the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). Many CILs and SILCs rely on these funds for general operations, to expand services and outreach to underserved communities, and carry out other activities outlined in the SPIL.
Part C funds support local community-based, consumer-controlled Centers for Independent Living that offer direct services to people with disabilities. Part C funding is a direct award from the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to CILs.
Part B and Part C funds have different grant cycles. Here is an update on how the recently passed continuing resolution impacts the distribution of each fund.
Status of Funding through January 30, 2026
Part B Funding
The Part B awards grant cycle runs alongside the federal fiscal year, beginning on October 1. The recent Continuing Resolution provided level funding for Part B through January 30, 2026. This means that Part B FY 2026 funding to states for the current grant cycle has only been appropriated through the end of January. If there is another government shutdown in January, we may see continued disruption of this funding.
NCIL, the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), and the National Association of Statewide Independent Living Councils (NASILC) met with ACL staff last week just before the Thanksgiving Holiday. ACL was unable to tell us when Part B notices of award (NoAs) will be issued to states. Further disrupting the flow of these funds, many states’ designated entities will not provide Part B contracts to the SILCs or CILs until the NoAs are in hand, often delaying distribution by weeks. This delay can cause irreparable harm to the IL community. NCIL will continue to push ACL to release the NoAs for the funds appropriated through the recently-passed Continuing Resolution. This effort also requires our national network to act.
How you can take action: If your CIL or SILC is impacted by this delay of funds, we encourage you to contact your Congressional representatives. Ask to speak with a constituent services representative and request their assistance in working with ACL to distribute the funding.
If you do this, please also share your impact and the contact information for the person you spoke to with NCIL Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org. NCIL will also be reaching out to Congressional offices on this issue.
Part C Funding
Part C grant awards begin on September 30, the last day of the federal fiscal year. The funds for the grant cycle that began on September 30 are Federal FY 2025 funds. So, the funds being awarded from the current Federal FY 26 budget process would not be awarded until September 2026. As long as a full year of appropriations is passed through either an appropriations package or a combination of continuing resolutions, we should not see a disruption of the Part C funding. NCIL will push for timely notices of award for the next Part C grant cycle.
Status of Budget Advocacy for the Remainder of Federal Fiscal Year 2026
Throughout the next month and into the beginning of January, NCIL will advocate for Congress to pass an appropriation bill that fully funds the Health and Human Services Administration through the remainder of Federal Fiscal Year 2026. We will issue further communications on this topic in the coming weeks.
Beginning Advocacy for Federal Fiscal Year 2027 Appropriations
Simultaneously, advocacy for appropriations for Federal Fiscal Year 2027 is set to begin in January. We will be in touch in the new year on how you can support this effort.
Executive Directors Meeting to Discuss Federal Funding
NCIL is hosting an Emergency Executive Directors Meeting on Friday, December 5, 2025, to discuss advocacy strategy and hear feedback on state-level impacts related to Part B and other IL funding streams outlined in the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL).
This meeting is for Executive Directors (or equivalent) of Centers for Independent Living and Statewide Independent Living Councils only. We will be providing additional opportunities for the rest of the network to engage on this issue in the coming weeks.
If you have any questions, please contact NCIL Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org.
Congressional Hearing: December 3, 2025
On December 3, 2025, the Special Committee on Aging held a hearing called “Aging in Place: the Impact of Community during the Holidays”. NCIL will be submitting a statement for the Congressional record and is collecting statements from CILs and SILCs about the impact that IL has on helping people with disabilities (and people aging into disability) remain in their homes and communities. If you would like to submit a statement for the record, please send it to Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org by December 5, 2025
