Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority; Administration for Community Living

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) was created in order to achieve several important objectives: to reduce the fragmentation that currently exists in federal programs addressing the community living service and support needs of both the aging and disability populations; to enhance access to quality health care and long-term services and supports for older adults and people with disabilities; to promote consistency in community living policy across other areas of the federal government; and to complement the community infrastructure, as supported by both Medicaid and other federal programs, in order to better respond to the full spectrum of needs of seniors and persons with disabilities. Public Law 113-128, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), furthers these objectives by transferring three groups of programs--the Independent Living (IL) Programs, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (now titled the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research), and the Assistive Technology (AT) Act programs--from the Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the HHS Administration for Community Living (ACL). This reorganization incorporates these programs into ACL's structure with the IL programs and the AT Act section 5 programs included under the newly established Administration on Disabilities; the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) reporting directly to the ACL Administrator; and the AT Act section 4 programs located in the Office of Consumer Access and Self-Determination within the renamed Center for Integrated Programs (formally the Center for Consumer Access and Self-Determination).