What's New In Research, Demonstrations, and Employment Support

Friday, April 5, 2024

Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP) Round 4 Application Opens

On March 28, 2024, SSA published a Request For Applications (RFA) for the fourth round of the Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP) on Grants.gov.

This funding opportunity will award cooperative agreements allowing SSA to collaborate with states, foundations, and other non-federal groups and organizations who have the interest and ability to identify, operate, evaluate, and partially fund interventional research. The research and interventions under this program will target increasing employment and self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, including people of color and other underserved communities (whether beneficiaries, applicants, or potential applicants of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs); coordinating planning between private and public human services agencies to improve the administration and effectiveness of the SSDI, SSI, and related programs; assisting claimants in underserved communities to apply for or appeal decisions on claims for SSDI and SSI benefits; and conducting outreach to people with disabilities who are potentially eligible to receive SSI.

SSA expects to award two grants of up to $4.5 million each, totaling up to $9 million combined, with each awarded project having a period of up to 5 years for completion.

Applications for the fourth round of ICAP must be submitted by June 3, 2024 on Grants.gov. SSA will host an Information Session for potential ICAP applicants on Thursday, April 25, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET. If you would like to participate, please register for the information session by Monday, April 22, 2024.

Additional information can be accessed on the ICAP main page.

Monday, January 29, 2024

Scientific Integrity Policy Update

SSA drafted a new Scientific Integrity based on requirements received from the Office of Science and Technology Policy in alignment with the 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking. The purpose of this policy is to enhance and promote a continuing culture of scientific integrity. This policy aims to ensure the integrity of all aspects of scientific activities including proposing, conducting, reviewing, managing, and communicating about science and scientific activities, and using the results of science. Scientific integrity is defined as the adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior, and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of, and communicating about science and scientific activities. Inclusivity, transparency, and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific integrity.

We have posted our draft Scientific Integrity Policy as part of a request for information from the public to the Federal Register on January 25th, with a 30-day comment period ending on February 26th. We invite interested parties to review and provide suggestions that will help strengthen and promote scientific integrity throughout the agency.

Monday, July 10, 2023

Join us for the ARDRAW Cohort 6 Student Project Presentation Webinars

The sixth cohort of researchers from SSA's small grant program, Analyzing Relationships between Disability, Rehabilitation and Work (ARDRAW) will present their research findings in a series of webinars this month - August 7 - 9, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

The ARDRAW Small Grant Program is a one-year stipend program awarded to graduate-level students to conduct supervised independent research designed to foster new analysis of work, rehabilitation, and disability issues, which may develop innovative and fresh perspectives on disability. ARDRAW focuses on research relevant to SSA's work incentives and employment supports – specifically rehabilitation, work and the disability program.

Cohort 6 students were awarded in July 2022 and have spent the past year conducting their research. Over the past year, the student researchers of Cohort 6 have conducted their research and now they are preparing to share their findings both in their written reports and in this upcoming webinar series.

Please see this flyer (ARDRAW Cohort 6 Project Presentations Flyer August 2023.pdf) with further details, including information on how to join the webinars. For more information about the program, please see the ARDRAW website.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

ICAP Round 3 Application Opens

On June 1, 2023, Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the new Request for Applications (RFA) for the Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP) outreach round three project on Grants.gov. The application period is open through July 31, 2023.

The ICAP funding opportunity allows us to enter into cooperative agreements with non-federal entities to conduct interventional research supporting SSA's Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. ICAP is a five-year cooperative agreement to fund the five priority areas:

Eliminating the structural barriers for people with disabilities in the labor market, particularly for people of color and other underserved communities, that increase the likelihood of people receiving or applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
Increasing employment and self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, including people of color and underserved communities (whether beneficiaries, applicants, or potential applicants of the SSDI or SSI programs);
Coordinating planning between private and public human services agencies to improve the administration and effectiveness the SSDI, SSI, and related programs;
Assisting claimants in underserved communities to apply for or appeal decisions on claims for SSDI and SSI benefits; and
Conducting outreach to people with disabilities who are potentially eligible to receive SSI.

We will host two information session webinars for potential applicants to learn more about the ICAP funding opportunity and how to apply. The informational sessions will be hosted on Friday, June 23, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET, followed by a second session on Wednesday, June 28, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Registration is required to attend either session.

We are encouraging eligible institutions to apply for we rely on your research to learn about the diverse people we serve, how they are affected by our programs, and how our programs can improve to serve the American public better. This includes minority serving institutions (MSIs). For purposes of this solicitation, the following are considered MSIs, as defined by the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. § 1061(2)):

HBCUs
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs)
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions; (AANAPISIs)
Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs)

May 3, 2023

Supported Employment Demonstration Reports

Final Process Analysis Report - This report presents findings from the process evaluation based on data collected over four years of the Supported Employment Demonstration implementation.
SED Final Impact and Cost Benefit Analysis Report - This report provides the overall findings on the impact and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for the SED.

April 19, 2023

BOND Special Topics Reports

BOND Implementation and Evaluation: Further Exploration of WIC and EWIC Services - This report presents impacts through 2019 and describes the demonstration, summarizes previous findings, and discusses new analyses.
BOND Implementation and Evaluation: Extending the Final Evaluation Report Results - This report presents impacts through 2019 and describes the demonstration, summarizes previous findings, and discusses new analyses.
BOND Implementation and Evaluation: Insights on Racial and Ethnic Equity - This memo highlights the racial composition within one specific group of volunteers in the BOND demonstration and showcases the value of conducting racial analyses.
Exits from SSDI Benefits for Work and Medical Improvement and Post-Exit Experiences - This memo uses data from the Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) evaluation to explore exits from SSDI benefits for Work and Medical Improvement, and to examine the effects of random assignment to the BOND treatment groups on patterns of exits for work and medical improvement.

POD Special Topics Report

We have posted a policy brief entitled, Promoting Opportunity Demonstration: Treatment Group Members’ Perspectives. This brief summarizes the experiences of treatment group members in reporting earnings and using the POD benefit offset.

January 9, 2023

Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program News

On December 22, 2022, SSA made the second round of awards for the Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP). Projects under ICAP are collaborative cooperative agreements with States, foundations, and other non-federal groups and organizations who have the interest and ability to identify, operate, and evaluate research related to the Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. ICAP is an ongoing program that will accept new applications for award every year.

This year, ICAP made awards to Mathematica and Westat. Mathematica will conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of an employment intervention for youth with disabilities who are transitioning into the adult workforce. Westat will conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of combining supportive housing with Individual Placement and Support (IPS) supported employment services for recently homeless people experiencing a range of disabilities and mental health conditions.

December 13, 2022

Annual Section 234 Report

We have posted the 2022 report detailing the ongoing progress of SSA's demonstration efforts, as required by Section 234 of the Social Security Act.

December 9, 2022

We posted new report on the Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) project. This report provides a detailed picture of PROMISE youth's employment, education, training, and living arrangements. It also bechmarks youth outcomes against those of similarly-aged youth with and without disabilities. To access the report, select PROMISE Education and Work.

October 28, 2022

PROMISE Report On Pathways to Education and Employment

We posted new report on the Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) project. This report examines the role of youth's use of transition services and work experiences in the pathways that youth with disabilities followed to longer-term employment and education outcomes. To access the report, select PROMISE Pathways Report.

October 21, 2022

Workers' compensation Research Publication

SSA Researchers and co-authers have published a new workers' compensation research paper in the journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine entitled, "Increased all-cause mortality following occupational injury: a comparison of two states." Prior mortality studies have shown that workers' compensation injuries are associated with significantly higher rates of mortality following injury. However, the work-injury data used for these studies exclude factors like smoking and obesity that are known to affect both workplace injury and mortality. This new analysis uses quantitative bias analysis (QBA) on Washington state work-injury data, SSA mortality data, and secondary data on mortality smoking status and obesity. It finds significantly elevated mortality rates for injured workers in even after adjusting for smoking status and obesity also compares these results to prior paper by this team using QBA for injuries in New Mexico, a relatively smaller and less nationally representative state as compared to Washington. The publication is now live at: Increased all-cause mortality following occupational injury: a comparison of two states.