The Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) is providing the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Innovation Pilot Grants program to provide grants of up to $500,000 to programs to support development of pilot projects in alignment with HCBS goals for current HCBS waivers 18, 19, 20, 21, and 29.
The goal of the grant program is to develop innovative services that can be demonstrated through pilots and evaluated to identify those that are effective. The services piloted through this program may be incorporated into to the A Path for ME HCBS Lifespan Project, a new waiver being planned for launch in 2025.
Grantmaking for the program will take in two phases. The first round of applications closed in November 2022. The second round of grants is currently accepting Requests for Applications (RFA) until February 24, 2023. See below for information on the project timeline and the RFA.
Partnering with the National Disability Institute
OADS is partnering with the National Disability Institute (NDI) to support the awardees in the pursuit of quality outcomes and project support. NDI will:
- Act as a fiscal agent to distribute the funds and monitor grant activity;
- Provide technical assistance to awardees as needed to support skill development, including subject matter experts’ experience and insight; and
- Support individual project evaluation as well as provide overall project evaluation and final reporting.
Project Timeline
RFA deadline:
Round 1: November 8, 2022
Round 2: February 23, 2023
Review applications and select awardees:
Round 1: November-December 2022
Round 2: February-March 2023
Innovation kickoff meetings:
Round 1: January 13, 2023
Round 2: February-March 2023
Initial meetings with awardees:
Round 1: January-February, 2023
Round 2: Early Spring 2023
Project maintenance
Project monthly meetings, developmental evaluation, and funding: Spring 2023 to Fall 2024
Project closure:
Conclude projects and final evaluation: September-March 2025
How to Apply
The full RFA for the HCBS Innovation Grants (RFA 202301004) is available on the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial services website.
To view the RFA, scroll to the DHHS section and look for “Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) - Innovation Grants Funding Opportunity”
The deadline for submitting an RFA for the second round of funding is February 24, 2023.