Download the FY2010 RACRA Report pdf format of 2010_racra_report.pdf

Mission Statement

Created in late FY-2009, the Reserve Account is a back stop for agencies that find they cannot meet the cost of providing reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities.

Note: The RACRA Fund is not meant to supplant existing agency resources to respond to reasonable accommodation requests, but to supplement them, particularly in difficult economic times such as the Commonwealth has recently experienced.

Available Funds

The Fund contains $500,000. One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is available, in each of FY-2010 through FY-2014, to supplement state agency efforts to effectively accommodate the disabilities of Executive Department employees. The acceptable uses for the fund are established by the Office of Access and Opportunity in conformance with prescribed uses of capital funds.

Goals & Objectives

The fund has threes goals

  • Provide financial relief to agencies that are successful in hiring and seeking to retaining employees with disabilities.

  • Determine long-term funding needs for reasonable accommodation related activities.

  • Begin to establish a centralized structure for addressing reasonable accommodation issues in the workforce.

The Process

The process for an agency to access the fund is intentionally simple.

  • Agencies must:

    • Determine the specific need for accommodation,

    • Determine reasonable costs to provide the accommodation, and

    • Complete and transmit a one page application and cover memo to the Massachusetts Office on Disability.

  • MOD:

    • Reviews the agency application, discusses the impact of the proposed accommodation on existing infrastructure and discusses alternatives, if appropriate, and

    • Certifies eligibility to ANF

  • ANF Office of Access and Opportunity:

    • Reviews MOD certification, and

    • Upon acceptance, either authorizes dispersal to the agency, or where under Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) jurisdiction, authorizes DCAM to proceed with the work using RACRA Funds.

Applications are addressed on a first come first serve basis. Funds are then distributed until exhausted during the current year. Once funds are depleted, agencies seeking funds are encouraged to reapply in the next fiscal year.

Recipients of RACRA FY2010 Funds

Six agencies completed RACRA funds requests in FY 2010. Four agency requests were funded in full. The last agency funded received a partial award as the fund's remaining resources were insufficient to fulfill the entire need. That agency has been invited to reapply in FY-2011. The final applicant agency, was not funded as the annual allocation had been exhausted. It was also encouraged to apply in early FY2011. Grants ranging from $4,700 to $58,000 served 78 employees with disabilities, for an average cost of $1,282 per employee.

Findings

  • Although, consistent with approved uses, the fund is available for many other types of accommodations, all first year requests received related to technology.

  • In the dire economic times experienced by the Commonwealth, expensive accommodations necessitating infrastructure upgrades have been put on hold by agencies.

  • Even the small cost share proposed under RACRA was more than some agencies could afford.

  • The real cost of technology accommodations often includes the need to upgrade core systems and infrastructure, as well as pay for employee training at agencies employing one or more workers with disabilities.

  • IT consolidation activities in the next few years may require Executive Department-wide infrastructure modifications that have not been specifically funded. The current RACRA structure does not address this situation.

  • Employees with newly adapted systems most often need training to maximize the Commonwealth's investment in adaptive technology. The current RACRA structure does not address this situation.

  • Current Information Technology Consolidation and Human Resources Modernization Initiatives within the Executive Branch will trigger a need for better coordination of agency resources, and possibly a need for additional resources, to meet accessibility requirements. Absent such coordination, agencies may turn to the RACRA to meet needs.

  • Monitor IT Consolidation and HR Modernization efforts to identify whether the RACRA policy should be amended to specifically address infrastructure needs within agencies and Executive Department-wide.

  • Training needs should be specifically addressed.

  • Explore why only six agencies applied.

Contacts for RACRA