Eligibility
Eligible:
- Municipally owned properties (such as town/city halls, libraries, parks, sidewalks, and streets),
- School districts, and
- Housing authorities
Note: The receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, Section 3A, the MBTA Communities Act. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Not eligible:
- Private businesses, private property, non-profit organizations, private homes, or other non-municipal properties.
If you have questions about if you are eligible, please contact Evan George, Grant Compliance Coordinator, at Evan.George@mass.gov.
ADA Administrative Requirements
The ADA has five administrative requirements for municipalities, some of which only apply to municipalities that have more than 50 municipal employees.
To be eligible for the grant, municipalities of any size (even those with less than 50 employees) must meet the first three administrative requirements. This means you must have:
- A notice of non-discrimination,
- A grievance procedure, and
- An ADA Coordinator
If you are applying for a project grant, you must also have:
- An ADA Self-Evaluation, and
- An ADA Transition Plan
If you are applying for a planning grant and you have a self-evaluation and/or transition plan, be sure to include them with your application.
If you are a municipality with less than 50 employees who is facing a barrier to reaching these administrative obligations, please reach out to Grant Compliance Coordinator Evan George at Evan.George@mass.gov for support.
Grant types
There are two grant types available:
- Planning grants
- Project grants
We are anticipating $6 million in available funding for FY26. The maximum grant award is $250,000. Grant recipients are not required to provide match funding.
Planning grants
Planning grants are awarded for creating or updating a Self-Evaluation and/or Transition Plan as required under the administrative requirements of Title II of the ADA.
Project grants
Project grants (up to $250,000) are awarded for improvements or barrier removal related to physical and communication access at municipally owned properties (such as town/city halls, libraries, parks, sidewalks, and streets), school districts, and housing authorities.
Eligible expenses
Eligible expenses include, for example:
- Architectural accessibility features, such as ramps and elevators
- Equipment, such as accessible picnic tables, all-terrain wheelchairs, or Mobi-mats
- Accessibility signage
- Digital accessibility audits and improvements to town websites
- Accessible audio/visual equipment, such as amplification devices
All equipment and other resources paid for by grant funds are the property of the municipality.
Only capital-related expenses are covered. Design plans, feasibility studies, applicant salaries, temporary software licenses, subscription services, and other non-capital-related costs are not eligible for grant funds. They can be in-kind services or covered by the applicant.
Items purchased, architectural changes made, and other grant-funded projects must comply with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board's rules and regulations (521 CMR) and the 2010 ADA Design Standards.
We recommend supplying plans, drawings, or spec sheets with your application.
Partial grants
The grant selection committee has the discretion to award a partial grant. This may occur in situations where multiple projects are submitted as part of one grant application.
Note: Matching funding
Grant recipients are not required to provide matching funding to be eligible for the grant. Matching funding can strengthen your application if it has already been awarded prior to seeking grant funding.
Grant timeline
- May 1, 2025: FY26 Application submission period begins. Only online submissions will be reviewed.
- June 13, 2025: FY26 Application submission period ends.
- Fall 2025: Grant award winners are announced.
- June 30, 2026: All invoices must be dated within the fiscal year.
- July 11, 2026: All invoices must be submitted for reimbursement.
- August 2026: Reimbursements distributed.
Grant Selection Committee members
MOD’s Executive Director chooses 4-7 people to serve as the Grant Selection Committee.
Committee members provide personal and professional perspective on accessible design, construction timelines, disability rights laws, physical and digital accessibility regulations, and lived experience.
Committee members include:
- People with disabilities,
- Accessible design professionals, such as urban planners, architects, engineers, transportation experts, or construction professionals, and
- MOD staff.
The Grant Compliance Coordinator is a neutral member of the Grant Selection Committee. They are the point of contact for applicants and facilitate the grant application review and implementation. The Grant Compliance Coordinator does not vote on applications.
Members will recuse themselves from a vote if they have a substantial interest in the grantee's application, such as if they are a member of the municipality's Commission on Disability.
How grant applications are scored
Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to projects that demonstrate a real and tangible positive impact for people with disabilities. All eligible applicants requesting grant funds for eligible expenses will be scored based on the following criteria.
Primary scoring criteria
- Selection of the Public Accessibility Best Practice option of the Community Compact Cabinet
- Thorough, detailed explanation of request
- Special considerations for project grant applications:
- Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan is up-to-date and complete
- Realistic timeline
- Costs outlined and verified
- Alternative funding secured, if necessary
Secondary scoring criteria
- History with the grant
- The Grant Selection Committee gives preference to first time applicants, first time recipients (applicants who have never received grant funding), applicants who have received smaller grants in the past, and applicants who have not received grant funding in the last several years.
- All municipalities are encouraged to apply. Receiving a grant in the past does not make you ineligible for grants in the current cycle.
- Innovation of the project
- Qualification as a historically marginalized community. Communities are considered historically marginalized if they have a high population of:
- People with disabilities,
- People of color,
- People who are 65 and older,
- Households with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, and
- People without a vehicle
- Having an established and active Commission on Disability (COD)
Additional considerations
Range of applicants and requests
The Grant Selection Committee strives to balance support for rural and urban communities and fund a diverse range of projects each year.
Letters of recommendation
You may choose to upload letters of recommendation with your application to help boost your score. Letters of recommendation are written by parties involved in a project or who will benefit from its outcome, such as parents of children with disabilities who will use the school playground.
Additional documentation
Preparing RFP’s, bids, design plans, vendor selections, and estimates prior to applying and including them in your application will also strengthen your score and ease the administration process. The grant has a quick timeline for project completion. Having this documentation and planning in place will make it easier to complete the project in time.
Reimbursement process
Reimbursements will be sent directly to the municipal account on file with the Commonwealth within 60 days of receiving all required documentation. To be eligible for reimbursement, all invoices must be:
- Dated after the grant contract has been signed and before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2026, and
- Submitted by July 25, 2026 with a cover letter outlining each invoice to the Grant Compliance Coordinator, Evan George, at Evan.George@mass.gov.
To receive grant funding, you must provide:
- An IRS Form W-9 for grantees that have not previously received the ADA grant or contract payments from the Commonwealth,
- A listing of signatories who have completed the New Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing (CASL) Form and are authorized to legally bind the grantee, including the designation of a contract manager who will be responsible for management of grant performance
Many municipalities already have these documents from receiving other grants or contracts from the Commonwealth. Please be aware that they must be up to date.
Frequently asked questions
How can I strengthen my application?
This is a competitive process. Not every application is denied because of its quality.
Here are some tips for avoiding the most common mistakes and strengthening your application:
- Do your research. Thoroughly review both this Municipal ADA Improvement Grant overview page and the Steps to apply for a Municipal ADA Improvement Grant. Attend a grant information session or watch the information session recording to make sure you understand everything you are required to include.
- Prepare and apply early. Give yourself a time buffer in case of technical difficulties with the online application. Prepare your application and supplemental materials (RFP's, architectural plans, designs, estimates, letters of recommendation, etc.) as much as you can ahead of time to ensure that both your application and the project itself can be completed on time. Download a practice application to prepare and save your responses in a separate document in case of technical difficulties. You will lose your work if the portal times out and there is no way to save your responses.
- Provide detailed responses. Specifically, detail what the project will do and proof that it can be completed on time. Provide detailed explanations so the Grant Selection Committee understands the timeline, the cost breakdown, and that the outcome of the project will be accessible.
- Make sure your project can be completed on time. All invoices you submit must be dated within the fiscal year. For the FY26 grant cycle, this is July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026. The Grant Selection Committee will look for strong evidence that your project can be completed within that timeframe. Avoid projects that are contingent on things that haven’t happened yet, such as matching funding that will not be voted on for several months.
- Explain how the project will impact your specific community. All accessibility improvements are valuable. The Grant Selection Committee is often unfamiliar with the layout of your city or town. So, if your local high school football field is also used for concerts or the new accessible playground is next to local public housing, that is helpful context for how impactful your project is and why your project should be selected.
- Do not rely on the supporting documentation. Answer the questions in the application thoroughly. Your attached documentation should support your answers, not be the primary source of information.
- Ensure your project will be fully accessible. This often comes up with surfacing, such as gravel. Some types of gravel are allowed but not preferred. In some cases, less preferrable options must be used. If that is the case, explain why a less favorable surfacing was selected.
- Be specific. For example, “purchasing accessible playground equipment” doesn’t explain what equipment is being purchased or in what ways it is accessible. There is playground equipment that is accessible for children who use wheelchairs, equipment for children with sensory disabilities, etc.
If your application is denied, you can request a debriefing with the Grant Compliance Coordinator to see how you can improve your application next grant cycle.
How long and detailed should my application be?
The Grant Selection Committee is looking for detail, not length. They need enough detail to understand that:
- The outcome of the project will be accessible,
- The funding requested is reasonable, and
- The timeline is achievable.
For planning grants, the Grant Selection Committee needs enough detail to understand the age of the current Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan (SETP), what the new SETP will assess, and a breakdown of the cost.
For project grants, the Grant Selection Committee needs enough detail to understand what the project accomplishes, the timeline for completion, the cost breakdown, the materials selected, and the community impact. Include details such as a breakdown of costs and specific materials that will be used.
A sentence probably isn’t sufficient. But, we would estimate a maximum of a couple paragraphs per question.
Does our Self Evaluation and Transition Plan have to be up to date to apply for a project grant?
No. There is no required age for a Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan (SETP) to be eligible for the grant. However, if your SETP is more than 10 years old, we recommend applying for a planning grant to redo your SETP before you apply for any further project grants.
Keeping your SETP up to date is important because of updates to accessibility regulations and technologies, wear and tear, and new properties that weren’t assessed in a previous SETP.
You can update individual segments of the SETP. For example, you can focus on municipal buildings in one SETP update and then do an updated SETP for parks and recreation the following year.
Note that project grants are meant to fund a project identified in your SETP, unless you have good reason for the project not being in your SETP.
Example 1: Anytown, MA updated their SETP in 2023. In 2024, Anytown built a new main library. The building is therefore not included in their SETP. The building was built recently and is up to code, but Anytown knows that having an auto-door would make the building more accessible. So, Anytown submits a project grant application for the library’s auto-doors. This project would be considered eligible for the grant even though it is not in the SETP.
Example 2: Tree City, MA hires a new City Manager who plans to completely overhaul their historic City Hall. Tree City’s SETP outlines many necessary changes to municipal buildings, streetscapes, and parks. However, the City Hall project is not in their SETP. The City Hall project would probably not be given ADA grant funds, since there was no evaluation supporting the changes to City Hall being requested in the application.
Are construction/engineering design documents required for project grants?
No, construction and engineering design documents are not required. However, including and outlining them in your application will greatly strengthen your score. They are especially helpful for larger or more complex projects.
The Grant Selection Committee needs to be able to see that the project can be completed on time and with the amount of funding you requested. If you are submitting construction and engineering design documents, they must be submitted via email to Evan George by June 13, 2025 (for the FY26 cycle). Remember that the grant cannot be used to cover the cost of design plans or feasibility studies.
How do I upload supplemental documents to my application?
All supplemental documents must be emailed to Grant Compliance Coordinator Evan George at Evan.George@mass.gov by June 13, 2025 (for the FY26 cycle).
Who is allowed to complete the grant application?
Any municipal employee or volunteer from a municipally sanctioned group (for example: a Commission on Disability (COD)) is eligible to fill out the grant application for the municipality.
However, for a new Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan (SETP) to be created or for a project to be completed, there are municipal employees who must be aware of the project and involved in its implementation.
Remember that grant funds that are allocated to a project that falls through are unlikely to be able to be used by another municipality. So, ensure the municipality is prepared to support the project.
If we can get additional outside funding, what percent of the total project should grant funding pay for?
There is no maximum or minimum percentage of a project’s cost that the grant funding must account for.
Match funding is not required to receive the grant. If you do have additional funding sources, be sure to describe them in your application. It can help strengthen a grant application if additional funding has already been approved or secured.
Can a grant be used to make our municipal website and digital content more accessible?
Yes, web-based projects are eligible and encouraged. A planning grant can be used to conduct a website audit or to assess the accessibility of digital content. A project grant can be used to implement necessary accessibility changes, such as those suggested in an audit. However, grant funds cannot be used for any software subscription services or overlays.
Can a grant be used for accessibility improvements for voting?
Yes, voting accessibility projects are eligible and encouraged. Physically accessible voting booths, for example, are eligible for a project grant. Note, however, that subscription-based accessible voting services are not eligible.
If a municipality applies for more than one grant, will the applications compete against each other?
Due to limited funds, all applications are in competition for grant funding. While it can be disappointing when a particular department’s application was not selected, we recommend viewing the success of any of your municipality’s applications as an accessibility win for your whole community.
You can review successful applications from other municipalities and departments in your municipality for strategies you can use to improve your application in the next grant cycle. However, remember that not all applications are denied for poor quality.
What happens if we have funds left over after completing our grant-funded activity? Can we use them for other projects that help improve access in our municipality?
No. Funds can only be used on the project specified in the contract and all invoices need to be approved before reimbursement. Any unused funds are returned to the state’s capital budget.
Grant information sessions
There are no more grant information sessions scheduled for the FY26 cycle. Watch a recorded grant information session on MOD's YouTube channel or download the info session slides (PowerPoint file).
Past grant recipients
List of awarded municipalities and dollar amount received:
Annual reports
Summaries of awarded grants:
Apply for a grant
Before completing your application, we recommend you:
- Learn more about the grant. Review the information on this page about eligibility, grant types, the grant timeline, how applications are scored, and past awarded grants.
- Attend an information session. See MOD’s events page for upcoming grant information sessions or watch the information session recording on our YouTube page. These will be held in the spring leading up to the grant application submission period.
- Review the Apply for a Municipal ADA Improvement Grant page for important information about how to submit your application. Failing to follow the instructions on the application page could result in unsuccessful application submission attempts.
Contact
| Last updated: | May 29, 2025 |
|---|