Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities

For the purpose of this CFP, funding will be provided to successful applicants whose national project aims to support persons with disabilities (see definition below) in preparing for, obtaining and maintaining employment or becoming self-employed, thereby increasing their economic participation and independence.

For the purpose of this CFP, persons with disabilities are defined as:

Individuals who self-identify as having a permanent physical or mental disability that restricts his or her ability to perform daily activities.

For the purpose of this CFP, national projects are defined as:

Projects with activities delivered in three (3) or more Provinces or Territories.

Each of the following requirements must be met in order for projects to be considered eligible for funding:

• the project must be national in scope;
• the project must aim to support persons with disabilities in preparing for, obtaining and maintaining employment or becoming self-employed, thereby increasing their economic participation and independence;
• the duration of projects must be to a maximum of (3) years;
• the total amount of funding requested from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) must not exceed $10,000,000;
• a project involving participants must have a minimum 60% expected success rate of participants being employed or having returned to or stayed in school at the end of the project (furthermore, target results should reflect an expectation that the majority of successful participants will find employment after the activity);
• contributions equal to or greater than 20% of the total eligible cost of the project must be provided through sources other than the federal government (which can include the applicant’s own organization). Both cash and in-kind contributions by the applicant organization or funding partner(s) will be accepted as leveraged funding.

Organizations can only submit one application under this CFP. Therefore, if an organization submits more than one, only the first application received will be considered. 

Therefore, interested applicant must notifty the Office of Research Services by January 5 of their intent to apply to this opportunity.