Residential Respite Grant

The Illinois Department of Human Services, through its Division of Developmental Disabilities, is offering the Residential Respite funding opportunity, number 27-444-24-3759-01. Residential Respite is a state-funded, fee-for-service program intended to provide short-term supports to children and adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities who are not receiving Home and Community Based Waiver funded services through either of the two children's waivers or the adult waiver. The program is designed to help individuals remain in community-based settings and reduce the need for long-term supports and services while providing relief to caregivers and reducing caregiver stress. Residential respite may address planned situations as well as unplanned emergency or agency-determined crisis situations. Residential Respite, also identified as program 89D and Out of Home respite, provides supervision and care in a licensed residential, community-based setting. Services may include assistance and supervision related to eating, bathing, dressing, personal hygiene, and community integration. Providers must be contracted with the Illinois Department of Human Services and comply with the rules and regulations applicable to their residential setting, including applicable Rules 120, 115, and 116 for CILA settings. Providers must use an official vacancy, meaning a bed not regularly used by a person residing in the home, as the respite bed. Individuals receiving respite must have an intellectual/developmental disability and cannot be enrolled in waiver services through the Division of Developmental Disabilities or receive respite services through another state-funded agency. Individuals served are allowed a maximum residential respite service period of 60 days at 24 hours per day. The Department expects to award approximately $200,000 in total state funding. The anticipated number of awards is to be determined, and individual award amounts are negotiable; consequently, the notice does not establish an award floor or award ceiling. No cost sharing or matching contribution is required. Indirect costs are permitted and indirect cost rates must be approved through the Illinois Indirect Cost Rate Election System. Pre-award costs may be allowable subject to IDHS Budget Committee discretion, review, and prior approval and must be identified appropriately in the budget documentation. Sub-recipient agreements and budgets require Department pre-approval, and the successful applicant remains responsible for subcontractor performance and monitoring. Costs must be necessary, reasonable, allocable, justified in the budget narrative, and allowable under applicable cost principles. Certain entertainment, capital, personal-use, deposit, and similar costs are unallowable without specific prior written IDHS approval. Applicants must demonstrate experience providing services and supports to individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families, demonstrate the ability to meet the program goals, and satisfy the application review requirements. Applicants must complete State of Illinois registration and prequalification requirements by the application deadline, including providing organization information, a FEIN, UEI, and organization type. Unless exempt, applicants must be registered in SAM.gov and maintain an active registration. They must also meet applicable good-standing requirements, not appear on the Illinois Stop Payment List, SAM.gov Exclusion List, or Medicaid Sanctions List, and satisfy all pre-award requirements. The notice permits only one accepted application per agency. The source does not expressly limit applicants to a specific organizational classification such as nonprofit, government, educational institution, or for-profit entity, so applicants must rely on the detailed provider and prequalification requirements stated in the NOFO. The application must contain a Program Narrative addressing the Executive Summary, Need, Capacity, and Quality sections; the Uniform Application for State Grant Assistance; the Grantee Conflict of Interest Disclosure; and the required budget. The budget must be entered electronically in the CSA system as a Fixed Rate Budget and a PDF copy must also be included with the application. The application is required in PDF format using 8.5 by 11 inch pages, single spacing, 12-point Calibri font, one-inch margins, and page numbers. The application and narrative are limited to 25 pages, excluding the Uniform Grant Budget and Grantee Conflict of Interest Disclosure form. Applications must be emailed to DHS.DDDGrantProg@illinois.gov with the prescribed subject line identifying funding opportunity 27-444-24-3759-01, Residential Respite, and the submitting agency. Applications sent to another address or through prohibited submission methods will not be considered. Applications are evaluated on a 100-point scale. Need, Capacity, and Quality of Program/Services are each worth 25 points; the Executive Summary is worth 15 points; and Budget and Cost Justification is worth 10 points. Review considerations include the applicant's analysis of community need, ability to reach new recipients and minority groups, readiness to provide services by July 1, 2026, prior experience serving individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, ability to operate compliant residential respite services, staffing and organizational capacity, quality assurance processes, participant engagement, satisfaction measurement, and budget justification. The numerical score is not necessarily the sole award criterion, as IDHS may also consider geographical distribution, demonstrated need, and past performance as a State of Illinois grantee. The opportunity was posted March 23, 2026, and full applications were due April 23, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. CST. No preliminary submission, letter of intent, or pre-application was required. Applications were scheduled for eligibility review from April 24 through May 29, 2026, with an anticipated award date of June 12, 2026. Subject to appropriation, the grant period begins no sooner than July 1, 2026, and continues through June 30, 2029. Successful applicants may be eligible for two subsequent one-year grant renewals at the Department's discretion, subject to sufficient appropriation, satisfactory performance, timely reporting, and continued good standing; these renewal provisions do not establish a recurring application cycle for the competitive NOFO. Questions and technical difficulties may be directed to Shannon Dyson at DHS.DDDGrantProg@illinois.gov. Questions submitted up to seven business days before the end of the posting period were to be addressed through the Department's frequently asked questions process.

Use data facts and evidence to demonstrate need and define target communities; explain how new recipients and minority groups will be reached; demonstrate operational readiness by July 1 2026; document experience serving individuals with I/DD and families; demonstrate compliant licensed residential capacity and appropriate staffing; describe quality assurance participant engagement and satisfaction measurement processes; provide a complete signed budget with clear fixed-rate cost justification that matches the application funding request.