04/01/2025
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NCIL, APRIL, and NASILC Statement on the Reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), and the National Association of Statewide Independent Living Councils (NASILC) are alarmed by the recent reorganization announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
NCIL, APRIL, and NASILC are national grassroots organizations dedicated to advancing disability rights and Independent Living. NCIL is the oldest cross-disability organization run by and for people with disabilities, representing thousands of individuals, Centers for Independent Living (CILs), Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs), and other disability rights groups. APRIL focuses on disability issues impacting people in rural and frontier communities, with a membership of over 350 CILs, SILCs, Designated State Entities (DSEs), and stakeholders. NASILC serves as the national association for SILCs, providing resources and fostering collaboration to promote Independent Living values across the U.S. and territories.
As membership organizations, NCIL, APRIL and NASILC advocate with and on behalf of the Independent Living Network including Centers for Independent Living, Statewide Independent Living Councils and individuals with disabilities. The Independent Living Program was established over 50 years ago in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon. The IL Network consists of 367 Centers for Independent Living that receive federal funding, dozens of CILs that receive only state funding, and 56 SILCs throughout the United States. According to the most recent State Plans for Independent Living, the IL Network covers 2,475 counties and county equivalents across the US and its territories, which represents services to about 80% of the United States.
Disability and aging networks serving people with disabilities realized the need for streamlined and more efficient federal administration of disability and aging services and advocated for a centralized location for disability and aging services to help manage the fragmentation among federal programs that help people with disabilities and people who are aging live independently. In 2012 the Department of Health and Human Services created the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in response to these bipartisan grassroots efforts. In 2015 Congress overwhelmingly passed the latest reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act and moved administration of the Independent Living Program to ACL to further improve the program’s efficiency.
On Thursday, March 27, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will be restructuring and, among other changes, would relocate the programs under ACL to other departments within HHS.
NCIL, APRIL and NASILC are extremely concerned about the decision to relocate the programs currently housed under ACL, including the Independent Living Program, to other departments within HHS.
This decision will disrupt services for people with disabilities and aging adults. Maintaining these programs in one centralized agency allows for efficiency and transparency, maximizing every federal dollar and mitigating administrative and programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse. This ultimately ensures the greatest impact on people and communities served while reducing reliance on costly Medicaid-funded institutional care.
Dismantling ACL and separating these programs across other departments will perpetuate and advance secondary disabilities, diseases, and health issues, resulting in exponentially higher medical costs, preventable and unnecessary hospitalizations, expensive nursing home institutionalization, homelessness, and death.
We urge Secretary Kennedy to directly work and engage with the Independent Living Network and other disability and aging programs currently administered by ACL to ensure they remain protected and fully equipped to serve their communities. Additionally, we call on Congress to exercise its oversight authority to immediately conduct thorough hearings and take all necessary steps to prevent harm to Americans with disabilities and older adults.
Questions about this statement can be addressed to:
NCIL – Jessica Podesva, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy: Jessica@ncil.org
NASILC – Brooke Wilson, Chair: silccongressinfo@gmail.com
APRIL – Joan LaBelle, Executive Director: jlabelle@april-rural.org
Image: Logos of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), and the National Association of Statewide Independent Living Councils (NASILC).
