As part of the Province’s goal to improve accessibility for people with disabilities in BC, Disability Alliance BC was selected by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (MSDPR) to distribute funding to community-based “Accessibility Projects” beginning in 2018. Since then, over 95 projects have been funded throughout BC.

The Province has now announced that the grants will be available again in 2025/26. A total of $450,000 will be made available to BC-based not-for-profit organizations. Successful applicants will receive up to a $40,000 grant to implement a year-long project in 2026. Applications will open on August 5th.

May 25-31 is National AccessAbility Week in BC and Canada and the #NAAW2025 theme is “Breaking barriers together: Paving the way for an inclusive future.” DABC is pleased to be able to once again distribute funds that will improve access and inclusion for people with disabilities in BC.

These grants are for projects focusing on one of the following objectives to increase accessibility for people with disabilities:

• Accessible employment;
• Accessible emergency planning and response;
• Accessible arts, culture and tourism;
• Accessible sports and recreation;
• Accessible education and learning;
• Accessible community participation.

Eligibility criteria includes:

• Projects must be focused on community engagement rather than large capital costs such as accessibility improvements to buildings.
• Eligible organizations must be not-for-profit organizations with a volunteer Board chosen by its membership, based in BC or with a base of operations in and sufficient capacity to deliver services in BC. They must operate primarily for community benefit and have services open to the public rather than restricted to their membership.
• If an organization has received a grant in the past, they can reapply 5 years after their application was submitted (for example, if an organization applied in 2020 for a grant and did their project in 2021, they can reapply in 2025 to do a project in 2026).

Applications will be due on September 12th at noon Pacific Time. Granting decisions are made by a Committee of representatives from DABC and other disability and community organizations from around BC. Successful applicants will receive funding in December, and implement their accessibility project in January 2026.

To learn more about the grants please see: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/program/accessibility-projects/.

At the bottom of the page you can also click on “click here to sign up for DABC’s newsletter” and enter your email to be notified of when the Call for Proposals and applications are posted, when online information sessions will be held, and other announcements related to the grants and DABC’s work in general.

If you have any questions, please contact the Accessibility Projects Grants Coordinator at ap@dabc.ca.

Download the press release here.

As we reported in February, earlier this year the Surrey School District launched “an exciting new four-part animated video series on accessibility to help students, parents and staff better understand language around accessibility, namely the terms disability, barriers, accessibility and inclusion.

Previously, only one video had been released. All four videos are now available to watch.

Stories/Videos in the Series:

• Understanding “Disability”
• Understanding “Barriers”
• Understanding “Accessibility”
• Understanding “Inclusion”

DABC worked in partnership with B.C. Council of Administrators of Inclusive Support In Education and Untapped Accessibility to support school districts in BC as they implemented the requirements of the Accessible BC Act (learn more about the Accessible Organizations Project: bcaccessibilityhub.ca), and we are very pleased to see this work continuing!

Learn more about the Surrey School District’s initiative here.