Northeast Arc Accepting Applications Through February 3, 2022
Boston — Are you an out-of-the-box thinker? Creative? Innovative? Northeast Arc is accepting applications for The Arc Tank 4.0, a competition that seeks to fund innovative ideas that enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and autism. Individuals, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and groups are eligible to apply. Submissions can address a variety of areas, including safety and well-being, employment, technology, housing, transportation, or socialization for individuals with disabilities.
Since its launch in 2017 with a $1 million donation from Steven P. Rosenthal to create the Changing Lives Fund, The Arc Tank has awarded $650,000 to proposals that promise to break down barriers for people with disabilities who are too often marginalized, not included as equal participants in everyday life, and prevented from taking advantage of opportunities.
Finalists will present their ideas in front of a judging panel, open to the public, on Tuesday, April 5, 2021, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, a founding partner in The Ark Tank competition. The Brace Cove Foundation has also joined this year to contribute to the prize money.
In 2019, the last year the event was held due to the pandemic, more than 100 proposals were submitted from across the country and around the world by a variety of inventors, engineers, human service providers, parents, college students, and persons with disabilities. The winners, who received funding totaling more than $250,000, included Interactive Media Institute of San Diego, Calif., BEAT Global of Long Island, N.Y., Celebrate EDU of Boulder, Colo., and New England Yachard of Brookline Mass.
“The goal of the Arc Tank is to positively disrupt conventional methods of providing services to people with disabilities,” said Jo Ann Simons, President & CEO, Northeast Arc. “So much has changed in service delivery the last two years and we are excited to see the impact in this year’s big, bold ideas.”
“The grant recipients from previous Arc Tank competitions are already making a tremendous impact helping individuals become more active and involved in their communities, and we’re looking forward to the next round of proposals,” added Rosenthal.
Applications must be submitted by February 3, 2022. For more information, visit https://ne-arc.org/arc-tank.
Northeast Arc (NeArc) changes lives for people with disabilities — and children at risk of developing them — and their families. The agency, which opened the Center for Linking Lives at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers in 2020, serves more than 15,000 people in 190 Massachusetts cities and towns each year. NeArc is the largest Arc in the state of Massachusetts and the 2nd largest (of 700) in the country. Services include: Adult Family Care, the ArcWorks Community Art Center, Autism Services, Black Box Theater, Breaking Grounds Café, Continuous Care Nursing Services, Day Habilitation, Deaf Services, Early Intervention, Employment Services, Family Support, Fiscal Intermediary, The Learning Center, parcels retail store, Personal Care Assistance, Recreation, Residential, Shared Living and Transition, and Skilled Intermittent Home Health Care. Learn more visit www.ne-arc.org.
