Why the SCI Model Systems needs your urgent advocacy support

Over the past two decades, federal funding for SCI Model Systems has not kept pace with the SCI community's needs. There were once 18 SCI Model Systems receiving funding from the federal government. Today, there are only 14, and the amount of funding they receive has not changed since 2006. The purchasing power of these federal funds has not kept up with inflation or the growth of the SCI community. We are now so close to getting increased federal funding for spinal cord injury rehabilitation and research at the SCI Model Systems for the first time in 16 years and restoring the program to its previous capacity, but your help is needed and all it takes is for you to submit this online letter to your respective Senator HERE.

In July, the House of Representatives passed a funding bill for fiscal year 2022 that provided more funding for this program, including $2 million in funding specifically to increase the number of federally-funded SCI Model Systems. In October, the Senate Appropriations Committee also provided increased funding for the SCI Model Systems program, including the additional $2 million for additional SCI Model Systems, in their version of the bill. The Senate now needs to vote on this bill and come to an agreement with the House of Representatives so that this funding increase can become law.

This request is even more urgent because the SCI Model Systems program operates on a 5-year funding cycle with a competitive application process, and a new funding cycle began on October 1. As a result, five previously-funded SCI Model Systems are no longer part of the program. If this funding is approved, the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) may award funding to the next highest-scoring applicants that did not make their initial list of 14 for the current funding cycle.