funding and grants for closed captions in education

Grants and Funding for Providing Captions in Education

The question comes up all the time and it may be one you are asking yourself, “How can my school or department get grants and funding for providing captions in education?”

2017grants
Download the 2017 Grants and Funding ebook

Educators are required by federal laws to caption all educational video to provide equal access for students with disabilities.  With recent lawsuits in the news against Harvard and MIT for failing to provide captions on educational video, the pressure has multiplied on budget constrained educators.  It’s no longer an option to provide captions, it is a pressing requirement.

The good news is that there are multiple benefits to utilizing captions in the learning environment and one of them is improved learning outcomes.  A randomized controlled trial examined the impacts of captions on the reading comprehension skills of secondary school students in Kaneohe, Hawaii.  Students using captioned media scored significantly higher than students in the comparison condition.  In another study, Neilsen and PlanetRead research indicates that the use of Subtitles on TV doubled the number of functional early-age readers.

Where to start?

So now we are clear that we both need and want to provide captions in education, what to do about budget concerns?

One important method for funding is in your own backyard.  Seek local community support for your caption programs; foundations, corporations and individual donors can all participate in lessening the financial burden of your captioning program.  There are also government and other associations that are willing to help.  Below is a list of resources that will get you started in the right direction.   We will make sure to keep you updated on new opportunities to supplement your captioning budgets.

Funding Resources:

  1. For a full list of Grants and Funding resources, download the free ebook here
  2. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
  3. The Federal Register for Educational Technology Materials
  4. National Association of the Deaf
  5. National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
  6. Distance Education Captioning and Transcription Grant

Accessibility Laws and Links:

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Nicole E. Flynn, CMO and Privacy Officer at cielo24, with a strong focus on human-in-the-loop (HITL) AI systems, digital accessibility, and data privacy. She leads cross-functional teams and chairs the company’s Accessibility and Privacy Committees, ensuring that innovation is both ethical and compliant. Nicole is dedicated to making advanced technologies practical and responsible, improving communication, safeguarding user trust, and driving sustainable growth.

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