PLN 81.5 million for accessible local governments
23.02.2022
We have prepared another form of support for the government's Accessibility Plus Program - grants for more than 600 local governments. The amount of PLN 81.5 million from European funds is additional money that municipalities can apply for to improve accessibility in an office, community center, health center, school or kindergarten, said Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy Grzegorz Puda. The announcement of the "Accessible Local Governments - grants" call was also attended by Deputy Minister Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak and Krzysztof Michałkiewicz, President of the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People.
Accessibility for people with special needs is a shared commitment and responsibility of every public entity and all of us.
That's why I'm glad that the Partnership for Accessibility initiated at the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy already has more than 230 members, which are large companies, corporations, local governments and NGOs
Minister Grzegorz Puda noted.
He recalled that the Accessibility Plus Program initiated a systemic change to gradually integrate accessibility into various areas and public policies, into our daily lives.
We have changed the public procurement and construction laws to be more friendly for disabled people,
he added.
The European Funds are helping us in the fight against architectural, digital and communication barriers, as evidenced by the "Accessible Local Governments - grants" project presented today. It is funded by the Operational Program Knowledge Education Development (OP KED) 2014-2020.
This is part of a larger package of support instruments that can be used by local governments in implementing accessibility solutions,
Deputy Minister Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak stressed.
In November 2021, we launched the consultation and expert support of the Support Center for Accessible Architecture. Public entities can receive substantive, advisory, informational and auditing support in regard to accessibility. Experts will assist in designing new solutions to ensure full accessibility of buildings and public spaces.
Among other things, we plan to launch an accessibility certification mechanism for entrepreneurs in 2022.
We want to expand the impact of the Accessibility Fund so that not only public entities, but also companies can benefit from preferential loans for the elimination of architectural barriers,
explained Deputy Minister Jarosińska-Jedynak.
At the same time, we are striving for accessibility to become an important element of cohesion policy programs for the new 2021-2027 perspective. This will guarantee a stream of funds for further projects developing accessibility in Poland for years to come,
the Deputy Minister concluded.