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Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute has received a $4.3 million donation to lead a new rehabilitation research center for disability-inclusive employment policy. 

The donation, which comes from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, will go toward projects examining national and local policies that promote employment and economic advancement for people with disabilities, said professor Peter Blanck, BBI chairman and the project’s principal investigator, in a SU news release Tuesday. 

BBI, which studies the economic, civic and social participation of people with disabilities in society, is headquartered out of SU’s College of Law.

During its five-year runtime, the Rehabilitation Research Training Center will also address employment challenges for people with disabilities that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, Blanck said.

The center will involve researchers from BBI, Harvard University and Rutgers University, as well as representatives from disability organizations, Blanck said. Its goal will be to develop a post-COVID-19 policy framework for employment, entrepreneurship and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities, he said.