Disability Access Improvement Grant Program

Grant Overview

San Jose’s Disability Access Improvement Grant Program puts $240,000 into ADA compliance funding every fiscal year – $40,000 for inspections and $200,000 for construction – and most of it goes unclaimed. The program manager told the California Commission on Disability Access in March 2025 that despite strong interest, only a handful of businesses have actually used the money. Out of 80,000 registered small businesses in the city. The grant itself splits into two phases worth up to $33,000 combined, and it funds something most business owners don’t realize: the CASp inspection it pays for also creates a legal shield that cuts your ADA lawsuit liability from $4,000 to $1,000 per violation under California law.

No fixed deadline. Applications accepted until the annual budget runs out on June 30. You do pay out of pocket first for the inspection – the city credits it back later – so understanding that cash flow reality matters before you commit.

Key Grant Information

Ongoing

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Disability Access Improvement Grant Program

Funded by City of San Jose

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Grant Snapshot

Grant Award

$33,000

Application Deadline

Ongoing

Eligible Region

San Jose, California, United States

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Eligibility and Benefits

Eligibility Criteria

• 50 or fewer employees over the past three years
• Located in San Jose with valid City business tax certificate
• Commercial business or nonresidential property or nonprofit
• Nonprofits must be current with CA Registry of Charitable Trusts
• Must be open for business
• Tenants need at least 1 year remaining on lease
• No prior receipt of this grant

Grant Benefits

• $33000
• Phase 1: Up to $8000 credit for CASp inspection and city permit fees
• Phase 2: Up to $25000 reimbursement for design and construction and fixtures
• Qualified defendant status reduces ADA violation liability by 75%
• CASp report typically costs $200-$1000 and is credited back

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Focus Areas

Disability Access Improvement Grant San Jose San Jose ADA Grant Small Business CASp Grant San Jose ADA Compliance Grant California

Who Can Apply for San Jose’s ADA Grant

Before anything else about how the money works, here is who qualifies. Your business must have 50 or fewer employees counted over the past three years – owners included in that number. The property needs to be inside San Jose city limits. You need a valid City business tax certificate, which most operating businesses already have. And the property must be commercial, nonresidential, or a nonprofit current with California’s Registry of Charitable Trusts.

Tenants face one extra rule that catches people: your lease must have at least one year remaining when you apply. If you are month-to-month or your renewal is six months out, you don’t qualify as a tenant. Owners don’t have this restriction. And one more thing the application form states clearly – you can only receive this grant once. Prior recipients are excluded.

The employee cap was 35 when this program launched in February 2020. It got raised to 50 at some point between then and the Phase 2 expansion in September 2023. A law firm blog post that still ranks on Google shows the old number. It is wrong now.

Run through the tool below to check where you stand against these requirements.

If the tool confirms you qualify, the natural next step is mapping out what Phase 1 and Phase 2 would look like for your specific building – before you spend anything on an inspector. Our team reviews your property situation and application path through the intake modal.

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Edge cases around fluctuating employee counts, pending lease renewals, or lapsed nonprofit registrations are exactly the kind of thing a live 1-on-1 call with a grant expert resolves in fifteen minutes. And if San Jose is not your location, the San Francisco Business Accessibility Grant covers up to $10,000 with a different structure.

What the Grant Covers and How Money Flows

This is a two-phase program and the two phases have completely different payment mechanics. Mixing them up is where confusion starts.

Phase 1 is a credit. Not cash. You hire a private Certified Access Specialist from California’s official roster, pay them out of your own pocket – inspections typically run $200 to $1,000 depending on property size – and then the city credits that cost back against your permit and inspection fees. If the CASp report flags barriers that need building permits, the credit also covers plan review and inspection fees up to the $8,000 cap.

But what if the CASp report finds only simple fixes – counter height adjustments, grab bar installations, signage updates – that don’t require city permits? In that case there are no city fees to credit against, so the CASp inspection cost shifts to Phase 2 reimbursement instead. The program accounts for this crossover, though every competing page I found ignores it entirely.

Phase 2 is the construction bucket. You submit paid design invoices and get 100% back. For construction cost estimates, the city advances 80% when approved. The remaining 20% arrives after the project passes final inspection. On a $20,000 job, that means $16,000 upfront and $4,000 after completion.

The Legal Shield Nobody Mentions

I checked every competing page that ranks for this grant’s keywords. Zero of them connect the CASp inspection to the legal protection it provides. Which is odd, because for some businesses the lawsuit defense may be worth more than the grant money itself.

When a CASp inspection is completed before any lawsuit is filed against your business, California grants you “qualified defendant” status. That status does three things: you get an early evaluation conference if sued, the court stays proceedings for 90 days so you have time to fix issues, and your statutory damages drop from $4,000 to $1,000 per violation under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. A 75% reduction per offense.

California accounts for roughly 40% of all federal ADA Title III lawsuits filed nationally. Over 3,200 cases in 2022 alone. Many come from serial plaintiffs who photograph alleged violations from their cars and file claims without ever entering the building. A current CASp report on file is one of the strongest deterrents against these opportunistic claims. And this grant pays for the inspection that creates that shield.

Q: What exactly is “qualified defendant” status and why should I care?
A: Under California law, completing a CASp inspection before any lawsuit is filed earns your business three protections: an early evaluation conference, a 90-day stay of court proceedings, and reduced statutory damages from $4,000 to $1,000 per violation. The CASp report must be done by a state-certified specialist and must include a schedule for correcting identified violations. The grant covers this inspection cost entirely.

Q: Does getting a CASp report make me more liable since I would know my property is out of compliance?
A: The opposite. Your property must be barrier-free regardless of whether you know about violations. Having the report gives you the qualified defendant protections. Not having it gives you nothing.

Q: Does this grant cover legal fees if I get sued?
A: No. Physical improvements only – inspections, permits, design, construction, and accessible fixtures. Not attorney fees.

Applying: Two Channels and a Two-Year Timeline

The application form itself is a two-page fillable PDF. That part is simple. The complexity is everything that wraps around it – the people you need to coordinate, the documents you need to assemble, and the two completely different submission channels for Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Before anything: contact the Small Business Ally

Juan Borrelli runs the Small Business Ally program and manages this grant. Reach him at juan.borrelli@sanjoseca.gov or 408-975-2655 (English and Spanish). Raania Mohsen serves as the city’s Disability Affairs Officer and co-presents the program at state commission meetings. Contact Juan first – he verifies your eligibility before you spend money on an inspector. This step is mandatory, not optional.

Phase 1 submission

After eligibility confirmation, you hire a private CASp inspector from the state’s certified roster – not a general contractor, not an accessibility consultant, specifically a state-certified CASp. They inspect your property and produce a report. A good CASp report includes building permit history evaluation, occupancy type description, barrier identification following the ADA priority table (entrance, path of travel, restrooms, counters), photos, solutions, and a completion schedule.

You then schedule a Zoom appointment through Juan Borrelli to submit your application package: completed W-9, grant application form, signed grant contract, proof of CASp payment, and building plans if the report requires permits. All PDFs.

Phase 2 submission

Different channel. You email paid design invoices, itemized construction cost estimates, fixture and equipment estimates, and the prevailing wage attestation to ADAgrant@sanjoseca.gov. The city reviews and – if approved – reimburses 100% of paid invoices and advances 80% of construction estimates.

One year to complete Phase 1. One additional year for Phase 2 after permit issuance. Extensions are possible by written request but not guaranteed. The full process can run two years across both phases.

Ten documents total across both phases, two submission channels, and coordination between a CASp inspector, potentially an architect or engineer, a prevailing-wage-compliant contractor, the Small Business Ally, and the Office of Equality Assurance. That coordination load is the real complexity – not the two-page form.

Our team handles full application submission and project coordination for grants at this complexity level. From CASp selection strategy through final inspection documentation, we manage the sequence so nothing gets submitted out of order or to the wrong channel.

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Prevailing Wage Compliance in Phase 2

All construction labor funded through Phase 2 must comply with prevailing wage requirements. If you run a restaurant or salon and have never dealt with government-funded construction, this will be unfamiliar territory. Prevailing wage means California requires your contractor to pay workers state-mandated hourly rates published by the Department of Industrial Relations. Rates vary by trade and location. They run higher than typical market rates.

Your contractor signs an attestation confirming compliance and submits it to the city’s Office of Equality Assurance. The city provides prevailing wage information and training if needed. But you cannot just call the contractor who did your kitchen remodel last year. They may not pay prevailing wage. They may not even know what it means. And missing this attestation is one of the most common reasons Phase 2 reimbursement claims fail.

The grant also covers accessible fixture and equipment installation – grab bars, power doors, accessible counters – but only when the labor installing them complies with prevailing wage. The compliance requirement extends to every dollar of labor the grant touches.

What the Grant Will Not Pay For

The movable furniture exclusion trips people up. A bar counter with a lowered ADA section qualifies because it is built into the building. A wheelchair-accessible restaurant table does not because you can pick it up and move it. Door handles qualify. Bathroom grab bars qualify. Power door buttons qualify. Cafe chairs do not. The dividing line is whether the item is permanently affixed.

ADA Funding Alternatives Worth Stacking

The $33,000 combined grant is the largest pure ADA compliance grant I have found in California. But it is not the only program, and for larger remediation projects you may want to combine funding sources.

The San Francisco Business Accessibility Grant is the closest parallel program – same general concept, different city, rolling applications. CalCAP/ADA is a loan program through the state treasurer, not a grant. It helps businesses get better loan terms for accessibility retrofits. The federal tax credits and deductions apply to any U.S. business regardless of location. Your accountant handles those.

If you are trying to figure out which combination makes sense for your project scope, that is what a live consultation with our grant team covers – mapping your project against every available funding source.

Other Grants Worth Exploring

Not in San Jose? Or qualified here but looking to maximize total funding? The Genesis For Good grant covers up to $10,000 for Southern California small businesses. The Breva Thrive Grant awards $5,000 quarterly to community-impact businesses nationwide – accessibility improvements count as community impact. Browse California grants for the full picture.

Q: Is there a scoring rubric or competitive review?
A: No. Applications are reviewed on completeness and fund availability, first come first served. You do not need a standout narrative. You need a complete and correctly formatted submission. Timing beats polish here.

Q: Can a tenant apply or does the building owner have to?
A: Tenants can apply directly as long as the lease has at least one year remaining. The application form asks for the owner’s name if you are a tenant, and the landlord may need to sign off depending on the scope of work. But the business operator is the primary applicant.

Q: Can a grant writer or consultant submit the application on my behalf?
A: The research on this is unclear. The application form requires the applicant’s own signature and attestation. We prepare the full documentation package and guide you through submission, but the city may require your direct involvement at the signing and appointment stages.

Q: Are historic buildings exempt from ADA compliance?
A: No. The ADA has no grandfathering provisions. All places of public accommodation must comply if compliance is achievable without significant burden. Special allowances exist for preserving historic features, but total exemption is not one of them. The grant applies to historic properties the same as any other.

Q: Where does the grant money come from?
A: The Disability Access Education Revolving Fund, funded by a $4 fee on every new and renewed business tax registration in San Jose. Assembly Bill 2164, which the city co-sponsored with Assemblymember Alex Lee in 2022, made this fee permanent and expanded the allowable uses to include construction remediation grants. That legislation is why Phase 2 exists.

Q: Can I use this grant for my parklet?
A: No. Permanent places of public accommodation only. The city added this to their own FAQ because it came up repeatedly.

Terms You Will See in This Process

• CASp (Certified Access Specialist): A professional certified by California’s Division of the State Architect to evaluate buildings for state and federal accessibility compliance. Only a CASp can provide the inspection that earns qualified defendant status. The state maintains a searchable certified roster.
• Qualified Defendant Status: Legal protection under California law for businesses that complete a CASp inspection before any accessibility lawsuit. Provides a 90-day court stay, early evaluation conference, and reduces statutory damages from $4,000 to $1,000 per violation.
• Statutory Damages: The minimum dollar amount a California court can award per ADA violation. Currently $4,000 per offense under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Drops to $1,000 with qualified defendant status.
• Prevailing Wage: State-mandated hourly pay rates for construction workers on publicly funded projects. Set by the California Department of Industrial Relations. Varies by trade and county. All Phase 2 construction labor must comply. Contractor signs an attestation to the Office of Equality Assurance.
• Phase 1 Credit: A credit against city permit fees, not a cash payment. You pay the CASp inspector yourself first. The cost is credited back when city fees are assessed. If no permits are needed, the CASp cost shifts to Phase 2 reimbursement instead.
• Phase 2 Reimbursement: Actual money back for costs you have already paid (design invoices at 100%) plus an advance of 80% on construction cost estimates. The remaining 20% comes after final inspection or permit finalization.
• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): Federal civil rights law from 1990 requiring public accommodations to be accessible to people with disabilities. California adds stricter requirements through Title 24 of the California Building Code. Both apply to San Jose businesses.
• Unruh Civil Rights Act: California state law prohibiting discrimination based on disability (among other categories). ADA violations in California also trigger Unruh Act liability, which is where the $4,000 minimum statutory damages come from.
• Office of Equality Assurance: San Jose city office responsible for labor compliance on publicly funded projects. Receives the prevailing wage attestation from your contractor and provides training on wage requirements if needed.
• Small Business Ally: City staff member guiding business owners through permits, inspections, and grants. For this program, Juan Borrelli manages the process from the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs. Contact: juan.borrelli@sanjoseca.gov or 408-975-2655.
• AB 2164: California legislation from 2022 co-sponsored by the City of San Jose. Made the $4 business registration fee permanent and expanded how the resulting fund can be used – specifically enabling construction remediation grants like Phase 2.
• Readily Achievable: The legal standard for ADA barrier removal. Businesses must remove barriers if doing so is easily accomplishable without significant difficulty or expense. This is evaluated case by case based on the business’s resources and the nature of the barrier.
• Registry of Charitable Trusts: California database maintained by the Attorney General tracking registered charitable organizations. Nonprofits must be current in this registry to qualify for the grant. Lapsed registration disqualifies until renewed.
• Fiscal Year: The City of San Jose’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30. Grant funding refreshes at the start of each fiscal year and is available until exhausted. The “no deadline” status means applications are accepted year-round within each fiscal year cycle.

Getting Expert Help With This Application

The eligibility is clear. The dollar amounts are documented. The process steps are on this page. But if you read through the prevailing wage section, the two-channel submission process, and the ten-document checklist, you already know this is not a fill-out-a-form-and-wait situation. It is a multi-vendor coordination project that runs up to two years across both phases.

We handle the specific friction points this grant creates. CASp inspector verification against the state roster before you commit. Phase 1 and Phase 2 document assembly with correct formatting for each submission channel. Prevailing wage contractor guidance and attestation review before your contractor signs something that doesn’t hold up. Timeline management across both phases with milestone tracking so nothing expires.

This grant falls into our highly complex application tier – 10 required documents, multi-phase structure, email-based submission, and an estimated 8+ hours of coordination work per phase. The exact pricing for your project appears in the application submission intake before any payment. We offer upfront, milestone-based, and per-submission billing depending on how you want to structure the engagement.

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About the Author

I built Grantaura because small business owners deserve clear answers about government funding, not buried PDFs and bureaucratic runarounds. My team and I have worked on over 300 grant projects. I research and write these listings from primary sources – official program pages, city council memos, state commission presentations – because secondhand summaries get details wrong. If you want help with this grant or need to find what else you qualify for, book a consultation.