Foa_Content_of_HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CY-0070 (1).pdf

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth, and Families-Family and Youth Services Bureau

FY 2023 Runaway and Homeless Youth-Prevention Demonstration Program (RHY-PDP)

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CY-0070

Application Due Date: 07/31/2023

Table of Contents Executive Summary

I. Program Description

II. Federal Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

III.3. Other

IV. Application and Submission Information

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Required Forms, Assurances, and Certifications

The Project Description

The Project Budget and Budget Justification

Application Submission Options

IV.3. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM)

IV.4. Submission Dates and Times

Explanation of Due Dates

Acknowledgement of Received Application

IV.5. Intergovernmental Review

IV.6. Funding Restrictions

IV.7. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information

V.1. Criteria

V.2. Review and Selection Process

V.3. Anticipated Announcement and Federal Award Dates

VI. Federal Award Administration Information

VI.1. Federal Award Notices

VI.2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

VI.3. Reporting

VII. HHS Award Agency Contact(s)

VIII. Other Information

Reference Websites

Application Checklist

Appendix

Funding Opportunity Title:

FY 2023 Runaway and Homeless Youth-Prevention Demonstration Program (RHY-PDP) Announcement Type:

Initial Funding Opportunity Number:

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CY-0070

Primary CFDA Number:

93.623 Due Date for Applications:

07/31/2023 Executive Summary

Notice:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the entire notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) carefully and observe the application formatting requirements listed in Section IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission. For more information on applying for grants, please visit "How to Apply for a Grant" on the ACF Grants & Funding Page at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF); Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF); Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) supports organizations and communities that work every day to end youth homelessness and adolescent pregnancy. FYSB’s Division of Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) is accepting applications for the RHY Prevention Demonstration Program (RHY-PDP). RHY-PDP supports the design and delivery of community-based demonstration initiatives to prevent youth from experiencing homelessness.

Through the development and coordination of partnerships with youth and young adult service providers, community organizations, and private and public agencies, the RHY-PDP will 1) identify young people at risk of experiencing homelessness; 2) design and develop a comprehensive community-based prevention plan to prevent youth homelessness; and 3) implement robust, holistic prevention services tailored for youth and young adults to respond to the diverse needs of youth who are at risk of homelessness and their families.

The goal of the RHY-PDP is to expand existing partnerships among service providers in key areas, such as education, health, mental health, child welfare, family support, substance abuse prevention/intervention, domestic violence/crisis intervention, law enforcement, courts, legal services, and other non-traditional partners, to create a comprehensive safety net that will improve the accessibility, delivery, and quality of prevention services for youth and young adults who are at highest risk of experiencing homelessness. FYSB will award up to five prevention demonstration program cooperative agreements for up to $350,000 per year for a 36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods.

I. Program Description

Statutory Authority https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant

This program is authorized under the RHY Act at 34 U.S.C. 11243.

Description ACYF's RHY PROGRAM

ACYF, through FYSB, supports the safety, permanency, well-being, and self-sufficiency of runaway and homeless youth, which are youth and young adults who cannot live safely with a parent, legal guardian, or relative and have no other safe alternative living arrangement.

FYSB's RHY Program promotes a Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework, which integrates strengths-based approaches to emphasize a youth's self-determination, resilience, life skills, and strengths. The PYD framework supports youth in identifying strengths and skills that can be used to advance personal growth, decision-making, development, and success. This PYD framework is essential to ensure a young person has a sense of safety, structure, belonging, membership, self-worth, social contribution, independence, and control over one's life and skills to develop plans, set goals, make decisions, and foster healthy interpersonal relationships. The RHY Program also promotes increasing youth leadership capacity through intentional projects and activities designed to enhance this skill set. For more information on PYD, visit https://youth.gov/youth-topics/positive-youth-development.

Trauma-Informed Approach

The RHY Programs also utilize a trauma-informed approach, which involves understanding and responding to the symptoms of chronic, interpersonal trauma and traumatic stress, as well as the behavioral and mental health consequences of trauma and prevention of re-traumatization. For more information about the effects of trauma and utilizing a trauma-informed approach, visit https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma14-4884.pdf

Additionally, FYSB's RHY Program supports projects to increase prevention and intervention efforts focusing on sexual exploitation and all forms of human trafficking within RHY Programs.

These ongoing efforts seek to minimize sexual exploitation and trafficking incidents among RHY, equip programs with the necessary tools to prevent these incidents, and identify youth who are either experiencing or at risk of experiencing human trafficking For more information and resources about the RHY Program and human trafficking, visit https://www.rhyttac.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=750:rhy-trafficking-exploitation-and-csec-resources&catid=20:site-content.

FYSB funds over 640 active RHY grant awards to public and non-profit organizations to support street-based services, emergency and longer-term shelter, and counseling and supportive services to youth and young adults who have run away or who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness. The primary RHY Programs are as follows:

The Street Outreach Program (SOP) provides street-based services to youth and young adults under the age of 22 who are living on the street; have runaway; are experiencing homelessness; and/ or who have been subjected to, or are at risk of being subjected to, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and severe forms of trafficking. Youth receive provisions for their basic needs, including food, hygiene packages, and information on RHY shelters.

The Basic Center Program (BCP) provides temporary, emergency shelter and counseling services to eligible youth under the age of 18 who have runaway or left home https://youth.gov/youth-topics/positive-youth-development https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma14-4884.pdf https://www.rhyttac.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=750:rhy-trafficking-exploitation-and-csec-resources&catid=20:site-content https://www.rhyttac.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=750:rhy-trafficking-exploitation-and-csec-resources&catid=20:site-content https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=Street%20Outreach%20Program https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=basic%20center%20program without permission of their parents or guardians, have been forced to leave their home, are youth living on the street, or are youth experiencing homelessness for a period of up to 21 days. BCPs support youth with individual, group, and family counseling as appropriate; gateway services, harm reduction; and case management.

The Transitional Living Program (TLP) provides safe, stable, and appropriate housing for youth ages 16 to under 22 years of age who have runaway or are experiencing homelessness for a period 18 months (540 days) or, under extenuating circumstances, up to 21 months. Services provided within TLP include case management, individual/group counseling, education in basic life skills, financial literacy, interpersonal skill building, assistance with educational advancement and job attainment skills, and access to physical and mental health care.

Maternity Group Homes (MGH) are TLPs specifically designed to meet the needs of pregnant and/or parenting youth. These homes provide TLP services described above as well as parenting skills, child care, child development education, and health and nutrition services.

These programs and services are designed to help youth and young adults who are experiencing homelessness develop the skills necessary to make a successful transition to self-sufficient living.

The RHY Act also authorizes additional activities to be conducted through contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements, including the following:

Research, program evaluation, and demonstration initiatives;

A National reporting system (NCS) to capture data on youth experiencing homelessness serving RHY grant recipients (RHY-Homeless management Information System (RHY-

HMIS));

A national communications system to assist youth who have runaway or are experiencing homelessness in communicating with their families and service providers; and

Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) for FYSB grantee programs through the TTA Centers (RHYTTAC)

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The RHY Division funds street outreach initiatives, crisis and emergency shelter, and TLP for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. In order to end youth homelessness permanently and equitably, it is essential communities implement concurrent strategies to addressing the problem by: 1) Meeting the urgent needs of youth and young adults who are already experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and specific to the purpose of this NOFO 2) Preventing youth and youth adults from experiencing homelessness in the first place by recognizing and pre-emptively addressing the conditions that contribute to it. This includes, by boosting protective factors , and by putting effective resources and supports directly in the hands of young people and families who need them most. Therefore, the purpose of this NOFO is to provide resources for up to five grant recipients to plan and implement prevention services that are tailored for youth and young adults who are at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability and their families.

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=Transitional%20living%20program https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=Maternity%20Group%20Homes

Pursuant to the RHY Act (34 U.S.C. 11243), “the Secretary may make grants to States, localities, and private entities (and combinations of such entities) to carry out research, evaluation, demonstration, and service projects.” Additionally, priority shall be given to projects relating to, “…innovative programs, that assist youth in obtaining and maintaining safe and stable housing…”(34 U.S.C. 11243(b)(10)).

This program will support the design and delivery of a demonstration initiative to prevent youth and young adults under the age of 22 from experiencing homelessness. Funded programs will be required to develop partnerships with organizations and agencies to 1) identify young people at risk of experiencing homelessness; 2) design and develop a comprehensive community-based prevention plan to prevent youth homelessness; and 3) implement robust, holistic prevention services tailored for youth and young adults to respond to the diverse needs of youth who are at risk of homelessness and their families.

RHY-PDP recipients will plan and implement prevention services that are tailored for youth and young adults who are at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability and their families. Preventing youth and young adults from experiencing homelessness or housing instability will require strong partnerships with youth-and-family serving systems and organizations and will require RHY-PDP grant recipients to expand existing partnerships among service providers in key areas, such as education, health, mental health, child welfare, family support, substance abuse prevention/intervention, domestic violence/crisis intervention, law enforcement, courts, juvenile justice, legal services, and non-traditional partners, to create a comprehensive safety net that will improve the accessibility, delivery, and quality of services for youth and young adults to prevent them from experiencing homelessness. Funding may not be used for education or outreach only activities.

Overview of Prevention:

The goal of this funding opportunity is to implement and evaluate interventions and services that prevent youth and young adults from experiencing homelessness in the first place by recognizing and pre-emptively addressing the conditions that contribute to it, by boosting protective factors, and by putting effective resources and supports directly in the hands of young people and families who need them most. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation defines prevention using four tiers: 1) Primordial Prevention addresses social, economic, and structural policies that affect health and well-being, and are embedded into mindsets and daily practices to prevent risk factors from occurring for all populations; 2) Primary Prevention reduce or lessen risk factors and promote and strengthen protective factors for populations or environments at risk for poor outcomes before problems emerge; 3) Secondary Prevention provide opportunities to alleviate existing problems or modify prevailing conditions to prevent escalation for individuals with identified needs or challenges; and 4) Tertiary Prevention problem triage and crisis management for individuals significantly impacted or affected.[1]

Investing in all levels of prevention is critical to ensuring that children, youth, young adults, and families have the opportunities and resources needed to thrive. For purposes of this funding opportunity, the RHY-PDP recipients must focus on implementing interventions and services focused on secondary prevention for youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness and their families.

The RHY-PDP primary objectives:

Develop a Prevention Plan by engaging in a community planning and strategic engagement process. The Prevention Plan will identify strategies to prevent youth homelessness by strengthening existing partnerships, forming new partnerships, developing a shared understanding and definition of prevention, addressing system barriers, conducting needs assessments, identifying prevention services tailored for youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness, testing promising interventions, and evaluating their outcomes.

Promote equity in the delivery of services and measurement of outcomes targeted to the prevention of youth homelessness. RHY-PDP recipients will demonstrate and measure equitable service delivery, positive outcomes, and a reduction in disparate outcomes for youth of color;

youth who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2S+); tribal youth; and other underserved youth experience homelessness or housing instability.

Implement prevention interventions and services that are tailored for youth and young adults to prevent youth homelessness.

Evaluate the implementation of prevention services and interventions. Develop realistic and measurable targets to evaluate RHY-PDP’s prevention services and their impact on youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Upon award, FYSB will provide specific performance measures and training on the collection and analysis of data to demonstrate outcomes in carrying out objectives of the RHY-PDP.

Two Phase Process

RHY-PDP will be carried out using a two-phase process that includes a 6-month planning phase and a 30-month implementation phase, which includes evaluations.

Phase I: Planning - Develop a Prevention Plan

RHY-PDP grant recipients are required to develop a Prevention Plan to prevent youth homelessness. RHY-PDP grant recipients will have 6 months from the start date of the award to create a Prevention Plan. The planning process is expected to lay the groundwork for program implementation thus providing a framework for the interventions and services the program will utilize during the implementation phase. Upon completion of the Prevention Plan, the RHY-PDP grant recipient will submit it to FYSB for review and approval.

During the first year of funding, each project will use funds to support a 6-month planning phase that will include:

Identifying key community partnerships that the RHY-PDP grant recipient will engage with throughout the project. Community partners will assist the RHY-PDP grant recipient in identifying youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability so that prevention interventions and services are offered in coordination with youth and family serving community partners.

Defining prevention of youth homelessness to ensure the RHY-PDP grant recipient has a shared understanding of prevention of youth homelessness. RHY-PDP grant recipients will be expected to engage with community partners and FYSB to provide and receive input from youth-and family-serving systems and programs on the definition of prevention of youth homelessness.

Developing a process for the identification and assessment of youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability who are eligible for prevention interventions and services and a referral strategy to connect youth and young adults who need immediate access to emergency shelter, short-term housing, longer-term housing, or counseling services in the event prevention efforts are not successful.

Detail a strategy for implementing the required prevention interventions detailed in Phase II (below) as well as any additional prevention services the RHY-PDP grant recipient will implement. The selected prevention intervention(s) and service(s) must be responsive to community needs.

Detailing how the RHY-PDP grant recipient will measure and evaluate the outcomes of the selected prevention intervention(s) and service(s).

The development of the prevention plan must be co-designed alongside youth with lived experience of homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness or housing instability. A co-design approach to developing the prevention plan encourages a participatory process to designing solutions to preventing youth homelessness and positions youth and young adults as collaborators in the development of the prevention plan. RHY-PDP grant recipients may consider a partnership with a local youth action board, youth boards that are supported by the RHY-PDP grant recipient, or youth and young adults who are employed by the grant recipient to ensure youth with lived experience provide robust and ongoing input to the development of the prevention plan.

The prevention plans that result from this phase will identify a 3-year vision and strategy for expanding current efforts and resources, launching new prevention interventions and services, and making changes to improve service coordination and response, with the goal of effectively meeting the needs of youth and young adults at greatest risk of experiencing homeless in order to prevent and reduce the incidents of youth homelessness in the community.

Phase II: Implementation–Prevention Interventions and Services Tailored to Youth and Young Adults At-Risk of Homelessness

During Phase II of the program, RHY-PDP grant recipients will implement the prevention plan.

This will require RHY-PDP grant recipients to identify youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness and provide them with robust, holistic prevention services to respond to their diverse needs.

RHY-PDP grant recipients will implement and evaluate prevention interventions or services that are tailored to youth and young adults that must include:

Flexible Cash Assistance: Evidence shows that youth and families are often prevented from experiencing homelessness when they have access to immediate, individualized, and flexible financial assistance. Flexible cash assistance to prevent episodes of homelessness and increase housing stability is a promising practice that helps stabilize families, improves outcomes for youth and young adults, and increases the well-being of youth and their families.[2][3][4]

Individualized Supportive Services and Case management: Youth, young adults, and their families have different experiences, backgrounds, identities, cultures, and needs. RHY-

PDP grant recipients will implement individualized supportive services and case management models that are responsive to the needs of the community and support the housing stability of youth and young adults, and their families.

In addition to flexible cash assistance and individualized supportive services and case management, RHY-PDP grant recipients may also elect to implement and evaluate additional prevention services, including coordinated housing navigation, case management, family stabilization and strengthening, home visitation, kinship and parent engagement, family and chosen-family support, permanent connections, licensed counseling and mediation, legal services, food and nutrition support, transportation, employment and career readiness, school connection, or other support services identified as a need in the community. RHY-PDP grant recipients may implement other prevention services that are not detailed in this section, so long as they are measurable, responsive to the needs of the community, and are designed to prevent youth from experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Funding under this award must be used to provide direct services that support the prevention of homelessness for youth and family of youth at-risk of homelessness. Funding may not be used for the sole purpose of supporting primary prevention activities such as community education or outreach.

As required by the prevention plan, the RHY-PDP grant recipient must implement a referral strategy to connect youth and young adults who need immediate access to emergency shelter, short-term housing, longer-term housing, and counseling services in the event prevention efforts are not successful. Referral strategies should prioritize referrals to youth-specific emergency shelter, short-term shelter, and counseling services like RHY BCPs, TLPs, or MGHs. If youth-specific emergency shelter, short-term shelter, and counseling services are not available in the RHY-PDP’s community, the RHY-PDP grant recipient must detail a plan to refer youth to other emergency shelter or short-term shelter and counseling services.

Ensuring Equity

RHY projects must ensure equitable treatment of all youth receiving services under RHY-funded programs. According to research conducted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, youth of color, notably Black and Latino youth, are at greater risk of experiencing housing instability and youth homelessness. Roughly 11 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native youth and young adults are over-represented in the homeless youth population relative to 4 percent of White, non-Hispanic youth. Additional data from FYSB’s RHY-HMIS on gender identity and sexual orientation of youth served in the RHY program reveals roughly 26 percent of youth and young adults who participated in RHY programs in fiscal year 2021 identified as LGBTQIA2S+ or as being uncertain of their sexual orientation. To this end, FYSB is committed to awarding grants to organizations that address these disparities in the prevalence and severity of experiences faced by youth related to ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As such, RHY-PDP projects must have a plan to provide safe and inclusive spaces for all youth, including youth of color, youth who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, and other underserved populations.

Project outreach and intervention strategies must reflect policies and practices that are trauma-informed and culturally-responsive to people of color and other underserved populations as well as the gender identity or sexual orientation. Furthermore, projects must address the language access needs of youth and families of youth served.

Coordination and Collaboration

Implementing prevention services tailored for youth at-risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability requires strong coordination and collaboration with youth and family partners.

RHY-PDP grant recipients must have existing partnerships with at least three youth and family partners, that have supported the grant recipient in their existing youth programming. Examples of youth and family partners include schools, education, health, mental health, child welfare, family support, substance abuse prevention/intervention, domestic violence/crisis intervention, law enforcement, courts, juvenile justice, and legal services, and non-traditional partners.

Federal Evaluation

FYSB will sponsor a federally-led evaluation. The evaluation will be conducted by an independent contractor(s) with experience leading small-and large-scale demonstrations and/or descriptive and impact evaluations. As a condition of acceptance of an award under this NOFO, all grant recipients are required to participate fully in ACF-sponsored evaluations and adhere to all evaluation protocols established by ACF to be carried out by its designee contractor(s).

Grantees will still be required to collect performance measures. (Please see Section IV.2. The Project Description for the application requirements related to this NOFO.)

Consistent with the PRA of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, under this NOFO, FYSB will not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information covered by such Act, unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. FYSB is seeking approval of its RHY-PDP data indicators through the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. FYSB will not request this information if these forms are not approved at the time that reports are due. Please see Section VI.3. Reporting for more information.

Technical Assistance

By drawing down funds, if awarded, recipients agree to receive and work cooperatively with technical assistance providers recommended by FYSB to ensure quality programming and implementation. TTA is free to grantees through the RHY TTA Center. Services include regionally based technical assistance clinics, training sessions, e-learning, webinars, and national grantee training. Recipients must also send at least one key staff person to attend the annual, in-person RHY National Grantee Training and annual in-person regional training. In addition, recipients will participate in national learning collaboratives and cohort-based peer engagement activities. More information is available at: www.rhyttac.net. For more information regarding TTA, please read Section IV.2. The Project Description, Budget, and Budget Justification.

Sustainability Plan

To be successful, RHY-PDP projects must develop a sustainability plan at the beginning of the project that is revisited and revised, as necessary, throughout the project. This plan should include the following:

Accountability in meeting FYSB's RHY-PDP performance standards;

Collaboration through building meaningful partnerships with other service agencies, youth with lived experience of homelessness, as well as other experts on runaway and homeless youth in the community; and

Sustainability through diversification of funding to continue services in the event of a loss of FYSB funding, as well as a plan to address staff retention and staff turnover;

file:///C:/Users/megan.steel/AppData/Local/SWIFT/SWIFT%20Drafts/041220232001/24/3764216/www.rhyttac.net

Subawards Recipients under this grant program may opt to transfer a portion of substantive programmatic work to other organizations through subaward(s). The prime recipient must maintain a substantive role in the project. ACF defines a substantive role as conducting activities and/or providing services funded under the award that are necessary and integral to the completion of the project. Subrecipient monitoring activities alone as specified in 45 CFR § 75.352 do not constitute a substantive role. Furthermore, ACF does not fund awards where the role of the applicant is primarily to serve as a conduit for passing funds to other organizations unless that arrangement is authorized by statute.

Subrecipient(s) must meet the eligibility requirements identified in the NOFO, Section III.1.Eligible Applicants. Additionally, all subrecipient(s) must obtain a Unique Entity Identifier assigned by the System for Award Management (SAM), if they do not already have one. Prime recipients are required to check the SAM to verify that the subrecipient(s) is/are not debarred, suspended, or ineligible.

Please reference the Award Term and Condition on Subawards on the ACF Administrative and National Policy Requirements website for further requirements involving subawards. Please see Appendix A for important definitions.

Response to Nationally Declared Emergency

If, during the project period, FYSB and/or recipients are required to adjust program and/or recipient requirements due to nationally declared emergency, FYSB will exercise maximum flexibilities as needed. Requirements may be conducted virtually and/or timelines modified in consultation with FYSB.

[1] https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/8228e700f6e369df9382ac8e0d3976c1/primary -prevention-convening-brief.pdf

[2] https://www.dashdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sullivan-Bomsta-Hacskaylo-2016- Flex-funding-promising-strategy-JIV.pdf

[3] https://www.chapinhall.org/wp-content/uploads/Evidence-Review-Brief.pdf

[4] https://www.wcpp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Preventing-Youth-Homelessness-full-report.pdf

II. Federal Award Information

Funding Instrument Type:

CA (Cooperative Agreement) Estimated Total Funding:

$1,750,000 Expected Number of Awards:

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements#book_content_14 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/8228e700f6e369df9382ac8e0d3976c1/primary-prevention-convening-brief.pdf https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/8228e700f6e369df9382ac8e0d3976c1/primary-prevention-convening-brief.pdf https://www.dashdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sullivan-Bomsta-Hacskaylo-2016-Flex-funding-promising-strategy-JIV.pdf https://www.dashdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sullivan-Bomsta-Hacskaylo-2016-Flex-funding-promising-strategy-JIV.pdf https://www.chapinhall.org/wp-content/uploads/Evidence-Review-Brief.pdf https://www.wcpp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Preventing-Youth-Homelessness-full-report.pdf https://www.wcpp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Preventing-Youth-Homelessness-full-report.pdf

Award Ceiling:

$350,000 Per Budget Period

Award Floor:

$250,000 Per Budget Period

Average Projected Award Amount:

$350,000 Per Budget Period

Anticipated Project Start Date:

09/29/2023 Length of Project Periods:

36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods

Additional Information on Project Periods and Explanation of 'Other' Non-competing continuation awards will be offered for the second and third budget periods of the project based on the availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the recipient, and review and approval of the continuation application. The Grants Project Team (Grant Management Specialist, Federal Project Officer, and technical assistance provider) will use the recipient’s semi-annual performance progress and financial reports, site visits, audit reports and other supporting documentation to determine, in accordance with the requirements in the RHY-PDP NOFO and RHY Act and regulation, if satisfactory progress is being made. FYSB will factor in the recipient’s ability to meet the due dates as identified in the NOFO. The Grants Project Team’s review of reports and other documentation will be used to assess progress in the following areas: 1) accomplishing the project goals, objectives, and activities; 2) completing proposed activities; and 3) documenting allowable expenses that support project goals, objectives, and the approved budget. Please refer to Section VI.3. Reporting for more information on required reports.

Additional Information on Awards:

Awards made under this funding opportunity are subject to the availability of federal funds.

Applications requesting an award amount that exceeds the Award Ceiling per budget period, or per project period, as stated in this section, will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. This disqualification applies only to the Award Ceiling listed for the first 12-month budget period for projects with multiple budget periods. If the project and budget period are the same, the disqualification applies to the Award Ceiling listed for the project period. Please see Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors.

Note: For those programs that require matching or cost sharing, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period or by project period for fully funded awards, even if the projected commitment exceeds the required amount of match or cost share. A recipient's failure to provide the required matching amount may result in the disallowance of federal funds.

For more information on these requirements, see Section III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching.

Description of ACF's Anticipated Substantial Involvement Under the Cooperative Agreement Award

A cooperative agreement is a specific method of awarding federal assistance in which substantial federal involvement is anticipated. Details of the relationships and governance of the cooperative agreement will be specified in the terms and conditions of the award. The respective responsibilities of FYSB and the grantee will be identified during pre-award negotiations and incorporated into the terms and conditions of the award. It is anticipated that the cooperative agreement will not change the project requirements for the grantee under this announcement. At a minimum, ACF will:

Provide consultation, review, and approval of the strategic plan once it is submitted after award and any revision made to the work plan during the project period;

Provide oversight in the development of the project design, including information on the resources and planned activities for ACF, ACYF, FYSB and the RHY Program;

Facilitate communication and provide consultation in the development of the project design, including information on the resources and planned activities for ACF and, ACF regional offices;

Facilitate communication with representatives of other federal agencies in order to promote intra-agency and inter-agency coordination and collaboration; and

Review and approve drafts of all updated or new materials that are developed or printed with resources made available under this cooperative agreement.

FYSB will organize periodic consultations, meetings, briefings, teleconferences, webinars, and other forums necessary to review current and planned activities, to share information, and to promote national coordination.

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

Public and nonprofit entities and combinations of such entities are eligible to apply unless they are part of the juvenile justice system. For-profit organizations are not eligible. Private institutions of higher education must be non-profit entities.

Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. See Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors.

Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity. Faith-based organizations may apply for this award on the same basis as any other organization, as set forth at and, subject to the protections and requirements of 45 CFR Part 87 and 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq., ACF will not, in the selection of recipients, discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization's religious character, affiliation, or exercise.

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

Cost Sharing / Matching Requirement:

Yes Recipients are required to meet a non-federal share of the project cost, in accordance with 383 of the RHY Act, (34 U.S.C. § 11274).

Recipients must provide at least 10 percent of the total approved cost of the project. The total approved cost of the project is the sum of the ACF (federal) share and the non-federal share. The non-federal share may be met by cash or in-kind contributions, although recipients are encouraged to meet their match requirements through cash contributions. For example, in order to meet the match requirements, a project requesting $350,000 in ACF (federal) funds must provide a non-federal share of the approved total project cost of at least $ 38,889 , which is 10 percent of total approved project cost of $ 388,889 .

For all federal awards, any shared costs or matching funds and all contributions, including cash and third-party in-kind contributions, must be accepted as part of the recipient’s cost sharing or matching when such contributions meet all criteria listed in 45 CFR § 75.306.

For awards that require matching by statute, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period, or by project period for fully funded awards, even if the projected commitment exceeds the amount required by the statutory match. A recipient’s failure to provide the statutorily required matching amount may result in the disallowance of federal funds.

Recipients will be required to report these funds in the Federal Financial Reports.

For awards that do not require matching or cost sharing by statute, where “cost sharing” refers to any situation in which the recipient voluntarily shares in the costs of a project other than as statutorily required matching, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period, or by project period for fully funded awards. These include situations in which contributions are voluntarily proposed by a recipient or subrecipient and are accepted by ACF. Non-federal cost sharing will be included in the approved project budget so that the recipient will be held accountable for proposed non-federal cost sharing funds as shown in the Notice of Award (NoA). A recipient’s failure to provide voluntary cost sharing of non-federal resources that have been accepted by ACF as part of the approved project costs and that have been shown as part of the approved project budget in the NoA, may result in the disallowance of federal funds. Recipients will be required to report these funds in the Federal Financial Reports.

III.3. Other

Application Disqualification Factors Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Award Ceiling Disqualification

Applications that request an award amount that exceeds the Award Ceiling per budget period or per project period ("per project period" refers only to fully funded awards), as stated in Section II. Federal Award Information, will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. This disqualification applies only to the Award Ceiling listed for the first 12-month budget period for projects with multiple budget periods. If the project and budget period are the same, the disqualification applies to the Award Ceiling listed for the project period.

Required Electronic Application Submission

ACF requires electronic submission of applications at Grants.gov. Paper applications received from applicants that have not been approved for an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Applicants that do not have an internet connection or sufficient computing capacity to upload large documents to the internet may contact ACF for an exemption that will allow the applicant to submit applications in paper format. Information and the requirements for requesting an exemption from required electronic application submission are found in "ACF Policy for Requesting an Exemption from Electronic Application Submission."

Missing the Application Deadline (Late Applications)

The deadline for electronic application submission is 11:59 pm ET on the due date listed in the Overview and in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times. Electronic applications submitted to Grants.gov after 11:59 pm ET on the due date, as indicated by a dated and time-stamped email from Grants.gov, will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. That is, applications submitted to Grants.gov, on or after 12:00 am ET on the day after the due date will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Applications submitted to Grants.gov at any time during the open application period, and prior to the due date and time, which fail the Grants.gov validation check, will not be received at, or acknowledged by ACF.

Each time an application is submitted via Grants.gov, the submission will generate a new date and time-stamp email notification. Only those applications with on-time date and time stamps that result in a validated application, which is transmitted to ACF will be acknowledged.

The deadline for receipt of paper applications is 4:30 pm ET on the due date listed in the Overview and in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times. Paper applications received after 4:30 pm ET on the due date will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity. Paper applications received from applicants that have not received approval of an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Notification of Application Disqualification https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ACF_Policy_for_Requesting_an_Exemption_from_Required_Electronic_FINAL_0.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ACF_Policy_for_Requesting_an_Exemption_from_Required_Electronic_FINAL_0.pdf

Applicants will be notified of a disqualification determination by email or by USPS postal mail within 30 federal business days from the closing date of this NOFO.

IV. Application and Submission Information

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

FYSB Operations Center c/o F2 Solutions Attn: RHY Prevention Demonstration Program

FON: HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CY-0070

1401 Mercantile Lane Suite 401 Largo

MD

20774 1-855-792-6551 TechAssist@fysb.net Application Packages

Electronic Application Submission:

The electronic application submission package is available in the NOFO's listing at Grants.gov.

Applications in Paper Format:

For applicants that have received an exemption to submit applications in paper format, Standard Forms (SFs), assurances, and certifications are available in the "Select Grant Opportunity Package" available in the NOFO's Grants.gov Synopsis under the Package tab at Grants.gov. See Section IV.2. Request an Exemption from Required Electronic Application Submission if applicants do not have an Internet connection or sufficient computing capacity to upload large documents (files) to Grants.gov.

Federal Relay Service:

Hearing-impaired and speech-impaired callers may contact the Federal Relay Service (FedRelay) for assistance at www.gsa.gov/fedrelay.

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

FORMATTING APPLICATION SUBMISSIONS

Each applicant applying electronically via Grants.gov is required to upload only two electronic files, excluding SFs and Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved forms. No more than two files will be accepted for the review, and additional files will be removed. SFs and OMB-approved forms will not be considered additional files.

FOR ALL APPLICATIONS:

Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) AOR is the designated representative of the applicant/recipient organization with authority to act on the organization’s behalf in matters related to the award and administration of grants. In http://www.gsa.gov/fedrelay signing a grant application, this individual agrees that the organization will assume the obligations imposed by applicable Federal statutes and regulations and other terms and conditions of the award, including any assurances, if a grant is awarded.

Point of Contact In addition to the AOR, a point of contact on matters involving the application must also be identified. The point of contact, known as the Project Director or Principal Investigator, should not be identical to the person identified as the AOR. The point of contact must be available to answer any questions pertaining to the application.

Application Checklist Applicants may refer to Section VIII. Other Information for a checklist of application requirements that may be used in developing and organizing application materials.

Accepted Font Style Applications must be in Times New Roman (TNR), 12-point font, except for footnotes, which may be TNR 10-point font. Pages that contain blurred text, or text that is too small to read comfortably, will be removed.

English Language Applications must be submitted in the English language and must be in the terms of United States (U.S.) dollars. If applications are submitted using another currency, ACF will convert the foreign currency to U.S. currency using the date of receipt of the application to determine the rate of exchange.

Page Limitations Applicants must observe the page limitation(s) listed under "PAGE LIMITATIONS AND CONTENT FOR ALL SUBMISSION FORMATS:." Page limitation(s) do not include SFs and OMB-approved forms.

All applications must be double-spaced. An application that exceeds the cited page limitation for double-spaced pages in the Project Description file or the Appendices file will have extra pages removed, and those pages will not be reviewed.

Application Elements Exempted from Double-Spacing Requirements The following elements of the application submission are exempt from the double-spacing requirements and may be single-spaced: the table of contents, the one-page Project Summary, required Assurances and Certifications, required SFs, required OMB-approved forms, resumes, logic models, proof of legal status/non-profit status, third-party agreements, letters of support, footnotes, tables, the line-item budget and/or the budget justification.

Adherence to NOFO Formatting, Font, and Page Limitation Requirements Applications that fail to adhere to ACF’s NOFO formatting, font, and page limitation requirements will be adjusted by the removal of page(s) from the application. Pages will be removed before the objective review and will not be made available to reviewers.

Applications that have more than one scanned page of a document on a single page will have the page(s) removed from the review.

For applicants that submit paper applications, double-sided pages will be counted as two pages.

When the maximum allowed number of pages is reached, excess pages will be removed and will not be made available to reviewers.

NOTE: Applicants failing to adhere to ACF’s NOFO formatting, font, and page limitation requirements will receive a letter from ACF notifying them that their application was amended.

The letter will be sent after awards have been issued and will specify the reason(s) for removal of page(s).

Corrections/Updates to Submitted Applications When applicants make revisions to a previously submitted application, ACF will accept only the last on-time application for pre-review under the Application Disqualification Factors. The Application Disqualification Factors determine the application's acceptance for competitive review. See Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors and Section IV.2.

Application Submission Options.

Copies Required Applicants must submit one complete copy of the application package electronically. Applicants submitting electronic applications need not provide additional copies of their application package.

Applicants submitting applications in paper format must submit one original and two copies of the complete application, including all SFs and OMB-approved forms. The original copy must have original signatures.

Signatures Applicants submitting electronic applications must follow the registration and application submission instructions provided at Grants.gov.

The original of a paper format application must include original signatures of the authorized representatives.

Accepted Application Format With the exception of the required SFs and OMB-approved forms, all application materials must be formatted so that they are 8 ½" x 11" white paper with 1-inch margins all around.

If possible, applicants are encouraged to include page numbers for each page within the application.

ACF generally…