FY 2023 LRLI Teleconference Transcript .docx

Moderator: GREG LINK March 21, 2023 1:00 pm CT NOTE: This transcript has been edited for readability and clarity only.

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. During today's Q&A session if you'd like to ask a question please press Star followed by 1.

Today's call is also being recorded. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn today's meeting over to your host, Mr. Greg Link. Thank you. You may begin.

Greg Link: Thank you, (Cedric). I want to welcome everyone to this teleconference to discuss the funding announcement for the 2023 Lifespan Respite Program State Program Enhancement Grants. This particular call is only going to cover that particular notice of funding opportunity.

If you're interested in the other funding opportunity that ACL published last week entitled Lifespan Respite Program Grants to New states and States Reestablishing their Core Respite Infrastructures, that call is going to be held tomorrow at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. The call-in information is in the funding announcement for that opportunity.

The purpose of this call today is to provide you with some background information about the program. We're going to walk through the program announcement itself, highlight some particular things that we believe you should pay attention to, and then we'll open it up for some Q&A in case you all have questions.

As (Cedric) mentioned, the call is being recorded. We're going to have a printed copy of today's transcript, including the Q&A at the end of the call available within a few days, probably a week or so on grants.gov along with other parts of the application package so that you'll have everything where you need it.

My name is Greg Link. I'm the Director of the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services. While I don't know who all is on the call, I suspect I probably know of or have heard of many of you, so it's great that you're here to learn about this.

I'm also joined on this call by Emily Anozie on my team. She's going to be the Program Officer for the grants to states once they're awarded.

And I'm also joined by Aisha Gurley-Perry, your Grants Management Specialist. Aisha will handle all of the business functions between ACL and the grantees, both during our pre-award review and negotiations with applicants as well as post-award handling all of your grant management needs in that regard.

This call is going to go for about an hour. Hopefully we won't need that much time. But I do want to take the opportunity to go through the program announcement and maybe clear up any questions that you may have had prior to the call.

I just wanted to give a little bit of a background overview for the Lifespan Respite Program. Because this program announcement is for states who have had at least one previous grant under the program, I'm hopeful that most of you on the call are at least somewhat familiar with the program.

For those of you who may be relatively new to the work, Lifespan Respite Care Programs are coordinated systems of accessible community based respite care services for family caregivers of people of all ages, children and adults, with chronic long-term disabilities or other long-term support needs. We know that respite has been shown to strengthen family systems, protect the health and well-being of a family caregiver and the care recipient. And it's a key component of community based long-term services and support systems.

The Lifespan Respite Program, the federal program, was authorized by Congress first in 2006 and then reauthorized again in 2020. Since 2009, Congress has appropriated funds for the program every year. And ACL has been fortunate enough in most years to have received small increases, modest increases in program appropriations year over year.

To date, ACL has funded a total of 39 states and the District of Columbia with at least one grant to implement the program. There are a number of states who have had multiple grants under this program. And so this funding opportunity, as I said, is for states who have had at least one grant under this program since the program began.

For FY '23, Congress appropriated $10 million for the Lifespan Respite Program. That's the largest appropriation we've ever received. And it marks a $2 million increase above what we received in fiscal year 2022.

With these funds ACL released two new funding announcements for grants to states. With this state program enhancement funding opportunity we're talking about today, ACL anticipates funding approximately 15 cooperative agreements at a federal funding level of up to about $400,000 per year for four years for a maximum potential funding of $1.6 million for each grantee over the course of the four-year project period.

Now, the actual number of grantees that we fund from this announcement will depend on the number of states that we fund under the other funding announcements that we have, the Grants to New States. But it will also depend somewhat, on how much each of the applicants to this NOFO requests for their funding for each year.

We're anticipating about 15 cooperative agreements. It may be one or two more depending on how the total funding picture looks when all of the applications are in and the reviews are completed.

We do know that not every state that applies for a grant will be successful in receiving funding. That's been our experience year over year. We expect that this will be a very competitive opportunity as ACL seeks to increase the number of states that have at least one active grant going on at a time.

As you probably know there are certain eligibility requirements for the Lifespan Respite Care Program as outlined in the statute. The statute limits the entities that can actually apply for funds under the Lifespan Respite Program. They're either the state agency that administers programs under the Older Americans Act of 1965 as amended, the state's Medicaid agency, or another state agency that the governor of that particular state designates to apply for the funds.

While we may have folks listening in who are from provider agencies or local community based agencies you all would not be eligible to apply by statute. But that doesn't mean that you can't participate in the program once your state should receive an award it would be up to the state to determine how funds will be dispersed and who the sub-recipients may wind up being.

The State Program Enhancement Grants that this Notice of Funding Opportunity covers will focus on building on the accomplishments and infrastructure that they've developed from previous grants. We're looking for them to focus on several key priority areas that we described pretty thoroughly in the NOFO. We're also expecting grantees for this particular Notice of Funding Opportunity to use the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers as a framework in constructing their proposals and in operating their programs.

The purpose of the Lifespan Respite Act is to expand and enhance respite services and improve coordination and improve respite access and quality. Lifespan respite care programs look at the service of respite for caregivers and work to make it more accessible, available and of higher quality regardless of the age of the caregiver or the care receiver as long as caregivers are over the age of 18.

The act is unique in that it addresses caregiver and respite needs across all age and disability categories without preference for a particular group. In fact, congressional intent requires that states ensure that respite is made available and accessible regardless of age or disability of the care recipient.

Before going through some areas of the funding opportunity that I want to draw your attention to several key dates to keep in mind. The first one is today's date, March 21, that's the information teleconference. We will have a printed transcript posted on grants.gov in about a week or so. The transcript will include any Q&A that we have at the end of this call.

Another key date to be aware of, and that's coming up pretty quickly, are letters of intent which are due March 27, 2023. Letters of intent are not required, but we encourage you to consider submitting one even if you don't ultimately wind up submitting an application.

Submitting a letter of intent in no way commits you to applying for an application. Letters of intent are really just a great planning tool for Emily and for my team to use in structuring the grant reviews. Knowing ahead of time approximately how many applications are coming in helps us determine the number of grant reviewers to select and how to structure the review process.

Your letters of intent should be emailed to Emily.anozie@acl.hhs.gov . Her email is in a couple of places in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The other really critical date to be aware of is the application deadline, which is 11:59 pm Eastern on Monday, May 15, 2023. Applications have to be submitted electronically through grants.gov, that's not negotiable. Applications received after the due date will not be considered for funding. I'll talk a little bit more in a minute about some specific applications submitting instructions.

Then the final key date that I want you to be aware of, and that you're probably all curious about, is projected start dates for your project. We're anticipating an August 1 start date, meaning that we'll have Notices of Award out prior to August 1.

This is an approximate date. Your actual start date may slip a little bit depending on how quickly we're able to process all of the applications. So we're aiming for an August 1 start date, but it could be a bit later. Those are the key dates that I want you to keep in mind as you begin preparing your proposals and getting them ready to submit.

Now just to walk through some key areas of the program announcement that I want you to pay attention to as you're thinking about applying and then actually developing your application. I'm going to just walk through the program announcement PDF. I'll be referring to the page numbers in the PDF so if you can follow along with the PDF version of the NOFO, that would be great.

Beginning on Page 4, we provide an overview of the Lifespan Respite Care Program. It certainly goes into more depth and detail than what I provided here just now. We do note the reauthorization of the Lifespan Respite Care Act.

At the bottom of Page 5 begins a section called, “The Evolving Respite Environment,” in which we discuss several key things that have occurred over the past several years that have significantly shaped or have the potential to shape how we think about designing and delivering services of any kind, really, including respite. Of note, we point out the impact of COVID-19 and how it really changed how we think about family caregiving and how family caregivers can and should be supported.

Also of note, and something that I want everybody to have on their radar screens, is the work of the RAISE and the Grandparent Advisory Councils and the release last year of the first National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. Applicants to this funding opportunity should review the strategy carefully and look for opportunities to address the actions where appropriate for respite from among any of the five priority areas that the national strategy addresses.

Additionally, the strategy addresses four key cost-cutting principles that should be considered for any of the actions contained in the strategy. This includes ensuring that your work on your projects is culturally and linguistically relevant and competent.

The strongest applications ACL believes are those that will be grounded in the principles and actions outlined in the strategy. This NOFO is also further grounded in six priority areas that each of which should be addressed in your application.

Those priority areas are discussed starting on Page 7 and continue through Page 10. You can read through those and really be sure that you address each of those key priority areas that we're looking for in these State Program Enhancement Grants.

I also want to use this as the first opportunity to point out a key requirement of every application that has to be submitted in response to this NOFO. Each application that we receive must contain a Memorandum of Understanding or Memorandum of Agreement regarding the joint responsibility for the state's lifespan respite program between the eligible state agency that's applying and the public or private not-for-profit statewide respite coalition or organization that's in place in the state, that the MOU or the MOA must be between those two entities.

That MOU or MOA, however you choose to term it, must be included in your application packages. I can't stress this enough. Over the years we've seen several states submit really incredible applications, and they forget to include that MOU. Statute requires that the MOU be as part of the application that's submitted.

So please, please, please don't forget to include that MOU with your application. Failure to do so winds up in the application being screened out and not being considered for the merit review process, and we certainly don't want that to happen.

About midway down on Page 10, continuing through just about the bottom of Page 12, we include a few other elements that applications should address, like making sure that you have properly addressed the outcomes you intend to receive. You make sure that the outcomes are truly outcomes and not outputs, the products that you'll be producing under your grants, participation and technical assistance, and the use of subgrants and subcontracts.

On the last one, grants and subcontracts, grantees to this program are permitted to use subawards or subcontracts provided there is sufficient justification to do so. Your application should clearly describe the processes that you will use to both make those subawards as well as monitor the work that they're doing for you.

At the bottom of Page 12 begins the award information section. Please note again we intend to fund approximately 15 grants off of this particular funding opportunity, but that may go as high as 16, could be 17, just depending on how funding plays out.

Also note the project length, this is a little bit different for us. We're funding these grants for four years or 48 months with four 12-month budget periods.

Because ACL has high expectations for the work of these grantees, particularly as it relates to advancing principles in the National Family Caregiving Strategy, applicants should request no less than $200,000. This is one of the responsiveness criteria that we'll be looking for. If you request less than $200,000 in your application it will be screened out.

The reason for this is we want to ensure that the projects are funded at a level that's going to ensure progress and results in your state. We believe based on previous work that a floor of $200,000 should be the minimum that states really looking to make some advancements in their lifespan respite programs should shoot for.

As I said before not all states that apply will likely receive grants. Actual award amounts could vary based on the availability of federal funds.

Also note that states without a current active grant, followed by states with only one grant with no more than one year remaining on their current grant, will be given consideration for awards under this particular NOFO. Because we want to try to fund as many states as possible to continue work to develop the lifespan respite programs and incorporate the principles and actions contained within the strategy, we want to have as many states actively working as we possibly can.

Therefore we're asking that states with more than one year to go on a current grant not apply this year. We'll look at next year's funding levels to see what we, you know, how the funding shakes out.

Please note that grants are being awarded as cooperative agreements, meaning that the grantee can expect regular and ongoing engagement with ACL and the program officer. The terms and conditions for the cooperative agreement are laid out on Pages 13 and 14. And will be incorporated by reference in the Notice of Award that go out for these.

Page 15 talks in pretty good detail about the matching requirements. There is a 25% match requirement. This is a statutory requirement. Match can be cash or third-party in-kind contributions. Where are unfortunately no waivers of match permitted and so each applicant must come to their application process with a 25% match.

Also note that regardless of the source of the non-federal match, once that source of match is committed to this grant it can't be used as match for other federal grants. Matching funds are subject to the same requirements as the federal funds that you are requesting. Essentially your non-federal sources of cash match whatever take on the same characteristics and have the same requirements for expenditures and reporting that your federal funds do.

When calculating your match we provide a couple of examples for how to calculate your match on Pages 15 and 16. So use those examples because it's not 25% of how much you're requesting, the formula is a little bit different. And so please use the examples in calculating your match requirements.

At the bottom of Page 16, we talk about responsiveness criteria, and these are absolutely critical. These are the first pieces of screening that your applications will go through. It's done by Emily and me at the programmatic level.

The first thing we'll look at is whether or not the agency that applied is an eligible entity as described in Section 3 of the funding opportunity. We'll be looking at whether this is a state agency on aging, the state's Medicaid agency, or if it's a state agency that the governor designated to apply. That's the first screening criteria.

The second one is, did the applicant request the funding, the minimum of $200,000 in funding? That's the second responsiveness criteria.

The third one, again, has the MOU or MOA between the eligible state agency and the statewide respite coalition or organization been included with the application? Applicants have to have a yes on all three of those responsiveness criteria in order for their applications to move forward for review.

Directly below the responsiveness criteria, are the general application screening criteria. Please pay close attention to these because these - this is about how your applications are formatted, page length, et cetera. I want to note that application narratives for this particular NOFO are set at 30 pages.

We recognize that for the State Program Enhancement Grants, as well as ACL's expectation that you address the principles that are in the national strategy, you may need a few extra pages. So it is a 30-page limit to the narrative section of your applications.

The 30-page limit does not include the work plan, budget narratives, resumes, letters of support, et cetera. It's just the written narrative portion of your application that's limited to 30 pages. If you go over the 30 pages in the screening of your applications initially anything more than 30 pages will be - will not be forwarded to the grant reviewers. So please keep your narratives to 30 pages or less.

At the bottom of Pages 17 to Page 19 is general information that every applicant should be aware of and pay attention to. It's where to obtain application materials and completing your SAM registration, getting your DUNS numbers and having your grants.gov registration ready to go.

I want you to please, please read that section carefully. If you're unsure of your SAM or DUNS number status please work to make sure that you have those activated. Sometimes it can take, or that you've actually gotten one if you're a new agency to the federal grants process, you may not have a SAM or DUNS number.

Please make sure that if you don't have those, or they're not currently active, that you start working on that now. Don't wait until right before you're ready to submit your grant application, because to get these DUNS or SAM number registrations can often take several days or a couple of weeks. You don't want to be caught at the very last not having those ready to go for your applications.

Page 19 mentions when the letters of intent are due again on March 27. Again, they're not required, but we use these as a tool for planning the grant review process.

On Pages 20, continuing through Page 25, is specific guidance for how to structure and what to include in your project narratives. Please note that in several places we point out information that's statutorily required to be included in project narratives, so please pay very close attention to those requirements and the things that we're asking for your narratives to include.

One important thing about project narratives is that those are your only vehicle for telling the application reviewers what you're proposing to do with the funding. So make sure that your narratives are clear, concise, and well organized.

Pages 25 and 26 talk about the budget narratives and the work plans that are another requirement for your application package. Two things here are key, for budget narratives please be sure that you do one budget narrative for each of the four years of your project, plus a cumulative budget narrative that spans all four years of your project.

Essentially you'll be doing five budget narratives, one for each year and then one that looks at the entire project over the course of the four years. Failure to include a budget narrative with your application will result in a score of zero for the entire budget section of the grant review. So please make sure that you do a budget narrative and make sure that it is included with your application.

The same thing goes for the work plan. There should be a work plan for each year of the project and make sure that its tasks and activities tie closely to the narrative and the budget narrative.

Pages 26 to 28 again talk a little bit more about SAM numbers and DUNS numbers. Page 28 has the application due date, again May 15, 2023 by 1159 pm Eastern.

A couple of other things to note and just be aware of. At the bottom of Page 29 to the top of Page 30, note the funding restrictions that are associated with this particular source of funding and the funding opportunity and be sure that you're in full compliance.

Page 30, again, there's the MOU, the MOA, between the state agency and the respite organization. Don't forget to include it.

At the bottom of Page 30 through Page 34, we lay out the exact criteria by which a panel of independent third-party reviewers are going to score your applications. You should view these criteria as a useful tool for you as you prepare your applications.

Once you've completed your applications we really recommend that you go through your application and look at it against each of those criteria. If you can answer yes to each of the questions you can be fairly certain that you have an application that covers everything that ACL is asking you to cover. Of course, that isn't a guarantee that you're going to receive funding, but you'll at least know that you've addressed everything you needed to in your application.

At the bottom of Page 34 we talk about how awards will be made. Final decisions are based on the availability of federal funds and are at the ACL administrator's discretion. Notices of Award are sent electronically. You'll receive electronic notification of the success of your application and the Notice of Award will be included in that. Again, we anticipate an 8-1 start date. We're certainly working towards that.

Finally at the bottom of Page 35 through the end of the entire NOFO are some administrative information that you should be aware of as well as templates that you can use to develop your budget narratives and work plans. Often - many applicants use the templates oftentimes they modify them a bit. They're there for use and for your reference as you're developing your applications.

So that takes care of the Notice of Funding Opportunity. (Cedric), if you want, we can open it up for any questions that folks might have.

Coordinator: Sure. As a quick reminder, if you'd like to ask a question please press Star then 1. Remember to unmute your phone and record your name clearly when prompted. If you'd like to withdraw that question, you may press Star 2.

Again to ask a question from the phone lines, please press Star then 1. One moment to see if we have any questions. Okay, and our first question comes from, I believe it was (Dana), your line is open.

Q: Yes. Hi. Thank you for the presentation. I have a question concerning the MOU or MOA. You said that it definitely has been part of the application. Is that included in the 30-page narrative? It doesn't seem like it, but I just wanted to confirm that.

A: No, it is not part of the 30-page narrative.

Greg Link: Well it sounds like we don't have any questions, and that's great. So I want to thank those of you who came to this call and for your interest in the Lifespan Rescue Care Program State Program Enhancement Grants opportunity.

For those of you completing applications, you know, best of luck to you. And we look forward to receiving them and potentially working with you once Notices of Award go out. So with that we will conclude this call. (Cedric), thank you for your help and your moderation.

Coordinator: Greg, we did have one question that came in.

Greg Link: Oh, okay. Sure, sure go ahead.

Q: Hi, Greg. It's [name] from [state].

Q: I had a question. I'm not clear on the directions on “had at least one grant in the past,” obviously we've had that, and no more than one currently active grant with no more than one year remaining in the project. Is this just for this three year that we've had? Do we have to take in consideration the five-year grant that we also have?

A: If you have a current five-year grant, what year is that in?

Q: We're in year two.

A: Yes, so that - then we're asking that those states sit this one out so that - because there's more than one year left in that particular grant.

Q: Okay. When - do you think there will be funding opportunities next year for us to apply for or...

A: We're certainly hopeful because, you know, with other grants this year coming to an end, as well as, you know, we always hope for increases in appropriations, absolutely.

Q: Okay, all right. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Greg Link: You bet.

Coordinator: Okay, and I'm showing no further questions.

Greg Link: All right. One last time, any last call for questions? All righty, well listen thank you all very much. Best of luck as you get started on your applications. Please look for the transcript of this call in about a week or so. Thank you.

Coordinator: Thank you. That concludes today's conference. You may all disconnect at this time.

END