HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CT-1914.pdf

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth and Families - Children's Bureau

Family Support through Primary Prevention (FSPP) Demonstration Sites

HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CT-1914

Application Due Date: 07/02/2021

Family Support through Primary Prevention (FSPP) Demonstration Sites

HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CT-1914

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview Executive Summary

I. Program Description II. Federal Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

3. Other

IV. Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management

(SAM)

4. Submission Dates and Times

5. Intergovernmental Review

6. Funding Restrictions

7. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information

1. Criteria

2. Review and Selection Process

3. Anticipated Announcement and Federal Award Dates

VI. Federal Award Administration Information

1. Federal Award Notices

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

3. Reporting

VII. HHS Awarding Agency Contact(s) VIII. Other Information

Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families

Funding Opportunity Title: Family Support through Primary

Prevention (FSPP) Demonstration Sites Announcement Type: Initial Funding Opportunity Number: HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CT-1914 Primary CFDA Number: 93.648 Due Date for Letter of Intent: 06/02/2021 Due Date for Applications: 07/02/2021

Executive Summary

Notice:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the entire funding opportunity announcement (FOA) 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/howto.

The purpose of this FOA is to fund the implementation and evaluation of six Family Support through Primary Prevention (FSPP) sites for 5-year projects of national significance that demonstrate integrated, cross-sector approaches to developing comprehensive child and family well-being systems that are co-designed with families and communities. Sites will demonstrate a process for integrating public health and primary prevention approaches to improve overall community well-being consistent with the social and environmental determinants of health and to create the conditions necessary for all families to thrive.

During the project period, FSPP sites will design and implement highly coordinated and comprehensive family support systems in traditionally underserved areas to mitigate the causes of family vulnerability by enhancing community protective factors and parental protective capacities in racially and culturally appropriate ways. Sites will partner directly with families, including youth and parents who have experienced the child welfare system first-hand;

communities; and a broad array of stakeholders across the public, private, faith-based, and philanthropic sectors to create more just and equitable family support systems and improve overall community well-being. Sites will be informed by primary prevention approaches articulated inACYF-CB-IM-18-05 and ensure the centrality of family and youth voice as described in ACYF-CB-IM-19-03. FSPP sites will be required to conduct robust site-specific process and outcome evaluations to better understand the factors associated with the ongoing implementation of primary prevention efforts to reduce unnecessary contact with the formal child welfare system.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/howto https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1805.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1903.pdf

I. Program Description

Statutory Authority Title IV, part B, subpart 1 - Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program, section 426(a)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 626(a)(1)(A))

Description

BACKGROUND

There is an emerging consensus among child welfare leaders, researchers, professional membership organizations, advocacy groups, and parents and youth with lived expertise that child welfare in the United States must be transformed to have an explicit focus on strengthening families through primary prevention and creating the conditions necessary for all families to thrive. Leaders across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors have come together to articulate a common vision for creating more integrated and equitable family support systems that reduce disparities in outcomes for children and families and break harmful intergenerational cycles of trauma and poverty. That vision and commitment are reflected in the first-of-its-kind national partnership articulated in a September 20, 2020 Press Release, Thriving Families, Safer Children: A National Commitment to Well-Being. This initiative will work across community sectors to reallocate resources and assist jurisdictions in moving from traditional, reactive child protection approaches to systems designed to support child and family well-being proactively and prevent child maltreatment and unnecessary family separation.

While the challenges and barriers that many parents face at the individual, family, or community-level can become risk factors for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including child maltreatment, many of the root causes of these challenges are preventable when services and concrete supports are offered early and universally at the community-level to strengthen and support families proactively before they experience crisis. Primary prevention activities may include a wide range of efforts and supports to increase protective factors;

promote social connection; and build knowledge, skills, and capacities. This includes ensuring basic needs are met, such as housing stability, food security, access to health care, and other key necessities. This population-based approach to child maltreatment prevention relies on a public health framework of prevention that includes the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), which are the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and well-being outcomes. The SDOH commonly include the following five key areas: access to quality health care, education, the social and community context, economic stability, and the neighborhood and housing environment. Another key component of primary prevention efforts aims to strengthen and build protective factors, which are the conditions or attributes in individuals, families, and communities that can mitigate or eliminate risk and increase health and well-being. Protective factors often include aspects of parental resilience, nurturing and attachment, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, social connections, and the social-emotional competence of children.

Committing to this kind of broader continuum of community-based family support is contingent upon a deep understanding of community context, building upon family and community strengths, and a reorientation among service providers and families about the role of child welfare and what it is intended to accomplish. Within this continuum there will always be a https://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2020/first-of-its-kind-national-partnership-aims-to-redesign-child-welfare-into-child-and-family-well-being-systems https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html https://friendsnrc.org/prevention/what-is-prevention-of-child-abuse-and-neglect/ https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/social-determinants-health https://capacity.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/cbc/protective-factors-capacities-cp-00052.pdf need for child protection and intervention, when necessary, but the system can and should be designed to protect children by keeping families safe, healthy, and together whenever possible.

This requires engaging families early and actively listening to what they say they need to parent effectively, as well as developing comprehensive strategies and flexible funding structures to distinguish poverty from neglect and support overall child and family well-being.

Transformation from a reactive child protection system into a proactive child and family well-being system will depend upon destigmatizing help-seeking and establishing collective responsibility for common well-being outcomes. It will also require public and private agencies and organizations to partner under a shared definition of success and to leverage and combine resources in order to create strategies that will benefit the entire integrated system. Using a public health approach to strengthen families requires collaborative partnerships across sectors including the following: health, public health, behavioral health, mental health, housing, public assistance, and early childhood fields; legal and judicial communities; and families and youth with lived expertise, among others, with a focus on creating the social and physical environments that enable all families to thrive. Building this common framework around the social determinants of health can provide a strong platform for synergistic partnerships across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors.

The Children’s Bureau (CB) and its partners at the national, state, and local level strongly believe that coordinated and robust primary prevention efforts that are co-designed with communities are vital to creating a more just and equitable system that benefits all children and families, enhances protective capacities, and improves overall community well-being. To learn more about CB's vision for primary prevention, including promising approaches and examples of key partnerships, read Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-18-05. Other helpful resources include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Essentials for Childhood and The Public Health Approach to Violence Prevention as well as Child Welfare Information Gateway’s Protective Factors Approaches in Child Welfare.

PROJECT GOALS

The purpose of this FOA is to fund six FSPP sites for 5-year projects of national significance to demonstrate integrated, cross-sector approaches to transforming the traditional, reactive child welfare system into a comprehensive child and family well-being system. Co-designed and developed with communities and families with lived child welfare expertise, sites will establish robust networks of community-based services and supports that address the social determinants of health and demonstrate measurable transformation in cross-sector values and norms, infrastructure changes that promote primary prevention, and improvements in families experience of the systems intended to serve them.

FSPP sites will focus on meeting the following project goals:

1. Design and implement an integrated, cross-sector approach to supporting children and families. Sites will build or enhance existing integrated efforts across government agencies and offices and private/non-profit organizations at the state or local level to support a comprehensive, community-based support system for families. Sites will undertake system infrastructure, practice, or policy changes that promote primary prevention. The public child welfare agency will have a clear role in each site's primary prevention efforts and will be fully integrated into a cross-sector child and family well-https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1805.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/essentials.html https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/publichealthissue/publichealthapproach.html https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/protective_factors.pdf being system.

2. Establish well-being measures that cut across human services programs. Sites will prioritize social determinants of health and parental protective factors and identify or establish common well-being measures that cut across human service programs. Sites will identify and collect primary and/or secondary qualitative and quantitative data necessary to identify community needs, service gaps, system inefficiencies, and systemic inequities to inform the development of comprehensive and integrated strategies that will address barriers, mitigate the causes of family vulnerability, and enhance community protective factors and parental protective capacities in traditionally underserved communities.

3. Develop a robust, cross-system network of collaborative partnerships. Sites will establish or build upon a common vision, shared goals, and accountability for improving child and family well-being outcomes with a broad array of stakeholders across the public, private, legal and judicial, faith-based, and philanthropic sectors, among others.

Sites will demonstrate commitment between the public child welfare agency, public health agency, legal aid/legal services providers, Head Start/early childhood and maternal-child health programs, local courts, and a wide array of community-based organizations to design and implement a highly coordinated and comprehensive child and family well-being system. Sites will leverage and partner with any relevant statewide or local initiatives (e.g., planning for a Title IV-E Prevention Plan) and proactively seek to expand innovative partnerships and flexible funding structures to ensure a full continuum of prevention supports.

4. Integrate the expertise of community members and families and youth with lived expertise. Sites integrate authentic and equitable engagement with parents and youth with lived child welfare experience in all phases of design, implementation, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement efforts. Sites will establish a lived expertise advisory group that will co-design solutions to community-identified strengths and needs and help shape implementation of the project. Sites will work with families and community leaders to ensure well-being measures reflect what communities identify as important, and that efforts are thoughtfully designed, offered in inclusive and culturally appropriate ways, and build upon the community’s identified strengths and needs.

5. Reduce social isolation and the stigma of help-seeking. Sites will focus on building trust and fundamentally changing how families experience the systems intended to serve them through inclusive, strength-based, and culturally appropriate activities, services, and supports. Sites will work to reduce social isolation and normalize help-seeking as a sign of strength and something all families need sometimes. Sites will engage and connect families early with community-based supports through “helplines” and “warm lines” rather than child abuse hotlines whenever possible and will support culturally inclusive and appropriate community-based prevention strategies rather than intervention programs.

6. Evaluate family support systems and the primary prevention activities and strategies implemented. Sites will conduct robust, site-specific process and outcome evaluations to understand what core activities and strategies are most effective in developing a network of cross-sector supports to mitigate family vulnerability and strengthen overall community well-being. To support building a knowledge and evidence base around primary prevention, sites will measure participant well-being, systems-level outcomes, and changes in system norms and values. Well-being measures will reflect what families and communities have identified as important and cut across human service programs, including child welfare, early childhood, and public health.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

This section highlights project requirements in the following areas:

Target Area and Population Collaboration Project Activities and Strategies Technical Assistance Collaborative Planning Period Program Performance Evaluation Plan Project Sustainability Plan Dissemination Plan

Target Area and Population Primary prevention is a population-based, universal approach to supporting and strengthening communities and families. The target area and population for project implementation is a geographic area, community, or region that would benefit from or could build upon existing cross-system, integrated networks of community-based primary prevention services and supports with a focus on traditionally underserved communities where neglect is often confused with poverty. In establishing a continuum of community-based services and supports, sites will also target partners across the public, private, faith-based, and philanthropic sectors and families and youth with lived experience.

Collaboration Sites will demonstrate an awareness and recognition that child and family well-being is not solely the responsibility of any one sector, agency, or community, but rather depends on health, public health, behavioral health, mental health, housing, public assistance, early childhood, education, and child welfare agencies; legal and judicial communities; and families and youth with lived expertise, among others, to work as partners toward improving outcomes for children and families. A key component of this effort is community ownership and a system that is co-designed and co-led by youth and families with lived expertise in the child welfare system.

Sites will establish and cultivate a shared vision, strategic coordination, and a willingness to share power and responsibility for jointly owned outcomes as part of an integrated multi-system collaborative across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. Sites will be required to meaningfully integrate the relevant public child welfare agency as part of their continuum of primary preventions services and supports. Informed by community-identified strengths and needs to meet project goals, synergistic partnerships are strongly encouraged among, but not limited to, the following:

Public health agency (state or county) Community-based and faith-based organizations Mental health and substance abuse providers

Civil legal aid, law enforcement, and local court systems Early childhood education and child care agencies Local offices of family assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF]) Housing authorities and Continuums of Care (CoC) programs Maternal and child health Home visiting programs School systems Business and labor organizations Philanthropic organizations Families and youth with lived expertise

Collaboration activities may include, but are not limited to, the following: defining the strengths and needs of the target area/community; development of common well-being measures and jointly-owned outcomes; ongoing coordination and consultation; a willingness to share power and information; meaningful coordination of programming and reporting requirements, with a focus on primary prevention; establishing regular processes for communication; co-branding, marketing, and communication strategies; cross-training of staff; co-location of services and supports; and commitments to share data.

Project Activities and Strategies Project activities and strategies will be based on and informed by community-identified needs of the target area and population and address social determinants of health to enhance community protective factors and parental protective capacities. Sites will establish robust cross-sector networks of culturally responsive, community-based services and supports for families located in communities where families live and promote overall child and family well-being. Strategies and activities will be informed by families and youth with lived expertise, and will be designed to promote resiliency and parenting capacity and to reduce social isolation, disparity, and racial inequity.

Sites will fully establish the role and activities of the child welfare agency in supporting primary prevention efforts and integrate child welfare as part of a comprehensive child and family well-being system. Sites will describe their plans for changing staff norms and values to support primary prevention efforts, including meaningful cross-sector coordination and partnership, and for improving families’ experience of the systems intended to serve them.

Examples of opportunities for the child welfare agency to support primary prevention efforts may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Establishing "warm lines" and community response as an alternative to child abuse hotlines when child maltreatment is not suspected.

Alleviating the effects of poverty on child welfare referrals by building the resilience of parents struggling with financial pressures.

Integrating key human services agencies.

Establishing state-level offices of adolescent well-being and connection.

Establishing cross-system and cross-sector data sharing and data linkages.

Providing preventative legal services to address civil legal collateral issues (e.g., housing instability).

Revising statutory definitions of neglect that clearly differentiate maltreatment from poverty.

Revising mandatory reporting laws to clearly differentiate maltreatment from poverty.

Developing lived expertise cabinets or advisory boards.

Sites will be informed by primary prevention approaches and ensure the centrality of family and youth voice in designing and implementing their specific strategies to do the following:

Provide concrete support in times of need to prevent food insecurity or housing instability (e.g., transportation, utilities, legal services, healthcare, stipends, food, and/or other essential supplies).

Enhance community-based support systems for families.

Promote parental resilience.

Promote social connections and reduce social isolation.

Enhance parental knowledge of child development.

Support social and emotional competence of children.

Promote racial equity and culturally appropriate supports and connections.

Establish a lived expertise advisory group.

Improve families experience of help-seeking and the systems intended to serve them.

Technical Assistance (TA) Sites will receive TA from CB and CB’s designated TA providers. Sites will be permitted to use internal TA providers as long as the internal TA does not conflict with CB-designated TA and they are able to work with CB providers effectively. The purpose of CB’s provision of TA is to support sites in developing and designing project activities during the 10-month Collaborative Planning Period as well as throughout the life of the project including implementation and evaluation activities.

Collaborative Planning Period The project period will include the initial 10-month Collaborative Planning Period to further develop and refine the proposed project and target area(s) and population for project implementation in collaboration with CB and CB’s designated TA provider(s). During the planning period, sites will continue meaningful engagement with youth and families with lived child welfare experience and integrate their expertise throughout the planning period and beyond. Sites will also identify and collaborate with complementary primary prevention initiatives within the child welfare agency, courts, community agencies, and/or other partners to ensure that the proposed strategies build upon current efforts and lessons learned. Sites will be expected to allocate sufficient resources during the planning period to continue community-level needs assessments, identification of system gaps and inefficiencies, and further refine well-being measures that cut across partner agencies and reflect what families identify as important. At the end of the 10-month Collaborative Planning Period, sites will submit a revised implementation and evaluation plan for review and approval by CB. A revised plan that incorporates the recommendations of CB may be required. Continuation funding will be contingent upon CB's final approval of the site-specific implementation and evaluation plans.

Sites activities that will be completed with the assistance of CB and CB’s TA provider(s) during the planning period include, but are not limited to, the following:

Finalizing the target area(s), communities, or region for project implementation.

Continuing identification and collection of reliable primary or secondary data for baseline and follow-up comparison data.

Reassessing the strengths, needs, barriers, and gaps specific to the target area or communities.

Continuing to co-design solutions to identified strengths and needs with the advisory group of youth and parents with lived child welfare expertise.

Engaging additional partners as needed and finalize all partnership agreements

(including data sharing agreements) necessary to support successful implementation.

Continuing to refine well-being measures that cut across human service programs and reflect what communities identify as important.

Reassessing the planned strategies, practices, activities, and proposed timeline to ensure the appropriateness and fit for the target area and population.

Refining and finalizing the project logic model and theory of change.

Refining the site-specific implementation and evaluation plans.

Program Performance Evaluation Plan FSPP sites will include site-specific process and outcome evaluations that measure participant-and systems-level outcomes to support the intent of this project and build the knowledge and evidence base around effective primary prevention activities and strategies. The process evaluation will examine how the project has integrated public health and primary prevention approaches to improve overall well-being outcomes consistent with the social determinants of health. It will also describe the process for implementation, including policies, processes, and procedures that have been put in place or changed; the types and quantity of strategies and activities delivered; the characteristics of the population served (including demographics, risk and protective factors at program entry, services offered, and services received); and the number of families served.

Outcome evaluations will examine the extent to which the child and family well-being system strategies and activities were successful in establishing and improving common well-being outcomes, enhancing staff norms and values around primary prevention, and improving families' view of help-seeking and the systems intended to serve them. Sites will document and track intermediate outcomes linked to the intended outcomes (e.g., changes in risk and protective factors, changes in norms and values, establishing well-being measures, and data collection/linkages) and specifically assess changes in the child welfare system practice or policy (e.g., staff training), cross-agency collaboration and coordination, and family engagement and experience.

Sites will actively engage with and be supported by CB and CB’s designated evaluation TA provider(s). The TA provider(s) will be identified by CB and will assume primary responsibility for providing evaluation TA that will range from the design of the evaluation plan and measurement selection to data analysis and reporting. By identifying the core components of the proposed project and looking at the implementation of the strategies and activities, CB expects to better understand the core components and factors associated with developing a comprehensive child and family well-being system and effective implementation of primary preventions efforts. See ACYF-CB-IM-19-04 for information on conducting independent systematic reviews of prevention services.

Project Sustainability Plan CB is interested in the specific strategies, practices, and activities that will move child welfare toward a more proactive and integrated child and family well-being system. Sites will prepare for project sustainability after the period of federal funding ends to sustain key elements of their grant (e.g., strategies or services, funding flexibilities, practice changes) that have been effective in improving primary prevention efforts and community well-being outcomes. Sites will also plan for maintaining the momentum and collaboration with key project partners after the end of federal funding.

Dissemination Plan It is the intent of CB that the knowledge gained, lessons learned, and evidence generated from discretionary grants will help support the learning, innovation, and development of effective interventions, practices, and programs across the child welfare system. Sites will work with CB, designated TA provider(s), other CB-funded entities, and other sites in this grant cluster to do the following:

Develop a project-specific dissemination plan, including goals and objectives.

Identify and engage with relevant target audiences to share project information and learning through selected channels.

Develop quality materials for dissemination, such as training materials, briefs, and/or other products that will facilitate and enable learning in other states/jurisdictions.

Coordinate, develop, and help disseminate summarized/synthesized cross-cutting information about the project.

Produce a high-quality, comprehensive final report.

Collaborate with Child Welfare Information Gateway to share, archive, and disseminate relevant project materials and reports.

Ensure publications and websites are widely accessible. All products, tools, publications, and other print- and web-based content developed must adhere to section 508.

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 Section III.1. Eligible Applicants. Additionally, all subrecipient(s) must obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, or after government-wide implementation, a Unique Entity Identifier assigned by the System for Award Management (SAM), if they do not already have one. Prime recipients https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1904.pdf https://www.childwelfare.gov 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.

II. Federal Award Information Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement Estimated Total Funding: $4,500,000 Expected Number of Awards: 6 Award Ceiling: $750,000 Per Budget Period Award Floor: $500,000 Per Budget Period Average Projected Award Amount: $750,000 Per Budget Period Anticipated Project Start Date: 09/30/2021

Length of Project Periods:

Length of Project Period: 60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods

Additional Information on Awards:

Awards made under this announcement 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 from funding under this announcement. 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. See Section III.2. of this announcement for information on cost-sharing or matching requirements.

The initial award will be for a 12-month budget period. The award continuation beyond each 12-month budget period will be subject to the availability of funds, satisfactory progress on the part of the grantee (i.e. demonstrating a commitment to achieving expected outcomes and collaborating with CB to overcome any barriers), and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the federal government.

Description of ACF's Anticipated Substantial Involvement Under the Cooperative https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements#chapter-15 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements https://www.acf.hhs.gov/administrative-and-national-policy-requirements

Agreement A cooperative agreement is a specific method of awarding federal assistance in which substantial federal involvement is anticipated. A cooperative agreement clearly defines the respective responsibilities of CB and the awardee prior to the award. CB anticipates that agency involvement will produce programmatic benefits to the recipient otherwise unavailable to them for carrying out the project. A signed cooperative agreement between ACYF/CB and the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) will be submitted in Year 1. CB involvement and collaboration with the grantee includes:

CB collaborations with the awardee in the planning process, as described in Section 1, and will review the application and potentially modify the approach, interventions, and evaluation plan presented in the grantee's funded proposal. Contractual agreements may be finalized and implemented only after a final implementation plan has been approved.

CB reviews and approves the implementation and evaluation plan activities before the implementation phase begins.

CB and the awardee jointly collaborate (including active collaboration with the designated evaluation TA provider) in the performance of key programmatic activities (i.e., strategic planning, implementation, information technology enhancements, technical assistance, publications or products, and evaluation).

CB closely monitors the requirements stated in this announcement that limit the awardee's discretion with respect to the scope of services offered.

CB closely monitors the awardee during performance, which may, in order to ensure compliance with the intent of this funding, exceed those federal stewardship responsibilities customary for grant activities.

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

Per section 426 (a)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 626(a)(1)(A)), eligibility is open to public or other nonprofit institutions of higher learning, and to public or other nonprofit agencies and organizations engaged in research or child-welfare activities.

There is a disqualification factor for applicants who are not the public child welfare agency.

Details of the requirements needed to prevent disqualification are found in Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors and Section IV.2. Project Description, Additional Eligibility Documentation.

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 this part and 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq., the Department will not, in the selection of recipients, discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization’s religious character, affiliation, or exercise.

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

See Section IV.2. Legal Status of Applicant Entity for documentation required to support eligibility.

Please see Section IV.6. Funding Restrictions for any limitations on the use of federal funds that could affect the eligibility of an applicant or project.

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

Cost Sharing / Matching Requirement: No

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 of the 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 from funding under this announcement.

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 from funding under this announcement. This disqualification applies only to the Award Ceiling listed for 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 www.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 from funding under this announcement.

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" at www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/howto#chapter-6.

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

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

Each time an application is submitted via www.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 p.m., ET, on the due date listed in the Overview and in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times. Paper applications received after 4:30 p.m., ET, on the due date will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this announcement. Paper applications received from applicants that have not https://www.grants.gov https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/howto#chapter-6 https://www.Grants.gov https://www.Grants.gov https://www.Grants.gov https://www.Grants.gov https://www.Grants.gov received approval of an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this announcement.

Demonstration of Partnership with Public Child Welfare Agency Applications from entities other than the public child welfare agency that do not include a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from the relevant public child welfare agency(ies) will be disqualified from review and funding under this FOA. See Section III.1.

Eligible Applicants, Additional Information on Eligibility and Section IV.2. Project Description, Additional Eligibility Documentation.

Notification of Application Disqualification 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 FOA.

IV. Application and Submission Information

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

CB Operations Center c/o LCG, Inc.

ATTN: HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CT-1914

6000 Executive Boulevard Suite 410 Rockville, MD 20852 Phone: (888) 203-6161 Email: CB@grantreview.org

Electronic Application Submission:

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

Applications in Paper Format:

For applicants that have received an exemption to submit applications in paper format, Standard Forms, assurances, and certifications are available in the "Select Grant Opportunity Package" available in the FOA's Grants.gov Synopsis under the Package tab at www.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 www.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.

mailto:CB@grantreview.org https://www.Grants.gov https://www.grants.gov http://www.gsa.gov/fedrelay

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

FORMATTING APPLICATION SUBMISSIONS

Each applicant applying electronically via www.Grants.gov is required to upload only two electronic files, excluding Standard Forms and OMB-approved forms. No more than two files will be accepted for the review, and additional files will be removed. Standard Forms and OMB-approved forms will not be considered additional files.

FOR ALL APPLICATIONS:

Authorized Organizational 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 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.

https://www.grants.gov/

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 FOA Formatting, Font, and Page Limitation Requirements Applications that fail to adhere to ACF’s FOA 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. The removed page(s) 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 FOA 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. 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 Standard Forms 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 www.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 Standard Forms (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 does not encourage submission of scanned documents as they tend to have reduced clarity and readability. If documents must be scanned, the font size on any scanned documents must be large enough so that it is readable. Documents must be scanned page-for-page, meaning that applicants may not scan more than one page of a document onto a single page. Pages with blurred text will be removed from the application.

PAGE LIMITATIONS AND CONTENT FOR ALL SUBMISSION FORMATS:

With the exception of SFs and OMB-approved forms, the application submission is limited to 75 pages in its entirety.