HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-EV-1940.pdf

Administration for Children and Families

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

Family Violence Prevention and Services Discretionary Grants: National Capacity Building

Center on Safe and Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors

HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-EV-1940

Application Due Date: 07/19/2021

Family Violence Prevention and Services Discretionary Grants: National Capacity Building

Center on Safe and Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors

HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-EV-1940

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 Violence Prevention and

Services Discretionary Grants: National Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors

Announcement Type: Initial Funding Opportunity Number: HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-EV-1940 Primary CFDA Number: 93.592 Due Date for Letter of Intent: 06/28/2021 Due Date for Applications: 07/19/2021

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 Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) program announces funding available to award one cooperative agreement to support one National Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors (the Center).

The primary purpose of the Center is to improve responses to survivors of domestic violence and their families across the continuum of publicly and privately funded homeless services and housing by strengthening coordination between domestic violence, housing, and homeless services providers, including convening, coordinating, and leading a national consortium of federally funded training and technical assistance providers.

Specifically, the grantee will develop training materials, toolkits, and resources for integrating responses to the complex and diverse needs of domestic violence survivors throughout the crisis response system, including coordinated entry/assessment, safety planning, voluntary and flexible supportive services, access to emergency and interim shelter, homelessness prevention, transitional housing, and other affordable and permanent housing options. The grantee will provide technical assistance to enable domestic violence service providers to participate as full partners in local housing and homelessness planning and implementation efforts (e.g., Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded Continuums of Care (CoC), or other state, local, or private efforts) aimed at delivering survivor-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and linguistically appropriate services tailored to the individual needs of http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/howto victims and their families.

The grantee will promote best practices and lessons learned from the domestic violence field related to victim privacy and confidentiality, especially in connection with the collection and sharing of data among domestic violence, housing, and homeless service providers. The grantee will identify, document, and promote best practices that support the physical and emotional wellbeing, resilience, long-term safety, housing stability, and economic security of survivors of domestic violence and their families, including developing and disseminating resources related to the effect of the opioid epidemic and substance use coercion on access to safe housing, and the capacity of faith communities to help domestic violence survivors achieve and maintain housing stability.

The Center will be part of a network of National, Special Issue, Culturally Specific, and Capacity Building Resource Centers providing leadership, training, technical assistance, resources, and support to programs and systems serving victims of domestic violence and their children.

I. Program Description

Statutory Authority The statutory authority is Section 310 of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, as amended. See 42 U.S.C. 10410 (a)(2)(B)(ii).

Description History and Purpose of FVPSA FVPSA provides the primary federal funding stream dedicated to the support of emergency shelter and supportive services for victims of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence (also known as intimate partner violence or IPV), as well as their dependents.

First authorized as part of the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984 (Pub. L. 98–457), FVPSA became the first federal commitment to creating a pathway to safety for survivors of domestic violence and their children. FVPSA has been amended eight times and was most recently reauthorized in December 2010 for 5 years by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 10401 - 10414).

Since 1984, Congress has continued to make its intent clear that FVPSA funds be used to raise awareness of domestic violence, prevent its occurrence, provide services to victims and their children, and support domestic violence providers to enhance their responses through training and technical assistance.

Specifically, FVPSA's statutory purposes are to:

1. Assist states and Indian tribes in efforts to increase public awareness about and primary and secondary prevention of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence;

2. Assist states and Indian tribes in efforts to provide immediate shelter and supportive services for victims of family violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and their dependents;

3. Provide for a national domestic violence hotline; and

4. Provide for technical assistance and training relating to family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence programs to states and Indian tribes, local public agencies (including law enforcement agencies; courts, and legal, social service, and health care professionals), nonprofit private organizations (including faith-based and charitable organizations, community- based organizations, and voluntary associations), tribal organizations, and other persons seeking such assistance and training.

FVPSA is administered by the FVPSA program, located in FYSB, a division of ACYF. FYSB administers mandatory FVPSA formula grants to states and territories, tribes, and state domestic violence coalitions. FVPSA grants are awarded to every state and territory, and to over 250 tribes. Funds awarded to states, territories, and tribes reach more than 1,600 local public, private, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations and programs demonstrating outcomes in the field of domestic violence services and prevention. These domestic violence programs provide victims of family, domestic, and dating violence, and their children with shelter, safety planning, crisis counseling, information and referral, legal advocacy, and additional support services.

Background Domestic violence is a major cause of homelessness, particularly for women with children.

Among families currently experiencing homelessness, more than 80 percent had previously experienced domestic violence. In just one day in 2019, according to an annual point-in-time census by the National Network to End Domestic Violence, close to 43,000 adults and children fleeing domestic violence found refuge in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program, with an additional 7,732 requests for shelter or housing that could not be met.

There is a significant need for housing programs that offer voluntary supportive services and resources to survivors of domestic violence and their children in ways that are more comprehensive, survivor-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and linguistically appropriate. A 2010 study of the impacts of comprehensive domestic violence advocacy services found that women who were homeless or at high risk for homelessness when entering the study reported greater housing stability, higher quality of life, fewer absences from work, greater job stability, higher income, fewer problems with alcohol/drugs, less depression, and less post-traumatic stress over time. Their children missed fewer days of school, had better academic performance and exhibited fewer behavioral problems over time. (Glass & Rollins, 2010). However, existing housing programs often are not adequately equipped with the expertise or capacity to provide appropriate services for survivors and their families that promote physical and emotional safety and sustainability. Moreover, many housing programs have existing policies that prevent survivors from obtaining and sustaining long-term housing, such as financial assistance term limits or other restrictions that prevent funding from being allocated to address a variety of needs that can contribute to household stability. Limitations on allowable costs in many housing programs further reduce flexibility to address domestic violence survivors’ myriad needs related to the trauma they have experienced and ongoing safety considerations.

The FVPSA program supports more than 1,600 domestic violence programs that serve over

1.28 million people annually across the United States and within U.S. territories and Native American communities. For the past 36 years, FVPSA has supported community-driven solutions for domestic and dating violence intervention and prevention services. Funding administered by FVPSA is dedicated to providing access to safe, accessible, trauma-informed, and culturally relevant residential and non-residential supportive services for domestic violence survivors and their children. The range of services available within local communities include confidential safety planning, emergency shelters, crisis hotlines, non-residential supportive services, children’s programs, legal advocacy/court accompaniment, and referral to social services, employment, housing, and public benefits programs, among others.

Domestic violence shelters are a life-saving, but often time-limited resource. The demand for emergency and transitional residential services greatly exceeds the capacity of most local and tribal domestic violence programs to respond. This leaves many survivors with no choice but to return to their abusers when they exit programs, especially if they have nowhere else to go.

Alternatively, survivors may have to apply for entry into homeless services programs and housing systems of care. However, domestic violence and homeless services and housing programs have historically largely advanced along separate lines, despite the significant overlap in their service populations. This fragmentation has frequently led to ineffective communication and coordination between providers from both fields, often leading to barriers for survivors attempting to achieve housing stability.

In 2016, the FVPSA program began partnering with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), as well as the HUD Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) office, to identify and analyze key considerations related to capacity, resources, and guidance needed to adequately address the housing needs of domestic violence survivors and their children. Toward that end, the FVPSA program, OVW, SNAPS, and OVC have leveraged federal resources to create a federal Domestic Violence and Housing Technical Assistance Consortium (DVHTAC). The DVHTAC’s mission is to implement a federally coordinated approach to providing resources, program guidance, training, and technical assistance to domestic violence, homeless, and housing service providers. In addition to the strategic coordination between the federal partners, the DVHTAC includes a tightly woven collaboration between multiple national technical assistance and training providers from the domestic violence, sexual assault, and homelessness fields to provide both proactive and responsive technical assistance to victim services providers and housing programs nationwide, bridging the gap between the housing and domestic violence/sexual assault fields on federal, state and local levels. The Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing takes a leadership role in this collaboration, convening the collaborative partners.

Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN) The Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing will be a part of FYSB's Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN), a nationwide network composed of National Resource Centers, Special Issues Resource Centers, Culturally Specific Special Issue Resource Centers, and Emerging Issue Capacity Building Centers focused on the intervention and prevention of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence. The DVRN will provide information, resources, training, and technical assistance to improve the capacity of individuals, organizations, governmental agencies, local communities, tribes, and tribal organizations, to prevent family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence, and to provide evidence-based and evidence-informed intervention services. As part of the DVRN, the Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing will work collaboratively to share their national expertise and deliver domestic violence and dating violence related training and technical assistance. While the Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing will be a member of the DVRN, they will maintain independent governance of their own organization, but will be required to share their expertise with other DVRN members, actively participate in the coordination of technical assistance, attend semi-annual DVRN meetings, and work collaboratively to develop resources as needed. All DVRN resource centers are expected to conduct their activities in an accessible, linguistically appropriate, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed manner and to proactively focus their activities to address racial inequities that exist for survivors of domestic violence, both within victim services and other systems related to the issue areas of the specific resource center. DVRN resource centers actively work to ensure access to services for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (LGBTQ) and Two-Spirit survivors and their children, and to ensure that no person shall on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under, any program or activity funded in whole or in part through FVPSA, in accordance with FVPSA regulations at 45 CFR part 1370 (a) and (c).

Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing The goal of the FVPSA-funded Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing is to improve responses to survivors of domestic violence and their families across the continuum of publicly and privately funded homeless services and housing programs. The project prioritizes strengthening communication, coordination, and collaboration among domestic violence, housing, and homeless service providers, and increasing access to comprehensive technical assistance, training, evidence-based policy and practice guidance, and research.

Note: For the purposes of this FOA, evidence-informed practices bring together the best available research, professional expertise, and input from special issue and intimate partner violence prevention communities to identify and deliver services that have promise to achieve positive outcomes for victims of family violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and their children.

For information on eligibility, please see Section III.1. Eligible Applicants.

Program Expectations

1. Leadership, Organizational Capacity, and Expertise

a. The grantee must demonstrate specialized expertise, organizational capacity, and sustained outcomes working directly on the intersection of domestic violence and housing/homelessness issues.

b. The grantee shall collaborate significantly with the DVHTAC supported by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), DOJ, and HUD. The grantee shall convene quarterly status meetings for all designated project partners and coordinate the consolidated reporting of outcomes and trends from the technical assistance provider partners to the federal partners on a regular basis. The grantee shall provide coordination and leadership to the collaboration on an ongoing basis.

c. The grantee shall lead or contribute to domestic violence prevention or intervention efforts, related to housing for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. The grantee shall identify, develop, and enhance domestic violence intervention and prevention strategies by fostering promising, evidence-informed, and evidence-based practice development, adaptation, and implementation throughout the domestic violence field. Furthermore, the grantee is expected to develop resources and disseminate information related to promising, evidence-based, and evidence-informed intervention/prevention strategies, practice guides, model policies and practices, prevalence statistics, emerging issues, culturally specific populations, lessons learned, and/or special topics.

i. Prevention Definitions:

A. Primary Prevention: Strategies, policies, and programs to stop first-time perpetration and victimization. Primary prevention is stopping domestic and dating violence before they occur. Primary prevention includes, but is not limited to, the following: school-based violence prevention curricula, programs aimed at mitigating the effects on children of witnessing domestic or dating violence, community campaigns designed to alter norms and values conducive to domestic or dating violence, worksite prevention programs, and training and education in parenting skills and self-esteem enhancement.

B. Secondary Prevention: Identifying risk factors or problems that may lead to future family, domestic, or dating violence, and taking the necessary actions to eliminate the risk factors and the potential problem. Actions may include, but are not limited to, healing services for children and youth who have been exposed to domestic or dating violence, home visiting programs for high-risk families, and screening programs in health care settings.

d. The grantee will join and actively participate in the DVRN. The DVRN will work collaboratively to share their national expertise and deliver domestic violence-related training and technical assistance. The grantee must designate at least one person to participate in the DVRN's technical assistance meetings. Grantees must plan travel expenses for at least one representative to participate in the two DVRN technical assistance meetings each project period.

e. Coordinate and collaborate with the FVPSA-funded Capacity Building Center on Safe and Supportive Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors in Tribal Communities and the DVHTAC to enhance the capacity of mainstream domestic violence and housing/homelessness systems to respond to the housing needs of urban Indian survivors and their children.

f. Grantees shall maintain the organizational capacity to implement the capacity building center project, including relevant subject matter expertise (domestic violence, housing/homelessness, and as needed for proposed projects), research and evaluation capacity, administrative capacity, project management capacity, national resource center leadership, and sufficient staffing to meet project goals and deliverables. Grantees shall maintain clear plans for maintaining organizational capacity and continuity of services during emergency, disaster, and/or pandemic situations and transition of key project staff.

g. The grantee shall create and implement a plan to maintain up-to-date expertise on the housing/homelessness and domestic violence, including periodic needs assessments of the domestic violence field and housing/homelessness field in order to identify unmet training and technical assistance needs, including the identification of unaddressed or under-addressed topic areas and audiences. This shall include, but not be limited to, completion of a national needs assessment in the first 6 months of project Year 1 and Year 4.

h. The grantee shall ensure that grant approach, workplans, and deliverables are consistent with a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. The grantee will provide a comprehensive community equity plan (or other similar documentation within the application) that demonstrates the processes and policies the grantee has in place to ensure the proactive identification of systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and other underserved populations and strategic incorporation of activities to redress such barriers in ongoing workplans. This plan (or other similar documentation within the application) will also address policies and practices that are in place to ensure that the grant staffing plan supports the capacity to address those disparities in an ongoing, strategic, and culturally responsive manner, especially for particular underserved populations with documented history of long-standing significant disparities related to the topic of the grant.

i. “Underserved” definition: For purposes of this FOA, “underserved population”, “underserved communities” or “people who have been historically underserved” should be read to be consistent with FVPSA statutory and regulatory definitions (at 42 U.S.C.10402 (14) and 45 CFR part 1370.2). For reference, the definition at 45 CFR part 1370.2 is given here: “Underserved populations means populations who face barriers in accessing and using victim services, and includes populations underserved because of geographic location, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, underserved racial and ethnic populations, and populations underserved because of special needs including language barriers, disabilities, immigration status, and age. Individuals with criminal histories due to victimization and individuals with substance use disorders and mental health issues are also included in this definition. The reference to racial and ethnic populations is primarily directed toward racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300(u–6)(g)), which means American Indians (including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts); Asian American; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; Blacks and Hispanics. The term ‘‘Hispanic’’ or ‘‘Latino’’ means individuals whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or any other Spanish speaking country. This underserved populations definition also includes other population categories determined by the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] or the Secretary’s designee to be underserved."

i. The grantee shall ensure that grant approach, workplans, and deliverables are consistent with prohibitions on discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation and proactively support access and redress barriers for LGBTQ and Two-Spirit survivors and their children and that technical assistance and training is conducted in alignment with FVPSA regulations at 45 CFR part 1370 (a) and (c) requiring that no person shall on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under, any program or activity funded in whole or in part through FVPSA.

j. As this is a cooperative agreement that will include substantial involvement from the

FVPSA program in FYSB, the grantee must actively partner with the FVPSA program officers in implementing the capacity building center's deliverables. Grantees shall plan conferences, meetings, or major project meetings in conjunction with FYSB to allow participation of FYSB staff. Grantees shall plan to develop, review, and discuss a detailed plan for project implementation, a workplan, a trainings/events schedule, an evaluation schedule, and a plan for reporting on the effectiveness of the project. The grantee will need to plan to partner with FVPSA program officers in the planning, coordination, and implementation of meetings for FVPSA grantees. More information on how FYSB will be involved is included in Section II. Federal Award Information:

Description of ACF's Anticipated Substantial Involvement Under the Cooperative Agreement. Grantees must plan travel to participate in at least one FVPSA program/FYSB meeting per budget period. Grantees must plan to assist FYSB with technical and logistical support of grantee meetings and conferences, including providing insight from first-hand knowledge and experience that can inform planning, analysis, and implementation as related to identified training and technical assistance topics, identifying meeting/conference venues, subcontracting with quality presenters, facilitators and consultants, working with stakeholders to develop an agenda, arranging travel, providing onsite support, and following up on conference evaluations.

2. Training and Technical Assistance

a. The grantee is required to offer and deliver comprehensive and national scope training and technical assistance in coordination with the DVHTAC to enhance the capacity of domestic violence programs, state domestic violence coalitions, tribes, tribal organizations, government agencies, housing/homelessness programs, community-based organizations, and other related public and private systems/institutions to prevent and respond to domestic violence as related to housing/homelessness.

b. The grantee must identify and address current and emerging issues related to family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence through the provision of training and technical assistance that is comprehensive and national in scope. Topics of relevance may include the co-occurrence of HIV and domestic violence; human trafficking; youth homelessness; family self-sufficiency; social capital/community-based supports for families; safe access to child support; service needs of girls/women of color; engaging faith communities; needs of elder victims; needs of LGBTQ victims, services for male victims; needs of children of all ages who witness violence; maternal health and maternal mortality; trauma-informed support for formerly incarcerated survivors;

meeting the needs of survivors with substance use histories; the intersection of intimate partner violence, gun violence, and community violence prevention; and other topics identified as priorities by FYSB and the FVPSA program.

c. The grantee shall maintain the capacity to provide virtual training to a range of audiences and audience sizes, including, but not limited to securing the necessary technical tools/platforms and ensuring staff or consultant subject matter expertise on adult learning, instructional design, and learning management systems best practices.

d. Training and technical assistance provided by FYSB grantees shall be victim-centered, trauma-informed, culturally relevant, linguistically appropriate, and age-appropriate, and shall be accessible to victims of domestic violence from diverse and underserved communities, including culturally specific (or racial/ethnic) communities; formerly incarcerated domestic violence victims; victims living with HIV/AIDS; trafficked victims; victims with disabilities; survivors with substance use histories, etc. The grantee shall identify population groups that are documented to have particular barriers in accessing services within the housing/homelessness and domestic violence fields and ensure that training and technical assistance is designed to address and ameliorate those barriers.

e. The grantee shall conduct periodic needs assessments of the domestic violence and housing/homelessness fields in order to identify unmet training and technical assistance needs, including the identification of unaddressed or under-addressed topic areas and audiences.

i. Training and Technical Assistance Definitions A. Trainings and presentations are pre-scheduled and provide in-depth information on a particular topic or topics; they can be in person, in a targeted geographic area, over the phone, or online.

B. Technical assistance is specific, detailed guidance and can include phone calls or e-mails on a specific topic, provision of written materials, referrals, review and feedback/comments/advice on materials prepared by individuals or organizations, or on-site visits involving intensive assistance and an exchange of information and resources.

3. Community/FYSB Grantee Engagement

a. In order to identify and respond to current and emerging issues, technical assistance requests, adaptation/implementation of promising practices, and increasing service demands, the grantee shall work in partnership with the DVHTAC, community-based domestic violence programs, state domestic violence coalitions, FVPSA state administrators, government agencies, tribes, tribal organizations, policymakers, culturally specific organizations, LGBTQ organizations, and other entities involved in assisting community-based programs and victims of domestic violence.

b. In order to ensure that products and activities are appropriately survivor-centered, the grantee shall create and implement effective strategies to regularly incorporate input and feedback from people with lived experience as survivors of domestic violence and their children and those with experience of homelessness into grant activities at multiple points in the implementation process.

c. In order to enhance the capacity of communities to meet the housing needs of survivors and their children, the grantee is expected to foster partnerships between organizations that have not traditionally worked together to address domestic violence and safe and supportive housing options, such as public institutions, faith-based organizations, local domestic violence programs, homeless and housing service providers, culturally specific organizations, LGBTQ organizations, and other community-based organizations.

4. Policy/Systems Improvement

a. The grantee shall engage public and private systems/institutions in the housing/homelessness field to review, analyze, and improve national, statewide, tribal, or local systemic responses to domestic violence, thus minimizing barriers for victims of domestic violence and their children who need to safely access housing. The grantee will identify policies and practices that promote positive outcomes, resilience, economic security, and housing stability for families affected by domestic violence.

b. The grantee must coordinate systems improvements and policy development/changes collaboratively with community partners and stakeholders to ensure that responses related to housing/homelessness are informed by domestic violence victims and service providers and take into consideration any unintended consequences, service gaps, and availability of community resources.

c. Grantees shall collaborate with public and private systems in the housing/homelessness field to strengthen and implement policies and institutionalize training to improve accessibility and service outcomes for victims of domestic violence and their children.

5. Research and Evaluation

a. The grantee is expected to lead housing and domestic violence research projects, which may include identifying gaps in domestic violence-specific research, publishing best practices in coordinated assessment screening and intake tools, documenting model programming, and assessing/reviewing current housing and domestic violence-specific research. Grantees are expected to integrate the results of research into their training and technical assistance and other activities on an ongoing basis.

b. The grantee shall review the scope of available research and national standards to identify gaps and key questions for future research opportunities or projects. The grantee shall review the areas of research and/or specific research questions that may need to be investigated, initial ideas on how to assess the research questions, and any limitations foreseen. Grantees shall discuss how they will assess the rigor of research identified, and how they will highlight limitations and call attention to future directions for research.

Grantees shall discuss the state of the research and the specific research and knowledge areas to which the cooperative agreement's research and knowledge development activities will contribute. The scope of this review may be limited to the specific expertise of the capacity building center.

c. The grantee shall build, assess, and promote evidence-informed and evidence-based approaches that improve responses and outcomes for domestic violence and dating violence victims and their children.

d. The grantee must develop a plan for national distribution of research or findings that integrates the capacity building center’s area of expertise and shares those findings with the domestic violence field and the housing/homelessness field, as well as the general public. The grantee shall maintain and update a website clearinghouse of resources related to domestic violence and housing (safehousingpartnerships.org).

e. The grantee will identify programmatic approaches throughout the domestic violence, homelessness, and housing fields that show significant promise for replication and adaptation and can lead to improved training and technical assistance to domestic violence and housing and homelessness service providers, as well as a broad range of other key stakeholders. The grantee will document promising practices and gather lessons learned from the field regarding, for example, homelessness prevention, mainstream housing programs effectively serving domestic violence survivors, coordinated assessment and entry, transitional housing, progressive engagement/supportive services, and permanent affordable housing options.

f. The grantee must have an evaluation plan to document and assess outputs and outcomes of training and technical assistance. All grantees must demonstrate outcomes related to the project objectives, completing the activities proposed in their project plan, and documenting overall impact. Measures of outcomes should include success in delivering national scope training and technical assistance that addresses the needs specific to housing/homelessness, as well as documenting changes in knowledge and skills as a result of training and technical assistance efforts. Grantees must have a plan to incorporate the results of evaluation activity to improve future training and technical assistance on an ongoing basis.

g. The grantee will be required to report on outcomes achieved such as:

i. What is produced because of the project, or the results/outputs.

ii. What is achieved because of the project, or the benefits/outcomes.

iii. What is changed because of the project, or the achievements/outcomes.

6. Public Awareness and Communications

a. The grantee shall enhance public awareness of domestic violence as related to the relevant special issue area through the development, coordination, and dissemination of campaigns, resources, and information related to intervention/prevention strategies, prevalence statistics, emerging issues, culturally specific populations, or special topics.

Wherever appropriate, grantees shall include information on FYSB-funded domestic violence hotlines (The National Domestic Violence Hotline, StrongHearts Native Hotline, Love is Respect) on materials.

b. The grantee must have a plan for communicating and disseminating information, products, and materials with community-based domestic violence programs, state domestic violence coalitions, FVPSA state administrators, government agencies, tribes, tribal organizations, policymakers, culturally specific organizations, LGBTQ organizations, other entities involved in assisting community-based programs and victims of domestic violence, and the public.

c. The grantee must gather and create resources to raise awareness and address a range of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence intervention and prevention issues, including promising practices, guidelines, and clearinghouse informational materials, and make this information available to the domestic violence field.

d. The grantee shall distribute and develop comprehensive statistics, fact sheets, and specialized resources addressing a range of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence intervention and prevention issues, including emerging topics.

e. The grantee must distribute and develop materials to support the adaptation of model programs; promising, evidence-informed, and evidence-based practices; and exemplary projects.

f. The grantee must coordinate meetings, conferences, webinars, podcasts, radio shows, campaigns, etc. to share information, resources, and expertise based on the best format for relaying the message or information and reaching the target audience.

g. The grantee shall organize and participate in national domestic violence and related awareness month activities to increase awareness and understanding of domestic violence and how it intersects with housing/homelessness issues and to provide resources and information on how to address related intervention and prevention issues.

II. Federal Award Information Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement Estimated Total Funding: $500,000 Expected Number of Awards: 1 Award Ceiling: $500,000 Per Budget Period Award Floor: $500,000 Per Budget Period Average Projected Award Amount: $500,000 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.

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

FYSB shall:

Review, provide feedback on, and approve the project scope, activities, and work plan for the project, as well as the structure and integrity of the capacity building center. This includes any changes to key personnel on the project.

Propose and approve significant changes to project scope, activities, and work plans, at its discretion.

Review and approve final drafts of all updated or new materials, articles, major publications, and research reports that are developed or distributed with resources made available under this cooperative agreement.

Be involved in the development of long-term strategies for the implementation of the project and participate in major project activities, such as advisory or other leadership committee meetings, conferences, topical meetings, or major project meetings.

Make changes to the project plan in consultation with the grantee, as FYSB determines appropriate.

Keep grantees informed about expectations for performance, current ACF/FYSB policy, and FYSB's vision for addressing family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence.

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.

The respective responsibilities of FYSB and the successful applicants will be identified and incorporated into the cooperative agreement during the pre-award negotiations.

FYSB does not anticipate substantial involvement in the grantee’s creation of data collection activities, such as those related to needs assessments, evaluations, and requests for feedback, and grantees are not expected to submit such data collection instruments for program office review and approval. In cases where FYSB is directly involved in the creation of data collection activities under this FOA, data collection will be conducted consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, (44 U.S.C.

3501-3521) and display a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

To be eligible to receive this discretionary grant, an entity shall be a private, non-profit organization (including a faith-based, charitable, community-based, culturally specific, or voluntary association); a tribal organization; a state, tribal, or local government; a public, private, state-controlled institution of higher education; a for-profit organization other than small businesses; or a small business. The entity shall demonstrate the following:

expertise in addressing the housing needs of domestic violence survivors; and capacity to implement national training, technical assistance, research, and resource development to domestic violence service programs and housing service providers.

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.

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

Eligible applicants may also be in a partnership of two or more organizations (aka consortium) that combine expertise in the areas of domestic violence and housing in order to achieve the goal and objectives described in Section I. Program Description.

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.

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

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 received approval of an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this announcement.

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…