HHS-2022-ACL-AOA-CSSG-0041 Informational Call.pdf

NWX-HHS-AOA-1

Moderator: Lesha Spencer-Brown

12-02-21/12:00 pm CT Confirmation # 2449322

Transcript for Informational Call:

HHS-2022-ACL-AOA-CSSG-0041: 2022 ACL Empowering Communities to Deliver and

Sustain Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Self-Management Education

Programs

Moderator: Lesha Spencer-Brown

December 2, 2021

12:00 pm CT

Coordinator: Welcome everyone to today's conference call. At this time your lines have been placed on listen-only for conference until the question-and-answer portion of our call at which time you will be prompted to press Star 1 on your touch tone phone. Please ensure that your line is unmuted and please record your name when prompted so that I may introduce you to ask your question.

Our conference is also being recorded, and if you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. I will now turn the conference over to our host

Miss Lesha Spencer-Brown. Ma'am, you may proceed.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Thank you (Jill). Hello everyone. My name is Lesha Spencer-

Brown and on behalf of the Administration on Aging, Administration for

Community Living, I would like to thank you for joining this informational call today.

Today we'll be discussing the Notice of Funding Opportunity number HHS-

2022-ACL-AOA-CSSG-0041, titled 2022 Empowering Communities to

Deliver and Sustain Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Self-Management

Education Programs.

Please note that for fiscal year 2022, ACL anticipates that this will be the only notice of funding opportunity for the CDSME program. I would also like to

12-02-21/12:00 pm CT Confirmation # 2449322 note that I'm the main contact for this notice of funding opportunity and my contact information is listed on Page 11 of the Funding Opportunity.

During this informational call we will be reviewing the Administration for

Community Living's vision related to this funding opportunity, key award information including who is eligible to apply, items of note in the funding opportunity and finally we'll wrap up with question and answers. I'm also joined today by my colleague from ACL's office of Grants Management, Sean

Lewis who will also be available for the Q&A portion of this call.

Throughout the review of this funding opportunity I will be referencing the

PDF with the instructions for applying which is posted on Grants.gov. To find this PDF, if you have not already done so, please do the following: locate the funding opportunity on Grants.gov, go to the Package tab, click on the

Preview link and click on Download Instructions.

A Frequently Asked Questions document was also posted on Grants.gov. To find this PDF please do the following: go to the Related Documents tab, find and then click on the Frequently Asked Questions file name to download and save the document. It would be helpful to download these documents so that you can follow along during this presentation.

So, let's start with the overall vision. The Empowering Communities to

Deliver and Sustain Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Self-Management

Education Programs funding opportunity reflects ACL's commitment to evidence-based chronic disease self-management education programs and our vision to help communities develop or expand capacity for, deliver, and sustain these programs for older adults and adults with disabilities, particularly those in under-served geographic areas and/or populations as

12-02-21/12:00 pm CT Confirmation # 2449322 defined by the executive order on advancing racial equity and support for under-served communities through the federal government.

The executive orders intended to guide the Health and Human Services pursuit of a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all. Including people of color and others who've been historically under-served, marginalized and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.

Over the last year and a half we've seen where older adults have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. So now more than ever, we see the critical need to not only promote and make widely available these programs, but to integrate and sustain them across multiple sectors. The pandemic has significantly exacerbated existing health inequities and further exposed under-served populations to suboptimal social determinants of health.

Now let's move on to an overview of key award information. As previously mentioned, ACL anticipates that this will be the only CDSME funding opportunity for fiscal year 2022 and that this will be highly competitive.

Approximately $6 million is available for an estimated seven to nine cooperative agreements. To give you an idea of how competitive our CDSME grant opportunities typically are; in the 2021 ACL CDSME Grant

Competition ACL received a total of 45 applications and awarded eight grants. So approximately 18% of applications were funded.

Grants will be awarded in an amount ranging from $600,000 to $700,000 for a three year, fully-funded, grant period subject to the availability of federal funds. Fully-funded means that grant funds for the three year project and budget period, are available at the time of award. Grantees will not have to compete for the second and third year of funding.

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Eligible applicants for this funding opportunity are listed on Page 8 of this

Notice of Funding Opportunity. Those eligible include; domestic, public or private nonprofit entities including state governments, city governments, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, public and state controlled institutions of higher education, Native

American tribal governments, public housing authorities, Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations, nonprofits having a

501(c)(3) status, private institutions of higher education, faith based organizations and community based organizations. Individuals, for-profit companies and foreign entities are not eligible to apply.

Note that current or previous ACL CDSME grantees are not excluded from this funding opportunity. But if submitting an application, current or previous grantees must provide a strong rationale for the need for additional funding including an explanation for how this proposal would significantly differ from a previous project. This proposal may not be a simple continuation of current efforts or activities supported by previously awarded ACL CDSME grants.

Particularly because sustainability without additional federal funding has been a goal of all previous ACL CDSME funding opportunities.

If repeat awardees are successful, they will be expected to meet the discrete participant completer and sustainability goals that they included in each of their awards.

All applicants must specify a project director in their application. The project director, also sometimes referred to as the principal investigator, is the primary point of contact on matters involving the application. This should be the individual that would actually oversee the work of the proposed project and doesn't have to be a senior leader or executive at the organization.

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The project director should be actively involved in the writing of the proposal and be able to answer any ACL questions about the application. Please ensure that you list the name and contact information for the project director on Page

1 of the SF-424 that you submit with your application.

The letter of intent for this notice of funding opportunity is due by Friday, December 17. This is highly recommended as it is helpful for our internal planning purposes. The letter does not need to be formal. An email indicating the notice of funding opportunity, title and number and your intention to apply is sufficient.

The deadline date for submission of applications is 11:59 pm Eastern Time on

January 25, 2022. However we strongly encourage that you submit your application to Grants.gov at least seven days prior to the application closing date in case of any technical issues. The anticipated notice of grant awards and project start date is May 1, 2022.

Let's now talk a little bit about the application screening. In order for an application to be reviewed it must meet all of the following screening requirements. Applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov by

11:59 pm Eastern Time, January 25, 2022. This information is listed in

Section 4.3, Submission Dates and Times, of the Funding Opportunity.

The Project Narrative section of the application must be double spaced on 8.5 by 11 plain white paper with one inch margins on both sides. And a standard font size of no less than 11 point, preferably Times New Roman or Arial. If you single space something in the narrative, even in your text, on charts or in your tables, your application may be screened out. The project narrative must not exceed 20 pages.

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Note that the project's work plan, your letters of commitment, project map, organizational chart, your budget narrative and justification and resumes for your key project personnel are not counted as part of the project narrative for the purposes of the 20 page limit. Specific instructions for formatting the project narrative begin on Page 12 of the Funding Opportunity. Please heed these instructions carefully.

To make it as easy as possible for reviewers scoring your application, applicants are required to use the five headings that are listed on Page 12 to organize the narrative and to please provide a table of contents for any appendices to the application. Applications must include a proposed budget narrative and justification for years one, two and three along with a combined budget narrative and justification for the proposed 36 month budget period.

The proposed combined budget narrative and justification must not exceed the award ceiling of $700,000. And applications must include a project work plan for years one, two and three. The project work plans must be consistent with the proposed project narrative and budget narrative and justifications.

Now I'd like to highlight several items of note in the Notice of Funding

Opportunity. For this fiscal year there's a strong emphasis on both capacity building as well as sustainability. This CDSME funding opportunity has two goals listed on Page 4. Goal one is to develop or expand capacity to significantly increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities, particularly those in under-served areas and populations, who participate in evidence-based chronic disease self-management education and self-management support programs to empower them to better manage their chronic conditions.

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All applicants must propose goals and major outcomes that align with this goal. And describe a comprehensive strategy for building capacity for implementing and disseminating the proposed CDSME and self-management support programs. Of special note, all applicants must propose to offer two or more CDSME programs and at least one support program on the pre-approved list of programs in Appendix A and Appendix C of the Funding Opportunity.

And propose at least one of those programs to be delivered in a remote format for example, video-conference, phone or some other modality that does not involve an in-person component.

Note that the National CDSME Resource Center, currently the National

Council on Aging Center for Healthy Aging, maintains a website that tracks remote program guidance by program. And this is linked in the Funding

Opportunity on multiple pages for example, Pages 5 and 14.

I would also like to point out that the NCOA -National Council on Aging-website includes programs on the pre-approved list in Appendix B and

Appendix C, as well as other programs that are not on these lists. I will emphasize again to you, please only propose programs on the pre-approved list in Appendix B and Appendix C.

All applicants are also recommended to contact the program administrator for any programs they're interested in delivering remotely to confirm that one; the programs are allowed for remote delivery; and two, that training is readily available for applicants who need it. If you do not have existing capacity to deliver a program you are proposing to deliver you should also contact the program administrator to ensure that training is available within the first three months of award. If you do have adequate capacity please provide an organizational letter stating this and attach this letter as an appendix to your application.

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The participant and completer targets for your proposed programs must be realistic and achievable. As noted in the Funding Opportunity on Page 7, awardees will be held accountable for achieving approximately 25% of their

CDSME program completer target, (or participant target, when talking about the self-management support programs) by the end of year one; 50% of their target by the end of year two; and 100% of the target by the end of year three.

The National CDSME Resource Center has developed a tool to assist applicants with developing realistic and achievable targets. This tool is included in Appendix - as Appendix E in the funding opportunity on Page 54.

All applicants must also describe the target population to be served by the proposed programs as well as the relevant partners and their roles in the dissemination of the programs.

Moving on to goal two. Goal two is to enhance the sustainability of evidence-based chronic disease self-management education and self-management support programs through the implementation of robust sustainability strategies.

The goal of sustainability is to integrate and embed evidence-based programs into a community's network of coordinated health and social services so that they become a routine and integral component of the network's services and are available and easily accessible over time. All applicants must propose goals and major outcomes that align with this goal and describe robust sustainability strategies to support the proposed programs during and beyond the grant period.

Note that you must describe any proposed or current sustainability efforts across your proposed targeted geographic areas, business planning efforts, the

12-02-21/12:00 pm CT Confirmation # 2449322 partners involved, as well as any challenges you're encountering or anticipate encountering, and how your project will address these challenges.

This funding opportunity also requires letters of commitment. Letters should be included from your key partners, particularly those named in the project narrative as having a key role, the state unit on aging or state units on aging if proposing a multi-state effort, all area agencies on aging within the targeted geographic areas, and the program administrators for the programs proposed if there is inadequate capacity and training is needed.

All applicants are expected to be able to begin delivering their proposed programs within three to six months after receiving their notice of award. So it is important for you to contact the program administrators while you are developing your application to ensure that training for your proposed programs will be available if you do need that. If the state unit on aging, and/or, an area agency on aging declines to provide a letter, you should include some sort of evidence that you made that request in your application.

This could be in the form of an e-mail.

The state unit on aging and area agency on aging letters are not required for applicants that are tribal entities. In lieu of these letters tribal applicants should include a tribal resolution that states the reasons they are applying for the grant and commitment to executing the grant activities should it be awarded.

It is important to emphasize that each of these letters should clearly describe the specific roles each of these entities will play. The quality of the letter content is more important than the quantity of these letters submitted. So, we do emphasize describing the specific role each of these partners will play.

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Please also carefully review the requirements for the work plan and budget narrative justifications. There are sample templates provided to guide you and it is strongly recommended that you follow these guidelines. For more details about the required sections of the project narrative please see Pages 12 through 20 of the Funding Opportunity.

The application review information beginning on Page 22 of the Funding

Opportunity details the criteria by which your application will be scored. You will notice that these criteria mirrored the details requested in the project narrative. I encourage you to closely review the criteria and ensure that you are addressing these in your narrative and application materials.

Before I wrap up this overview and begin the Q&A portion of this call, I'd like to recommend that all applicants thoroughly review the appendices of the notice of funding opportunity. They provide valuable information including the allowable programs and other resources to help you as you develop your application. I will now open up for Q&A. (Jill)?

Coordinator: Thank you, at this time if you would like to ask a question please press Star 1 on your touch tone phone. Please ensure that your line is un-muted and please record your name when prompted so that I may introduce you to ask your question. Once again it is Star 1 at this time. We have a question from

(Veronica Fitzpatrick). Your line is open.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Hi, thank you so much and thank you for the overview. Can you guys hear me okay?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Yes.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): I had a question about the CDSME requirement.

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Lesha Spencer-Brown: Okay.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Is there any requirement that these have to be - that the two

CDSME and then the one support program have to be used by themselves if we already have existing chronic disease or diabetes programming going on but we think that any of these curricula might be able to enhance our current programming? Is that allowed or does it have to be used exclusively?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: So if I'm understanding your question correctly, are you asking if you already have these programs going on, if you need to propose new programs? Or can you basically propose to enhance what you're already doing? Is that your question?

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Sort of. If we are already doing programming that is not on the approved programs based on the proposal, like the two - the appendices, can we use the approved programs to enhance our current programs that are not currently approved? Does that sort of make sense?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. No, it does. Yes. So you are doing programs that are not on those lists and you would want to do programs that are on the list to then enhance what you're already doing. And the answer is yes.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Okay. And because it is an absolute requirement to have two of those approved programs, right? Like we're not allowed to sort of apply for funding using our own programs. It has to be very specifically these, correct?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: They have to be on the list. Yes.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Okay. Okay. Just clarifying. Thank you so much.

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Lesha Spencer-Brown: Thank you, (Veronica).

Coordinator: Thank you. Our next question is from (Sarah Vingo). Your line is open.

(Sarah Vingo): Hi and thank you very much. I actually have two questions if that's okay. The first one is if one of the approved programs that's found in the appendices has a Spanish translation that's approved by the, I guess, curriculum developer but the translation itself is not listed in the appendices explicitly, is that an allowable program?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: So again, going back to the list, we do have some programs there that are Spanish translations of the program, so if it's not on the list, then it would not be acceptable for dissemination. You can always feel free to follow up with me regarding that specific program and we can discuss that more. But programs definitely need to be on the list for dissemination. And it does include some Spanish translations of programs as well.

(Sarah Vingo): Okay, thank you for that clarification. The second question, if I may, there is a minimum age defined as an older adult. But is there a minimum age for services for adults with disabilities? Would that be anything different than the

60 years?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: So it could be. You are definitely able to provide programs to individuals with disabilities who are younger than 60. I will say that the target population is for those over 60. But it's not out of the question if you are to implement for folks younger than 60 with disabilities. I would just encourage you to really review the program, even reach out to the program developers to ensure that it would be beneficial for those younger than 60 to make sure, you know, that the evidence and the benefits would still be there for them.

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(Sarah Vingo): Okay, thank you.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: You're welcome.

Coordinator: Thank you. Next question is from (Sharon Brown). Your line is open.

(Sharon Brown): Hi, thank you. It's just a really quick question. I was just wondering how long does it usually take to get the state unit aging department to approve a request?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Are you referring to the letters of commitment?

(Sharon Brown): Correct.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: I would not know the answer to that. I guess it would be dependent on when you reached out, who you reached out to. But I would not be able to answer that specific question.

(Sharon Brown): Okay. But again, so we-- just as long as we include the fact that we requested it, that should be sufficient as well, but hopefully to just show that we got through what would be the ultimate.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Right. And if you know you do want to apply, I would reach out to them as soon as possible.

(Sharon Brown): Okay. Thank you very much.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: You're welcome.

Coordinator: Our next question is from (Morgan Wilson). Your line is open.

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(Morgan Wilson): Hi, thank you for that great overview. I had a similar question to (Veronica)'s.

We currently support the CDSME programs and we were curious about if it's acceptable, or do we need to propose at least one novel suggestion need program? And then can we expand on the ones that we currently have? Or do they all need to be novel programs? Like new to our organization.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: So for the use of the federal funds it has to support programs that are on the list. So as (Veronica) asked she wanted to know if she could use funds to complement what was already happening. But this specific funding has to still only support programs that are on the list.

(Morgan Wilson): Okay. And then if I may one follow up question to that. If we found a program that we want to deliver remotely or we believe has a capacity to be delivered remotely, we're recommended to contact you or the program administrator to ensure that the training is available in a timely manner?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Yes. Yes. And then in the notice of Funding Opportunity there is a link to where our resource center for the National CDSME Resource Center maintain a list of guidance for those programs, so you can start by checking that web page and also following up with the program administrator.

(Morgan Wilson): Okay. Great. Thank you so much.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: You're welcome.

Coordinator: Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your touch tone phone and ensure that your line is un-muted to record your name.

We have a follow-up from (Veronica Fitzpatrick). Your line is open.

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(Veronica Fitzpatrick): I'm sorry. Thank you. So I should have answered this when I had the stage. Can you please clarify on Page 2 of the Funding Announcement, goals one and two. So I'm a little bit confused. Are we supposed to include both these goals? Or one or the other because they, like, are kind of similar, but not really? One seems like it's around development and one is around sustainability.

And then a follow-up to this is that it says to increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities. So does that mean that we have to target older adults with disabilities? Or these can be two separate populations?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: So great question. Let me go back to the very first one about the goals. So they are different, right? One we're looking to just increase the number of people that are participating in the programs. And because we are the Administration on Aging Administration for Community Living, we're focusing on older adults and adults with disabilities. So goal one is focused on making sure that the programs are out there and that we are disseminating them to these populations and increasing the number of people who participate.

The second is solely around sustainability. So now that the programs are out there, what do we do to ensure that they'll be there and accessible over time?

So that's the distinction between those two goals there.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Okay, so and...

((Crosstalk))

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Oh, I'm sorry.

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Lesha Spencer-Brown: No, no, go ahead.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): So it sounds to me - if I'm understanding correctly that these sort of that - because obviously part of this funding would be to expand current programing or develop a program if you don't already have it. So it sounds to me like goal one is sort of around that expansion. Then goal two is really around sustainability and in our proposals we should be addressing both of these goals.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: You should be addressing both of those goals.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Great, thank you.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: You're welcome.

Coordinator: Once again if you would like to.

Coordinator: I'm sorry, go ahead, Veronica.

(Veronica Fitzpatrick): No, you guys, I'm sorry. So just to be clear, so, because it says increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities not, and or, it is okay to only focus on older adults and not adults with disabilities?

Lesha Spencer-Brown: I would encourage you to review the FAQs (Veronica). And we do talk specifically around, the differences in that as well, and then to please send me an email if you need further clarification.

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(Veronica Fitzpatrick): Okay. I did. I just I guess I was still confused on that but okay.

And where you think? Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll send a follow up email.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Thank you.

Coordinator: Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 and record your name.

At this time, I show no further questions.

Lesha Spencer-Brown: Thank you (Jill). Thank you all for joining us today. Please be reminded to review the Frequently Asked Questions document I referred to you earlier in the call. A recording of this call will be available approximately one hour after this call concludes at the number listed in the Funding

Opportunity on Page 3. Again, thank you so much for joining this call. Have a good rest of your day everyone.

Coordinator: This does conclude today's conference call we thank you all for participating.

You may now disconnect and have a great rest of your day.

END