WIC CIAO RFA 05262022 Final.docx

Community Innovation and Outreach (CIAO) Cooperative Agreement

Fiscal Year 2022 Request for Applications (RFA)

Catalog for Federal Domestic Assistance Number (CFDA): 10.557

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number.

FNS plans to seek OMB approval of these reporting requirements under control number 0584-0512 and will not request this information if these requirements are not approved at the time that the information would be due. The estimated average time required to complete this information collection is up to 50 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST

This Application Checklist provides applicants with a list of the required documents. However, FNS expects that applicants will read the entire RFA prior to the submission of their application and comply with all requirements outlined in the solicitation. The Application Checklist is for applicant use only and should not be submitted as part of the Application Package.

Complete the following at least four weeks prior to submission:

1. Obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number;

2. Register the UEI number in the System for Award Management (SAM); and,

3. Register in Grants.gov.

When preparing your application, ensure:

Application format and narrative meet the requirements included in Section IV Application and Submission Information. This includes page limits, priorities, and all necessary attachments.

When preparing your budget, ensure the following information is included:

1. All key staff proposed to be paid by this grant.

2. The percentage of time the Project Director will devote to the project in full-time equivalents (FTEs).

3. Your organization’s fringe benefit rate and amount, as well as the basis for the computation.

4. The type of fringe benefits to be covered with Federal funds.

5. Itemized travel expenses (including type of travel), travel justifications and basis for lodging estimates.

6. Types of equipment and supplies, justifications, and estimates, ensuring that the budget is in line with the project description.

7. Information for all contracts and justification for any sole-source contracts.

8. Justification, description, and itemized list of all consultant services.

9. Indirect cost information (either a copy of a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) or if no agreement exists and the applicant has never been approved for a NICRA, they may charge up to 10% de minimis). If applicant is requesting the de minimis rate or indirect costs are not requested, please indicate this in the budget narrative.

When submitting your application, ensure you have submitted the following:

1. SF-424 – Application for Federal Assistance (fillable PDF in Grants.gov)

1. SF-424A – Budget Information and Instruction Form (fillable PDF in Grants.gov)

1. SF-424B – Assurances for Non-Construction Programs (fillable PDF in Grants.gov)

1. SF-LLL – Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

Table of Contents

1. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES

Program Description The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the nutrition assistance programs of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). FNS works to promote nutrition security through the administration of 15 Federal nutrition assistance programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

WIC is a Federal nutrition assistance program that serves low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to five years old who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health and social services to participants in all 50 states, 33 Indian Tribal Organizations, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Despite evidence that WIC contributes to healthy outcomes, only about 57 percent of WIC eligible mothers and children participated in the program in 2019. Therefore, FNS is interested in increasing the number of individuals enrolled and actively participating in the Program for their full period of eligibility. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) (Public Law 117-2) provided FNS with funding to carry out WIC outreach, innovation, and program modernization efforts to increase participation and benefit redemption.

FNS anticipates awarding up to $20 million to a Grantee (for the purpose of this RFA, this term is used in a general way to include cooperators who are awarded and manage cooperative agreements) to ultimately test the effectiveness of community outreach strategies in increasing WIC participation, especially among underserved populations within a community. This announcement of funding is for a one-time cooperative agreement with an accredited institution of higher education (college/university), nonprofit research entity, or other nonprofit organization. The recipient of this cooperative agreement, referred to in this document as the Grantee as noted above, will have documented experience in public health and communications. The Grantee must complete the objectives of this RFA.

Of the $20 million in award funds, up to $5 million may be reserved for the Grantee’s direct and indirect administrative costs and approximately $15 million must be awarded as subgrants through a competitive process to WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits, with an emphasis on supporting projects with at least one of the following overarching goals:

· Use community-level data to test new ways of delivering WIC messaging and conducting outreach designed to increase WIC participation[footnoteRef:2] and retention; and [2: WIC participation refers to individuals enrolled in the Program and redeeming benefits.]

· Expand partnerships with community-based organizations to connect underserved populations with WIC benefits and services.

The Grantee’s high-level objectives include:

· Developing and implementing a minimum of two funding opportunities for WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits;

· Managing subgrants and providing technical assistance to WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits (referred to in this document as subgrantees) to ensure projects are successfully implemented;

· Applying an implementation science framework that includes a logic model and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be used to assess and report project outcomes;

· Developing an evaluation strategy that supports the application of the most rigorous evaluation methods appropriate for funded projects in order to build the evidence-base that informs WIC outreach practices;

· Providing a national summary report that includes, but is not limited to, a summary of the projects, the technical assistance provided, the evaluation approach, results and implications;

· Developing a WIC outreach framework based on general recommendations, best practices formed during project observation, specific lessons learned, and evaluation results for WIC agencies and/or partners to use to reach underserved populations to increase awareness and access to WIC services by all eligible participants; and

· Creating and providing timely updates to national resources for WIC Program operators and partners based on lessons learned from evaluations.

The subgrant projects are intended to 1). increase awareness, among underserved populations, of the WIC benefits and services available within a specified jurisdiction, 2). increase program participation[footnoteRef:3] and retention, and/or 3). identify effective communication and outreach methods for increasing participation among those eligible but not utilizing WIC services. [3: For the purposes of this RFA, participation could include certification, enrollment, nutrition education engagement, benefit issuance, and/or benefit redemption]

FNS recognizes outreach efforts will have the greatest impacts when goals are shared by participating programs and community-based organizations. Therefore, we encourage both grantee and subgrantee applicants to engage with community leaders in project development to support strong, meaningful collaborations, and to focus on their shared equity goals for Program outreach, access, and delivery. For example, both a WIC local agency and a community organization may share the goal of reducing the maternal mortality rate among Black women. Additionally, this funding opportunity will include a Grantee-developed partner matching strategy to assist subgrantees. Partner matching will pair WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits based on alignment of project goals, capabilities, and needs. The Grantee is responsible for employing methods of finding potential partners and helping foster a relationship between subgrantees and their partners.

Through FNS’s listening sessions we have learned that community partners stand ready to improve community awareness of WIC. Innovations in technology and communication strategies provide new opportunities to increase WIC awareness and participation. In collaboration with FNS, the Grantee will develop two subgrant funding opportunities, i.e., Requests for Application (RFA), to be issued sequentially. Both RFAs should also provide standardized evaluation objectives for applicants that is informed by the Grantee’s evaluation strategy. The first funding opportunity will solicit novel proposals from a wide range of entities that align with the overarching goals described in this RFA. The Grantee will develop a second funding opportunity to be released approximately 18 months after the first funding opportunity allowing entities that wish to participate more time to develop their projects. The second funding opportunity will, in addition to soliciting novel proposals as described in the first funding opportunity, include three model projects designed by the Grantee for adoption by subgrantees. The Grantee will work with FNS to develop selection criteria and make recommendations for awards. Additional rounds of funding may be considered, depending on resource availability. The Grantee will be responsible for awarding subgrant funds.

The Grantee will draft the RFAs for both rounds of subgrant funding opportunities, including a simple fillable template to facilitate application. In addition, the Grantee will host webinars to respond to questions and provide FNS-approved information to potential subgrant applicants before each round of subgrant awards. The Grantee will ensure that the RFAs are broadly circulated among the general public and in forums accessible to potential applicants including WIC State and local agencies and/or nonprofits including community organizations that support underserved populations. As part of this effort, the Grantee will identify nongovernment partners that support underserved populations to amplify the subgrant opportunities in appropriate circles. Community organizations and other nonprofits applying for subgrant funding must have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with, or a Letter of Commitment from, a WIC State or local agency to ensure cooperation and timely access to participation and retention data necessary to conduct project activities and evaluation.

Subgrant proposals will be evaluated on how well they meet at least one of the two overarching goals of this effort, i.e., using community-level data to test new ways of delivering WIC messaging and conducting outreach designed to increase WIC participation and retention; and expanding partnerships with community-based organizations to connect underserved populations with WIC benefits and services. Selection priority will be given to projects that incorporate both goals, are sponsored by applicants that are part of or already serve historically underrepresented communities, take place in locations facing multiple structural and health-related inequities, and are designed in such a way that the key project activities can be adapted by other WIC agencies.

Via subgrant RFAs and open Q&A with prospective applicants, the Grantee will ensure awarded subgrant projects are also developed in such a way that they can be scaled up and sustained beyond the grant timeline, if they are found to be successful at improving WIC participation. Once the Grantee awards the above mentioned subgrants, it must provide technical assistance and management including: reviewing subgrantee quarterly progress and financial reports, facilitating scheduled and ad hoc meetings with individual subgrantees and partner groups, and hosting orientation and closeout meetings for both rounds of funding. Further, the Grantee must provide a platform for subgrantees and their partners to communicate and share project updates and lessons learned at regular intervals to inform implementation strategies. Separately, the Grantee shall create, host, and maintain a webpage to provide frequent public-facing subgrant updates that use data to illustrate the projects’ effect on WIC participation and retention, an ongoing collection of promising practices, and information about upcoming subgrant opportunities including model project types.

To help FNS better understand the outcomes of this project and the respective subgrant projects that are funded through this grant program, the Grantee, subsequent to award, shall develop for FNS approval a comprehensive implementation science framework and evaluation strategy. The framework shall articulate how the project aligns with the four stages of implementation science (i.e., assess, prepare, implement, and evaluate)[footnoteRef:4]. When describing the evaluation strategy, applicants shall include a logic model and theory of change that demonstrates how the project will achieve the goals specified in this RFA, and how the evaluation with measure the extent to which subgrant projects contribute to the intended outcomes. FNS’s intent is for the Grantee to assess these goals using evaluation methods with the highest level of rigor appropriate for the implemented strategies/solutions. [4: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. (2019). Implementation science at a glance: a guide for cancer control practitioners. NIH publication number 19-CA-8055. Available at: https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/NCI-ISaaG-Workbook.pdf. Accessed on May 16, 2022. ]

The Grantee will also work with FNS to define and implement a set of valid and reliable metrics that measure participation and retention rates in alignment with existing FNS data collection. Subgrant projects will measure changes to enrollment, engagement, and retention in WIC as well as effectiveness of connecting underserved populations with WIC benefits and services. The Grantee will work with subgrantees to evaluate their projects, including supporting measurements beyond the minimum required set provided in subgrant RFAs such as concurrent self-evaluations and/or optional additional metrics to support specific project goals. The Grantee will also work with the subgrantees to create an evaluation plan that balances rigor, suitability, and feasibility.

With the input of FNS, the Grantee will define standardized metrics (i.e., KPIs) that measure the outcomes of subgrant projects and can be summarized across projects to evaluate the success of the entire effort. Required KPIs include, but are not limited to:

· WIC participation counts

· WIC participant engagement

· WIC participant retention

· WIC enrollment

· WIC awareness

The Grantee’s management of the subgrants will also entail working directly with subgrantees and their partners as they develop, implement, and evaluate innovative communication and outreach strategies to reach WIC participants and eligible nonparticipants to increase awareness, enrollment, and engagement, particularly within underserved populations. The Grantee will also be responsible for preparing a national summary report of the evaluation and developing national resources informed by subgrant projects for WIC partners and program operators. These resources will guide users through tested implementation strategies and document best practices learned through subgrant projects to ensure optimal outcomes for the WIC community.

Beyond the evaluation activities of this grant and its subgrants and throughout the course of the project, FNS will be conducting evaluation of all ARPA-funded projects on WIC outreach, innovation, and program modernization efforts. As such, the Grantee may be asked to participate in FNS-sponsored surveys, interviews, and focus groups that are part of this larger evaluation. In its application, the Grantee shall affirm their willingness to participate in any data collection activities related to the overarching evaluation.

Key Objectives Below is a list of the Program Objectives. As demonstrated in the Activities/Indicators Tracker section below, proposed activities should be clearly aligned to these Objectives.

Paperwork Reduction Act

USDA will seek OMB approval for this Request for Application (RFA) and reporting requirements under OMB Control Number 0584-0512. USDA will submit the renewal/revision of OMB Control Number 0584-0512 to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in June 2022. The information to be collected and submitted by applicants will not be received by USDA until the Information Collection Request 0584-0512 has been approved by OMB. The instructions for submission of applications under this RFA reflect this timing. USDA will not request this information if these requirements are not approved at the time that the information would be due.

This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service in awarding grant funds associated with the Community Innovation and Outreach cooperative agreement program. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information for making decisions about grant awards and related activities. This collection does not request any personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection will be 0584-0512 as explained in the previous paragraph. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average up to 50 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. FNS is currently collecting public comments on the information collection request 0584-0512. Members of the public can send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-0512). Do not return the completed form to this address.

2. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

The following information is intended to provide applicants with information to help applicants make informed decisions about proposal submissions.

· Total amount of funding expected to award: Up to $20 million

· Anticipated number of awards: 1

· Anticipated award announcement date: August 29, 2022

· Expected amounts of individual Federal awards: $20 million

· Anticipated start dates and period of performance: September 9, 2022 through March 6, 2027; not to exceed 5 years

· Anticipated amounts and/or numbers of individual awards: 1

· Estimated funding per award: $20 million

· Application due date: August 1, 2022

Please note:

· Grant awards are subject to the availability of funding and/or appropriations of funds.

· FNS reserves the right to use this solicitation and competition to award additional subgrants this year or the subsequent fiscal year, should additional funds become available.

Funding and Award Period This cooperative agreement is issued under Section 1106 of Subtitle B, Title I of ARPA. This section authorizes funding to carry out outreach, innovation, and program modernization efforts, including appropriate waivers and flexibility in order to increase participation and redemption of benefits in WIC.

In Fiscal Year 2022, USDA’s FNS expects to award up to $20 million to accomplish the goals and deliverables described in this RFA. FNS plans to announce the selected Grantee by August 2022 and enter into a cooperative agreement with the Grantee in August 2022. The Grantee will be allowed to use funds consistent with their application. Subgrant applicants may apply for funds for up to a 2-year period of performance.

Estimated Award and Performance Timeline

FNS will accept one application package per applicant. The Grantee will be responsible for utilizing their awarded amount to carry out a competition to award, in a minimum of two rounds, a minimum of 25 subgrants that support WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits to expand and test outreach at the community level. The total funding available for these efforts is $20 million and will be distributed among the Grantee (to support administrative and evaluation efforts) and subgrantees (to support individual project efforts). Approximately $15 million is intended for individual subgrant awards.

Allowable Costs Among other costs, budgets may include expenses related to personnel, contractors, and, whether in-person or virtual, FNS-approved meeting, conference, and training travel expenses. Budgets may not include equipment, supplies, or other travel expenses. The grantee should refer to 2 CFR 200.403, Factors of Allowable Costs, for further guidance.

Purpose of Cooperative Agreement This grant will be awarded in the form of a cooperative agreement. This agreement is a legal instrument reflecting a relationship between the Federal government and the Grantee. Cooperative agreements allow more FNS involvement and collaboration in the project compared to a typical grant and provide less direction of project activities than a contract. The roles and responsibilities of both the Grantee and FNS will be stated in the Terms and Conditions of the cooperative agreement.

FNS’s involvement in this cooperative agreement will largely entail serving as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to provide key input and information to the team, reviewing and providing feedback on deliverables, and providing input on the subgrantee selection and performance processes. FNS will approve model project opportunities, subgrantee selection criteria, and final subgrantee award decisions as well as all public-facing communications and national resource materials.

To the extent practicable, FNS is available to provide policy and technical consultation to the Grantee through a series of pre-planned feedback sessions and/or standing meetings. FNS will comment on major project aspects and issues in advance of their implementation in a manner and timeframe agreed upon between the Grantee and FNS. At FNS’s discretion, FNS involvement with the Grantee may include:

1. Providing comments on and having ongoing conversations with the Grantee regarding plans to meet this RFA’s requirements;

2. Reviewing plans specified in Application and Submission Information section of this RFA and plans associated with subgrant projects funded by this cooperative agreement;

3. Reviewing and/or co-authoring documents; and

4. Receiving files for all Grantee-produced documents and data collected during this cooperative agreement.

Program Specific Requirements Grant applicants must demonstrate the following program specific requirements in their proposals and include a crosswalk that explicitly indicates how the proposal will achieve each requirement:

1. Recent experience in public health and communications;

2. Knowledge about WIC benefits and services or demonstrated access to SMEs in these areas for the duration of the cooperative agreement;

3. Experience analyzing WIC or other public health data to make outreach and engagement recommendations;

4. As evidenced by work references, experience with and/or capacity for providing high-quality technical assistance to WIC or other public health agencies, and community practitioners;

5. As evidenced by work references, experience conducting high-quality evaluations in partnership with WIC or similar public health programs as evidenced by reports, publications, and/or other materials (including links to evidence if published);

6. Experience with and/or capacity for designing, implementing, and coordinating a competitive RFA process that solicits proposals from State and local agencies, community organizations, and/or other nonprofits. All applications must clearly articulate an administration plan for awarding and managing competitive subgrants;

7. Experience in developing online applications, templates, and/or forms and planning relevant technical support for applicants;

8. Experience developing, testing, and transferring innovative outreach strategies at State and local agencies, community organizations, and/or other nonprofits;

9. Experience in program evaluation, including study design, data collection and analysis.

10. Description of a plan to test strategies implemented by subgrantees, as well as a clear description of how products developed from the partnership and innovation projects could be transferred or replicated;

11. Experience in designing implementation resources for State and local public health agencies community organizations, and/or other nonprofits;

12. Description of the expected set of final deliverables that will be submitted by the Grantee during and at the end of the cooperative agreement. All reports or products generated by efforts funded through this cooperative agreement are subject to review by FNS before publication, including review of final reports before submission;

13. Description of how findings will be disseminated to stakeholders (FNS, partner organizations, and WIC State and local agencies and their staff) and how dissemination plans meet the requirements as specified in this RFA; and

14. Description of a clear timeline for carrying out all proposed activities and demonstration of evidence of planning to meet other requirements as specified in this RFA.

15. Creation of an overall project implementation and evaluation framework that shows how the proposed work will accomplish the objectives and measure the KPIs set forth in this RFA.

The Grantee is the accredited institution of higher education (college/university), nonprofit research entity, or other nonprofit organization that will be selected competitively based on the merits of its application. The Grantee has overall responsibility for administering the competitive subgrant RFAs, awarding and monitoring subgrants, coordinating project implementations, evaluating project success, providing evaluation-based technical assistance, developing and disseminating multiple national resources, and reporting to FNS.

The Grantee shall:

1. Select or hire appropriately credentialed personnel to manage and operate project components;

2. Delegate responsibilities to their staff or other partners as appropriate;

3. Conduct appropriate training and provide necessary support for staff, partners, and subgrantees to successfully perform project responsibilities. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

a. providing data on participating WIC State and local agencies and external organizations to FNS,

b. providing subgrantees training and/or consultation on Section 508 compliance to ensure that all documents circulated or published meet Section 508 standards, and

c. coordinating site visits to participating sites for FNS if requested;

4. Keep FNS informed on critical junctures and checkpoints after award of cooperative agreement, including updates to plans that are submitted in preliminary form in the application, as well as plans developed after award of subgrants;

5. Meet specific obligations and approval points as specified by the cooperative agreement;

6. Submit timely progress reports, financial reports, and annual reports throughout the award period and submit a final progress report and final financial report;

7. Attend and facilitate grant and subgrant progress meetings;

8. Ensure subgrantees account for project funds separately from Federal food and nutrition assistance administrative funds and establish financial and managerial reporting controls to assure project funds are not commingled or used inappropriately. The Grantee must establish and maintain documented evidence clearly demonstrating expenditures of project funds are used solely for project purposes;

9. Provide FNS with any data files created and used to generate reports, presentations, and publications resulting from this grant. This includes materials created by subgrantees, including outreach materials. Such data shall be accompanied with analytic code, output files, and codebooks and other applicable documentation sufficient for FNS to replicate analyses;

10. Carry out all activities necessary to fulfill the items as described in this RFA;

11. Coordinate other grant-related dissemination activities; and

12. For internal use and informational purposes, provide FNS with an electronic copy of all documents resulting from this cooperative agreement.

The focus area of the subgrants is expanding community outreach and engagement with the WIC Program. FNS is interested in testing innovative, evidence-informed, State- and local agency-level outreach and engagement efforts to reach the WIC eligible population and increase community-level awareness of WIC availability and services to increase the number of people applying, enrolling and participating in the Program. Approaches should be based on, or informed by, the best available evidence and data. Subgrant projects may include developing partnerships with community organizations to reach underserved populations and reduce disparities in Program delivery, using community-level data to reformat and test WIC messaging and outreach efforts, or other novel, data-driven engagement strategies.

Examples of approaches that may be explored through subgrant projects include, but are not limited to:

· Collaborating with community organizations serving immigrant communities to engage with communities and spread information about WIC eligibility and facilitate enrollment.

· Collaborating with area hospitals other health service providers including family physicians, gynecologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and Indian Health Service Hospitals to increase awareness of WIC services to eligible nonparticipants and facilitate certification.

· Collaborating with local and community programs (e.g., the Maternal Child Health Bureau Home Visiting Program) to advertise WIC services to eligible community members and provide enrollment opportunities.

· Collaborating with local military family support organizations to increase awareness and enrollment in the WIC Program by military personnel.

· Collaborating with organizations working to reduce the maternal mortality rate among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to increase awareness of WIC services to eligible nonparticipants and facilitate certification.

· Collaborating with community programs serving individuals with disabilities.

· Using innovative communication strategies, tools, and social media platforms to connect potential applicants with WIC benefits and services.

· Using data analytics to identify underserved populations and target outreach and enrollment efforts.

· Engaging enrolled but inactive participants to participate in the WIC Program (e.g., through redeeming benefits and/or receiving nutrition education).

· Engaging technical resources to communicate and spread WIC Program and eligibility information with limited English proficiency populations.

· Examining previous and current communications to identify areas for potential translation into additional languages that meet specific community needs.

· Developing technical resources that help local WIC staff design and implement effective communication strategies to ensure eligible nonparticipants are aware of the WIC Program and their eligibility.

· Examining previous and current communications for Section 508 compliance and enhanced accessibility potential to identify tools that increase usability and engagement.

· Examining previous and current communications formats to expand to new media platforms and/or use new functionalities that generate a visible increase in interactive participation.

· Examining previous and current media engagement and tools for new testing opportunities such as built-in metrics, added measurements, and statistical modeling capabilities, including functionality that allows the WIC agency to adjust marketing materials according to real time response tracking.

· Developing outreach and engagement strategies to retain infants and young children in the WIC Program through their period of eligibility.

· Engaging organizations that serve seniors who are responsible for their WIC eligible grandchildren or relatives.

· Engaging childcare organizations that cater to WIC eligible populations.

The Grantee will be responsible for the oversight and management of a wide range of subgrant projects and for providing technical assistance to subgrantees in support of creation and execution of projects. The Grantee will assist FNS with assessing proposed subgrant budgets to determine reasonable and necessary spending to meet individual entity needs and correspond to project goals. Currently FNS expects individual subgrant awards from $100,000 and not to exceed $1,000,000 for the five year project period. Funding will correspond with subgrantee’s organization size, resources, and capabilities as well as the overall level of effort of each proposal. The Grantee will need to promote subgrant opportunities appropriately to secure a variety of effective projects.

The Grantee shall work cooperatively with FNS to:

1. Develop and manage a competitive subgrant award process with at least two rounds of awards to WIC State and local agencies, community organizations, and other nonprofits to implement projects expected to enhance community outreach and messaging and expand community partnerships. FNS anticipates a minimum of 10 subgrants to be awarded during Round 1 and a minimum of 15 subgrants to be awarded during Round 2. The Grantee, along with guidance and approval from FNS, will select, award, and monitor the subgrants through regular communication, reports, and meetings. In addition to unique proposals, Round 2 will include at least three model projects informed by Round 1 learning or other best practice evidence designed by the Grantee for adoption by subgrantees.

2. Develop a Request for Application (RFA) as a fillable application for subgrantees for each round of awards. The RFA shall require proposals to use the fillable RFA application created by the Grantee. The RFA will describe the opportunity, explain subgrant eligibility, and establish selection criteria for the award. The subgrant application must include the following:

a. A description of the applicant’s organization, including relevant special interest in outreach and the geographic area(s) (counties and zip codes) in which they plan to carry out the outreach services.

b. Using a community needs assessment strategy, a description of the populations served by the subgrant applicant including demographics of current WIC participation and/or retention data;

c. Documentation of support from the relevant WIC State agency if submitted by a local agency or a nongovernment partner;

d. Description of the project and how it will either reduce disparities in service delivery and/or improve program participation and retention;

a. If for Round 2 and selecting one of the model projects, a description of how the applicant will adapt project to meet the needs of their population.

b. If for Round 2 and applicant would like to participate in the partner matching project, a description of how the partner would be able to facilitate and support project goals.

e. A plan illustrating how the subgrantee will participate in the evaluation as they implement their approach and measure the outcomes of the selected project;

f. An itemized budget of intended costs to implement the project;

g. Description of proposed staff roles, responsibilities, hours, and documentation of relevant experience;

h. Documentation of procedures used to maintain the quality and integrity of all data and analyses;

i. Documentation of procedures and protocols used to ensure the privacy and safety of individuals when collecting data at the individual-level;

j. Demonstrated compliance with Federal regulations for all proposed strategies/solutions;

k. A description regarding the sustainability of the innovation beyond the grant period, should the effort be successful.

3. The Grantee will host at least three webinars focused on the subgrant RFAs. The first webinar will be presented to all FNS stakeholders to walk through the finalized subgrant RFAs following draft review. The second and third webinars will be informational webinars to coincide with the posting of each subgrant RFA to help inform potential applicants and provide answers to questions.

4. Prior to selection of subgrantees for each round, the Grantee will submit to FNS a ranking of the proposals and summaries of all proposals submitted and discuss the proposals with FNS. At a minimum, summaries shall include the following information: the name of the WIC State or local agency, nonprofit, or community organization and point of contact for the project, the requested award amount, a brief description of the proposed project, and a subgrant timeline. Population, State, regional, operational, and system diversity should be considered when selecting subgrantees. FNS will approve final selection decisions for the subgrants.

5. Based on Round 1 subgrant learning and prior to Round 2 RFA release, the Grantee will submit to FNS at least three model projects for adoption by the subgrant applicants. One of the model projects will have a partner matching component.

6. After subgrantees are selected, the Grantee will publish updated summaries of selected subgrant projects on the public-facing website created for this effort and, upon request, prepare publication material for FNS’s website.

7. In collaboration with subgrantees, the Grantee will execute an evaluation design of the highest level of rigor appropriate for the implemented strategies/solutions that documents outcomes, and, where-feasible, impacts, however significant, on improving WIC enrollment, participation, and retention outcomes. The evaluation methods should align with the standards and use definitions consistent with those expressed in OMB Memorandum M-20-12 (whitehouse.gov). Applications for this RFA should articulate the Grantee’s approach to developing an evaluation plan for subgrant projects. Other measures, including Key Performance Indicators, shall be included in the evaluation to capture relevant outcomes and process metrics; all included process variables and outcomes must be clearly measured. While not required, some subgrantees may also wish to internally evaluate their projects as an optional subgrant activity. Therefore, the Grantee will assist subgrantees in establishing, conducting, and otherwise supporting their concurrent self-evaluations. The Grantee shall:

a. Build on the preliminary evaluation plan submitted with the cooperative agreement application to develop a comprehensive evaluation plan for subgrant projects and submit it to FNS for approval within 2 months of awarding subgrants. The evaluation plan will outline project design and evaluation outcomes with clearly stated operational definitions and a timeline outlining specific implementation and evaluation milestones. Additionally, the Grantee will help any subgrantees perform optional internal project evaluations, including the development and implementation of any individual project outcomes and measures beyond those established in the overall evaluation effort.

b. Use validated or develop sound methodological and statistical methods to conduct the evaluation.

c. Provide subgrantees and FNS with evaluation results.

d. Provide FNS with a summary report that includes, but is not limited to, a summary of the projects, the technical assistance provided, the evaluation approach, results and implications.

8. At a minimum, FNS requires the Grantee to receive quarterly reports and a final report from each subgrant project, and this information will need to be summarized into a quarterly and final report from the Grantee and submitted to FNS. Final reports shall describe the subgrant projects; the approach to evaluation, including methodology and any guiding theories or framework; results of the implemented projects; and a discussion of strengths, limitations, lessons learned, and possible next steps in dissemination. Final reports must also include an executive summary.

a. The Grantee shall provide FNS with an electronic copy of all dissemination materials (e.g., outreach materials and documents, PowerPoint slides, and demonstration and operational versions of applications) resulting from grant and subgrant activity at the time of submission for publication and in final form when published. FNS will provide comments and approval on documentation at our discretion.

b. Materials generated by efforts funded through this cooperative agreement may be reviewed by FNS before general distribution. Information to be published by FNS on the USDA website requires FNS review and clearance.

9. The Grantee will use their demonstrated technical and subject matter expertise to aid subgrantees working to use community-level data to test new ways of delivering WIC messaging and/or conducting outreach. Technical assistance includes providing guidance and consult regarding project idea development, project implementation, ensuring projects are designed to meet the intent of enhancing subgrantee technology and novel strategies for outreach, and/or evaluation requests, in coordination with FNS.

10. The Grantee will use their demonstrated technical and subject matter expertise to aid subgrantees working to expand community outreach. Technical assistance includes providing guidance and consult regarding project idea development, project implementation, ensuring that the projects are designed to meet the intent of enhancing subgrantee outreach and partnership building, and/or evaluation requests, in coordination with FNS. Additionally, the Grantee will ensure subgrant projects are designed in way that is scalable and sustainable beyond the grant period.

11. The Grantee will create multiple national resources, including an outreach framework for WIC State agencies based on general recommendations and best practices formed during project observation, specific lessons learned provided by project stakeholders, and evaluation results. The resources will be dynamic and engaging, web-based, and contain interactive components where appropriate for the material and audience. The resources shall focus on evidence-informed implementation and evaluation strategies and technical considerations.

12. The Grantee will sponsor and coordinate scheduled and ad hoc meetings with FNS and with FNS and the subgrantees. At a minimum, the Grantee will host the following meetings: a kick-off and planning orientation meeting with FNS at the beginning of the cooperative agreement; host virtual post-competition orientation meetings for each round of subgrantee projects; host closeout meetings with the subgrantee and FNS at the completion of each round; host a closeout meeting with FNS at the end of the cooperative agreement.

a. The orientation meeting shall be held within 45 days after award. The Grantee will present its plan to disseminate the RFA, provide technical assistance to subgrantees and their community partners, and manage the competitive RFA subgrant process, and develop the model project ideas. The Grantee will also present an updated administration plan for the competitive RFA process for the subgrants. FNS will provide input during the presentation and subsequently on any materials generated for the meeting via email. Additionally, potential evaluation strategies shall be presented.

b. The two subgrantee orientation meetings for both rounds shall be held within 45 days after award. The Grantee will present information about project timeline, expectations, and next steps. The subgrantees to present an overview of their project plans and concepts to FNS and the Grantee, who will provide feedback during this meeting and through subsequent communications.

c. The two subgrantee closeout meetings for both rounds shall be held at the end of the subgrant period. It will include presentations of project findings, limitations, and sustainability considerations from subgrantees. The Grantee will present a collective presentation reviewing individual project accomplishments, lessons learned, evaluation results, and dissemination plans.

d. The Grantee shall host periodic meetings with FNS and subgrantees, to provide technical assistance and to discuss any issues related to project implementation and evaluation.

13. The Grantee will work collaboratively with FNS and FNS-sponsored contractors on an as-needed basis to clarify work being accomplished and to participate in any surveys, interviews, or focus groups…