[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 245 (Thursday, December 19, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67030-67032]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32184]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
[Proposed Program Priorities--ACF/ACYF/RHYP 97-1]


Runaway and Homeless Youth Program: Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 
Proposed Program Priorities

AGENCY: Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), Administration on 
Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and 
Families (ACF), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of request for public comments on proposed Fiscal Year 
1997 Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) Program Priorities for the 
following programs for runaway and homeless youth: Basic Center, Street 
Outreach for Runaway and Homeless Youth and the Transitional Living 
Program for Homeless Youth.

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    The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act requires the Secretary to 
publish annually, for public comment, a proposed plan specifying 
priorities the Department will follow in awarding grants and contracts 
under the Act. The final priorities selected will take into 
consideration the comments and recommendations received from the public 
in response to this notice.
    The public, particularly those knowledgeable about and experienced 
in providing services to runaway and homeless youth, are urged to 
respond. The actual solicitations for grant applications will be 
published at later dates in the Federal Register. No proposals, concept 
papers or other form of application should be submitted at this time.
    We welcome specific comments and suggestions on these proposed 
program priorities.

DATES: The closing date for submission of public comments is February 
3, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: James A. Harrell, Deputy 
Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 
Attention: Family and Youth Services Bureau, P.O. Box 1182, Washington, 
D.C. 20013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anita Wright, Youth Development 
Program Specialist, (202) 205-8030.

SUMMARY: The Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Administration on 
Children, Youth and Families announces that public comments are being 
requested on proposed program priorities for Fiscal Year 1997 for the 
following programs, prior to being announced in its final form: Runaway 
and Homeless Youth Basic Center Grant Program (BCP): The purpose of the 
Runaway and Homeless Youth Basic Center Grant Program is to provide 
financial assistance to establish or strengthen locally-controlled 
centers that address the immediate needs (e.g., outreach, temporary 
shelter, counseling, and aftercare services) of runaway and homeless 
youth and their families.
    Street Outreach for Runaway and Homeless Youth: The purpose of the 
Street Outreach Program is to provide street-based outreach and 
education, including treatment, counseling, and information and 
referral services for runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been 
subjected to or are at risk of sexual abuse. Grants will be awarded for 
street-based outreach and education and referral for runaway, homeless, 
and street youth who have been subjected to or are at risk of being 
subjected to sexual abuse.
    Transitional Living Program for Homeless Youth (TLP): The purpose 
of the Transitional Living Program for Homeless Youth is to support 
projects which provide long term shelter, skill training and support 
services in local communities to homeless youth to assist them in 
making a smooth transition to self-sufficiency and to prevent long-term 
dependency on social services.
    Financial Assistance from the Family and Youth Services Bureau for 
RHY programs is contingent upon the availability of funds. As indicated 
in previous proposed priorities, the Department proposes to award 
continuation funding to the National Communications System and to fund 
a number of program support activities during Fiscal Year 1997.
    Central to all FYSB programs and activities is a priority that 
services be delivered with a comprehensive youth development approach. 
Practicing youth workers are well aware that ``single-problem'' youth 
are rare, and that interventions from many different perspectives, and 
supports, including funding, from many different sources, are required 
to effectively help adolescents.
    Interventions from a developmental perspective view adolescence and 
youth as the passage from the almost total dependence of the child into 
the independence and self-sufficiency of the adult.
    The various emotional, intellectual and physical changes, stages, 
and growth spurts of the passage may be considered as the youth's 
natural, healthy responses to the challenges and opportunities provided 
by functional families, peers, neighborhoods, schools and churches.
    The tasks of youth services providers are seen, thus, not as 
correcting the ``pathologies'' of troubled youth, but rather as 
providing for the successive developmental needs of maturing 
individuals: The psychological need to develop a clear self-identity; 
the sociological need to resolve disagreements through talking and 
negotiating; the economic need to prepare for and enter into a career; 
and the familial needs for sharing, for trusting, for giving love and 
receiving

[[Page 67031]]

love, for commitment, and for all that establishing a family entails. 
This developmental approach is fundamental to all of FYSB programs and 
activities.

a. Basic Center Program Grants

    Approximately 65 percent of the Basic Center grants awarded will be 
non-competing continuation grants and approximately 35 percent will be 
competitive new awards in Fiscal Year 1997.
    Eligible applicants for new awards are current grantees with 
project periods ending in Fiscal Year 1997 and otherwise eligible 
applicants who are not current grantees. The applications will be 
reviewed by State, and awards will be made during the last quarter of 
Fiscal Year 1997 (July---September 1997).
    Section 385(a)(2) of the Act requires that ninety percent of the 
funds appropriated for Basic Center grants will be used to establish 
and strengthen runaway and homeless youth Basic Centers.

b. Transitional Living Program Grants

    All potential Fiscal Year 1997 TLP funds will be awarded in the 
form of continuation grants and as new grants to applicants who 
competed successfully during fiscal year 1996. Consideration will be 
given to soliciting applications for competitive review in Fiscal Year 
1997. However, grant awards to successful 1997 applicants will be made 
during the first and second quarters of Fiscal Year 1998 using Fiscal 
Year 1998 funds, if available.

c. Street Outreach for Runaway and Homeless Youth

    The Domestic Violence/Violence Against Women Act of the 1994 Crime 
Bill provides for education and prevention grants to reduce the sexual 
abuse of runaway, homeless, and street youth. Fiscal Year 1997 funds 
will be used to award new grants to eligible applicants. In addition, 
non-competitive continuation awards will again be made to current basic 
center grantees who competed successfully for a Street Outreach Program 
grant in Fiscal Year 1996.

d. National Communications System

    In Fiscal Year 1994, a five-year grant was awarded to the National 
Runaway Switchboard, Inc., in Chicago, Illinois, to operate a National 
Communications System to assist runaway and homeless youth in 
communicating with their families and with service providers. Non-
competitive continuation funding will be awarded to the grantee in 
Fiscal Year 1997.

e. Support Services for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs

(1) Training and Technical Assistance

    Part D, Section 342 of the Act authorizes the Department to make 
grants to statewide and regional nonprofit organizations to provide 
training and technical assistance (T&TA) to organizations receiving 
service grants under the Act. The purpose of this T&TA is to strengthen 
the programs and to enhance the knowledge and skills of youth service 
workers.
    The Family and Youth Services Bureau has ten Cooperative 
Agreements, one in each of the ten Federal Regions, to provide T&TA to 
agencies funded by FYSB to provide services to runaway and homeless 
youth. Each Cooperative Agreement is unique, being based on the 
characteristics and different T&TA needs in the respective Region. Each 
has a five-year project period that will end in Fiscal Year 1999. Non-
competitive continuation funding will be awarded to the ten T&TA 
grantees in Fiscal Year 1997.

(2) National Clearinghouse on Runaway and Homeless Youth

    The Family and Youth Services Bureau supports a National 
Clearinghouse on Youth and Families (NCFY). The purpose of the 
clearinghouse is to disseminate information to professionals and 
agencies involved in youth development efforts and/or the delivery of 
direct services to runaway, homeless and at-risk youth. The 
Clearinghouse collects, maintains and disseminates reports and other 
materials, identifies areas in which new or additional information is 
needed, and carries out other activities designed to provide the field 
with the information needed to improve services to runaway and homeless 
youth.
    The contract with the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth 
expires this fiscal year. A Request for Proposals will be published and 
a new five year contract will be awarded this fiscal year to sustain 
the National Clearinghouse for Runaway and Homeless Youth.

(3) Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System (RHYMIS)

    The Family and Youth Services Bureau awarded a contract, which 
expires this fiscal year, for the development and implementation of a 
Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System (RHYMIS) for 
FYSB programs. The data generated by the system are used to produce 
reports and information regarding FYSB's programs, including 
information for required reports to Congress. The RHYMIS also serves as 
a management tool for FYSB and for the individual programs.
    In Fiscal Year 1997 a procurement for this activity will be 
published and a new contract awarded.

(4) Monitoring Support for FYSB Programs

    The Family and Youth Services Bureau uses a standardized, 
comprehensive monitoring instrument and site visit protocols, including 
a peer-review component for monitoring runaway and homeless youth 
programs. The Family and Youth Services Bureau has a contractual 
agreement, which expires this fiscal year, to provide logistical 
support for the peer review monitoring process, including nationwide 
distribution of the monitoring instrument. The findings from the 
monitoring visits have been used by the Regional Offices and the T&TA 
providers as a basis for their activities. In Fiscal Year 1997 a 
procurement for this activity will be published and a new contract 
awarded.

f. Research and Demonstration Initiatives

    Section 315 of the Act authorizes the Department to make grants to 
States, localities, and private entities to carry out research, 
demonstration, and service projects designed to increase knowledge 
concerning and to improve services for runaway and homeless youth. 
These activities serve to identify emerging issues and to develop and 
test models which address such issues.

(1) Services for Youth With Developmental Disabilities

    The Family and Youth Services Bureau and the Administration on 
Development Disabilities are collaborating to address the needs of 
youth with developmental disabilities. In 1995, a competitive review 
process resulted in jointly funded grant awards to three projects 
designed to improve local coordination of services to youth with 
developmental disabilities. Non-competitive continuation funding will 
be awarded to these grantees in Fiscal Year 1997.

(2) Analysis, Synthesis, and Interpretation of New Information 
Concerning Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs

    Over the past few years, considerable new knowledge and information 
has been developed concerning the runaway and homeless youth programs

[[Page 67032]]

administered by FYSB, and the youth and families served. The main 
sources of this new information are the Runaway and Homeless Youth 
Management Information System (RHYMIS), the results of RHY monitoring 
visits, and a number of evaluation studies underway or recently 
completed. The RHYMIS, monitoring reports, and the evaluation studies 
contain descriptions of FYSB's grantee agencies, along with detailed 
data on the youth and families served.
    A contract was awarded in Fiscal Year 1995 to analyze and 
synthesize this valuable data and to explore program and policy 
implications. Results from this effort will be available in Fiscal Year 
1997.

(3) Youth Development Framework

    In Fiscal Year 1995 a contract was awarded to develop a youth 
development framework from a theoretical perspective. This framework 
will be designed to enhance the capacity of policy and program 
developers, program managers, and youth services professionals to 
develop service models and approaches that will redirect youth in high 
risk situations toward positive pathways of development.
    It is our expectation that this document will serve as a basis for 
securing consensus on a working definition of youth development and for 
increasing awareness of the importance and benefits of a youth 
development perspective in serving youth. The report from this contract 
will be available in Fiscal Year 1997.

(4) Performance Based Outcomes for Youth Services

    Much of the data gathering and assessment tools currently used by 
the Family and Youth Services Bureau are process oriented. Beginning in 
Fiscal Year 1997, FYSB will explore the feasibility of developing youth 
development performance based indicators and/or outcome measures as an 
alternative method to evaluating the effectiveness of youth services. 
Such a method would add an important dimension to FYSB's program 
monitoring and information gathering efforts and would, in addition, be 
useful to local youth service grantees.

g. Collaboration with State Units of Government

    Establishing and/or maintaining effective local youth service 
delivery systems is increasingly contingent upon successful 
collaborations between federal government agencies, state governments 
and local community based organizations.
    During Fiscal Year 1997 FYSB will begin a process in which FYSB and 
States engage in conversations about youth development, identify 
concerns and issues regarding youth services, provide expert 
information and assistance to each other, and encourage and foster 
State relationships with community based organizations that serve 
youth. This process might evolve to include FYSB/State partnerships 
and/or pilot efforts which also include local youth service providers.

h. Priorities for Administrative Changes

    To support the increased emphasis on youth development, a number of 
management or administrative changes will be continued:
     The Regional Offices have and will continue to play a 
significant role in the assessment of grant applications. This role 
includes Regional staff involvement (1) as chairpersons for peer review 
panels held in Washington, D.C., and (2) in conduct of administrative 
reviews of new start applications. This level of regional office 
involvement will continue in fiscal year 1997.
     The Administration on Children and Families (ACF) will 
again change the deadline for receipt of a Runaway and Homeless Youth 
grant application from the postal date of the application to the actual 
receipt date of the application by ACF. Applicants should carefully 
examine information on receipt dates in Fiscal Year 1997 Federal 
Register announcements to assure that they meet deadlines in the manner 
prescribed.
     Efforts will be continued to avoid the problems of gaps in 
financial support between the expiration of one grant and the beginning 
of a new grant for current grantees that are successful in competition.
    We welcome specific comments and suggestions on these proposed 
program priorities.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 93.623, Runaway and 
Homeless Youth Program; Number 93.657, Transitional Living Program 
for Homeless Youth; and Number 93.557, Street Outreach for Runaway 
and Homeless Youth)

    Dated: December 12, 1996.
James A. Harrell,
Deputy Commissioner,Administration on Children, Youth and Families.
[FR Doc. 96-32184 Filed 12-18-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P