[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25782-25784]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-11982]



[[Page 25781]]

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Part IX





Department of Health and Human Services





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Office of Public Health and Science; Announcement of Availability of 
Grants for Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 91 / Wednesday, May 12, 1999 / 
Notices  

[[Page 25782]]



DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Office of Public Health and Science; Announcement of Availability 
of Grants for Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects

agency: Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, Office of Populations 
Affairs, OPHS, HHS.

action: Notice.

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summary: The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (OAPP) requests 
applications for prevention grants under the Adolescent Family Life 
(AFL) Demonstration Projects Program. These Title XX grants are for 
community-based and community-supported demonstration projects to find 
effective means of preventing pregnancy by encouraging adolescents to 
abstain from sexual activity through provision of age-appropriate 
education on sexuality and decision-making skills. Although adolescents 
under age 19 are eligible for services, the OAPP is particularly 
interested in projects which target youth ages 9 to 14.
    The Title XX statute contains a provision limiting the amount of 
AFL funding which may be used for prevention projects to not more than 
one-third of the overall monies available for demonstration projects. 
In the Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 and 1998 appropriations for Title XX, as 
amended, Congress waived this limitation by enacting legislation which 
earmarked the majority of AFL demonstration funding for prevention 
grants, specifically abstinence education projects as defined in the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 
1996. Although the Senate Committee report accompanying the FY 1999 
appropriations act indicates that continued funding of more prevention 
projects is the intent of Congress, the FY 1999 appropriation for Title 
XX does not contain a similar provision waiving the statutory limit. In 
order to continue to fund a larger number of prevention projects than 
is allowable under the statute, the Department has asked Congress to 
amend the FY 1999 appropriation for Title XX to include a waiver of the 
``not more than one-third for prevention'' restrictions. The Department 
expects that such a waiver will be enacted.
    Thus, funding for new abstinence education prevention projects 
under this announcement is contingent upon the enactment of an 
amendment to the FY 1999 appropriations act. If this amendment does not 
pass before the end of the fiscal year, funds will not be available to 
support new projects under this announcement. In the event FY 1999 
funds are not available for new abstinence education prevention 
projects, applications will be held for review and consideration in the 
following year, although the availability of funding in FY 2000 is 
uncertain.
    To ensure that there are adequate applications which could be 
funded in the event the amendment is not enacted, the Department is 
also publishing a separate notice in the Federal Register announcing 
the availability of funds for care, prevention and combination care/
prevention demonstration projects. Such applications would be 
considered for funding in the event the amendment described above is 
not enacted.
    If the amendment to the FY 1999 appropriation for Title XX is 
enacted, funds will be available for approximately 15-20 projects, 
which may be located in any State, the District of Columbia, the 
territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Island, Guam, American 
Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, 
Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federal States of Micronesia.

dates: The closing date for this grant announcement is June 28, 1999. 
Applications will be considered as meeting the deadline if they are 
postmarked on or before the closing date. A legible dated receipt from 
a commercial carrier or U.S. Postal Service will be accepted in lieu of 
a postmark. Private metered postmarks will not be accepted as proof of 
timely mailing. All hand delivered applications must be received 
between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:00 pm on or before the above closing 
date. Applications which do not meet the deadline will be considered 
late applications and will be returned to the applicant. Applications 
will not be accepted by fax or e-mail. The submission deadline will not 
be extended.

addresses: Application kits consisting of the appropriate forms, a copy 
of the Title XX legislation, and guidance on the preparation of the 
application may be downloaded from the following Internet address: 
www.hhs.gov/progorg/opa/titlexx/oapp.html. If you do not have access to 
the Internet, you may obtain a kit from the Grants Management Office, 
Office of Population Affairs, 4350 East-West Highway, Suite 200, 
Bethesda, MD 20814. Written requests for application kits may be faxed 
to (301) 594-5981. All completed applications must be submitted to the 
Grants management Office at the above mailing address. In preparing the 
applications, it is important to follow ALL instructions contained in 
the application kit.

for further information contact: The OAPP Program Office at (301) 594-
4004. Staff is available to answer questions and provide limited 
technical assistance in the preparation of grant applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title XX of the Public Health Service Act, 
42 U.S.C. 300z. et seq., authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services to award grants for demonstration projects to provide services 
to pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents, adolescent parents and their 
families. (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 93.995) title 
XX authorizes grants for three types of demonstration projects: (1) 
Projects which provide ``care services'' only (i.e., services for the 
provisions of care to pregnant adolescents, adolescent parents and 
their family); (2) projects which provide ``prevention services'' only 
(i.e., services to prevent adolescent sexual relations); and (3) 
projects which provide a combination of care and prevention services.
    Under this program announcement, OAPP intends to make available 
approximately $3 million to support an estimated 15-20 new prevention 
demonstration projects only. The awards will range from $150,000 to 
$250,000. Grants may be approved for project periods of up to five 
years. Grants are funded in annual increments (budget periods). Funding 
for all approved budget periods beyond the first year of the grant is 
contingent upon the availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the 
project, and adequate stewardship of Federal funds. A grant award may 
not exceed 70 percent of the total costs of the project for the first 
and second years, 60 percent of the total costs for the third year, 50 
percent of the fourth year and 40 percent for the fifth year. The non-
Federal share of the project costs may be provided in cash expenditures 
or fairly evaluated in-kind contributions, including facilities, 
equipment and services.
    An applicant may submit a proposal for a local or state-wide 
prevention project. We encourage applications from experienced 
organizations which are currently operating programs and which have the 
capability of expanding and enhancing these services to serve 
significant numbers of adolescents according to the guidelines 
specified in this announcement.
    The specific prevention services which may be funded under Title XX 
are listed below under Prevention Programs.

[[Page 25783]]

    The following application requirements contain information 
collections subject to OMB approval under the Paperwork. Reduction Act 
of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13). These information collections have been 
approved by OMB under control number 0937-0189.

Eligible Applicants

    Any public or private nonprofit organization or agency is eligible 
to apply for a grant. Grants are awarded only to those organizations or 
agencies which are determined to demonstrate the capability of 
providing the proposed services and meet the statutory requirements.

Prevention Programs

    Under this announcement, funds are available for local or state-
wide projects. The primary purpose of prevention programs is to find 
effective means of reaching adolescents, both male and female, before 
they become sexually active to encourage them to abstain from sexual 
activity. There is general agreement that early initiation of sexual 
activity brings not only the risk of unintended pregnancy but also 
substantial health risks to adolescents, primarily infection with 
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV. Accordingly, 
applicants must provide services that help pre-adolescents and young 
adolescents acquire knowledge and skills that will instill healthy 
attitudes and encourage and support abstinence from sexual activity. 
Any information provided for adolescents who may be or become sexually 
active, which relates to reducing the risk of unintended pregnancy and 
disease, must be medically accurate and must be presented within the 
context that abstinence is the best choice and is what the project 
recommends.
    Programs must not be inconsistent with abstinence educational as 
defined in the ``Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
Reconciliation Act of 1996,'' Pub. L. No. 104-193. Accordingly, under 
this announcement the term ``abstinence education'' means an education 
or motivational program which:
    A. Has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, 
psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from 
sexual activity;
    B. Teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the 
expected standard for all school age children;
    C. Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain 
way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, 
and other associated with problems;
    D. Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in 
context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
    E. Teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage 
is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
    F. Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have 
harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;
    G. Teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how 
alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and,
    H. Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before 
engaging in sexual activity.
    Under the statutory requirements of Title XX, applicants for 
prevention programs are not required to provide any specific array of 
services. OAPP encourages the submission of applications which focus on 
educational services relating to family life and which teach the 
social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining 
from sexual-activity.
    The legislation also permits a proposal to include any one or more 
of the following services as appropriate:
    (1) Educational services relating to family life and problems 
associated with adolescent premarital sexual relations including:
    (a) Information about adoption,
    (b) Education on the responsibilities of sexuality and parenting,
    (c) The development of material to support the role of parents as 
the providers of sex education, and
    (d) Assistance to parents, schools, youth agencies and health 
providers to educate adolescents and preadolescents concerning self-
discipline and responsibility in human sexuality;
    (2) Appropriate educational and vocational services;
    (3) Counseling for the immediate and extended family members of the 
eligible person;
    (4) Transportation;
    (5) Outreach services to families of adolescents to discourage 
sexual relations among unemancipated minors; and
    (6) Nutrition information and counseling.
    Under this announcement, applicants may propose to develop and test 
new and/or innovative approaches to abstinence education aimed at 
promoting and fostering abstinence among adolescents. These approaches 
may consist of a variety of activities such as health, social, 
cultural, economic and recreational activities, or combinations of all 
of these, as long as they contain an educational component. Applicants 
may also propose to develop and test new prevention curricula and 
materials, update existing curricula, use existing educational 
materials/curricula, or use any combinations of these materials, to 
implement their prevention demonstration projects. However, all 
materials and activities must not be inconsistent with ``abstinence 
education,'' and must be within the scope of the Title XX services 
listed above. 
    It should be noted that grantees may not teach or promote religion 
in their AFL project. Each grant project must be accessible to the 
public generally, not just to those of a particular religious 
affiliation. All programming activities and program curriculum 
materials must contain medically accurate information, and must remain 
neutral on abortion. Upon approval for funding, all curricula and 
related educational materials must be submitted to OAPP for review and 
approval prior to use in the AFL project.
    In addition, under sec. 2011(a) of the Act, AFL projects may not 
provide abortions or abortion counseling or referral either directly or 
through sub-contract and may not advocate, promote or encourage 
abortion. However, if both the adolescent and her parents request 
abortion counseling, a project may provide referral for such 
counseling.

Evaluation

    Section 2006(b)(1) of Title XX requires each grantee to expend at 
least one percent but not more than five percent of the Federal funds 
received under Title XX on evaluation of the project. As this is a 
demonstration program, all applications are required to have an 
evaluation component of high quality consistent with the scope of the 
proposed project and the funding level. All project evaluations should 
monitor program processes to determine whether the program has been 
carried out as planned and measure the program's outcomes. Waivers of 
the five percent limit on evaluation may be granted in cases where a 
more rigorous or comprehensive evaluation effort is proposed (see sec. 
2006(b)(1)).
    Section 2006(b)(2) of Title XX requires that the evaluations 
required by sec. 2006(b)(1) be conducted by an organization or entity 
independent of the grantee providing services. To assist in conducting 
the evaluations, each grantee shall develop a working relationship with 
a college or university located in the grantee's state which will 
provide or assist in providing monitoring and evaluation of services.

[[Page 25784]]

The OAPP strongly recommends extensive collaboration between the 
applicant organization and the proposed evaluator in the development of 
the intervention, development of the evaluation hypothesis(es), 
identification of the variables to be measured and a timetable for 
initiation of the intervention, baseline measurement, and ongoing 
evaluation data collection and analysis. In the preparation of the 
application for Title XX funds, OAPP encourages applicants to work with 
the proposed evaluator to ensure that the evaluation plan is detailed 
and consistent with the project's proposed goals and objectives.

Application Requirements

    Applications must be submitted on the forms supplied (PHS 5161-1, 
Revised 5/96) and in the manner prescribed in the application kits 
provided by the OAPP. Applicants are required to submit an application 
signed by an individual authorized to act for the applicant agency or 
organization and to assume for the organization the obligations imposed 
by the terms and conditions of the grant award.
    Applicants must be familiar with Title XX in its entirety to ensure 
that they have complied with all applicable requirements. A copy of the 
legislation is included in the application kit.

Additional Requirements

    Applicants for grants must also meet both of the following 
requirements (each year):
    (1) Requirements for Review of an Application by the Governor. 
Section 2006(e) of Title XX requires that each applicant shall provide 
the Governor of the State in which the applicant is located a copy of 
each application submitted to OAPP for a grant for a demonstration 
project for services under this Title. The Governor has 60 days from 
the receipt date in which to provide comments to the applicant.
    An applicant may comply with this requirement by submitting a copy 
of the application to the Governor of the State in which the applicant 
is located at the same time the application is submitted to OAPP. To 
inform the Governor's office of the reason for the submission, a copy 
of this notice should be attached to the application.
    (2) Requirements for Review of an Application Pursuant to Executive 
Order 12372 (SPOC Requirements). Applications under this announcement 
are subject to the review requirements of E.O. 12372, 
``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs,'' as implemented by 45 
CFR part 100, ``Intergovernmental Review of Department of Health and 
Human Services Programs and Activities.'' E.O. 12372 sets up a system 
for state and local government review of proposed Federal assistance 
applications. As soon as possible, the applicant (other than Federally-
recognized Indian tribal governments) should contact the State Single 
Point of Contact (SPOC) for each state in the area to be served. The 
application kit contains the currently available listing of the SPOCs 
which have elected to be informed of the submission of applications. 
For those states not represented on the listing, further inquiries 
should be made by the applicant regarding submission to the relevant 
SPOC. The SPOC's comment(s) should be forwarded to the Grants 
Management Office, Office of Population Affairs, 4350 East-West 
Highway, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814. The SPOC has 60 days from the 
closing date of this announcement to submit any comments.

Application Consideration and Assessment

    Applications which are judged to be late or which do not conform to 
the requirements of this program announcement will not be accepted for 
review. Applicants will be so notified, and the applications will be 
returned. All other applications will be reviewed by a multi-
disciplinary panel of independent reviewers and assessed according to 
the following criteria:
    (1) The capacity of the proposed applicant organization to provide 
rapid and effective use of resources needed to conduct the project, 
collect data and evaluate it. This includes personnel, time and 
facilities. (30 points)
    (2) The applicant's rationale for use of the proposed approach and 
its worth for testing and/or replication based upon its previous 
demonstration, review of the literature and/or evaluation findings. (20 
points)
    (3) The applicant's presentation of an appropriate project design, 
consistent with the requirements of Title XX, including a clear 
statement of goals and objectives, reasonable methods for achieving the 
objectives, a reasonable workplan and timetable and a clear statement 
of results or benefits expected. (30 points)
    (4) The applicant's presentation of a detailed evaluation plan, 
indicating an understanding of program evaluation methods and 
reflecting a practical, technically sound approach to assessing the 
project's achievement of program objectives. (20 points)
    Final grant award decisions will be made by the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Population Affairs. In making these decisions, the Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs will take into account the 
extent to which grants recommended for approval will provide an 
appropriate geographic distribution of resources, the priorities in 
sec. 2005(a), and the other factors in sec. 2005, including 
consideration of:
    (1) The applicant's capacity to administer funds responsibly;
    (2) The incidence of adolescent pregnancy and the availability of 
services in the geographic area to be served;
    (3) The population to be served;
    (4) The community commitment to and involvement in planning and 
implementation of the demonstration project;
    (5) The organizational model(s) for delivery of service;
    (6) The usefulness for policymakers and service providers of the 
proposed project and its potential for complementing existing 
adolescent health models;
    (7) The reasonableness of the estimated cost to the government 
considering the anticipated results.
    OAPP does not release information about individual applications 
during the review process until final funding decisions have been made. 
When these decisions have been made, applicants will be notified by 
letter of the outcome of their applications. The official document 
notifying an applicant that an application has been approved for 
funding is the Notice of Grant Award, which specifies to the grantee 
the amount of money awarded, the purpose of the grant, the terms and 
conditions of the grant award, and the amount of funding to be 
contributed by the grantee to project costs.

    Dated: April 26, 1999.
Denese O. Shervington,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-11982 Filed 5-11-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-17-M