[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 9, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26841-26843]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-11480]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Mental Health and Community Safety Initiative for American 
Indian/Alaska Native Children, Youth and Families

AGENCY: Indian Health Service.

[[Page 26842]]


ACTION: Notice of funding availability for competitive grants for the 
Mental Health and Community Safety Initiative for American Indian/
Alaska Native (AI/AN) Children, Youth, and Families.

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SUMMARY: The Indian Health Service (IHS) announces the development of 
the Mental Health and Community Safety Initiative for American Indian/
Alaska Native (AI/AN) Children, Youth, and Families and the 
availability of competitive grants under this Initiative for fiscal 
year (FY) 2000. Grants under this Initiative will be administered by 
the following Federal agencies: (1) The IHS and Substance Abuse and 
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), United States 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); (2) Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), United States Department of Justice 
(DOJ); and (3) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), 
United States Department of Education (ED).
    The Initiative will provide tribes and tribal organizations with 
easy-to-access assistance in developing innovative strategies that 
focus on the mental health, behavioral, substance abuse, and community 
safety needs of AI/AN young people and their families through a 
coordinated Federal grant process. Total funding available for the four 
grant programs involved in the Initiative is $4.13 million.
    Coordination of this effort has been initiated through the White 
House Domestic Policy Council and was announced at the June 7, 1999, 
White House Conference on Mental Health.
    The primary purpose of the Initiative is to promote Indian youth 
mental health, education, and substance abuse-related (alcohol as well 
as drug abuse) services, and to support juvenile delinquency prevention 
and intervention through the creation and implementation of culturally 
sensitive programs. Grant funds will be available beginning in FY 2000 
and a coordinated grant program will continue over a three-year period.
    The Initiative will support tribes in providing a range of youth 
support services and programs to address the mental health and related 
needs of AI/AN young people and their families through various settings 
within the community, such as in the home, in the schools, in violence 
prevention education programs, in health care treatment programs, and 
in the juvenile justice system.
    Interagency programs included in this effort have been selected 
based upon their combined potential to address comprehensively mental 
health, juvenile justice, substance abuse, and related issues. As part 
of this Initiative, tribes are encouraged to promote coordination and 
collaboration among the local programs that serve young people in their 
communities.
    Tribes may apply for one or more of the grant programs included in 
the Initiative to address their programmatic needs. In submitting an 
application or applications, tribes should identify the complex 
community issues involved and demonstrate how the proposed 
application(s) will provide for a comprehensive approach to addressing 
and attempting to solve these issues.

Government Agencies Providing Grants Funding

A. HHS Agencies Providing Grant Funding for the Initiative are: the IHS 
and the SAMHSA

1. IHS
    The IHS announces the availability of $1.13 million in FY 2000 for 
competitive grant awards for the AI/AN Mental Health Grants Program. 
Under this program, tribes and tribal organizations will be considered 
for two types of projects:
     Mental Health Projects will provide demonstration projects 
that serve the AI/AN children and youth involved with the juvenile 
justice system and their families. These projects should be targeted at 
providing culturally relevant systems of care resulting in reduced 
hospitalization, better case-management, and increased family 
participation in the treatment process.
     Child Abuse and Neglect Projects will provide projects 
that develop screening, evaluation, and referral systems in 
collaboration with tribal child protection teams for AI/AN children and 
youth in the juvenile justice system who have been abused and/or 
neglected. The grantee would be required to initiate the development of 
prevention programs targeting children and families at risk for abuse 
and neglect.
    This program is included in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance under #93.228. The deadline for receipt of applications is 
June 2, 2000.
    For information regarding the IHS program, contact Lahoma Roebuck, 
Division of Clinical and Preventive Services, Indian Health Service, 
5600 Fishers Ln., Rm. 6A-20, Rockville, MD 20857, (301) 443-1068, Fax: 
(301) 594-6213, e-mail: [email protected]
2. SAMHSA
    The Center for Mental Health Service in partnership with the Center 
for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Center for Substance Abuse 
Prevention has available approximately $450,000 in FY 2000 for 1-year 
grant awards to tribal and urban Indian communities for the AI/AN Youth 
Priority Initiative. The average award may range from $50,000 to 
$150,000 depending on the size of the identified service population of 
the applicant.
    This Initiative supports the adoption of exemplary practices 
related to the delivery and organization of services for AI/AN youth 
with serious emotional and substance abuse problems. Applicants must 
identify an exemplary practice specific to the needs of the AI/AN 
youth, and demonstrate the involvement of the tribal leadership, as 
well as education; law enforcement; and substance abuse, health, social 
services, and mental health entities in the community. Examples of an 
exemplary practice include: wrap-around, multi-systemic treatment, or 
case management services to improve access to services, increase family 
voice in the system of care, and reduce institutional placements; 
mentoring programs; culturally specific programs to restore rites of 
passage and intergenerational support; and gathering of Native American 
programs to convene youth serving programs; and peer counseling 
programs.
    This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance under #93.230. Deadline date for receipt of applications is 
May 10, 2000.
    For information regarding the SAMHSA program, contact Jill Shepard 
Erickson, MSW Public Health Advisor, Child, Adolescent and Family 
Branch, Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration, Suite 11 C-16, Parklawn Building, 5600 
Fishers Ln., Rm. 6A-54, Rockville, MD 20857, (301) 443-1333, Fax: (301) 
443-3693, e-mail:[email protected]

B. DOJ Agencies Providing Grant Funding for the Initiative are: the 
COPS and the OJJDP

1. COPS
    The COPS announces the availability of $1.5 million for the Mental 
Health and Community Safety Initiative for AI/AN Children, Youth and 
Families. Grants will be awarded for salaries and benefits for new 
police officers, as well as law enforcement training and equipment, 
including technology and vehicles, for new and existing police 
officers. It is expected that resources

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funded under this program (officer positions, equipment and/or 
training) will be used to meet the mental health, behavioral, and 
substance abuse needs for Native American youth and their families and 
provide a range of youth support services and programs both in the 
community and in the school arena. Sworn police officers may be 
deployed as Community Resource Officers or as School Resource Officers 
to engage in community policing activities. Salaries and benefits cover 
a 3-year period. A 25% local match requirement may be waived on the 
basis of demonstrated fiscal distress. All applicants must submit a 
written plan to retain their COPS-funded officer positions after 
Federal funding has ended.
    Grants funded under the COPS initiative will be supplemented with 
$50,000 provided by OESE, ED, from FY 2000 Safe and Drug-free Schools 
and Communities Act National Program funds. These funds will be awarded 
to the recipients of COPS funds under this initiative and will be used 
to support alcohol, tobacco, and other drug or violence prevention 
activities in school-based settings to be implemented by police 
officers supported by COPS funds.
    This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance under #16710. The deadline for receipt of applications is 
May 26, 2000.
    Contact for the COPS program: June Kress, Senior Policy Analyst, 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), U.S. Department 
of Justice, 1100 Vermont Avenue, NW 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20530, 
(202) 616-2915, Fax: (202) 616-9612, e-mail: [email protected].
2. OJJDP
    The purpose of the Tribal Youth Program (TYP) is to support and 
enhance tribal efforts for comprehensive delinquency prevention and 
control and for juvenile justice system improvement for Native American 
youth. In FY 2000, $1 million of the total appropriation for the TYP 
has been set aside to provide mental health services to youth in Tribal 
and/or State juvenile justice systems. The programs or projects to be 
funded must provide mental health services through one or more of the 
following activities:
    (1) Reduce, control, and prevent crime and delinquency both by and 
against tribal youth;
    (2) Provide interventions for court-involved tribal youth;
    (3) Improve tribal juvenile justice systems; and
    (4) Provide prevention programs focusing on alcohol and drugs.
    The description for this program is located in #16.731 in the 
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. The deadline for receipt of 
applications for this TYP Mental Health Initiative is June 15, 2000.
    For more information, please contact: Chyrl Andrews, Acting Tribal 
Youth Manager, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
(OJJDP), State Relations and Assistance Division, U.S. Department of 
Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531, 202-307-5924, 
Fax: (202) 307-2819, e-mail: [email protected]

Distribution of Grant Application Kits

    The IHS, SAMHSA, COPS, and OJJDP are preparing a single, 
consolidated grant application package that will include the program 
announcement and application kit for each of the four grant programs 
described above. The consolidated application package will be 
distributed in early May 2000. A package will be sent directly to (1) 
the Tribal Chairman of every federally recognized tribe; (2) the 
Director of every tribal organization as defined by section 4(1) of 
Pub. L. 93-638, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 
as amended, and (3) the Director of every tribal health department.
    To request additional application packages, please contact: Office 
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Justice 
Clearinghouse, 2277 Research Boulevard, Rockville, Maryland 20850, 
Reference: White House Initiative on Mental Health (Solicitation #410), 
Telephone: 1-800-683-8736.

    Dated: April 24, 2000.
Michel E. Lincoln,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 00-11480 Filed 5-8-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-16-M