[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 8, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58100-58103]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25506]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Notice of a Grant for Public Health Educational Efforts Conducted 
by the National Health Museum

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Secretary, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of Minority 
Health.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Minority Health (OMH), Office of Public Health 
and Science (OPHS), announces that it will award a single source grant 
to the National Health Museum of Washington, DC. The purpose of this 
grant is to support U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
efforts to communicate emerging public health issues to the public, 
expand the

[[Page 58101]]

general audience for HHS public health initiatives such as Steps to a 
HealthierUS, enhance and expand the teaching of public health to 
students in grades K-12 by providing educational resources to health 
and life science teachers, and encourage health and science museums to 
support public health exhibitions and educational programming.

    Authority: Section 301 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act.

    The professional audience for the National Health Museum is 
comprised of the nation's public health and museum and science center 
leaders but the end audience that will benefit from the museum is much 
larger. More than 800 million visits occur each year in American 
museums and science centers, yet only a relatively small percentage of 
these visits address public health issues. Funded activities will 
directly support efforts to reach this public audience with educational 
activities that incorporate public health learning objectives. 
Activities will be undertaken to bring public health and museum and 
science center leaders together to collaborate in the development of 
products useful to a broad, general audience. Specifically, the grant 
is intended to: (1) Develop a master plan for museum exhibits; (2) 
support implementation of the National Public Health Partnership to 
create a Rapid Response Network (RRN) that could help promote quicker, 
better-coordinated responses to public health emergencies by 
communicating CDC and NIH-developed information and research to the 
public through outreach to the nation's museums, science centers and 
public health educators, and (3) expand the museum Web site to provide 
educational resources and instructional support for middle school 
teachers of health and life sciences.

DATES: Persons requesting additional information about this notice 
should contact the OPHS Office of Grants Management, no later than 
November 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Persons requesting additional information about this notice 
should contact the OPHS Office of Grants Management, 1101 Wootton 
Parkway, 5th Floor, Rockville, MD 20852. An application kit may be 
requested by telephone from (301) 594-0758 or by fax from (301) 594-
9399.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CFDA: Applied for.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Background

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the 
agency protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential 
human services, especially for those least able to help themselves. HHS 
health agencies have responsibility for a wide range of public health 
activities, working closely with State and local government, public and 
private nonprofit organizations, schools systems, business and 
industry. Program responsibilities among public health agencies include 
but are not limited to biomedical and health services research and 
translation of research findings into public health practice; the 
safety of food, drugs, and medical devices; disease prevention and 
health promotion; improving and expanding access to quality of health 
care; public health workforce education and development; and conducting 
rapid and effective responses to public health emergencies. The current 
HHS Steps to a HealthierUS initiative, led by Secretary Tommy G. 
Thompson, highlights the importance of prevention in public health, 
particularly for diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and asthma, by 
promoting healthy community lifestyles and healthy behavior. The 
initiative has a special focus on health among youth and older 
Americans.
    The mission of the National Health Museum, a nongovernmental 
501[c][3] organization, is to educate, engage, and inspire people, 
young and old, to understand the past, present, and future of health 
and health science and empower them to act upon that information to 
enhance their individual, family, and community health. The goals of 
the museum are to educate people about the human body and health 
science, to motivate people to learn more about their health needs and 
make positive lifestyle changes, to promote appreciation of the 
Nation's health science and medical heritage, and to serve as an 
independent and unbiased center of dialogue about health issues. 
Providing support for the promotion of public health activities was 
identified by museum planners as one of the key opportunities for 
museum programming, by museum planners, and the museum is a convener of 
the National Public Health Partnership comprising 28 organizations 
dedicated to bridging the gap between public health and informal 
education in museum and science center settings. Established in 1996, 
the museum operates an extensive educational Web site at http://www.accessexcellence.org, and plans to build a Washington, DC facility 
that will include a ``discovery center'' for visitors, K-12 classroom 
facilities and resources, and a health conference center. Additionally, 
the museum will use HHS funds to support implementation of the NPHP, a 
nationwide network of museums, science centers, and public health 
organizations that will actively address public health issues. The 
National Health Museum conceptualized and secured funding for formative 
research that has resulted in a strategic plan. HHS funds will be used 
to undertake implementation of this plan, which will involve 
Partnership members in information dissemination, project 
collaborations and resource sharing.
    The National Health Museum is uniquely qualified to accomplish the 
purpose of this grant because:
    [sbull] It is developing an educational facility in the nation's 
capitol that is projected to attract over 2 million visitors each year 
with public health-oriented programs, exhibits and activities.
    [sbull] It provides leadership to a nationwide network of museums 
and science centers in developing public health educational materials.
    [sbull] It has an explicit mission to provide assistance to K-12 
health and life science teachers and learners of all ages by furthering 
their understanding of public health.
    [sbull] It has a Web site that attracts more than 5.7 million 
monthly ``hits'' including 650,000 health and life science educators 
and learners.
    [sbull] It maintains a national directory that can match public and 
private sector health experts with schools, community groups, 
institutions, and media outlets who could use their expertise to 
develop programs and media on chronic and emerging public health 
issues.
    [sbull] As a convener of the National Public Health Partnership 
which consists of 28 organizations that focus on bridging the gap 
between public health and education in museum and science center 
settings, it has strong working relationships with the primary 
organizations essential to the fulfillment of the public health mission 
of this grant.
    Assistance will be provided only to the National Health Museum 
under this grant. Various HHS agencies have contributed funds for this 
effort. The OMH will award this grant on behalf of these agencies.

Purposes of the Grant

    The Office of Minority Health, Office of Public Health and Science, 
will award a single source grant to the

[[Page 58102]]

National Health Museum. The purpose of this grant is to support HHS 
efforts to communicate emerging public health issues to the public, 
expand the general audience for HHS public health initiatives such as 
Steps to a HealthierUS, enhance and expand the teaching of public 
health to students in grades 6-12 by providing educational resources to 
health and life science teachers, and encourage health and science 
museums to support public health exhibitions and educational 
programming. The grant will enable the National Health Museum to plan 
and implement program activities directed toward three goals.
(1) Planning
    A Master Plan will be developed to establish a detailed thematic 
outline for National Health Museum exhibitions and programs, further 
articulate the key health communications and learning tactics that will 
be applied by the museum to support the public health mission. Planning 
sessions with key public health experts from the academic, government, 
non-profit and private sectors will inform these planning activities, 
to identify ``best practices'' from exemplary museums, science centers 
and other informal learning venues. Museum exhibits ultimately will 
serve the multi-generational annual audience of more than 2 million 
individuals that is expected to visit the NHM physical facility in 
Washington, DC, for public health-oriented programs, exhibitions, and 
educational activities.
(2) National Public Health Partnership
    NHM will use HHS funds to support implementation of the 
Partnership, a nationwide network of museums, science centers, and 
public health organizations that will actively address public health 
issues. Activities will be undertaken to bring public health and museum 
and science center leaders together to collaborate in the development 
of products useful to a broad, general audience. One such product will 
be a Rapid Response Network (RRN) that will help promote quicker, 
better-coordinated responses to public health emergencies by 
communicating Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National 
Institutes of Health-developed information and research to the public 
through outreach to the nation's museums, science centers and public 
health educators. For example, many Partnership member institutions 
reported receiving inquiries from their visitors recently during the 
heightened concern over SARS that they were not equipped to answer. 
Support may be directed to development of items such as resource 
guides, speakers bureaus, electronic presentations and ``toolkits'' of 
fast, credible information on rapidly developing public health 
emergencies or issues.
(3) Museum Web Site
    Funds will be used to expand the Museum Web site, Access 
Excellence@The National Health Museum, which attracts an online 
audience of more than 650,000 health and life science educators and 
learners each month. The site, which is currently focused on serving 
the needs of high school life science teachers, will be expanded to 
reach a larger middle school audience and provide additional resources 
specifically designed for health teachers. These additional resources 
will help address the needs of health teachers who require standards-
based lesson plans that are proven effective but who frequently do not 
have the experience, knowledge, or time to develop such resources for 
themselves. The expanded resources, including real-time, on-demand, and 
streaming video materials, will have up-to-date, quality information 
that is educationally sound, and uses technology to provide innovative 
and creative classroom activities.

II. Award Information

    OMH intends to make $1 million available to the National Health 
Museum for a project period of 12 months. A budget of up to $1 million 
total costs (direct and indirect) for this 12-month project period may 
be requested to cover costs of:

[sbull] Personnel
[sbull] Consultants
[sbull] Supplies
[sbull] Equipment
[sbull] Grant related travel
[sbull] Other grant related costs

    Funds may not be used for:

[sbull] Medical treatment
[sbull] Construction
[sbull] Building alterations or renovations

    The budget request must be fully justified in terms of the proposed 
objectives and activities and include a computational explanation of 
how costs were determined. The applicant is not required to provide 
matching funds or share in project costs.

III. Eligibility Information

    Assistance will be provided only to the National Health Museum of 
Washington, DC.

IV. Application and Submission Information

    Application must be submitted on Form PHS 5161-1 (Revised July 2000 
and approved by OMB under Control Number 0937-0189). An applicant is 
advised to pay close attention to the specific program guidelines and 
general instructions provided in the application kit. The application 
kit is available from the OPHS Office of Grants Management at the 
address, telephone, and fax numbers previously listed.
    An applicant must submit an original and 2 copies of the completed 
application to the OPHS Office of Grants Management at the address 
previously listed. The original application must be signed by the 
individual authorized to act for the applicant organization and to 
assume for the organizations the obligations imposed by the terms and 
conditions of the grant award.
    To receive consideration, the grant application must be received by 
the OPHS Office of Grants Management by November 7, 2003. An 
application will be considered as meeting the deadline if it is (1) 
received on or before the deadline date, or (2) postmarked on or before 
the deadline date and received in time for orderly processing. A 
legibly 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. A hand-delivered 
application must be received in the OPHS Office of Grants Management 
not later than 4:30 p.m. on the application due date. An application 
must be submitted in hard copy. An application submitted by facsimile 
transmission (FAX) or any other electronic format will not be accepted. 
The applicant will receive written notification from the OPHS Office of 
Grants Management via Form PHS 3038-1 that its application has been 
received.

Review Under Executive Order 12372

    An application under this announcement is not subject to the 
requirements of Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of 
Federal Programs.''

Program Requirements/Application Content

    This notice seeks an application from the National Health Museum to 
plan and implement program activities that will communicate emerging 
public health issues to the public, expand the general audience for HHS 
public health initiatives, support the teaching of public health to 
students in grades K-12, and encourage health and science

[[Page 58103]]

museums to support public health exhibitions and educational 
programming. A successful application will focus on the following:
    (1) Evidence that the applicant has experience in planning and 
implementing educational programming on health sciences to the general 
public, including young people.
    (2) Evidence that the applicant thoroughly understands public 
health goals, methods, and programs and that the applicant has access 
to and working relationships with health and science teachers, and to 
health and science museums and centers suitable to carry out the 
objectives of this project.
    (3) A clear description of target audiences for the messages and 
the strategies that will be employed to reach them.
    (4) A clear description of goals and objectives for the educational 
and communications efforts that will be undertaken and the measures 
that will be used to determine success.
    (5) A description of the type, length, activities, and services 
that will be planned and implemented as part of this effort, and a 
rationale for the proposed approach.
    (6) Evidence that the proposed plan is appropriate, feasible, and 
logically sequenced to attain the stated goals.
    (7) A plan to evaluate individual program activities or the program 
as a whole and its impact (or potential impact) on the target 
audiences.
    (8) A detailed budget justification for the project that is 
reasonable, adequate, and cost efficient and which includes staffing 
requirements derived from the proposed activities.

Program Evaluation

    The project is required to have an evaluation plan consistent with 
the scope of the proposed project and funding level that conforms to 
the program's stated goal and objectives. The plan should include both 
a process evaluation to track the implementation of program activities 
and, as appropriate, an outcome evaluation to track changes in 
knowledge, skills, or behavior that can be attributed to the program.

V. Application Review Information

    The funding decision will be determined by the HHS Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Minority Health based on results of a technical review by 
an ad hoc, independent review group conducted by the Office of Minority 
Health. The application will be reviewed by an Applications will be 
assessed for technical merit according to the following criteria:

(1) Methodology (35 Points)

[sbull] Appropriateness of proposed approach
[sbull] Appropriateness of specific activities for educational 
programming objectives outlined
[sbull] Logic and sequencing of the planned approaches

(2) Evaluation (20 Points)

[sbull] Thoroughness, feasibility, and appropriateness of the 
evaluation design, data collection, and analysis procedures
[sbull] Clear intent and plans to document the activities and their 
outcomes

(3) Background (15 Points)

[sbull] Expertise and understanding of public health goals, 
methodologies, and programs
[sbull] Demonstrated access to and experience in communicating health/
science information to youth and their teachers, the general public, 
museums, and science centers
[sbull] Demonstrated experience in networking, planning, and 
implementing activities at a national level
[sbull] Demonstrated outcomes of past similar efforts/activities with 
the target audiences

(4) Objectives (15 Points)

[sbull] Merit of the objectives
[sbull] Relevance to the program purpose and stated problem
[sbull] Attainability in the stated time frames

(5) Management Plan (15 Points)

[sbull] Demonstrated knowledge/skills in program and project management
[sbull] Demonstrated knowledge/skills in health/science education and 
health/science communications
[sbull] Capability to plan and coordinate efforts at a national level
[sbull] Capability to manage and evaluate the project as determined by:
[sbull] The qualifications of proposed staff or requirements for ``to 
be hired'' staff
    --Staff level of effort
    --Management experience of the applicant
    --Clarity of the applicant's organizational chart

VI. Award Administration Information

    The applicant will be notified by mail regarding the outcome of its 
application. The Notice of Grant Award is the official document 
informing the applicant that its application has been approved and 
funded. This document specifies the amount of money awarded, the 
purpose of the grant, the terms and conditions of the grant award, and 
the amount of funding, if any, to be contributed to project costs by 
the grant recipient.

VII. Agency Contacts

    For technical assistance on budget and business aspects of the 
application or administrative requirements, please contact Karen 
Campbell, OPHS Office of Grants Management, (301) 594-0758.
    For assistance with questions about program requirements, please 
contact Blake Crawford or Yvonne Johns, Division of Information and 
Education, Office of Minority Health, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 600, 
Rockville, MD 20852, telephone (301) 443-5224.

    Dated: September 30, 2003.
Tuei Doong,
Deputy Director, Office of Minority Health.
[FR Doc. 03-25506 Filed 10-7-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-29-P