[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 86 (Friday, May 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21252-21253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09148]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

[CFDA numbers: 93.581, 93.587, 93.612]


Notice of Final Issuance Adopting Administration for Native 
Americans (ANA) Program Policies and Procedures

AGENCY: ANA, ACF, HHS.

ACTION: Issuance of Final Policies.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) is issuing final 
interpretive rules, general statements of policy, and rules of agency 
organization, procedure, or practice relating to the following seven 
Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Environmental Regulatory 
Enhancement (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NR-1221); Sustainable Employment and 
Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NE-1225); Native 
American Language Preservation and Maintenance--Esther Martinez 
Immersion (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NB-1226); Native American Language 
Preservation and Maintenance (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NL-1235); Social and 
Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NA-1236); Social and 
Economic Development Strategies--Alaska (HHS-2015-ACF-ANA-NK- 0960); 
and Native Youth Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment, and 
Development (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NC-1263).

DATES: The policies described in the Notice for Public Comment (NOPC) 
are effective immediately upon publication.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmelia Strickland, Director, 
Division of Program Operations and Administration for Native Americans, 
(877) 922-9262.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 814 of the Native American Programs 
Act of 1974 (NAPA), as amended, requires ANA to provide notice and 
allow for comment on its proposed interpretive rules and general 
statements of policy. This Notice responds to comments to ANA's January 
23, 2017, NOPC, provides notice of the cancellation of the Fiscal Year 
(FY) 2017 Sustainable Employment and Economic Development Strategies 
(SEEDS) FOA, and provides information on where to find the FY 2017 
FOAs.

A. Comments and Responses to the 2017 NOPC

    ANA published a NOPC in the Federal Register on January 23, 2017 
(82 FR 7834), with proposed policy and program clarifications, 
modifications, and activities for the FY 2017 FOAs. The NOPCs provided 
proposed clarifications, modifications, and new text for seven FY 2017 
FOAs: Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NR-1221); 
Sustainable Employment and Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2017-
ACF-ANA-NE-1225); Native American Language Preservation and 
Maintenance--Esther Martinez Immersion (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NB-1226); 
Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance (HHS- 2017-ACF-
ANA-NL-1235); Social and Economic Development Strategies (HHS-2017-ACF-
ANA-NA-1236); Social and Economic Development Strategies--Alaska (HHS-
2015-ACF-ANA-NK-0960); and Native Youth Initiative for Leadership, 
Empowerment, and Development (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NC-1263). The public 
comment period was open for 30 days.
    ANA received feedback from the Cherokee Nation. ANA considered the 
comments and determined none of them required changes to any of the 
FOAs. Many of the comments expressed agreement with ANA's changes to 
the FOAs. We appreciate the comments and they require no response or 
changes. A few comments expressed concerns or made suggestions about 
some of the changes. We respond to those below:
    Comment: Regarding access in all FOAs to ANA's Application Toolkit, 
commenter commended the addition of the Toolkit and recommended 
introductory webinars to roll out the Toolkit.
    Response: ANA will make no changes to the FOAs in response to this 
comment. ANA will be providing information about the new Application 
Toolkit in a variety of ways, including webinars and ANA's pre-
application trainings.
    Comment: With respect to the modification of application due dates 
under the Native Youth Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment, and 
Development FOA to align with ANA's other FOAs, the commenter noted 
this change would help streamline ANA's grant processes and that such 
change was not unexpected. The commenter did express concern about 
lower quality proposals being submitted if tribes submitted multiple 
ANA applications in the same application period.
    Response: ANA will make no changes to the FOAs in response to this 
comment. In response to the concern about multiple ANA applications 
being due at the same time, ANA is considering how to alleviate some of 
that burden by looking at ways to make the application process less 
burdensome for applicants interested in submitting applications under 
more than one FOA.
    Comment: The commenter suggested that ANA broaden the scope of pre-
application training to include examples of successful applications and 
separate webinars for each of ANA's FOAs rather than pre-application 
trainings that address all of ANA's FOAs.
    Response: ANA will make no changes to the FOAs in response to this 
comment. With respect to provision of successful applications, as 
stated in the NOPC, ACF policy requires that no additional information 
that is not already provided in the FOA can be disseminated after FOAs 
have been published. In addition, ANA's pre-application trainings will 
continue to address all six of ANA's FOAs to allow potential applicants 
to benefit from being able to travel to one place to learn, in detail, 
about all of ANA's FOAs and how they may address community needs.

B. Cancellation of 2017 Sustainable Employment and Economic Development 
Strategies (SEEDS) FOA

    ANA forecasted the issuance of SEEDS FOA (HHS-ACF-ANA-NE-1225) for 
FY 2017 and included it in the NOPC in the Federal Register (82 FR 
7834) on January 23, 2017. Since the forecast and publication of the 
NOPC, ANA has determined that it will not publish the SEEDS FOA in 2017 
due to limited funding for new awards. Currently funded SEEDS projects 
will continue to receive funding. Applicants interested in economic 
development projects in FY 2017 should consider the SEDS program, HHS-
ACF-ANA-NA-1236.
    ANA is not seeking comments on this cancellation of the SEEDS FOA. 
Section 814(b) of NAPA requires that ANA follow the notice and comment 
procedures in the Administrative Procedure Act at 5 U.S.C. 553 for 
interpretive rules and statements of policy but, like in 5 U.S.C. 553, 
creates an exception when the agency for good cause finds that notice 
and public procedure are ``impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to 
the public interest.'' Seeking comments on the cancellation is 
impracticable because ANA has made this decision due to a lack of 
funding and any comments cannot change ANA's funding for FY 2017.

C. Funding Opportunity Announcements

    For information on the types of projects funded by ANA, please 
refer to

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ANA's Web site for information on our program areas and funding 
opportunity announcements: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana. Pre-
publication information on ANA's FOAs is available at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html by clicking on 
`Forecasted' under Opportunity Status and `Administration for Children 
and Families--ANA [HHS-ACF-ANA]' on the left side of the page. ANA's 
2017 FOAs can be accessed at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/office/ana or http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/. Synopses and 
application forms will be available on www.Grants.gov.

    Dated: April 28, 2017.
Stacey Ecoffey,
Acting Commissioner, Administration for Native American.
[FR Doc. 2017-09148 Filed 5-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-01-P