[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 7, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18063-18065]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07126]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Availability of Program Application Instructions for the State 
Councils on Developmental Disabilities To Expand COVID-19 Vaccine 
Access for People With Disabilities

    Title: Expanding Disabilities Network's (DD Councils) Access to 
COVID-19 Vaccines.
    Announcement Type: Initial.
    Statutory Authority: Subtitle B of the Developmental Disabilities 
Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (DD Act).
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 93.630.

DATES: The deadline date for the submission of the Expanding 
Disabilities Network's (DD Councils) Access to COVID-19 Vaccines is 
11:59 p.m. April 21, 2021.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    The Administration for Community Living (ACL) announced a new 
funding opportunity to increase vaccine access for people with 
disabilities. With funding and partnership support from the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ACL is providing grants to 
disability networks to provide critical services to help communities 
combat COVID-19. A leading priority of this joint effort is to ensure 
vaccines are equally accessible to the disability population.
    Approximately 61 million adults living with in the U.S. have a 
disability, representing approximately 26 percent of the adult 
population. People with disabilities may have an increased risk for 
contracting COVID-19 based on where they live or the services they 
receive. Some people with disabilities live in group settings which 
places them at higher risk for acquiring COVID-19 in comparison to 
people without disabilities. People with disabilities may also require 
close contact with direct service providers, including personal care 
attendants or other care providers, who help with activities of daily 
living. Moreover, many people with disabilities have underlying health 
conditions (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, and obesity) that increases 
the risk of severe illness due to COVID-19. In addition, research has 
also found that people with Down Syndrome are significantly more likely 
to be hospitalized from COVID-19 than the general population.
    There are increasing reports of barriers and unequal access in 
communities to vaccinate people with disabilities. For example, some 
people with disabilities may experience difficulties scheduling 
appointments, communicating, obtaining accessible transportation or 
require direct support services to attend vaccination appointments. 
Others living in the community may be isolated or unable to leave their 
home and may require in-home vaccination.
    This funding opportunity is designed to breakdown those barriers to 
expand vaccine access in communities. Examples of activities consistent 
with the purpose of this funding are the following:
     Education about the importance of receiving a vaccine,
     Identifying people unable to independently travel to a 
vaccination site,
     Helping with scheduling a vaccine appointment,
     Arranging or providing accessible transportation,
     Providing companion/personal support,
     Reminding people of the second vaccination appointment if 
needed, and/or
     Providing technical assistance to local health departments 
or other entities on vaccine accessibility.
    Awards authorized under Subtitle B of the DD Act, State DD 
Councils, shall be provided funding under this opportunity. Award 
recipients will be required to submit annual progress reports on the 
activities conducted, challenges, successes, and lessons learned and 
provide a written summary. In addition, to show impact of the grant 
awards, the grantee will include the number of people served or 
impacted by the services provided against each of the activities chosen 
to be implemented. To be eligible to receive this grant, the grantee 
must submit a Letter of Assurance to ACL containing all of the 
assurances required, (see below, ``Section III. Eligibility Criteria 
and Other Requirements'' and ``Section IV. Submission Information''). 
DD Councils who do not complete assurance requirements below, or 
otherwise indicate no desire to receive funds will be excluded from 
receiving funds.
    ACL may establish ad hoc dates based on the need of the COVID-19 
response, e.g., to meet unanticipated issues related to COVID-19 and/or 
to allow impacted eligible applicants that missed the cut-off date to 
submit an application for consideration. ACL intends to issue initial 
notices of award as applications are received prior to the application 
due date to address urgent COVID-19 response needs. Second notices of 
award are planned after the actual number of applicants is finalized.

II. Award Information

1. Funding Instrument Type

    These awards will be made in the form of formula grants to State DD 
Councils.

[[Page 18064]]

2. Anticipated Total Funding per Budget Period

    Under this program announcement, ACL intends to make grant awards 
to each State and territory, and the District of Columbia. Awards made 
under this announcement have an estimated start date of April 14, 2021 
and an estimated end date of September 30, 2022, for a 17-month budget 
and performance period.
    The total available funding for this opportunity is $4,000,000. 
Funding will be distributed based on the state/territory population. 
There are no cost-sharing nor match requirements. Below are the 
projected award amounts:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Projected
                       State/territory                          amount
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.....................................................     $55,219
Alaska......................................................      26,695
Arizona.....................................................      81,973
Arkansas....................................................      33,986
District of Columbia........................................      26,695
Florida.....................................................     241,881
Georgia.....................................................     119,573
Hawaii......................................................      26,695
Idaho.......................................................      26,695
Illinois....................................................     142,710
Indiana.....................................................      75,818
Iowa........................................................      35,532
Kansas......................................................      32,810
Kentucky....................................................      50,315
Nevada......................................................      34,689
New Hampshire...............................................      26,695
New Jersey..................................................     100,031
New Mexico..................................................      26,695
New York....................................................     219,085
North Carolina..............................................     118,116
North Dakota................................................      26,695
California..................................................     444,985
Colorado....................................................      64,855
Connecticut.................................................      40,152
Delaware....................................................      26,695
Louisiana...................................................      52,355
Maine.......................................................      26,695
Maryland....................................................      68,086
Massachusetts...............................................      77,623
Michigan....................................................     112,472
Minnesota...................................................      63,513
Mississippi.................................................      33,517
Missouri....................................................      69,119
Montana.....................................................      26,695
Nebraska....................................................      26,695
Ohio........................................................     131,642
Oklahoma....................................................      44,563
Oregon......................................................      47,500
Pennsylvania................................................     144,176
Rhode Island................................................      26,695
South Carolina..............................................      57,985
South Dakota................................................      26,695
Tennessee...................................................      76,910
Texas.......................................................     326,551
Utah........................................................      36,105
Vermont.....................................................      26,695
Virginia....................................................      96,127
Washington..................................................      85,759
West Virginia...............................................      26,695
Wisconsin...................................................      65,572
Wyoming.....................................................      26,695
American Samoa..............................................      13,902
Guam........................................................      13,902
Northern Marianas...........................................      13,902
Puerto Rico.................................................      35,967
Virgin Islands..............................................      13,902
------------------------------------------------------------------------

III. Eligibility Criteria and Other Requirements

1. Eligible Entities

    The eligible entity for these awards is the agency designated as a 
State DD Council in each state or territory.

2. Other Requirements

A. Letter of Assurance
    A Letter of Assurance is required to be submitted by the eligible 
entity in order to receive an award. The Letter of Assurance must 
include the following:
    1. Assurance that the award recipient is the agency or entity 
designated as the State DD Council in the state or territory.
    2. Assurance that funds will supplement and not supplant existing 
State DD Council funding.
    3. Assurance that funds will be spent in ways consistent with the 
purpose of the funding in carrying out one or more of the following 
activities:
     Education about the importance of receiving a vaccine,
     Identifying people unable to independently travel to a 
site,
     Helping with scheduling a vaccine appointment,
     Arranging or providing accessible transportation,
     Providing companion/personal support,
     Reminding people of their second vaccination appointment 
if needed, and/or,
     Providing technical assistance to local health departments 
or other entities on vaccine accessibility.
    1. Assurance that the award recipient will do outreach to Aging and 
Disability Resource Centers, Centers for Independent Living, State 
Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and University Centers for 
Excellence in Developmental Disabilities to maximize state coordination 
wherever possible.
    4. Assurance to provide semi-annual federal financial reports and 
annual program reports that describes activities conducted, challenges, 
successes, and lessons learned. The written summary will also include 
number of people served or impacted by the services provided.
B. DUNS Number
    All grant applicants must obtain and keep current a D-U-N-S number 
from Dun and Bradstreet. It is a nine-digit identification number, 
which provides unique identifiers of single business entities. The D-U-
N-S number can be obtained from: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm.
C. Intergovernmental Review
    Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal 
Programs, is not applicable to these grant applications.

IV. Submission Information

1. Letter of Assurance

    To receive funding, eligible entities must provide a Letter of 
Assurance containing all the information outlined in Section III above.
    Letters of Assurance should be addressed to: Alison Barkoff, Acting 
Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Administration for 
Community Living, 330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20201.
    Letters of Assurance should be submitted electronically via email 
to your ACL program officer. The following table identifies the 
designated program officer against each of the 10 ACL regions:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                ACL regions                  Email/phone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sara Newell-Perez, Program Officer...................   Region I: CT, MA,    sara.newell-
                                                        ME, NH, RI, VT.               [email protected], 202-795-
                                                                                      7374.
                                                        Region II: NY, NJ,
                                                        PR, VI
                                                        Region III: DC, DE,
                                                        MD, PA, VA, WV
                                                        Region IV: AL, FL,
                                                        GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
                                                        Region VI: AR, LA,
                                                        OK, NM, TX
Shawn Callaway, Program Officer......................   Region V: IL, IN,    [email protected],
                                                        MI, MN, OH, WI.               202-795-7319.
                                                        Region VII: IA, KS,
                                                        MO, NE
                                                        Region VIII: CO,
                                                        MT, UT, WY, ND, SD
                                                        Region IX: CA, NV,
                                                        AZ, HI, GU, CNMI, AS
                                                        Region X: AK, ID,
                                                        OR, WA
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[[Page 18065]]

2. Submission Dates and Times

    To receive consideration, Letters of Assurance must be submitted by 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 21, 2021. Letters of Assurance should 
be submitted electronically via email and have an electronic time stamp 
indicating the date/time submitted.

VII. Agency Contacts

1. Programmatic Issues

    Direct programmatic inquiries to your program officer:

ACL Regions I, II, III, IV, and VI--Sara Newell-Perez, Email: 
[email protected], Phone: 202-795-7374
ACL Regions V, VII, VIII, IX, and X--Shawn Callaway, Email: 
[email protected], Phone: 202-795-7319

2. Submission Issues

    Direct inquiries regarding submission of the Letters of Assurance 
to the appropriate ACL Program Officer found in the table in ``Section 
IV. Submission Information.''

    Dated: April 1, 2021.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2021-07126 Filed 4-6-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P