[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 7, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18061-18063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07128]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Availability of Program Application Instructions for the 
University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Network 
To Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Access for People With Disabilities

    Title: Expanding Disabilities Network's (UCEDDs) Access to COVID 19 
Vaccines.
    Announcement Type: Initial.
    Statutory Authority: Subtitle D of the Developmental Disabilities 
Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (DD Act).
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 93.632.

DATES: The deadline date for the submission of the Expanding 
Disabilities Network's (UCEDDs) Access to COVID 19 Vaccines is 11:59PM 
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 US 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 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 of unequal access in

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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 their second vaccination appointment 
if needed, and/or
     Providing technical assistance to local health departments 
or other entities on vaccine accessibility.
    Awards authorized under Subtitle D of the DD Act, University 
Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), 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''). UCEDDs 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 grants to UCEDDs.

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 1, 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 evenly across the states and territories to 
the 67 UCEDD grantees. The projected amount for each award is $59,701.

III. Eligibility Criteria and Other Requirements

1. Eligible Entities

    The eligible entity for these awards is the agency designated as a 
UCEDD 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 UCEDD in the state or territory.
    2. Assurance that funds will supplement and not supplant existing 
UCEDD 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.
    4. Assurance that the award recipient will do outreach to Aging and 
Disability Resource Centers, Centers for Independent Living, State 
Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and other University Centers 
for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in the state as 
appropriate to maximize state coordination wherever possible.
    5. 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. Instructions for completing the application will be available from 
the ACL Project Officer.

    The following table identifies the designated program officer 
against each of the 10 ACL regions:

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                                   ACL regions           Email/phone
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Pam O'Brien, Program Officer   Region I:    [email protected]
                               CT, MA, ME, NH, RI,   s.gov, 202-795-
                               VT.                   7417.
                               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.

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Shawn Callaway, Program        Region V:    [email protected]
 Officer.                      IL, IN, MI, MN, OH,   hs.gov, 202-795-
                               WI.                   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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Submission Dates and Times

    To receive consideration, applications must be submitted by 11:59 
p.m. Eastern Time on April 21, 2021, through www.GrantSolutions.gov.

VII. Agency Contacts

1. Programmatic Issues

    Direct programmatic inquiries to your program officer:

ACL Regions I, II, III, IV, and VI, Pamela O'Brien, Email: 
[email protected], Phone: 202-795-7417
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. 2021-07128 Filed 4-6-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P