The MENTAL Health Prize Challenge

Gilbert Thompson: Hello, and welcome everyone and good afternoon. And on behalf of the 

Administration for Community Living we’d like to welcome you to today's webinar on 

Mobilizing and Empowering the Nation and Technology to Advance Loneliness and social 

isolation health innovation challenge, which in short is the MENTAL Health Challenge. My 

name is Gilbert Thompson and I am with the Administration for Community Living Office of 

Network Advancement. Today's webinar will provide a high-level overview of the MENTAL 

Health Challenge and also cover how to register, eligibility, judging criteria, and address any 

questions you may have. A few housekeeping notes before we begin. The link for closed 

captioning will be shared via the chat feature. All audio will remain muted throughout the 

webinar. We encourage you to use the chat feature for any questions. Please feel free to chat 

in any questions or comments throughout the session. When doing so, please select to send 

your message to all panelists. Lastly, a recording of the session along with the slides will be 

made available following today's session. And at this time, I would like to introduce Mary 

Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator for the Administration for Community Living. Mary?

Mary Lazare: Hello?

Gilbert Thompson: Yes. I can hear you.

Mary Lazare: Great. It's great to be here with all of you and Gilbert, thanks for opening this 

important webinar. I'd like to share with all of you a little bit of background about how did 

we come about initiating this prize challenge. As you all can recall back in early March, we 

were faced with this pandemic in terms of things starting to close down and people becoming 

isolated, and certainly that was an issue for ACL and has been an issue even before the 

pandemic. But, the whole social isolation problem has existed for some time. This pandemic 

has certainly put this on steroids and exacerbated all of the problems related to social 

isolation. As we know from our sister agency here at HHS, social isolation can be like 

smoking 15 cigarettes a day to your physical health. It can lead to heart disease and mental 

health issues. So, there are lots of problems and issues related to social isolation and the 

pandemic exacerbated these even more so. So, we had talked about social isolation being an 

initiative that we wanted to take on, and around the time we were in this discussion, the 

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reached out to those of us at ACL, the 

Administration for Community Living, and asked what we saw as issues and what we were 

working on and we mentioned social isolation and that we were considering a prize 

challenge. So, actually it was OSTP that said to us, we would like to provide some 

coordination on this project, and bring together some other partners across the federal 

government. So, in working with OSTP, we reached out, ACL reached out to a sister agency 

at HHS, which is the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). And we had been 

in a little bit of conversation with them previously on the impact of social isolation on 

physical health. So, they were very excited to support this effort. So, we as partners reached 

out to the Veterans Administration through OSTP, and they connected us to the Federal 

Communications Commission. And the work as I mentioned is going up previously, ACL 

was going on and was already connected to the Consumer Association Foundation. These are 

the partners that are standing up the prize challenge. Dr. Lee Stades and Dr. Dorothy Fink at 

OASH are two key leaders in the Office for the Assistant Secretary of Health and who will be 

instrumental in working with us. Neither of them could be with us today so we’re sorry. But I 

will share with you all that Dr. Lee Stades was on a call yesterday on another group talking 
about this intiative. He mentioned he was very interested in this as well as Dr. Fink because, 

as I mentioned, the impact on physical health. And that as a department, the Department of 

Health and Human Services, this is a great example of connecting human services and its 

impact, positive impact on health. So, he sees this as quoting him, he says he sees this as the 

right resource at the right time for the right individual. I’m kind of summarizing the reason 

OASH is such a significant partner in this. The Veterans Administration will be providing 

some evaluation work, as you noted in the Challenge and you will hear more about that 

coming up. And the Consumer Technology Association Foundation certainly has provided 

some great leadership to us in this process. So, as I mentioned, OSTP helped as well to 

provide some, what I will call a focus group, many focus group interviews with many leaders 

in this space with a lot of technology, vendors, and other organizations that have been 

interested in social isolation. And what we all learned from these interviews, albeit many as I 

say, focus groups, we learned that there are a lot of resources out there. Technology 

resources, community resources, the issue that a lot of people kept raising is, there are 

resources, but people don't know about them, they don't know how to access them. And how 

do we know which resources fit, as Dr. Lee Stade stated, what resource is the right one for an 

individual? So that is the genesis of the prize challenge in terms of what we need is a 

clearinghouse that will address: What are the resources? And how do we access them? So, I 

want to thank all of you for being on this call, for participating, showing some interest in this. 

We have had a lot of publicity about this, not only at challenge.gov, but OSTP and interest 

from, you know, their leadership on this important issue. As I mentioned to you, certainly 

from OASH, our Deputy Secretary Harden. Certainly from our other partners, the Federal 

Communications Commission as we talked about. You know, if people don't have broadband, 

there are certainly things like radio, television, and telephone that can provide some 

community resources to individuals. So, there is lots of opportunity. We certainly are very 

excited, and I am privileged to work with two great leaders here at ACL in addition to the 

partners I mentioned with leaders in our other partners. And those two individuals are Kelly 

Cronin. She is the Director of our Center for Innovation and Partnership. And Lori Gerhard 

who is also one of our leaders within the same center who have really been putting in the time 

and effort to stand this up. So, at this time, I would like to turn this webinar over to Kelly and 

Lori to provide more of the details about this significant prize challenge. Kelly?

Kelly Cronin: Thanks so much, Mary, for all that background and explaining how we got to 

where we are today. The next slide just speaks to, a little bit more about the scope of the 

problem. As Mary mentioned, this has been a long-standing issue, and a very prevalent issue. 

We know from survey research that 25% of older adults in the U.S. are socially isolated. Of 

course, this is pre-COVID. And then 43% of people over 60 report feeling lonely. We also 

know this is a widely, it's a big issue, and many people with disabilities as well. We have also 

seen through the literature, a lot of studies that have measured the impact of social isolation, 

and some economic modeling that has suggested that it has been associated with 6.7 billion 

being spent from a Medicare perspective on healthcare utilization that is related to being 

socially isolated. So, it also has economic consequences. But since we all know that many 

older adults and people with disabilities being homebound, it really has been exacerbated. 

And we have been hearing so many reports and also seeing, you know, recent survey data. 

For example, when n4a came out the report this week based on survey data that showed how 

prevalent this issue really is now. We just had a call earlier today with aging and disability 

stakeholders and some of our disability leaders. Especially those in touch with everything 

happening across the Centers for Independent Living. We are also talking about how 

prevalent and pressing these issues are. And they are starting to see the health consequences 

in their day-to-day work. So, we know we want to solve for this issue and build on the good 
work that is already happening. We want to recognize that many states in many communities, 

many organizations even across the long-term care industry, are doing a lot and trying to 

already address this in many different ways. What we are trying to do is sort of built on top of 

that, all those good efforts. And again, try to recognize the gap that Mary describes so well, 

which is many people just not knowing what the technology solutions are or that there is a 

social connectedness program in their own community. So, really trying to bridge that gap is 

what this is all about.

The next slide just gives a little bit more information and tries to differentiate what we mean 

by socially isolated versus loneliness. Social isolation is really the objective. Physical 

separation from other people, like so many people that live alone. The result is feeling 

physically detached or psychologically detached. Loneliness is really the subjective,

distressed feeling of being alone are separated. But as I mentioned, as Mary mentioned, there 

is some pretty solid research now that really shows the health impacts of social isolation. It is 

not only premature mortality that has been associated with it, but also high risk of developing 

dementia, heart failure, and stroke. And of course, also, as I mentioned, increase risk of 

healthcare utilization, including hospitalization. Next slide.

Knowing how impactful this is, particularly now during the pandemic, we are really 

motivated to try to address this issue of people not knowing what solutions are out there. And 

even in some cases, solutions that can be tailored to the need. So, things that would work for 

people with dementia, or that would work if you have low vision or you’re hearing impaired. 

Or if you really want to be connected to friends and family but have never used an iPad and 

would really need help in trying to use any kind of tablet or new device that a person isn't 

familiar with. There is a lot of different software and hardware solutions on the market. But 

again, not brought awareness or uptake among many of these different types of people who 

could be end-users. And then again, on a community level, there is all kinds of programs that, 

many of which do not involve technology, but could be very appropriate and impactful for 

the right individual. But part of the thing that Mary mentioned that we recognized is so 

important is to really understand an individual's needs. The degree to which they are isolated 

and lonely. And their capabilities, or their need for certain accessibility features. Take all that 

into account. And their interests. What are they passionate about? What makes their lives 

more meaningful? Take all that into account. Try to do that in a very user-friendly, seamless 

way. And then, be able to use matching algorithms to get them to the right solution. So, this 

Challenge is really about trying to build out the backend of a clearinghouse or a software 

platform that would really be able to house and dynamically update all the information on the 

technology options and the programming options that would be available to an individual. 

And then have a front end of this, a user interface, that would be able to, again, in a userfriendly, user-centered design fashion, be able to ascertain their needs, their interest, their 

capabilities, so that they can be matched to the right solution. So, in a nutshell, that is what 

we are putting out there for everybody. For teams to come together to address. We also 

recognize because there's a really important component to training. Many people, don't even 

know what accessibility features there are in a lot of mainstream smart technology features 

right now that they could be using with just a little bit of guidance and training. Or there is 

other, you know, more basic or more, you know, specialized training that needs to be out 

there and available. We want to make that part of this whole process so that if somebody does 

get matched to a technology solution that is right for them, they also have that added step of 

knowing how to access the training to make it easy for them to incorporate it into their daily 

lives. We also recognize this ideally should be a seamless process, such that if somebody is 

on the, you know, front end of this platform, and they are answering questions, you know, to 
address again their needs, interests, and capabilities, then that would be able to seamlessly 

connect them to the right choice in terms of technology or programming or both. And then 

they could actually then have a process of acquiring that. So, you know, in vision, I don't 

want to suggest that this is one platform versus another, but as many of us are Amazon users, 

it could be like an Amazon transaction, where you know you can clearly get to a cart and 

checkout and be able to acquire technology. The same could be the case with the 

programming option, where if a local community is running a phone-based intervention, a 

wellness check, as a regular way of connecting with people. And that could be you know, 

broadly available. That is just the right kind of touch someone needs to feel engaged and 

supported. Then that would, ideally, be something they could enroll in and it could be, again, 

dynamically updated. The part of the clearinghouse. So, to the extent that that is feasible, we 

are looking for people to make this a seamless process from the front to the backend, to be 

able to get connected to the technology, acquire new technology, get trained on it. Or again, 

enroll in the program so they can become part of it. Next slide.

Kelly Cronin: I'm going to turn this over to Lori now, who has been a wonderful partner in 

flushing out all the plans for this and has put in just a tremendous effort over the last six 

weeks in making this a reality. Lori?

Lori Gerhard: Thank you very much, Kelly. And thank you, Mary, for introducing the 

background and the challenge and our partners. This has really been an exciting opportunity, 

and I just wanted to emphasize that the solution that we are seeking would fit the target 

audience for that solution.

So for the target population that we are hoping to address with the solution would include 

older adults, people with disabilities, racial and minority populations, and veterans. So, we 

want to encourage solvers to be thinking about those populations as you are designing the 

solutions. And also, we wanted to mention that the clearinghouse ideally would capture user 

reviews, and that it would also, as Kelly had mentioned, incorporate training videos. And 

these training videos oftentimes technology providers as well as state AT programs do 

develop some training videos on how to use different technologies. And, so, they may be 

available already in the marketplace and can be placed into the clearinghouse. So, with the 

MENTAL Health prize challenge, we have a challenge designed to in two phases. Phase 1 is 

to plan and design a social engagement clearinghouse and user interface prototype. And 

phase 2 is to pilot and test the social engagement clearinghouse. We will move on to the next 

slide.

So, the total prize purse for this challenge is $750,000. The challenge, as I mentioned, would 

compete in two phases. And there will be cash prizes awarded in each phase. We also have a 

bonus phase. Phase 1 the total prize challenge is $150,000. We plan to select up to three 

finalists, and each finalist would win $50,000 and move into Phase 2. Should we have less 

than three finalists, the prize funds would be split equally among the finalists. So for instance, 

if we had two teams that were selected as finalists, each finalist would receive $75,000. For 

Phase 2, the total prize fund is $550,000. The winner will be awarded $450,000, and the 

runner-up will be awarded $100,000. The finalist, the top two contenders would present their 

solutions at CEF 2021, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada January 6-9, 

2021. And at that conference, we will announce the winner. In addition to announcing the 

winner at the conference, we also are eager to make the solution public facing as soon as 

possible, and look to work with the winner and the finalist to hopefully scale the successful 

solution in the coming months, and to work with other partners to do that. As we move 

forward with that process, in addition to the presentation at CES 2021, our colleagues at the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health

also sponsor the Healthy Aging Summit. That conference will be occurring in 2021, and there 

will be a session on this clearinghouse that will be offered during that summit. In addition, 

both the finalists and the winner will be eligible for a bonus prize of $50,000 that will be 

awarded September 30, 2021. And that prize will be, more details will be coming about the 

qualifications for that prize. However, it is really focused on the ability to scale and continue 

to build out the solution.

We will move on to the next slide. So, we want to talk a little bit about who is eligible for this 

prize. So, to be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, an individual or entity may 

participate as part of one or more teams. Team formation is so critical, and it is strongly 

encouraged and teams are not limited in the number of members. Each team has to designate 

a captain who must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who is responsible for all 

correspondence regarding the challenge. We cannot emphasize enough how critical and 

important teams are. We know that this work is multifaceted - understanding people's 

accessibility needs, understanding people's interests, and understanding the social 

programming might be out there, as well as technology solutions, the capacity to develop an 

algorithm that match individuals, the capacity to help people actually enroll or acquire 

enrollment programming or acquire the technology that is needed. These are all different skill 

sets and knowledge bases. So, we expect that it will be a team that includes many of those 

perspectives that will most likely present some of the successful solutions we hope to receive.

An individual or entity shall have registered to participate in the competition under the rules, 

promulgated by the Administration for Community Living, and shall have complied with all 

the requirements listed in the MENTAL Health prize challenge. I will mention now that the 

registration date that we have published was July 15. We selected that date because it is 

helpful to know how many potential solutions we might be receiving. And, so that we can 

plan the judging and make sure we have enough judges to appropriately be able to judge all 

of the solutions that we receive and get it done in the timeframe we need to complete that 

task. However, we also want to be sure that we get all groups interested eligible to participate 

in this challenge. So, we have extended the registration date to September 8, 2021 which is 

the same day that the missions are due for this prize challenge for Phase 1. And in order to 

enter the prize challenge, you have to submit in Phase 1. We will pick finalist from Phase 1 

submissions that would move into the Phase 2 submission. An organization cannot enter it in 

Phase 2. I just want to be sure that is clear. We will talk about that again. I wanted to be sure 

of a few rules I wanted to highlight. In the case of a private entity, the entity shall be 

incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. And in the case 

of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent 

resident of the United States. The individual or organization may not be a federal entity or 

federal employee acting within the scope of their employment, and all non-HHS non-Federal 

Communications Commission or non-VA federal employees must consult with their agency 

ethics officials to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the 

acceptance of a Compete Act prize. The individual or entity shall not be an HHS, Federal 

Communications Commission, or VA employee, or an ACL employee. The federal grantees 

may not use federal funds to develop commissions unless consistent with the purpose of the 

grant award. And federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop 

Compete Act challenge submissions or to fund efforts to support a Compete Act challenge 

submission. Additionally, the top two contenders of Phase 2 must agree to use a portion 

another prize award to travel to the CES 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Entrance must also 

agree to indemnify the federal government against third-party claims for damages arising 
from or related to competition activities. And the federal government will not select as a 

winner an individual or entity that is on the excluded parties list. Next slide, please.

One of the things you will note when you look at the MENTAL Health prize challenge is that 

this challenge really is critical to the Aging and Disability Resource Center- No Wrong Door 

partnership. The Aging and Disability Resource Center or ADRC, No Wrong Doors, are 

critical partners for designing solutions to this challenge. They should be included in the team 

of stakeholders with relevant technical expertise as well as knowledge and technology and 

programs that address social isolation.

Since 2003, states and community-based organizations have been invested in state No Wrong 

Door systems to streamline access to long-term services and supports for older adults and 

individuals with disabilities, and their caregivers. State No Wrong Door systems include a

community-based approach to person-centered planning and assessment, information and 

referral to state and community resources, and a governance structure that ensures these 

functions are available across the state. Preference will be given to teams that coordinate with 

or are informed by a state Aging and Disability Resource Center No Wrong Door system. To 

connect with an Aging and Disability Resource Center No Wrong Door system, email 

MENTALHealthChallenge@acl.hhs.gov. Or, you can visit the ACL MENTAL Health 

challenge website, where we have a link to a listing of a contact at each state and territory for 

their state ADRC No Wrong Door system. Next slide please.

By now, hopefully you are thinking, how do I register for the challenge? And, we are pleased 

to announce that some people have already registered for the challenge. So, we are really 

delighted to say that has occurred. And we encourage more of you to continue to just think 

about this possibility and register for this challenge. The identified official representative, 

individual team, or legal entity registers for the challenge by sending an email to 

MENTALhealthchallenge@acl.hhs.gov mailbox with the subject line stating MENTAL 

Health challenge registration. In this email, you must identify only one official representative 

for each challenge registration. The official representative must provide a name and email 

address, and by sending in the registration, affirms on behalf of the solver, that is the 

individual, team or legal entity, that he or she has read and consents to be governed by the 

challenge rules. This is very important, as it is the official entry into the prize challenge. And 

in order to proceed with having a solution that is submitted and judged, the registration 

activity needs to occur. So, it is very important that if you plan to submit a solution on 

September 8, that you for sure register and submit this email no later than September 8, 2020 

at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

So, we just want to emphasize that, again, the registration date has been extended to 

September 8, 2020 at 11:59 PM. And this must occur. If a submission comes in without a 

registration email, we will not be able to consider that submission. So, please make sure you 

email MENTALHealthchallenge@ACL.HHS.gov email box to register for this challenge. 

And we will move on to the next slide.

We would like to talk a little bit about the judging criteria. For Phase 1, solutions, or 

applicants will be evaluated for usability, user centeredness, and technical approaches that 

meet the goals of successfully getting individuals to solutions that meet their needs. The key 

areas that we want to highlight in Phase 1 include innovation and value to stakeholders and 

that will be 20%. And that includes the degree to which the proposed solution bridges the gap 

in consumer awareness and available social engagement products and programs in the market

and across organizations. The degree to which the proposed solution creates a simplified 
consumer experience that matches individual needs with social engagement products, 

programs and training that are appropriate for the level of functioning, entrenched English 

proficiency, preferred primary language, literacy level and preference. The next category is 

product functionality and usability, and this is weighted at 30%. The degree to which the 

proposed solution is informed by user needs, which may include veterans enrolled in the 

Veteran Directed Care program. On the ACL MENTAL Health prize challenge website, we 

do have a resource to link to the Veteran Directed Care programs, or the Veteran Directed 

Care providers. So if you're looking to find Veteran Directed Care providers, you can find 

them with that resource. And those programs would be able to assist you if you are interested 

in trying to get their input, get Veteran input, as well as to engage Veterans perhaps in any 

testing that you might wish to pursue. The Veteran Directed Care program is a program that 

was developed with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Administration for 

Community Living. And it is administered through aging and disability network agencies that 

are part of state No Wrong Doors system. And they serve Veterans, and that will be a way to 

access Veterans and get their input.

The degree to which the proposed solution includes an accessible computer assisted 

assessment and screening process that identifies individual’s needs, interests, English 

proficiencies, preferred primary language, literacy level, and preferences; the degree to which 

the clearinghouse includes relevant technologies and social engagement products, programs,

and training; the degree to which the proposed solution enables real-time query and response 

within an electronic clearinghouse; the degree to which the proposed solution fits a process to 

add new technologies and social engagement programming and maintain up-to-date 

information on existing listings; the degree to which the proposed solution includes the 

availability of training videos for consumers to learn how to use the technology and/or ability 

to request a demonstration of technology options; the degree to which the proposed solution 

includes an ability to acquire technology and/or enroll in social programming; and the degree 

to which the clearinghouse meets accessibility requirements. It is very important that the 

clearinghouse is accessible and meets accessibility requirements. We want end-users to be 

able to directly engage with the clearinghouse and accessibility features are significantly 

important.

The next category is partnership and collaboration, and 25% of the points available will be 

added, or will be considered for this particular section of judging. And this includes the 

degree to which the applicant proposes a team of key stakeholders with relevant technical 

expertise as well as knowledge and technologies and programs that address social isolation. 

The degree to which the applicant proposes a governance model which ensures appropriate

oversight, transparency, and maintenance of the user interface and clearinghouse. The degree 

in which the proposed plan for testing the prototype includes the state No Wrong Door and 

Aging and Disability Resource Center. And the degree to which partnership and collaboration 

occur within the state’s No Wrong Door system.

The next category is technical feasibility, and that is 25%, and that includes the degree to 

which the proposed solution, design, and/or architecture leverages existing technology and 

social engagement programming databases. Including no-tech, low-tech and high-tech 

solutions to increase social engagement. The degree to which the proposed solution embeds 

technology training videos, enrollment and social engagement programming, and acquisition 

of technology. The degree to which the proposed solution includes robust matching 

methodologies with plans to modify them based on experience over time. The degree to 

which the proposed solution uses open application program interfaces, APIs, for related 
consumer-facing apps and standards for social isolation consistent with the interoperability 

standards advisory. And the degree to which the proposed solution is interoperable to enable 

consumers to push assessment data, screening information, and the provision of technology 

and enrollment in social engagement programming solutions to the provider of choice’s 

electronic health records, family member, and/or whoever is supporting the consumer's care.

We will move on to the next slide. Which is judging criteria for Phase 2. And, participant 

teams will pilot the prototypes in collaboration with at least one Aging and Disability 

Resource Center No Wrong Door system, and can be in-person to demonstrate the user 

experience with the tool and summarize results achieved during the pilot. The specific criteria 

for Phase 2 will be in four areas. Impact will be 25%. Technical feasibility and viability will 

be 20%. Design quality, usability, and functionality will be 30%. And the deployment, 

approach, and refinement will be 25%. Details about this judging criteria will be provided in 

an upcoming webinar. The next slide please.

This will move into the MENTAL Health prize challenge timeline. Registration for the prize 

challenge and submission for Phase 1 is due September 8, 2020 at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight 

Time. The submission for Phase 2 deadline will be December 4, 2020. The top two 

contenders will present their solutions at CES 2021 on January 6-9, 2021 in Las Vegas, 

Nevada. The winner will be announced at CES 2021. We also will have the winner present at 

the Healthy Aging Summit that is sponsored by the HHS Office of Assistant Secretary for 

Health in 2021. A bonus prize submission by the winner and the finalists are due September 

30, 2021, and that judging will occur after that. So, the next slide.

For more information about this challenge, please visit Challenge.gov and look for the 

Mobilizing and Empower the Nation and Technology to Address Loneliness & social 

isolation, or MENTAL, Health Innovation Challenge. The next slide.

There are several resources and organizations that are engaged in addressing social isolation. 

We want to highlight some that we have knowledge of work that they are doing in this space. 

And there could be additional ones and we will provide those as we continue to share 

information with you. But today, we want to highlight Advancing States who have a 

publication that they share related to activities that states are engaging into address social 

isolation. And then the next one is the AARP Foundation, who have a website, or connect to 

a website that has a lot of information about how to address social isolation, some research 

that has gone on, as well as additional information, and you can find that through AARP 

Foundation. AT3 is a technical assistance resource center for the State Assistive Technology 

Act Program. State Assisted Technology Act Programs are funded by ACL. And, help people 

access technologies that are assisted to them to address any functional needs that they may 

have. They provide information and resources about these assistive technologies. They do 

trainings, they do demonstrations, and they can be good resources when you are trying to 

learn more about accessibility and how to address accessibility. In addition, the Colorado 

Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering is one of the state AT3 programs and very 

engaged in strategies to address social isolation and also to help people get connected to 

assistive technology. The Consumer Technology Association Foundation is a strong partner, 

funds a lot of development work and innovation around technology, and has been very 

engaged in supporting many of the Consumer Technology Associations members as they 

develop programming and technology. So, they can be a really good resource about where 

some of this information could be available. And we thank them for their offer to highlight 

the winner and the finalists at CES 2021. We are excited about that.
The next organization we want to mention is a Georgia Tech Pass It On Center. This is also a 

state AT3 program or assisted technology program, who is very engaged in accessibility and 

helping people get access to technology that assists them on being connected. And they have 

resources and information and are very engaged in addressing social isolation. LeadingAge is 

another organization. LeadingAge has information available about social engagement 

technologies and strategies, and can be a great resource. The Meals on Wheels Association of 

America, or MOWA, is extremely engaged and has a cadre of volunteers. They have been 

working on research to try to understand how do we identify social isolation, and then how 

do we also get people connected to social isolation. Those are just a few of the work that they 

are doing and they recently held a summit on social isolation. The National Association of 

Area Agencies On Aging, n4a, is also working in this area. They operate the ENGAGE 

Center which is the center to address social isolation. They also are the organization that 

supports the Area Agencies On Aging, which are access points to serve older adults with 

long-term services and supports to the community. And, they also manage the ElderCare 

Locator, which can be another resource to be thinking about as you are working on the 

solution. The National Council On Aging, or NCOA, is another organization, and the 

National Council On Aging provides a lot of social engagement programming. They have an 

aging mastery course and they also have some chronic disease self-management programs 

that they support and are available in the community and can be social engagement-related. 

The also help support the rollout of PEARLS, which is an initiative that can address social 

isolation. The Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS, is also engaged in social 

programming and technology, and has been very instrumental in several areas in the country 

and helping people access the social engagement programming and technologies. We move 

on to the next slide.

So, I think we are at the stage that we are ready to take some of your questions, and I believe 

there are quite a few questions that have been coming into the chat. So, Gilbert, do you want 

to facilitate the questions? Or do you want me to do that?

Gilbert Thompson: If we could tag team on them, Lori, that would be helpful.

Lori Gerhard: That is great.

Gilbert Thompson: Let's see. First question that came in. The challenge states the degree to 

which the solution embeds technology training videos. Can you clarify whether we are to use 

existing videos, or produce them ourselves? Is there a good place to find such videos for 

given programs and services? Assume that a minority of programs would have such helpful 

videos.

Lori Gerhard: That is a great question. So, the state AT programs do have videos on certain 

technologies that could possibly be available, so, they might be a source. We would hope that 

we aren't duplicating efforts about what may already be existing in the marketplace. Our hope 

would be that the videos, and there are some technology companies that produce videos on 

how to use the technology. Kelly, is there anything more that you might add to that answer?

Kelly Cronin: We are posting some known resources to the challenge website. I don't think 

with an expectation that new videos would be produced to add to a clearinghouse, given the 

time frame. But we do know, for example, whether it is Apple products or other sort of more 

mainstream smart technologies, that there are YouTube videos available that are, that already 

exist. I think having transparency around where some of these training materials already 

reside could be helpful to the solvers and the challenge participants.
Lori Gerhard: Thank you. Our next question is, could you clarify the quoted criteria? 

“Degree to which the proposed solution enables real-time query and response with an 

electronic clearinghouse.” Does that just mean the matching of the user's assessment to a 

given resource happens quickly? Or are you implying a search functionality? Kelly, did you 

want to respond to that?

Kelly Cronin: I think it could be perhaps a combination of searching based on the data that is 

available from the assessment process. I think, however a designer and software engineer 

would want to approach that, I don't think we want to be prescriptive about it, but I think the 

goal and the outcome is trying to use the data from the assessment process to get to the right 

solutions. So, it could perhaps be a combination of search functionality and AI algorithms 

that would be able to get you to a spectrum of options. So, we would really rely on the 

responders, I think, with the teams that come together to figure out how that could best be 

achieved. But I think in terms of timing, I think we would, ideally, like to have sort of a realtime process, so that there would not be a delay, and that the user would be able to find it, to 

be a smooth, seamless experience.

Gilbert Thompson: Thank you. The next question is around timing. Seems like the 

turnaround is pretty quick to get a wide range of content. Are you looking more for the design 

concept versus a complete clearinghouse of what is available?

Kelly Cronin: Lori, do you want me to start with that?

Lori Gerhard: Yeah, that's fine.

Kelly Cronin: So, I think the Phase 1 really is about design. And you can scope to the 

clearinghouse as you continue the design process. We also want to make available the 

information we are aware of in terms of the programs for social connectedness that exist. 

And, some of the organizations that we have been working with on a larger, sort of publicprivate effort to address social isolation, could be potential sources, the members of these 

organizations could be sources of that content. But we will do our best within the timeframe 

to provide and make transparent the content that we are aware of. Because of the very, you 

know, ambitious timeframe here, because we all operating under the notion that we want 

something relevant during the pandemic to be operational and serving people. You know, this 

Phase 1 is going to happen very quickly. So, you may not have all known, you know, sources 

of the clearinghouse available and populated during Phase 1. But I think we are looking for 

this to be an iterative process over the next six months. So that we can get to a more complete 

universe of options over time. But, we can talk more about this and encourage folks to ask 

more questions so that everyone has an understanding of the expectations.

Gilbert Thompson: Thank you, Kelly. The next question. Is the initial focus of the challenge 

to create a solution at the national level? Or, will the winning solution be scaled to national 

level after the challenge is over?

Lori Gerhard: Thank you, Gilbert. That is a great question. Our hope would be that we 

would have something available that could be accessed nationally. It may not be fully built 

out, but it would be help full if the clearinghouse included some of the nationally available 

social engagement programming, and that we would work to build it out more specifically in 

local areas across the country as it became more mature. Kelly, is there more you would add 

to that?
Kelly Cronin: No. Our goal is to try to get the scale as rapidly as possible. but recognize that 

six months is not a lot of time to get to a fully scalable solution. So, the bonus award is 

intended to support you know, going from, as far as a winner can go in the next six months. 

But then, being able to take it to the next level. Learning from the experience of the pilot, and 

really trying to scale and figure out how to sustain a dynamic clearinghouse that would be 

updated over time. One thing we did not comment on that I think we recognize as an 

important opportunity is to really be able to build in feedback components so that we can get 

some data on what is working well. And over time, you know, we can really evaluate what 

solutions are impactful. And looking at sort of the status of an individual, you know, preintervention and post-intervention. But the main point here is that we would expect it to be 

fully scaled after the scope of prize competition.

Lori Gerhard: Thank you, Kelly. There was a question in the chat about the dates, the 

timeline. We will go over that again. The registration for the prize challenge and submission 

for Phase 1 is due September 8, 2020. The submission for Phase 2 is due December 4, 2020. 

The top two contenders present their solutions at the CES 2021, January 6 -9, 2021. And the 

winner will be announced at CES 2021. And the bonus prize submission which would be 

something the winner and the finalists would be eligible for is September 30, 2021. Again, 

that is 2021. So, hopefully, that is helpful.

There was also a question about are all of the resource organizations also eligible to apply? 

Absolutely. The resource organizations are eligible to apply. They would meet eligibility 

requirements and may choose to apply. So, Kelly, is there anything more you might add to 

that question?

Kelly Cronin: I think the other thing just that came to mind because this is such a quick 

turnaround, with ambitious time frames, and in the context of the pandemic, we encourage 

teams to come together and think about how you can all leverage your expertise and knowhow to be able to work across teams that will be able to build a winning solution. So, we 

don't want to prescribe on how teams are developed. We just really encourage you all to work 

together to figure out how to get to a scalable product. Thank you.

Lori Gerhard: Our next question - go ahead, Gilbert.

Gilbert Thompson: I was going to add, one question that came in was, will the slides be 

provided after today's session? So, yes. Today's slides along, with other supporting material 

and documents will be posted to ACL's website. There is a designated portal on ACL's 

website and it is ACL.gov/mental. Again, all resources in today's live presentation, you 

know, will be posted there, along with a frequently asked questions document. So, whatever 

questions that we are unable to get to today, we will compile them and include them in an 

FAQ document as well.

Lori Gerhard: Thank you very much, Gilbert. And, I think we have one more question. Is 

the official representative, is the official representative designated in the registration email 

meant to be the same person as the captain? The captain must be a U.S. citizen or permanent 

resident who is responsible for all correspondence regarding this challenge. So, the captain of 

the team and the official representative should be the same person and should meet the 

criteria defined in the mental health prize challenge rules.

Kelly Cronin: Lori, what about the circumstance where someone is registering when their 

team might grow and the whole team hasn't yet decided on who would be sort of the official 
captain? I'm just wondering like, in the submission, where the whole team is identified, there 

is flexibility to then update who a captain might be.

Lori Gerhard: Absolutely. It is possible that, an organization might register, and then decide 

they are dealing with another organization. They could update the registration accordingly. Is 

that what you are asking, Kelly?

Kelly Cronin: Yeah.

Lori Gerhard: Absolutely, that is possible.

Gilbert Thompson: Okay. There is another question for the submission. Are there prior 

examples of a government model and concept paper?

Lori Gerhard: No. I would say the answer to that question at this time is no. Kelly, do you 

have anything to add to that?

Kelly Cronin: No. But I think we will be giving more of an update on a plan that we are 

pursuing to ensure sustainability and scalability after January, which will involve also a 

governance model. So, I think, you know, by the time we have our next webinar, we will be 

sharing more that perhaps could be informing, sort of how the clearinghouse could be, over 

time, governed. So that, governance itself, and how the clearinghouse would be maintained, 

is not something that has to be solved for completely in the design process. Maybe if that is 

helpful. But it is going to be an essential role for the success of the solution that is, you know, 

the final winner.

In the long haul, we recognize is essential. But for the scope of this initial design phase, it is 

not a critical component.

Lori Gerhard: Thank you, Kelly.

Lori Gerhard: And if we could maybe go on to the next slide, we are at time. And we 

wanted to just make an announcement that we will be holding an additional webinar on July 

30 from 3 PM - 4 PM Eastern Daylight Time. In the slide deck is the link to register for this 

webinar, and we will also update the ACL MENTAL Health prize challenge website, and site 

Challenge.gov with the information about this upcoming webinar. We would like to thank 

everyone for attending the webinar today. There will be a recording available of this webinar 

that we will post in the resources section on the ACL website and with the MENTAL H 

challenge on Challenge.gov so that you have access to that. We encourage you to continue to 

send any questions that you have into the MENTALHealthChallenge@acl.hhs.gov email box. 

We will continue to build out a frequently asked questions and respond to the questions that 

we did not get to today, as well as additional questions that we received through the email 

box, and continue to update the frequently asked questions and make that available. Thank 

you so much for your interest in the MENTAL Health prize challenge, and your participation 

in the webinar today, and the great questions you are all asking. And we, on July 30, will 

provide some additional information and we will be talking more about the details around, as 

Kelly has mentioned, some of the governance and some of the implementation strategies that 

will be underway. So, thank you so much and have a wonderful day.