12026 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notice

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

RIN 0905–ZBOO

Office of Public Health and Science;

Announcement of Availability of

Grants for Adolescent Family Life

Demonstration Projects

AGENCY: Office of Adolescent Pregnancy

Programs, Office of Population Affairs,

OPHS, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Office of Adolescent

Pregnancy Programs (OAPP) requests

applications for grants under the

Adolescent Family Life (AFL)

Demonstration Projects Program. These

grants are for planning and development

of community-based and communitysupported demonstration projects to

find effective means of preventing

pregnancy by encouraging adolescents

to abstain from sexual activity.

Although adolescents under age 19 are

eligible for services, the OAPP is

particularly interested in projects which

target youth ages 9 to 14.

The OAPP is attempting to expedite

and simplify the process of awarding

small grants, within the requirements of

Title XX of the Public Health Service

Act, in order to solicit applications from

small grass roots and/or communitybased entities.

Funds are available for approximately

20–40 projects, which may be located in

any State, the District of Columbia, the

territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin

Islands, Guam, American Samoa,

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

Islands, Republic of Palau, Republic of

the Marshall Islands and the Federated

States of Micronesia.

Applicants also should be aware that

the Department of Health and Human

Services’ Maternal and Child Health

Bureau will be issuing separate grant

application guidance to State Health

Agencies for the abstinence education

provision contained in the ‘‘Personal

Responsibility and Work Opportunity

Reconciliation Act of 1996’’, P.L. 104–

193.

DATES: To receive consideration grant

applications must be received by the

Director, Grants Management Office by

April 14, 1997. Applications will be

considered as meeting the deadline if

they are either (1) Received on or before

the deadline date, or (2) postmarked on

or before the deadline date and received

in time for submission to the review

committee. 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. Applications which do not

meet the deadline will be considered

late applications and will be returned to

the applicant.

ADDRESSES: Requests for application kits

may be faxed to (301) 594–5980.

Application kits may also be obtained

from and applications must be

submitted to: Grants Management

Office, Office of Population Affairs,

4350 East-West Highway, Suite 200,

Bethesda, MD 20814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Grants Management Office at (301) 594–

4012 or Program Office at (301) 594–

4004. Staff are available to answer

questions and provide limited technical

assistance in the preparation of grant

applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title XX

of the Public Health Service Act, 42

U.S.C. 300z, et seq., authorizes the

Secretary of Health and Human Services

to award grants for demonstration

projects to provide services to pregnant

and nonpregnant adolescents,

adolescent parents and their families.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number 93.995) Title XX authorizes

grants for three types of demonstration

projects: (1) projects which provide

‘‘care services’’ only (i.e., services for

the provisions of care to pregnant

adolescents, adolescent parents and

their families); (2) projects which

provide ‘‘prevention services’’ only (i.e.,

services to prevent adolescent sexual

relations); and (3) projects which

provide a combination of care and

prevention services.

Under this program announcement,

OAPP intends to make available

approximately $1 million to support an

estimated 20–40 new prevention

demonstration projects only. The

awards will range from $20,000 to

$50,000. These grants will be awarded

for a period of one year to grass roots

and/or community organizations for the

purpose of planning and developing a

pilot prevention project. We encourage

applications from organizations

currently serving youth.

A grant award may not exceed 70

percent of the total cost of the project for

the first year. The non-Federal share of

the project costs may be provided in

cash expenditures or fairly evaluated inkind contributions, including plant,

equipment and services.

The specific prevention services

which may be funded under Title XX

are listed below under Prevention

Programs.

The following application

requirements contain information

collections subject to OMB approval

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995 (P.L. 104–13). These information

collections have been approved by OMB

under control number 0937–0189.

Eligible Applicants

Any public or private nonprofit

organization or agency is eligible to

apply for a grant. Grants are awarded

only to those organizations or agencies

which are determined to demonstrate

the capability of providing the proposed

services and meet the statutory

requirements.

Prevention Programs

Under this announcement, funds are

available for local projects only.

The primary purpose of prevention

programs is to find effective means of

reaching adolescents, both male and

female, before they become sexually

active in order to encourage them to

abstain from sexual activity. There is

general agreement that early initiation of

sexual activity brings not only the risk

of unintended pregnancy but also

substantial health risks to adolescents,

primarily infection with sexually

transmitted diseases (STDs) including

HIV. Accordingly, applicants must

provide services that help preadolescents and young adolescents

acquire knowledge and skills that will

instill healthy attitudes and encourage

and support abstinence from sexual

activity. Any information provided for

adolescents who may be or become

sexually active, which relates to

reducing the risk of unintended

pregnancy and disease, must be

medically accurate and must be

presented within the context that

abstinence is the best choice and is what

the project recommends.

Under this announcement, OAPP will

fund proposals to grass roots and/or

community organizations to plan and

pilot test a prevention project consistent

with this program announcement. OAPP

will not fund proposals to develop new

prevention curricula. Applicants must

propose to use existing and available

educational materials/curricula which

are consistent with this program

announcement.

Programs must be consistent with

abstinence education as defined in the

‘‘Personal Responsibility and Work

Opportunity Reconciliation act of

1996’’, P.L. 104–193. Accordingly,

under this announcement the term

‘‘abstinence education’’ means an

educational or motivational program

which—

A. has as its exclusive purpose, teaching

the social, psychological, and

health gains to be realized by

abstaining from sexual activity;
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notice 12027

B. teaches abstinence from sexual

activity outside marriage as the

expected standard for all school age

children;

C. teaches that abstinence from sexual

activity is the only certain way to

avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy,

sexually transmitted diseases, and

other associated health problems;

D. teaches that a mutually faithful

monogamous relationship in

context of marriage is the expected

standard of human sexual activity;

E. teaches that sexual activity outside of

the context of marriage is likely to

have harmful psychological and

physical effects;

F. teaches that bearing children out-ofwedlock is likely to have harmful

consequences for the child, the

child’s parents, and society;

G. teaches young people how to reject

sexual advances and how alcohol

and drug use increases vulnerability

to sexual advances; and

H. teaches the importance of attaining

self-sufficiency before engaging in

sexual activity.

Under the statutory requirements of

Title XX, applicants for prevention

programs are not required to provide

any specific array of services. OAPP

encourages the submission of

applications which focus on educational

services relating to family life and

which teach the social, psychological

and health gains to be realized by

abstaining from sexual activity.

The legislation also permits a

proposal to include any one or more of

the following services as appropriate:

(1) Educational services relating to

family life and problems associated with

adolescent premarital sexual relations

including:

(a) Information about adoption,

(b) Education on the responsibilities of

sexuality and parenting,

(c) The development of material to

support the role of parents as the

providers of sex education, and

(d) Assistance to parents, schools, youth

agencies and health providers to

educate adolescents and

preadolescents concerning selfdiscipline and responsibility in

human sexuality;

(2) Appropriate educational and

vocational services;

(3) Counseling for the immediate and

extended family members of the eligible

person;

(4) Transportation;

(5) Outreach services to families of

adolescents to discourage sexual

relations among unemancipated minors.

If an applicant chooses to provide any

of the above services in addition to

educational services relating to family

life and problems associated with

adolescent premarital sexual relations,

the applicant must justify how these

services ((2) through (5)) will support or

promote the educational component.

Evaluation

Section 2006(b)(1) of Title XX

requires each grantee to expend at least

one percent but not more than five

percent of the Federal funds received

under Title XX on evaluation of the

project. As this is a demonstration

program, all applications are required to

have an evaluation component

consistent with the scope of the

proposed project and the funding level.

Given the nature of these small grants,

the expectations of OAPP are that

applicants will budget evaluation costs

at the lower end (one percent). All

project evaluations should monitor

program processes to determine whether

the program has been carried out as

planned and measure the program’s

outcomes where possible.

Section 2006(b)(2) requires that an

organization or an entity independent of

the grantee providing services assist the

grantee in evaluating the project. The

OAPP recommends consultation

between the applicant organization and

the proposed evaluator in the

development of the intervention and of

the evaluation plan.

Application Requirements

Applications must be submitted on

the forms supplied (PHS 5161–1,

Revised 5/96) and in the manner

prescribed in the application kits

provided by the OAPP. Applicants are

required to submit an application signed

by an individual authorized to act for

the applicant agency or organization

and to assume for the organization the

obligations imposed by the terms and

conditions of the grant award.

Applications sent by FAX will not be

accepted.

Applicants must be familiar with Title

XX in its entirety to ensure that they

have complied with all applicable

requirements. A copy of the legislation

is included in the application kit.

It should be noted that grantees may

not teach or promote religion in their

AFL project. Each grant project must be

accessible to the public generally, not

just to those of a particular religious

affiliation.

Under sec. 2011(a) of the Act, AFL

projects may not provide abortions or

abortion counseling or referral either

directly or through subcontract and may

not advocate, promote or encourage

abortion. However, if both the

adolescent and her parents request

abortion counseling, a project may

provide referral for such counseling.

Additional Requirements

Applicants for grants must also meet

the following requirements:

(1) Requirements for Review of an

Application by the Governor. Section

2006(e) of Title XX requires that each

applicant shall provide the governor of

the State in which the applicant is

located a copy of each application

submitted to OAPP for a grant for a

demonstration project for services under

this Title. The Governor has 60 days

from the receipt date in which to

provide comments to the applicant.

An applicant may comply with this

requirement by submitting a copy of the

application to the governor of the State

in which the applicant is located at the

same time the application is submitted

to OAPP. To inform the governor’s

office of the reason for the submission,

a copy of this notice should be attached

to the application.

(2) Review Under Executive Order

12372. Applications under this

announcement are subject to the review

requirements of E.O. 12372,

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal

Programs,’’ as implemented by 45 CFR

part 100, ‘‘Intergovernmental Review of

Department of Health and Human

Services Programs and Activities.’’ E.O.

12372 sets up a system for state and

local government review of proposed

Federal assistance applications. As soon

as possible the applicant (other than

federally-recognized Indian tribal

governments) should contact the

Governor’s Office in the state to be

served for information regarding the

particular review process designed by

the state. The State comment(s) should

be forwarded to the Grants Management

Office, Office of Population Affairs,

4350 East-West Highway, Suite 200,

Bethesda, MD 20814. Such comments

must be received by the Office of

Population Affairs by August 11, 1997

to be considered.

The application kit contains

information to guide applicants in

fulfilling the above requirements.

Application Consideration and

Assessment

Applications which are judged to be

late or which do not conform to the

requirements of this program

announcement will not be accepted for

review. Applicants will be so notified,

and the applications will be returned.

All other applications will be reviewed

by a multidisciplinary panel of

independent reviewers and assessed

according to the following criteria:
12028 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notice

(1) The applicant is a public or

nonprofit grass roots and/or community

agency which networks with and is

supported by other community

agencies, serves youth and has the

capacity to develop the pilot project,

test it, and document the

implementation process. (40 points)

(2) The applicant’s rationale for use of

the proposed approach and description

of the proposed project are consistent

with the program announcement, reflect

community needs and would result in a

project that could be continued on a

larger scale. (50 points)

(3) The applicant’s presentation of an

evaluation plan, indicates an

understanding of the necessity for

documenting the process of the pilot

implementation and any outcomes. (10

points)

Final grant award decisions will be

made by the Deputy Assistant Secretary

for Populations Affairs. In making these

decisions, the Deputy Assistant

Secretary for Population Affairs will

take into account the extent to which

grants approved for funding will

provide an appropriate geographic

distribution of resources, the priorities

in sec. 2005(a), and the other factors in

sec. 2005, including consideration of:

(1) The applicant’s capacity to

administer funds responsibly;

(2) The incidence of adolescent

pregnancy and the availability of

services in the geographic area to be

served;

(3) The population to be served;

(4) The community commitment to

and involvement in planning and

implementation of the demonstration

project;

(5) The organizational model(s) for

delivery of service;

(6) The usefulness for policymakers

and service providers of the proposed

project and its potential for

complementing existing adolescent

health models;

(7) The reasonableness of the

estimated cost to the government

considering the anticipated results.

OAPP does not release information

about individual applications during the

review process until final funding

decisions have been made. When these

decisions have been made, applicants

will be notified by letter of the outcome

of their applications. The official

document notifying an applicant that an

application has been approved for

funding is the Notice of Grant Award,

which specifies to the grantee the

amount of money awarded, the purpose

of the grant, the terms and conditions of

the grant award, and the amount of

funding to be contributed by the grantee

to project costs.

Dated: January 13, 1997.

Thomas C. Kring,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for

Population Affairs.

[FR Doc. 97–6308 Filed 3–12–97; 8:45 am]

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