12030 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

RIN 0905–ZA99

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 community-based and

community-supported demonstration

projects to find effective means of

preventing pregnancy by encouraging

adolescents to abstain from sexual

activity through provision of ageappropriate education on sexuality and

decision-making skills. Although

adolescents under age 19 are eligible for

services, the OAPP is particularly

interested in projects which target youth

ages 9 to 14.

Funds are available for approximately

40–50 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’’, Pub.L.

104–193.

DATES: To receive consideration grant

applications must be received by the

Director, Grants Management Office by

April 28, 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 provides 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 provision of care of 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 $8 million to support an

estimated 40–50 new prevention

demonstration projects only. An

applicant may submit a proposal for a

local or state-wide prevention project.

The awards will range from $100,000 to

$225,000. These grants will be awarded

for a period of one year, and the

availability of funding for later years is

uncertain. Therefore, we encourage

applications from experienced

organizations which are currently

operating programs and which have the

capability of expanding and enhancing

these services to serve significant

numbers of adolescents according to the

guidelines specified in this

announcement. Additional funds may

be available in Fiscal Year 1998 and

following years. If funds do become

available, grantees funded under this

program announcement will be eligible

to reapply for continued funding.

Grants are funded in annual

increments (budget periods). Funding

for all approved budget periods beyond

the first year of a grant is contingent

upon the availability of funds,

satisfactory progress of the project, and

adequate stewardship of Federal funds.

A grant award may not exceed 70

percent of the total cost of the project for

each of the first and second years and

60 percent for the third year. The nonFederal share of the project costs may be

provided in cash expenditures or fairly

evaluated in-kind 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 (Pub. 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 or state-wide projects.

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, applicants

may propose to develop and test new

prevention curricula, update existing

curricula or use existing and available

educational materials/curricula which

are consistent with this program
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notices 12031

announcement within their

demonstration projects.

Programs must be consistent with

abstinence education as defined in the

‘‘Personal Responsibility and Work

Opportunity Reconciliation Act of

1996’’, Pub. L. 104–193. Accordingly,

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;

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 outof-wedlock 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 self-discipline 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 of high

quality consistent with the scope of the

proposed project and the funding level.

All project evaluations should monitor

program processes to determine whether

the program has been carried out as

planned and measure the program’s

outcomes. Waivers of the five percent

limit on evaluation (see sec. 2006(b)(1))

may be granted in cases where a more

rigorous or comprehensive evaluation

effort is proposed.

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 strongly recommends extensive

collaboration between the applicant

organization and the proposed evaluator

in the development of the intervention,

development of the evaluation

hypothesis(es), identification of the

variables to be measured and a timetable

for initiation of the intervention,

baseline measurement, and ongoing

evaluation data collection and analysis.

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.
12032 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 49 / Thursday, March 13, 1997 / Notices

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 applicants will be reviewed by

a multidisciplinary panel of

independent reviewers and assessed

according to the following criteria:

(1) The capacity of the proposed

applicant organization to provide rapid

and effective use of resources needed to

conduct the project, collect data and

evaluate it. This includes personnel,

time and facilities. (30 points)

(2) The applicant’s rationale for use of

the proposed approach and its worth for

testing and/or replication based upon its

previous demonstration, review of the

literature and/or evaluation findings.

(20 points)

(3) The applicant’s presentation of an

appropriate project design, consistent

with the requirements of Title XX,

including a clear statement of goals and

objectives, reasonable methods for

achieving the objectives, a reasonable

workplan and timetable and a clear

statement of results or benefits

expected. (30 points)

(4) The applicant’s presentation of a

detailed evaluation plan, indicating an

understanding of program evaluation

methods and reflecting a practical,

technically sound approach to assessing

the project’s achievement of program

objectives.

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 responsible;

(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

healthmodels;

(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 17, 1997.

Thomas C. Kring,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for

Population Affairs.

[FR Doc. 97–6307 Filed 3–12–97; 8:45 am]

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