18670 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 70 / Wednesday, April 12, 1995 / Notices

that at least 50% of the match be

provided by the proposed partners

through the delivery of specific services

or resources to the client population.

Such resources must be definitely

committed or contingent only upon

receipt of an OCS grant, and must be

applied to specific project activities

within the OCS-approved project and

used only for project purposes for the

duration of the OCS grant. The firm

commitment of the specific amounts of

matching funds and/or the dollar value

of third-party in-kind contributions

must be documented in the project

application. Documentation of matching

funds must be in the form of letters of

commitment or intent to commit from

the donor, contingent only upon receipt

of OCS grant funds.

If any part of match is to be used as

a revolving loan fund, those funds must

be cash, specifically set-aside for

eligible low-income recipients of the

project.

Funds expended prior to the

approved OCS starting date for a grant

cannot be considered as matching

funds.

D. Prohibition on the Use of Funds

The use of funds for the purchase or

construction of real property is

prohibited.

E. Program Beneficiaries

Projects proposed for funding under

this announcement must result in direct

benefits to low-income persons whose

incomes are no more than 125% of the

DHHS poverty income guidelines as

defined in the most recent Annual

Revision of Poverty Income Guidelines

published by DHHS.

Attachment C to this Notice is an

excerpt from the guidelines currently in

effect. Annual revisions of these

guidelines are normally published in

February or early March of each year.

These revised guidelines may be

obtained at public libraries,

Congressional offices, or by writing the

Superintendent of Documents, U. S.

Government Printing Office,

Washington, DC 20402. These

Guidelines are also accessible on the

OCS Electronic Bulletin Board for

downloading through your computer

modem by calling 1–800–627–8886. For

assistance in accessing the Bulletin

Board, a Guide to Accessing and

Downloading is available from Ms.

Minnie Landry at (202) 401–5309.

No other government agency or

privately defined poverty guidelines are

applicable for the determination of lowincome eligibility for this OCS program.

F. Sub-Contracting or Delegating

Projects

An applicant will not be funded

where the proposal is for a grantee to act

as a straw-party, that is, to act as a mere

conduit of funds to a third party without

performing a substantive role itself. This

prohibition does not bar subcontracting

or subgranting for specific services or

activities needed to conduct the project.

G. Maintenance of Effort

The activities funded under this

program announcement must be in

addition to, and not in substitution for,

activities previously carried on without

Federal assistance. Also, funds or other

resources currently devoted to activities

designed to meet the needs of the poor

within a community, area, or State must

not be reduced in order to provide the

required matching contributions. When

legislation for a particular block grant

permits the use of its funds as match,

the applicant must show that it has

received a real increase in its block

grant allotment and must certify that

other anti-poverty programs will not be

scaled back to provide the match

required for this project. A signed

certificate of Maintenance of Effort must

be included with the application (see

Attachment J).

H. Multiple Submittals and Multiple

Grants

In accordance with the statutory

provision that limits grants to any

eligible entity to one in any given fiscal

year, no eligible applicant will receive

more than one grant pursuant to this

Announcement.

Part III. Program Priority Areas

1.0 General Demonstration Projects

(Approximately $2.4 Million Available)

For Fiscal Year 1995 OCS plans to

fund approximately seven General

Demonstration Projects at $350,000 or

less each.

Applications submitted under this

category must focus on developing new

and innovative ways of promoting

individual and family self-sufficiency

among the poor within the context of

the communities in which they live.

The applicant will be expected to

propose solutions that show promise of

increasing self-sufficiency and that

depart from or modify conventional

approaches used by eligible entities. At

a minimum, every individual should

achieve an economic self-sufficiency

goal appropriate to their age group. For

adult populations (18 years of age or

more) that goal should include a job

which will allow individuals to provide

for basic needs with the potential for

career development that will lead to

self-sufficiency within a reasonable

period of time, enrollment in an

educational program which will lead to

such a job, or interim goals on the

ladder to self-sufficiency.

While self-sufficiency implies

reliance on one’s own initiative and

abilities, such a transformation cannot

occur independently of the context of

the relationships, resources, and

institutions in the surrounding

community. OCS understands the

importance to self-sufficiency of such

community resources as adequate child

care, safe and affordable housing,

accessible medical care, good

transportation, adequate municipal

services and other elements of the

community’s socioeconomic

infrastructure. Also important to real

progress toward self-sufficiency is

readily available and empathetic help in

accessing these institutional resources

and the emotional support networks

that enable people to overcome

adversity and move ahead.

Accordingly, OCS is interested in

demonstrations of strategies that offer

real promise of transforming the lives of

poor individuals and families in part by

improving the community infrastructure

and the workings of the community’s

service institutions. Applications

should include partnerships with

organizations which are providers of

services within the community and one

of the goals of the partnerships should

be a developing shift of focus within

these organizations from one of client

maintenance to client transformation,

and a growing recognition of the value

of the agency’s services as investments

in their clients’ communities.

In the spirit of ‘‘local initiative’’ OCS

looks forward to innovative proposals

that grow out of the experience of

community action and the needs of the

applicants’ clientele and communities,

and that will make the fruits of local

creativity available broadly to others

seeking solutions to similar problems.

At the same time, OCS is again

interested in receiving applications that

propose a realistic plan for harnessing

self-sufficiency support activities to

Environmental Justice and Sustainable

Community Development initiatives in

ways which will offer the poor

opportunities for long term career

development as well as improving the

supportive economic infrastructure and

facilities of the community. (See

Attachment A for a fuller discussion of

Environmental Justice and Sustainable

Community Development.)

For the purposes of this

Announcement, programs falling within

the rubric of Environmental Justice and
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 70 / Wednesday, April 12, 1995 / Notices 18671

Sustainable Community Development

might include community-based job and

career development around lead

abatement in low-income dwellings; in

clean-up of toxic wastes or leaking

underground storage tanks; in holistic

‘‘livable house’’ treatment of lowincome dwellings which would

combine lead abatement with

weatherization and the mitigation of

other hazards such as asbestos or radon;

in the installation and maintenance of

alternative and renewable energy

technologies in the homes of the poor;

in recycling; in the exploitation of new

and non-traditional uses of agricultural

crops and products; in forest or

watershed restoration; in urban

pesticide programs designed to reduce

the use of toxic pesticides in low

income urban communities through

Integrated Pest Management and similar

techniques; or in the launching of

enterprises involving new and nonpolluting manufacturing or other

commercial methodologies which can

provide needed goods and services in

ways which are non-polluting and

consistent with sustainable community

development.

When, in addition, these communitybased improvement initiatives capitalize

upon significant new public programs

or private market forces that offer good

potential for continuing financial

support of these activities, the

initiatives have reasonable chances of

growing and prospering, thereby

offering additional jobs to entry-level

workers and career prospects to

employees who perform well.

Applications that offer a sound plan for

capitalizing upon such public and/or

private market forces to provide real

employment and career opportunities

for low-income individuals will be

especially welcome.

Applications which propose

initiatives involving activities which

will expose program participants or

community residents to toxic or

poisonous substances, including, but

not limited to, lead paint or dust,

asbestos, toxic wastes, radon gas, or

toxic pesticides, must include, as an

appendix to the application, specific

assurances that all applicable federal,

state, and local laws and regulations for

the protection of workers and

community residents will be strictly

adhered to.

Applications which include job and

career development dependent on the

securing of contracts for services or

successful marketing of goods and/or

services must include assurance that

such contracts will be forthcoming or

assurance based on market surveys or

other means that sufficient markets for

the proposed goods or services exist to

promise a reasonable expectation of

project success. Where the development

and management of a new business

venture are a major focus of the

proposed work plan, applicant must

provide assurance that such activities

will be under the direction of a person

or persons having business experience,

and the application must include, as an

appendix, a Business Plan based on the

outline included as Attachment B to this

Announcement.

The interventions that applicants

propose for this program should be

multi-dimensional in nature in order to

provide the kind of comprehensive

approach needed as an effective basis

for individual transformation. They

should, where appropriate, address both

individual and family progress toward

self-sufficiency, and may also involve

two or more generations as both

providers and beneficiaries of project

services.

2.0 Replication Projects

(Approximately $1.5 Million Available,

Including 1 Urban Youth Project)

The Demonstration Partnership

Program is required by its authorizing

legislation to invest at least 10% (but no

more than 25%) of its appropriation to

replicate, in additional geographic areas,

previously funded programs that have

demonstrated a significant potential for

dealing with particularly critical needs

or problems of the poor that exist in a

number of communities.

For Fiscal Year 1995 OCS plans to

fund up to three general replication

projects at up to $350,000 each, and one

replication urban youth project at up to

$500,000, for a total of up to

approximately $1,500,000. OCS seeks to

stimulate, with these grants, additional

experimentation and application of

approaches that seem to offer special

promise in fostering social and

economic self-sufficiency among a

variety of low-income people.

The eligibility, match requirements,

and time frame for General Replication

Projects are the same as for General

Demonstration Projects; for Urban

Youth Replication Projects they are the

same as for Urban Youth Projects.

For FY 1995, OCS has identified four

previously funded Demonstration

Partnership Projects that have, in their

design and implementation,

demonstrated a significant potential for

dealing successfully with a number of

critical needs and problems of poor

people in differing circumstances. The

four projects are:

A. Micro-Enterprise Development

Program (MEDP), [Now called the

Neighborhood Economic Development

Self-Employment Program (NEDSEP)],

Philadelphia, sponsored by the Mayor’s

Office of Community Services, which

has successfully carried out a project of

Micro-Enterprise/Self-Employment

development, supported by training and

technical assistance, comprehensive

case management, and peer counselling,

among homeless residents of a North

Philadelphia low-income neighborhood.

Project partners included the

Philadelphia County Assistance Office,

the Philadelphia Private Industry

Council (PIC), the Minority Business

Enterprise Council, the Philadelphia

Office of Services for Homeless and

Adults, the Service Corps of Retired

Executives, and the Beech Consortium,

a consortium of 45 local private and

public organizations. The Philadelphia

Project can be reached through:

Rosalind Johnson, Project Manager,

Mayor’s Office of Community Services,

1608 N. Carlisle St., Philadelphia, PA

19121, (215) 978–5930.

B. The Success Connection, Yakima,

Washington, sponsored by Yakima

Valley Opportunities Industrialization

Center, which has successfully carried

out a project of Case Management,

support groups, skills training, and

family involvement for Hispanic at risk

teen-age children of Migrant and

Seasonal Farmworker families in the

Yakima Valley. In partnership with the

state Migrant Education Services,

Central Washington University, and

local school districts, the project

reduced truancy and drop-out rates,

increased school attendance and

achievement, developed employment

opportunities, and encouraged postsecondary schooling among

participating youth. The success of the

program has led to the State of

Washington’s decision to support its

implementation State-wide. The Yakima

Project can be reached through: Mr.

Henry Beauchamp, Executive Director,

Yakima Valley OIC, 815 Fruitvale Blvd.,

Yakima, WA 98902, (509) 839–2717.

C. Homeless Opportunity Project,

Bath, Maine, sponsored by Coastal

Economic Development, Inc., which has

combined three innovative components

into a successful program to foster selfsufficiency among the homeless poor.

These include a shelter-based job

training program, a system-wide change

in delivery of services to an integrated

case-management approach, and an

assessment instrument which can be

used in the design of individualized

development plans for program

participants. Project partners include

the area’s homeless shelter and three

other local non-profit providers,

Shoreline Community Mental Health

Systems, the Addiction Resource
18672 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 70 / Wednesday, April 12, 1995 / Notices

Center, and the United Way of MidCoast Maine. The Maine Project can be

reached through: Jessica Harnar,

Executive Director, Coastal Economic

Development, Inc., 39 Andrews Road,

Bath, ME 04530, (207) 442–7963.

D. Step-Up Young Father Mentor

Program, Phoenix, Arizona, sponsored

by the City of Phoenix Human Services

Department in partnership with the

Valley Big Brothers/Big Sisters of

Arizona, which has successfully brought

‘‘Big Brother’’ mentoring to youthful,

largely minority (62% Hispanic, 20%

Black, 4% Native American) fathers,

between the ages of 16 and 22, as part

of a comprehensive program of

education, pre-employment and skills

training, and case management/family

development services to enable them to

assume greater responsibility for their

families. This is the first time that the

Big Brother organization nationally has

worked with this age group. Additional

project partners include the Centers for

Advancement of Educational Practices,

City of Phoenix Parks, Recreation and

Library Dept., Maricopa County

Community Colleges, and City of

Phoenix Employment and Training. The

Phoenix project can be reached through:

William Chipman, Project Director,

1250 South 7th Ave., Phoenix, AZ

85007, (602) 262–6907.

OCS is interested in replicating each

of these programs in a geographically

different but appropriate setting.

The Philadelphia project design

should function effectively in another

large urban setting with a substantial

homeless population. It would seem

well suited to a city which has received

designation as an Empowerment Zone

or Enterprise Community, where

activities pursuant to the EZ/EC

Strategic Plan could stimulate markets

for project participants’ enterprises.

The Yakima project design should be

tried with Hispanic Farmworker

populations in another section of the

country, perhaps in California or the

Southwest.

The Maine project design should be

tried with homeless populations in

another rural setting, perhaps in a more

economically depressed community to

test its applicability to higher

concentrations of homeless.

The Phoenix project design should

function effectively with minority urban

youth in a community with an active

Big Brothers/Big Sisters or comparable

organization willing to participate as an

active partner in the project. In the case

of the Phoenix project, the replication

project will be considered an Urban

Youth project for purposes of grant

amount (up to $500,000) and match

requirement (25% of the OCS grant

amount); but proposals will be reviewed

under the Priority Area 2.0 Replication

Project Elements and Review Criteria.

In each case, the application for a

Replication Project should provide for

an extensive site visit or site visits by

key staff to the project to be replicated

(Host Project), during which such staff

can receive orientation training and

actually serve a brief apprenticeship in

the program. In addition, provision

should be made for a site visit by staff

of the Host Project to the Replication

Project during the first year of its

operations. The proposed Project Budget

should make provision for the costs of

such site visits/apprenticeships, as well

as for appropriate consulting fees for

staff of the Host Project; and the

application should include, as an

appendix, a Memorandum of

Understanding or Letter of Agreement

between the applicant and the Host

Project setting forth training/

apprenticeship undertakings and the

attendant financial arrangements.

3.0 EZ/EC Continuous Improvement

Grants (Maximum of $1,000,000

Available)

OCS in FY 1994 made approximately

115 $10,000 DPP grants to CAA’s

involved locally with developing

Strategic Plans for submission to the

Departments of HUD and Agriculture

seeking designation as Empowerment

Zones or Enterprise Communities (EZ/

EC). The purpose was to strengthen

CAA involvement in the local planning

process so as to assure the fullest

possible participation of low-income

residents of the affected communities.

OCS in FY 1995 is interested in

making a number of ‘‘Continuous

Improvement’’ grants to CAA’s or

eligible farmworker organizations which

had and have major involvement in the

planning and implementation of these

Strategic Plans in their communities.

The purpose of these grants will be to

continue to support the involvement of

low income residents in the

improvement and implementation of

these Strategic Plans through activities

which will seek to develop innovative

ways to increase the self-sufficiency of

the poor. Another important purpose of

the grants will be to assist grantees to

establish or participate in the

establishment of a system of information

and data collection that will track the

activities carried out and identify those

which develop and implement new and

innovative approaches to deal with

particularly critical needs or problems

of the poor which are common to a

number of communities, including new

approaches to dealing with the

problems caused by entrenched, chronic

unemployment and lack of economic

opportunities for urban youth.

OCS proposes, therefore, to fund up to

20 grants of up to $50,000 apiece, for a

maximum total of approximately

$1,000,000, to enable applicants eligible

for the Demonstration Partnership

Program to participate in the continuous

planning and improvement, and to

monitor the implementation, of these

Strategic Plans at the local level. OCS

hopes these grants will enable grant

recipients, through the collection and

use of information about strategic

planning, implementation and

performance, to influence the shape and

priorities of these initiatives, and to

make possible the closer monitoring of

progress at the local community level.

Each grant under this Priority Area

will be for up to $50,000. As with

Priority Areas 1.0 and 2.0, a 100%

match will be required, which can be in

cash or in-kind fairly valued, and the

operational project time frame for these

Continuous Improvement projects is

two years, with up to six additional

months for start-up and six months after

the operational period to complete

evaluation and reporting.

OCS expects the project funds to be

used to facilitate participation of low

income residents and to expand the

grantee’s human and/or technical

resources, which with OCS support will

enable it to broaden its involvement in

the implementation and monitoring of

the Strategic Plan. Applicants are

encouraged to contact their State

Corporation for National Service Offices

and/or their State Commissioner for

National Service to discuss possible

national service participation in their

projects (e.g. Americorps-VISTA,

Americorps USA, National Senior

Service Corps, Learn and Serve). Such

participation could provide two or more

volunteers to support the work of the

planner and assist staff in the

Continuous Improvement project.

Applicants for these Continuous

Improvement grants should represent

communities that have developed EZ/

EC Strategic Plans and are proceeding to

implement them, either with or without

the support of designation as an

Empowerment Zone/Enterprise

Community. OCS hopes to make grants

to at least two communities that did not

receive EZ/EC designation. But in all

cases applicants must provide evidence

of close working relationships with

those involved in the EZ/EC planning

and/or implementation process, the

local nominating officials, and the other

agencies and resources that participated

in the development of the community’s

strategic plan document. Special

emphasis should also be given in