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SAMHSA Grant Annoucement RFA

Application Information
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)

Request for Applications (RFA)

Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program

(Initial Announcement)

 

Request for Applications (RFA) No. SP-09-003
Posting on Grants.gov: February 13, 2009
Receipt date: April 24, 2009
Announcement Type: Initial

Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) No.: 93.276

Key Dates:

Application Deadline

Applications are due by April 24, 2009

Intergovernmental Review
(E.O. 12372)

Letters from State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) are due no later than 60 days after application deadline
Public Health System Impact Statement
(PHSIS)/SSA Coordination		 Applicants must send the PHSIS to appropriate State and local health agencies by application deadline. Comments from Single State Agency are due no later than 60 days after application deadline.

The Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) announce the availability of funds for new FY 2009 Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program (DFC Mentoring) grants.

The purpose of the DFC Mentoring Program is to provide grant funds to existing DFC grantees so that they may serve as Mentors to newly-formed and/or developing coalitions that have never received a DFC grant. Mentor grant funds should be used for the direct benefit of the Mentee Community/Coalition.  Through the support of DFC mentoring funds, Mentor Coalitions are expected to share their expertise with non-grantee coalitions (Mentee Community/Coalition) and enable them to successfully compete for a DFC grant.  Funding through this grant should support access for the Mentee Community/Coalition to the training and technical assistance necessary to help them form a community coalition and pursue a DFC grant.  It is the intent of the DFC Mentoring Program that communities mentored through this effort will form functioning coalitions working to reduce youth drug use at the community level, and that those coalitions should meet the basic eligibility criteria of the DFC program and be able to address the two primary goals of DFC listed below.      

DFC Mentoring grants are designed to support the overall goals of the Drug Free Communities Program, a collaborative initiative led by ONDCP in partnership with SAMHSA.  The DFC Program has two primary goals:

  • Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, private nonprofit agencies, and Federal, State, local and tribal governments to support the efforts of community coalitions to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.
  • Reduce substance abuse among youth and, over time, among adults by addressing the factors in a community that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse. (Substances include, but are not limited to, narcotics, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, marijuana, inhalants, alcohol and tobacco, where their use is prohibited by Federal, State, or local law.)  Note: DFC-funded coalitions must focus on multiple drugs of abuse. When the term “drug” or “substance” is used in this funding announcement, it is intended to include all of the above drugs. 

The Drug Free Communities Program (DFC) was created by the Drug Free Communities Act, 1997 (Public Law 105-20).  DFC Mentoring grants were established as a component of the DFC Program when the DFC Program was reauthorized on December 14, 2001, through P.L. 107-82, 115 Stat. 814 (2001). Congress again demonstrated its support for the DFC Mentoring effort when the DFC Program and the DFC Mentoring Program were reauthorized in December of 2006 (Public Law 109-469).  This program addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area 26 (Substance Abuse).

The coalitions that have been awarded DFC Mentoring grants represent a cross-section of communities from every region in the nation.  In FY 2008, ONDCP awarded 14 new DFC Mentoring Grants and 17 Mentoring Continuation grants. More information about DFC and DFC Mentoring grants can be found on the DFC Web site (http://www.ondcp.gov/dfc/).

Eligibility

All coalitions applying for a DFC Mentoring grant must meet the following eligibility criteria or the application will not be considered for funding. (The information provided in the sections of the application identified below will be considered in determining whether or not an individual applicant meets the eligibility criteria).

Please refer to the RFA for specific DFC eligibility requirements and the minimum documentation applicants must provide under "Section III Eligibility Requirements".

Award Information

ONDCP expects to award approximately $1.2 million for 16 FY 2009 DFC Mentoring grants through this RFA. DFC Mentoring grants will be available to eligible coalitions in amounts of up to $75,000 per year for up to two years.  Funds for the second year of the grant are distributed as non-competing continuation awards. Continuation awards are contingent upon the availability of DFC funds, the continued ability of grantees to demonstrate eligibility, grantee progress in meeting grant requirements, and timely submission of the continuation application as well as required data and reports.

Under the terms of this announcement, applicants may request and receive funding to mentor one or more coalitions for a maximum of two years. A DFC Mentoring grant may not be used to mentor the same coalition for more than two years.  A DFC coalition may only have one DFC Mentoring grant at a time.

Contact Information

For questions regarding program issues contact:

Dan Fletcher
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1 Choke Cherry Road
Room 4-1085
Rockville, Maryland 20857
(240) 276-1270
dfcnew2009@samhsa.hhs.gov

For questions on grants management issues contact:

Barbara Orlando
Office of Program Services, Division of Grants Management
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1 Choke Cherry Road
Room 7-1091
Rockville, Maryland 20857
(240) 276-1422
barbara.orlando@samhsa.hhs.gov

Documents needed to complete a grant application:

Applications that are not submitted on the required application form will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

You must respond to the requirements in the RFA in preparing your application.

PHS 5161-1 (revised July 2000): Includes the face page, budget forms and checklist. Applications that are not submitted on the required application form will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

Additional Materials

For further information on the forms and the application process, see Useful Information for Applicants

Additional materials available on this website include:



Last Update: 4/2/2009