Summary: One of the functions of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services (DUCS) is to provide temporary shelter care to Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in ORR custody. Unaccompanied Alien Children have no lawful immigration status in the United States; have not attained 18 years of age; and for whom: there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2)). The UAC population consists of children from 0-17 years of age, primarily males, but also including females, pregnant teens, and newborn babies. UAC may be nationals of any country. However, the majority are from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, The People's Republic of China, and India. This announcement provides the opportunity to fund state-licensed care providers for basic and specialized residential shelter and/or group homes, foster care, staff secure, secure, and therapeutic shelter care and services for UAC. Care providers are expected to provide developmentally, culturally and age appropriate services including education, health care, socialization/recreation, vocational training, mental health services, family reunification, access to legal services, and case management. Care providers must also have clinical and case management teams to assess UAC for mental health and trafficking issues. There are two priority areas for funding: Priority Area 1 Mega Grants (National Network Applicants) and Priority Area 2 Micro Grants (Individual Applicants). Applicants can apply to both priority areas under separate applications. Purpose of Modification This modification removes all references, requirements and priority considerations given to shelters that are located in “high apprehension areas.” Due to the recent passage of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 ORR will need to dramatically increase its overall bed capacity (number of beds and types of specialized care) in response to the needs of UAC who may be the victims of trafficking. ORR also anticipates that the implementation of TVRPA will result in a higher number of referrals to the ORR UAC program from other regions of the country, outside of the traditional high apprehension areas. The modification also includes increased funding levels for Priority Area I Mega Grants, National Network Applicants By modifying the announcement ORR hopes to increase the number and types of care providers that respond to the announcement. Modification to the published announcement: All references (including attachments, links), requirements, and priority considerations related to “high apprehension areas” are no longer applicable to this announcement. Please note that the term “high apprehension areas” as inferred in the announcement, and cited in the following sections of the standing announcement, are no longer applicable to the announcement. In addition, the modification announces increase funding levels for Priority Area 1, Mega Grants (National Network Applicants) in the following categories: Anticipated Total Priority Area Funding and Ceiling on Amount of Individual Awards. SECTION I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION Program Locations First paragraph text is now changed to: “Applications submitted pursuant to this announcement must plan for the delivery of the minimum services as described in Program Services (above). The shelter/s should be located in areas easily accessible to immigration courts, pro bono legal services, national airports, and community mental health and medical services. Geographic priority consideration and discretion will be given based on overall program capacity and services delivery considerations.
Priority Area 1 DESCRIPTION
SECTION II. AWARD INFORMATION Please delete the following information under SECTION II. AWARD INFORMATION from the original, published announcement: Anticipated Total Priority Area Funding: “$30,000,000” is now deleted Replace the deleted information with the following information: Anticipated Total Priority Area Funding: $40,000,000 SECTION II. AWARD INFORMATION LENGTH OF PROJECT PERIOD SECTION V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION, EVALUATION CRITERIA, Criterion entitles “APPROACH – 30 points” Specific to Priority One:
SECTION V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION, EVALUATION CRITERIA
Priority Area 2 DESCRIPTION
SECTION V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION, Evaluation Criteria
All information in this modification is accurate and replaces information specified in the February 15, 2008 Program Announcement. ANNOUNCEMENT AVAILABILITY: To access this Program Announcement please go to the ACF Grant Opportunities webpage at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/index.html or to http://www.Grants.gov. For further information, please contact Belinda Rochelle at 202-401-5269 or belinda.rochelle@acf.hhs.gov.
Posted on February 23, 2009 |