DCL-01-32, Announcement of Section 115 Demonstration Grant Applications

DCL-01-32

DATE: JULY 5, 2001

TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: Announcement of Section 1115 Demonstration Grant Applications

Dear Colleague:

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is pleased to announce a request for applications from State Child Support Enforcement Agencies for the funding of demonstration projects as authorized under Title IV-D and Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.

SUMMARY: OCSE announces the availability of Fiscal Year 2001 funding for demonstration activities intended to add to the knowledge, and to promote the objectives, of the Child Support Enforcement Program under Title IV-D. This announcement contains the FY 2001 priority areas for funding, together with the forms and instructions for submitting an application.

On June 7-8, 2001, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) held its first research conference. The purpose of the conference was not only to share information about existing research, but also to convene a forum to develop creative approaches and questions concerning possible future areas of child support research. Attendees were given the opportunity to express their support for general research topics to help OCSE determine what areas it will fund for research in the next fiscal year. Attendees expressed an interest in future research projects being for longer periods of time and for larger sums. In the past, OCSE has announced Section 1115 awards with a relatively small amount of funds and has awarded them for 17 months. This year, OCSE plans to fund a mix of demonstrations, some with larger amounts of funding and for longer periods of time (three years). OCSE would also like to foster long-term relationships between State IV-D agencies and universities or other outside organizations.

Our Research Conference attendees identified many projects that can be funded under these research authorities. There were three broad areas of interest:

Serving Our Clients;
Operations and Management of the Program; and,
Financing of the Program.

We have attached in the Appendix a list of the ideas that were put forth under these three broad areas. It is our intent to fund projects under all authorities using this list sometime in the near future.

This announcement reflects a request for demonstration and pilot projects in four priority areas that are included under the broad categories listed in the Appendix:

Priority Area I - Projects which use data warehousing and data mining and build capacity of the State agency (Operations and Management of the Program and Financing of the Program);
Priority Area 2 - Projects which Use Enforcement Tools Strategically to enable TANF clients to achieve self-sufficiency (Serving our Clients);
Priority Area 3 - Projects of broad collaborative efforts and outreach by child support agencies with a wide range of human services programs in the community in order to promote family self-sufficiency (Serving our Clients); and,
Priority Area 4 - Projects which further the National Child Support Mission, Vision and Goals as Outlined in the National Strategic Plan (Operations and Manafment of the Program and Financing of the Program).

We want to encourage States to submit applications under Priority 4, which allows for a broad type of demonstration or pilot project. There are many creative ideas that have been expressed and could be evaluated under this priority area. Because of the research conference, OCSE was unable to announce the availability of funds for research and demonstration projects under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act until this time. We recognize that there is a short time for submitting proposals and encourage States to contact us for assistance in preparing their proposals.

DATES: The closing date for submission of applications is 30 days from the date of this announcement or August 6, 2001. Applications postmarked after the closing date will be classified as late. ACF shall notify each late applicant that its application will not be considered in the current competition.

(Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current)