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Department of Health and Human Services

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)

Download NOFA

SM-05-019:

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Acrobat Document

Funding Opportunity Title:

Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services Grant Program (Short Title: Adolescents at Risk)

Announcement Type: Initial

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 93.243  

Due Date for Applications: June 1, 2005 

[Note: Letters from State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in response to E.O. 12372 are due August 1, 2005.]

SUMMARY:  The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), announces the availability of FY 2005 funds for the Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services Grant Program. A synopsis of this Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), as well as many other Federal Government funding opportunities, are also available at the Internet site: www.grants.gov.

STS-05 PA

For complete instructions, potential applicants must obtain a copy of SAMHSA's standard Service-to-Science Grants Program Announcement (STS-05 PA), and the PHS 5161-1 (Rev. 7/00) application form before preparing and submitting an application. The STS-05 PA describes the general program design and provides instructions for applying for all SAMHSA Service-to-Science Grants, including the Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services grants. SAMHSA's Service-to-Science Grants provide funds to document and evaluate innovative practices that address critical mental health service gaps but have not yet been formally evaluated. Additional instructions and specific requirements for this funding opportunity are described below.

A synopsis of this Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), as well as many other Federal Government funding opportunities, is also available at the Internet site: www.grants.gov.

I.      Funding Opportunity Description

Authority: Section 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended and subject to the availability of funds.

The Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services Grant Program (Adolescents at Risk) is one of SAMHSA's Service-to-Science Grants programs. The purpose of the Adolescents at Risk program is to evaluate voluntary school-based programs that focus on identification and referral of high school youth who are at risk for suicide or suicide attempts. Eligible applicants are local educational agencies or nonprofit entities in conjunction with local educational agencies. Grant funds may not be used to pay for direct treatment services.

The standard STS-05 PA describes two phases of grant activity:  Phase I - Practice Development and Documentation and Phase II - Practice Evaluation. The Adolescents at Risk program will only support Phase II grant projects. That is, all grantees must use their grant funds to evaluate innovative practices to assess adolescents at risk for suicide and referral of adolescents at risk to appropriate mental health services (including school-based clinics) within the community. SAMHSA/CMHS expects that the Adolescents at Risk program will contribute to an understanding of the effectiveness of school-based programs for youth at risk for suicide or suicide attempts.

Grantees in the Adolescents at Risk program may use their grant funds for all of the allowable Phase II activities described in the STS-05 PA. In addition, grantees may use their grant funds for the following activities:

• Implementing school-based programs that identify, assess, and refer youth at risk for suicide or suicide attempts. [Note, however, that grants funds may not be used to pay for direct treatment services.]

• Training of personnel who will be involved in implementing the school-based suicide prevention program.

• Obtaining parental consent and ensuring that the families of youth at risk identified by suicide prevention programs receive adequate education about risk for suicide and suicide attempts and assistance in accessing the mental health system.

• Continued development of interagency agreements that will allow referral of youth to appropriate services, including emergency referrals of youth at imminent risk of suicide.

• Continued development of a structured and feasible policy for making decisions about response, referral, and further assessment when youth are identified to be at risk.

The evaluations conducted through the Adolescents at Risk program must focus on assessing whether the programs being evaluated are successful in linking at-risk youth to mental health services, as well as the extent to which families of at-risk youth accept treatment recommendations and are satisfied with school-based suicide prevention services. Although there are existing school-based suicide prevention programs that show promise for further large-scale State, regional, or national development, and several programs are at an advanced stage of development and evaluation, previous evaluations have not included a thorough investigation of the following questions:  

(1) How are identified high-risk students assessed and referred for treatment?

(2) What are the characteristics of high-risk students referred for treatment?

(3) How many identified high-risk students pursue treatment following referral?

(4) What are the characteristics of high-risk students who are linked to treatment following referral?

(5) What is the level of family acceptance, involvement, and satisfaction after a school-based program identifies at-risk students?

(6) What kinds of barriers to receiving treatment are encountered and what is helpful in overcoming those barriers?

(7) What types of services (public, private, psychotherapy, medication, etc.) do students receive following identification and referral through school-based programs?

(8) Do students remain in treatment following initial linkage?  These questions must be incorporated into the evaluation design of the projects funded through the Adolescents at Risk program.

The school system's commitment to this project will be critical to its success. Therefore, applicants must include in their applications evidence of the school system's commitment to implement and evaluate the program. Specifically, applicants must include memoranda of understanding among or between the local education agency, the organizations or entities that will provide community-based services, any nonprofit entity providing school-based suicide prevention services, and the local evaluator, if any, in Appendix 1 - Letters of Support of the application.

Background: 

For young people ages 15-24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death, following unintentional injury and homicide. In 1999, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, and chronic lung disease combined. Many school-based suicide prevention programs have been developed and implemented for youth, but many of these efforts have either not been evaluated, or not been demonstrated to lead to successful referrals for treatment or other sources of help. Additionally, acceptance by families has not been demonstrated. There is a clear need to further develop evidence-based programs to identify youth at risk for suicide and suicide attempts. Such programs must take into account the cultural background of the adolescent and must be age appropriate.

The Linking Youth at Risk to Mental Health Services Grant Program will advance the early identification and referral of youth at risk for suicide to the mental health system through the evaluation of evidence-based school mental health suicide prevention programs.

II.    Award Information

1. Estimated Funding Available/Number of Awards: 

It is expected that approximately $1,877,000 will be available to fund approximately 8 awards in FY 2005. The maximum allowable award is $250,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) per year for up to two years. Proposed budgets cannot exceed the allowable amount in any year of the proposed project. Annual continuations will depend on the availability of funds, grantee progress in meeting program goals and objectives, and timely submission of required data and reports. 

2. Funding Instrument: Cooperative Agreements

Role of Grantee

The Adolescents at Risk grantees must comply with the terms of the grant, including implementation of grant activities described above under "Funding Opportunity Description." The grant recipient must agree to provide SAMHSA with all required performance data and collaborate with SAMHSA/CMHS staff in all aspects of the Cooperative Agreement, including submission of all required forms, data, and reports.

Grantees will be expected to abide by the provisions for parental consent established in the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (Section 520E of the Public Health Service Act, as amended). These provisions require written informed consent from a parent or legal guardian of an at-risk minor before involving that minor in a youth suicide early intervention or prevention program. This requirement will not apply in an emergency, in which it is necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of any minor.

Role of Federal Staff

III.   Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants:  Because the purpose of the Adolescents at Risk Grant program is to evaluate voluntary school-based programs that focus on identification and referral of high school youth who are at risk for suicide or suicide attempts, eligibility for the Adolescents at Risk grant program is limited to local educational agencies and domestic public and private nonprofit entities working in conjunction with local educational agencies. American Indian/Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations are encouraged to apply for these grants. The authorizing statute for this program precludes grants to for-profit entities.

For the purpose of this competition, the definition of the term "local educational agency" (LEA) is the definition at Section 9101 (26) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended:

In general-The term "local educational agency" means a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a combination of school districts or counties that is recognized in a State as an administrative agency for its public elementary schools or secondary schools.

A "local educational agency" is usually a school district, rather than an individual school. However, there are some exceptions. Some schools may also be a school district, and thus also a "local educational agency." Also, some Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools, Educational Service Agencies, and State Educational Agencies, while not school districts, are considered to be "local educational agencies."

Applicants may verify status as a "local educational agency" by going to the National Center for Educational Statistics website, http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/, and searching under school district. Each applicant must document that it or its collaborating partner is a "local educational agency" in Appendix 1 of the application. This documentation may be a copy of the NCES webpage verifying status as a "local educational agency" or another form of documentation, such as a letter from the State Educational Agency.

If the applicant is a nonprofit entity, it must include a memorandum of understanding with the LEA specifying each organization's roles and responsibilities in Appendix 1 - Letters of Support of the application in order to be eligible for funding.

2.   Cost Sharing or Matching is not required.

3. Other:  Applicants must also meet certain application formatting and submission requirements or the application will be screened out and will not be reviewed.  These requirements are described in Section IV-2 below as well as in Section IV-2.3 of the STS-05 PA.

PHS 5161-1
and 
SF 424

IV.  Application and Submission Information:  

1. Address to Request Application Package:

 Complete application kits may be obtained from the National Mental Health Information Center at 1-800-789-2647.  

When requesting an application kit for this program, the applicant must specify the funding opportunity title, "Adolescents at Risk," and the funding opportunity number (SM-05-019).  All information necessary to apply, including where to submit applications and application deadline instructions, is included in the application kit. The PHS 5161-1 application form is also available electronically via SAMHSA's World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/generalinfo/useful_info.aspx.  The STS-05 PA is available electronically at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/2005/standard/Srv2Sci/index.aspx

When submitting an application, be sure to type "SM-05-019 Adolescents at Risk" in Item Number 10 on the face page of the application form. Also, SAMHSA applicants are required to provide a DUNS Number on the face page of the application. To obtain a DUNS Number, access the Dun and Bradstreet web site at http://www.dunandbradstreet.com/  or call 1-866-705-5711.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission:

Information, including required documents, required application components, and application formatting requirements, is available in the STS-05 PA in Section IV-2.

Checklist for Application Formatting Requirements

SAMHSA's goal is to review all applications submitted for grant funding.  However, this goal must be balanced against SAMHSA's obligation to ensure equitable treatment of applications.  For this reason, SAMHSA has established certain formatting requirements for its applications.  If you do not adhere to these requirements, your application will be screened out and returned to you without review. 

Text must be legible.  (For Project Narratives submitted electronically in Microsoft Word, see separate requirements below under "Guidance for Electronic Submission of Applications.")  

• Type size in the Project Narrative cannot exceed an average of 15 characters per inch, as measured on the physical page.  (Type size in charts, tables, graphs, and footnotes will not be considered in determining compliance.)

• Text in the Project Narrative cannot exceed 6 lines per vertical inch.

To ensure equity among applications, the amount of space allowed for the Project Narrative cannot be exceeded.  (For Project Narratives submitted electronically in Microsoft Word, see separate requirements below under "Guidance for Electronic Submission of Applications.")

• Applications would meet this requirement by using all margins (left, right, top, bottom) of at least one inch each, and adhering to the page limit for the Project Narrative stated in the STS-05 PA.

• Should an application not conform to these margin or page limits, SAMHSA will use the following method to determine compliance:  The total area of the Project Narrative (excluding margins, but including charts, tables, graphs and footnotes) cannot exceed 58.5 square inches multiplied by the page limit.  This number represents the full page less margins, multiplied by the total number of allowed pages.

• Space will be measured on the physical page.  Space left blank within the Project Narrative (excluding margins) is considered part of the Project Narrative, in determining compliance.

The 10 application components required for SAMHSA applications should be included.  These are:

• Face Page (Standard Form 424, which is in PHS 5161-1)

• Abstract

• Table of Contents

• Budget Form (Standard Form 424A, which is in PHS 5161-1)

• Project Narrative and Supporting Documentation

• Appendices

• Assurances (Standard Form 424B, which is in PHS 5161-1)

• Certifications (a form in PHS 5161-1)

• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (Standard Form LLL, which is in PHS 5161-1)

• Checklist (a form in PHS 5161-1)

• Provisions relating to confidentiality, participant protection and the protection of human subjects, as indicated in the STS-05 PA.   If a particular requirement is not relevant to the proposed project, applicants must explain why the requirement is not relevant.

• Budgetary limitations as indicated in Sections I, II, and IV-5 of the STS-05 PA.

• Documentation of nonprofit status as required in the PHS 5161-1.

Please number pages consecutively from beginning to end so that information can be located easily during review of the application.  The cover page should be page 1, the abstract page should be page 2, and the table of contents page should be page 3. Appendices should be labeled and separated from the Project Narrative and budget section, and the pages should be numbered to continue the sequence.

The page limit for Appendices stated in the specific funding announcement should not be exceeded.

Guidance for Electronic Submission of Applications SAMHSA is now offering the opportunity for you to submit your application to us either in electronic or paper format.  Electronic submission is voluntary.  No review points will be added or deducted, regardless of whether you use the electronic or paper format. To submit an application electronically, you must use the www.Grants.gov apply site.  You will be able to download a copy of the application package from www.Grants.gov, complete it off-line, and then upload and submit the application via the Grants.gov site.  E-mail submissions will not be accepted. You must search the Grants.gov site for the downloadable application package, by the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number.  You can find the CFDA number on the first page of the funding announcement. You must follow the instructions in the User Guide available at: www.Grants.gov apply site, on the Customer Support tab.  In addition to the User Guide, you may wish to use the following sources for help: By e-mail:  support@Grants.gov By phone:  1-800-518-4726 (1-800-518-GRANTS).  The Customer Support Center is open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. If this is the first time you have submitted an application through Grants.gov, you must complete four separate registration processes before you can submit your application.  Allow at least two weeks (10 business days) for these registration processes, prior to submitting your application.  The processes are:   DUNS Number registration,  Central Contractor Registry (CCR) registration,  Credential Provider registration, and  Grants.gov registration. It is strongly recommended that you submit your grant application using Microsoft Office products (e.g., Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.).  If you do not have access to Microsoft Office products, you may submit a PDF file.  Directions for creating PDF files can be found on the Grants.gov Web site.  Use of file formats other than Microsoft Office or PDF may result in your file being unreadable by our staff.  The Project Narrative must be a separate document in the electronic submission.  Formatting requirements for SAMHSA grant applications are described above, and in Section IV-2.3 and Appendix A of the standard grant announcement.  These requirements also apply to applications submitted electronically, with the following exceptions only for Project Narratives submitted electronically in Microsoft Word.  These requirements help to ensure the accurate transmission and equitable treatment of applications. Text legibility:  Use a font of Times New Roman 12, line spacing of single space, and all margins (left, right, top, bottom) of one inch each.  Adhering to these standards will help to ensure the accurate transmission of your document.  If the type size in the Project Narrative of an electronic submission exceeds 15 characters per inch, or the text exceeds 6 lines per vertical inch, SAMHSA will reformat the document to Times New Roman 12, with line spacing of single space.  Please note that this may alter the formatting of your document, especially for charts, tables, graphs, and footnotes. Amount of space allowed for Project Narrative:  The Project Narrative for an electronic submission may not exceed 12,875 words.  Any part of the Project Narrative in excess of the word limit will not be submitted to review.  To determine the number of words in your Project Narrative document in Microsoft Word, select file/properties/statistics. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications to Grants.gov early enough to resolve any unanticipated difficulties prior to the deadline.  You may also submit a back-up paper submission of your application.  Any such paper submission must be received in accordance with the requirements for timely submission detailed in Section IV-3 of the grant announcement.  The paper submission must be clearly marked:  "Back-up for electronic submission."  The paper submission must conform with all requirements for non-electronic submissions.  If both electronic and back-up paper submissions are received by the deadline, the electronic version will be considered the official submission. After you electronically submit your application, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement from Grants.gov that contains a Grants.gov tracking number.  It is important that you retain this number. The Grants.gov Web site does not accept electronic signatures at this time.  Therefore, you must submit a signed paper original of the face page (SF 424), the assurances (SF 424B), and the certifications, and hard copy of any other required documentation that cannot be submitted electronically.  You must reference the Grants.gov tracking number for your application, on these documents with original signatures, and send the documents to the following address.  The documents must be received at the following address within 5 business days of your electronic submission.  Delays in receipt of these documents may impact the score your application receives or the ability of your application to be funded. For United States Postal Service: Crystal Saunders, Director of Grant Review Office of Program Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Room 3-1044 1 Choke Cherry Road Rockville, MD  20857 ATTN:  Electronic Applications       For other delivery service (DHL, Falcon Carrier, Federal Express, United Parcel Service): Crystal Saunders, Director of Grant Review Office of Program Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Room 3-1044 1 Choke Cherry Road Rockville, MD  20850 ATTN:  Electronic Applications If you require a phone number for delivery, you may use (240) 276-1199.

3.  Submission Dates and Times: 

Applications must be received by close of business on June 1, 2005.  You will be notified by postal mail that your application has been received.  Additional submission information is available in the STS-05 PA in Section IV-3.

4.  Intergovernmental Review:  

Applicants for this funding opportunity must comply with Executive Order 12372 (E.O.12372).  E.O.12372, as implemented through Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulation at 45 CFR Part 100, sets up a system for State and local review of applications for Federal financial assistance.  Instructions for complying with E.O. 12372 are provided in the in STS-05 PA Section IV-4.  A current listing of State Single Points of Contact (SPOCs) is included in the application kit and is available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.

5.  Funding Restrictions:

Grantees in the Adolescents at Risk Program may not use their grant funds to pay for direct services.   Additional information concerning funding restrictions is available in the STS-05 PA in Section IV-5.

V.  Application Review Information

1.      Evaluation Criteria:  Applications will be reviewed against the Evaluation Criteria and requirements for the Project Narrative (Sections A-D) specified in the STS-05 PA. Applicants must follow the instructions for applicants applying for a Phase II only award. The following information describes exceptions or limitations to the Project Narrative (Sections A-D) in the STS-05 PA and provides special requirements that pertain only to Adolescents at Risk grants. Applicants must discuss the following requirements in their applications, in addition to the requirements specified in the STS-05 PA: 

1.1    In describing the target population, as required in "Section A: Statement of Need," in the STS-05 PA, applicants must include a projected estimate of the number of students to be identified and served by the program during each year of the grant project.

1.2 In responding to the first bullet under "Section B: Proposed Approach," in the STS-05 PA, applicants must include the following specific information describing the proposed practice to be evaluated:

• Describe the proposed approach for linking at risk youth to mental health services.

• Explain how families will be involved throughout the processes of identification, assessment, referral, and treatment.

• Provide documentation of how emergency mental health intervention will be provided for youth at imminent risk for suicide.

• Provide documentation of how youth identified as being at risk for suicide or suicide attempts will receive mental health services without being placed on a waiting list.

• Explain how uninsured youth referred for mental health services will receive treatment.

• Include plans for sustainability of the program and service linkage strategies being implemented, should the evaluation indicate that it is effective.

1.3 In responding to the fourth bullet of "Section B: Proposed Approach," in the STS-05 PA, applicants must provide evidence of (1) collaboration between schools and school-based suicide prevention programs and (2) partnerships with local community mental health agencies to provide mental health services following referrals of youth identified as being at risk.

1.4 In responding to the first bullet under "Section C:  Evaluation Design and Analysis," in the STS-05 PA, applicants must specifically describe how the evaluation design will address the eight questions contained in Section I - Funding Opportunity Description of this NOFA in addition to the requirements provided in the STS-05-PA.

1.5 In "Section C: Evaluation Design and Analysis," applicants must explicitly state their willingness to collaborate with the Suicide Prevention evaluation contractor, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and other Federal suicide prevention resources as appropriate.

1.6  In "Section C, Evaluation Design and Analysis," applicants must document their ability to collect and report on required performance data, so that SAMHSA can meet its obligations under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The performance measures for grantees in SAMHSA's Adolescents at Risk grant program are currently under development. They will most likely be based on the following National Outcome Measures (NOMs) and comprise a subset of those measures appropriate to the program:

1.      Improved functioning

2.      Increased or retained employment and school enrollment

3.      Decreased involvement with the criminal justice system

4.      Increased stability in family and living conditions

5.      Increased access to services/number of persons served by age, gender, race and ethnicity

6.      Decreased utilization of psychiatric inpatient beds

7.      Increased social support/social connectedness

8.      Clients reporting positively about outcomes

9.      Cost effectiveness

10.    Use of evidence-based practices

Applicants must describe the extent to which they currently collect data for each of the NOMs listed above and their willingness to expand their data collection to capture required NOMs that they currently do not collect.

The data collection tools to be used for reporting the required data are also under development, as CMHS is in the initial planning stages of implementing a web-based GPRA data collection and reporting system. Grantees of SAMHSA's Adolescents at Risk grant program may be asked in the future to submit their GPRA data electronically using this web-based system. When development of the system is complete, grantees will be provided initial training and ongoing technical assistance in order to ensure a smooth transition to the electronic system and continued user support. Applicants must agree to comply with the web-based submission of performance data in Section C:  Evaluation Design and Analysis of their applications.

2.  Review and Selection Process:

Information about the review and selection process is available in the STS-05 PA in Section V-2.  

VI. Award Administration Information:

VII.           Agency Contact for Additional Information: 

For questions concerning program issues contact:  

Richard McKeon, Ph.D.
SAMHSA, Center for Mental Health Services
1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 6-1105
Rockville, MD 20857
240-276-1873
richard.mckeon@samhsa.hhs.gov

For questions on grants management issues contact: 

	Kimberly Pendleton, SAMHSA/Division of Grants Management
	1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 7-1097
	Rockville, MD 20857
	Phone: 240-276-1421
	E-mail: kimberly.pendleton@samhsa.hhs.gov

March 30, 2005 

Daryl Kade   
Director, Office of Policy Planning and Budget
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

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