FY 2011 Grant Request for Applications (RFA)

Drug Free Communities Support Program

Initial Announcement

Request for Applications (RFA) No. SP-11-002
Posting on Grants.gov: January 18, 2011
Original Receipt date: March 18, 2011

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

Key Dates

Application Deadline Applications are due by March 18, 2011
Intergovernmental Review (E.O. 12372) Applicants must comply with E.O. 12372 if their State(s) participates.  Review process recommendations from the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) are due no later than 60 days after application deadline.
Public Health System Impact Statement (PHSIS) / Single State Agency 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 (DHHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) are accepting applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Drug Free Communities Support Program (DFC) grants. The purpose of the DFC Program is to establish and strengthen collaboration to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance use among youth.

DFC is a collaborative initiative, sponsored by ONDCP, in partnership with SAMHSA, which works to achieve two goals:

  1. Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, public and private non-profit agencies, and Federal, State, local, and tribal governments to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. For the purposes of this RFA, “youth” is defined as individuals 18 years of age and younger.
  2. Reduce substance use among youth and, over time, reduce substance abuse 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.

DFC grantees are required to work toward these two goals as the primary focus of their Federally-funded effort.

The DFC Program was created by the Drug Free Communities Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-20), reauthorized through the Drug Free Communities Reauthorization Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-82), and reauthorized again through the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-469). The latest reauthorization extended the program for an additional five years until 2012. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-40.

Since 1998, ONDCP has awarded approximately 1,750 DFC grants, with an estimated 75 new awards expected in FY 2011. Grants have been awarded to communities from every region in the nation and include rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities. Additional grantee information is available on the DFC website at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/dfc.

Eligibility

Statutory Eligibility Requirements, written into the DFC Act, are inherent in the DFC Program. (See Table 2: Statutory Eligibility Requirements of this RFA). Please read the Statutory Eligibility Requirements carefully and provide the information necessary to meet the requirements in Attachments 1-8 of your application. Failure to meet any single eligibility requirement will cause the application to be deemed ineligible, and the application will not move forward to Peer Review. Should your application fail to meet the eligibility requirements, the person listed as the contact person on the Application for Federal Assistance will receive a letter stating why the application was deemed ineligible. No new materials or information may be added to the original application after it has been submitted. Final authority lies with the DFC Administrator to determine the eligibility of an application.
 
All DFC applications will be jointly screened by ONDCP and SAMHSA to determine whether each applicant meets all the DFC Program eligibility requirements contained in Table 2. In addition, the non-profit status of the grantee organization will be verified along with its ability to fiscally manage Federal funds. Applications submitted by eligible coalitions that demonstrate they meet all requirements will then be scored through a Peer Review process according to the evaluation criteria described in Part V of this RFA, Application Review Information.

In this RFA, Table 2: Statutory Eligibility Requirements contains a summary of the Statutory Eligibility Requirements and the minimum documentation applicants must provide to meet the eligibility criteria. “Where to Document” section in the following table tell applicants where to include the required information in their applications (e.g., as an attachment, in the Project Narrative, in the Budget Narrative). Each year, DFC grantees must demonstrate compliance with all of the Statutory Eligibility Requirements to be considered for continued funding.

Award Information

Funding Mechanism: Grant
Anticipated Total Available Funding: $9.35 million
Anticipated Number of Awards: 75
Anticipated Award Amount: Up to $125,000 per year
Length of Project Period: Up to 5 years

Proposed budgets cannot exceed $125,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) in any year of the proposed project.   Approximately $9.35 million for 75 FY 2011 DFC grants will be awarded through this RFA. As of the release of this RFA, the FY2011 Federal Budget is still pending before Congress; therefore projections for available funding and for the number of potential awards are based on a $95M appropriation (the 2010 level for the program) and are subject to change based on passage of the final FY2011 Federal Budget. 

DFC grants will be available to eligible applicants in amounts of up to $125,000 per year over a five-year period, known as a “funding cycle.” To apply for a DFC grant under this RFA, a coalition must fall into one of the following three categories:

  1. A coalition that has never received a DFC grant;
  2. A coalition that previously received a DFC grant, but experienced a lapse in funding; or
  3. A coalition that has concluded the first five-year funding cycle and is applying for a second five-year funding cycle.

If selected to receive a DFC grant, coalitions will be awarded funds for one year (covering the 12-month period from September 30, 2011–September 29, 2012). Funds for subsequent years within a grant cycle are distributed on an annual basis as non-competing Continuation awards. Annual Continuation awards are contingent upon the availability of DFC funds, the continued ability of the coalition to demonstrate eligibility, grantee progress in meeting grant requirements, timely submission of the Continuation application and all required data and reports, and compliance with all Terms and Conditions of the award.

Coalitions that have previously received DFC funding, but experienced a lapse in their five-year funding cycle, may re-apply for funding to complete their five-year funding cycle. For example, if Coalition X received DFC funding for Years 1 and 2, but did not receive funding for Year 3, Coalition X may apply for funding for Years 3, 4, and 5 under this RFA. Coalition X may not, however, reapply for Year 1 or Year 2 funding.

NOTE: All applicants must clearly state the program award year for which they are applying (e.g., Year 1, Year 2). Please indicate the status of the coalition and for which specific years the coalition received DFC support in the past in Attachment 15 of your application. If your coalition had a break in funding, indicate each year you did not receive funding from the DFC Program.

Coalitions that have received 10 years of funding or believe that they may have received 10 years of DFC funding should refer to the End of Grant Policy (Congressional 10-Year Funding Limit Policy) outlined in Appendix H of this RFA.

Contact Information

For questions about program issues contact:

DFC RFA Hotline Team
Division of Community Programs     
(240) 276-1270
dfcnew2011@samhsa.hhs.gov

For Federal forms and budget questions contact:

Barbara Orlando
Division of Grants Management        
(240) 276-1422
Barbara.orlando@samhsa.hhs.gov

Documents Needed to Complete a Grant Application

1. REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS (RFA)

YOU MUST RESPOND TO THE REQUIREMENTS IN THE RFA IN PREPARING YOUR APPLICATION.


2. GRANT Application Package

YOU MUST USE THE FORMS IN THE APPLICATION PACKAGE TO COMPLETE YOUR APPLICATION.

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 updated: 1/14/2011