Call Script for NOFO: CDC-RFA-dp22-2201- Tribal Practices

Informational Call Script:
Notice of Funding Opportunity: Tribal Practices for Wellness in Indian Country (CDC-RFA-DP22-2201)
Informational Call
January 11, 2022, 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. EST

Agenda in Brief:

1. Introduction and Welcome – Julianna Reece
2. Overview of NOFO – Shannon Saltclah
3. Strategies and Activities – Shannon Saltclah
4. Eligibility Criteria – Kelly Bishop
5. Submission Procedures – OGS – LaKasa Wyatt
6. Email box and Web site for additional information – Kelly Bishop
7. Questions and Answers – Mary Hall
8. Closing – Julianna Reece

1. Introduction and Welcome – Julianna Reece:

Dr. Reece: Welcome and thank you for taking the time to be on this conference call today to discuss a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), Tribal Practices for Wellness in Indian Country, or TPWIC. This funding opportunity supports tribal practices that build resilience and connections to community, family, and culture among American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN).

This call is being hosted by staff from the Division of Population Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Office of Grant Services here at CDC. My name is Julianna Reece, director of the Healthy Tribes program in the Division of Population Health.

CDC’s Healthy Tribes program seeks to promote health, prevent chronic disease, reduce health disparities, improve social determinants of health, and strengthen connections to culture and community practices among American Indians and Alaska Natives. This new NOFO will join a robust portfolio of cooperative agreements that work together to improve health outcomes across Indian Country including strengthening tribal public health infrastructure, expanding the evidence-based programs in AI/AN communities, and learning from innovative practices including cultural adaptations for chronic disease prevention. We are pleased you are interested in becoming a partner in this work.

I will run through today’s agenda and introduce the CDC staff you will be hearing from today about our notice of funding opportunity.

• Shannon Saltclah will provide an overview of the Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO and provide an overview of the strategies and activities that are a part of this NOFO.
• Kelly Bishop will review the eligibility criteria and funding levels.
• LaKasa Wyatt from CDC’s Office of Grant Services will discuss submission procedures and processes.
• Kelly Bishop will then share some resources available to you for additional information as you prepare your applications, including the Email box and Web site.
• Mary Hall will lead us through the question-and-answer process.
• I will then provide closing remarks.

We have structured the call to include time at the end to hear and answer some of your questions. Currently all lines are on mute. However, prior to the Q & A portion of the call, the operator will provide instructions on how to ask a question. With this in mind, we suggest that you write down your questions during the call, and we will open the phone lines at the end of the presentations. In the event your question is not answered on today’s call, you may submit it to TPWIC2201@cdc.gov.

I will now turn it over to Shannon Saltclah who will give an overview of the program.

2. Overview of the New NOFO – Shannon Saltclah:

Shannon Saltclah: Thank you, Dr. Reece. Welcome, everyone, to the call. We are very excited about this NOFO opportunity and would like to thank you for joining us today.

This NOFO builds upon the strengths and lessons learned from the previous TPWIC funding opportunity, DP18-1812. Like the previous opportunity, recipients of this funding will implement tribal wellness practices that were identified by tribal health leaders in 2016 and reaffirmed by CDC’s Tribal Advisory Committee in 2021.

This NOFO supports the implementation of tribal practices to build resilience and connections to community, family, and culture, which over time, can reduce risk factors for chronic disease. With this opportunity, we will also focus on building social connectedness, a social determinant of health (SDoH) that is a significant factor in mental, emotional, and physical health. Cultural connectedness is a critical element in overall wellness, identity, and sense of belonging, particularly in Native communities. A high degree of social and cultural connectedness can increase the likelihood of individuals engaging in positive health behaviors that ultimately improve health outcomes for chronic diseases.

The long-term goals are to increase resilience and use of cultural practices to reduce morbidity/mortality due to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer, and increase mental and emotional wellbeing among community members.

Up to 18 American Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, or American Indian or Alaska Native tribal organizations serving a single tribe, reservation or native village will be funded to address the strategies and activities outlined in the NOFO. No more than 2 awards to tribes, villages, or tribal organizations will be made within a single Indian Health Service (I.H.S.) Area. In addition, we anticipate funding up to 12 Urban Indian Organizations that hold a Title V Contract with the Indian Health Service to address the same strategies for the portion of their population that is American Indian/or Alaska Native.

This NOFO complements other work of the Healthy Tribes program, including the Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country and the Tribal Epidemiology Center Public Health Infrastructure program.

I will now transition to share the NOFO strategies and outcomes with you.

3. Strategies and Activities – Shannon Saltclah:

Shannon Saltclah: This NOFO contains a logic model with strategies and short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes on page 5, and a more detailed list of strategies and activities on pages 6-8. Feel free to turn to those pages as I walk through the strategies and outcomes.

Applicants are required to select 3 of the 6 strategies and propose at least 1 activity for each selected strategy. All strategies and activities are to be implemented with and within the community served, which could be a tribe, a community primarily comprised of American Indian/ Alaska Natives or the specific American Indian/ Alaska Native population served.

The short-term outcome applies to all strategies and activities and should connect and contribute to achieving the intermediate outcomes. Applicants are required to report on the bolded outcomes for each of their 3 proposed strategies and activities. All recipients will report on the first two bolded intermediate outcomes (increased sense of cultural connectedness and increased sense of social connectedness). Recipients who choose Strategy 5 or 6 will be required to report on the third bolded intermediate outcome (Increased consumption of healthy traditional foods and/or increased physical activity). The bolded intermediate outcomes are expected to be achieved by the end of the 5-year period of performance.

I’ll now go through each strategy. For a list of the activities under each strategy, see pages 6-8 of the NOFO.

• Strategy 1: Family and community activities that connect cultural teachings to health and wellness
• Strategy 2: Seasonal cultural and traditional practices that support health and wellness
• Strategy 3: Social and cultural activities that promote community wellness
• Strategy 4: Intergenerational learning opportunities that support wellbeing and resilience
• Strategy 5: Cultural teachings and practices about traditional healthy foods to promote health, sustenance, and sustainability
• Strategy 6: Traditional and contemporary physical activities that strengthen wellbeing

In addition to the strategies and outcomes listed, recipients must also develop a Partnership Plan, develop a Program Advisory Group, participate in the TPWIC Community of Practice, and participate in important meetings related to the cooperative agreement.

You can find more information of these requirements on page 8 of the NOFO.

Applicants will also be expected to submit an application that includes all of the required items described in the NOFO, including a Project Narrative of no more than 20 pages that addresses background, approach, evaluation and performance measurement plan, organizational capacity, and work plan of up to 10 pages. Applicants must also submit an itemized Budget Narrative.

Cost sharing or matching funds are not required for this program. Although no statutory matching requirement for this NOFO exists, bringing in or working with other resources and related ongoing efforts to promote sustainability is strongly encouraged.

I will now turn the call over to Kelly Bishop who will go over the eligibility criteria and funding that is available for this program.

4. Eligibility Criteria and Available Funds – Kelly Bishop:

Kelly Bishop: Thanks, Shannon.

Any type of entity, subject to the clarifications in the “Additional Information of Eligibility” section of the NOFO, may apply for this funding. This NOFO will support any of the 574 Federally recognized American Indian Tribes/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Villages, any of the 41 that have a current Title V Indian Health Care Improvement Act Contract with the Indian Health Service, or any Tribal Organization, as defined in this NOFO, that is applying on behalf of a single American Indian tribe or Alaska Native village.

For this funding opportunity, we are anticipating a little over $4 million in annual funding, with more than $22 million over the course of the 5-year period of performance, all subject to the availability of funding. This includes both direct and indirect costs. The average one-year award is expected to be $150,000. The award ceiling is $150,000 per budget period, and the award floor is $100,000 per budget period. The award start date is June 30, 2022.

I will now turn the call over to LaKasa Wyatt, Grants Management Specialist, from the Office of Grant Services to discuss specific requirements related to the Application.

5. Submission Procedures – LaKasa Wyatt:

LaKasa Wyatt: Thanks, Kelly. No letter of intent is requested for this NOFO. Applications are due on March 16, 2022 by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time, on www.grants.gov. Please remember that your organization must be registered at the three following locations before it can submit an application for funding at www.grants.gov.

The first is in preparation for the federal government’s April 4, 2022 transition to the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS), applicants must include a UEI with your applications (SF-424, field 8c). The UEI is generated as part of SAM.gov registration. Current SAM.gov registrants have already been assigned their UEI and can view it in SAM.gov and grants.gov. Entities registering in SAM.gov prior to April 4, 2022 must still obtain a DUNS number before registering in SAM.gov registration.

The second registration procedures may be found at Sam.gov. The SAM is the primary registrant database for the federal government and the repository into which an entity must submit information required to conduct business as a recipient. All applicant organizations must register with SAM and will be assigned a SAM number and a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). All information relevant to the SAM number must be current at all times during which the applicant has an application under consideration for funding by CDC. If an award is made, the SAM information must be maintained until a final financial report is submitted or the final payment is received, whichever is later. The SAM registration process can require 10 or more business days, and registration must be renewed annually. Additional information can be found at SAM.gov and SAM.gov Knowledge Base.+

The last is Grants.gov: The first step in submitting an application online is registering your organization at www.grants.gov, the official HHS E-grant Web site. Registration information is located at the “Get Registered” option at www.grants.gov. All applicant organizations must register at www.grants.gov. The one-time registration process usually takes not more than five days to complete. Applicants must start the registration process as early as possible.

The Web sites I mentioned are all in the notice of funding opportunity on pages 17-19.

I will now turn the call over to Kelly Bishop.

6. Email Box and Web Site for Additional Information – Kelly Bishop:

Kelly Bishop: Thanks, LaKasa.

We want to make sure you are aware of some resources that may be useful to you as you work on your application. CDC has set up a Website that is for this NOFO that includes links to the NOFO, frequently asked questions, or FAQs, a link to submit questions about this NOFO, and after this call, the script from today’s call will be posted. If you have questions about the NOFO, you can submit those via email to TPWIC2201@cdc.gov. Before you submit a question, we strongly recommend you review all the frequently asked questions in case someone has already submitted the same or similar question and an answer has already been posted. The deadline to submit questions is Friday, March 11, 2022. This will allow enough time to receive a response back before the application due date, March 16, 2022. The links to submit a question, visit the FAQ page, and the NOFO webpage can all be found on page 2 of the NOFO under F. Dates.

Let me now turn the call to Mary Hall who will describe how we will handle questions on today’s call.

7. Question and Answer Session – Mary Hall:

Mary Hall: Thanks, Kelly. To the extent possible we will try to answer your questions on the call today. In the event that we are not able to provide an immediate answer on this call, we will provide an answer and post it to our FAQ page on the NOFO website, along with all of the questions and answers from today’s call. You should check the FAQ website frequently for new questions and answers. At this time, I will ask the operator to open up the lines for questions.

If you have questions after this call, please submit your questions to TPWIC2201@cdc.gov.

That concludes the question and answer portion of this call. I will turn the call back over to Dr. Reece.

8. Closing – Julianna Reece:

Dr. Reece: On behalf of the Division of Population Health, thank you all for your time on the call today, and for your interest in this notice of funding opportunity. This concludes our call today. Thank you and have a good afternoon.