National Technical Assistance Center on Kinship and Grandfamilies | HHS 2021 ACL AOA TAKG 0103

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2021 ACL AOA TAKG 0103

The National Technical Assistance Center on Kinship and Grandfamilies (NTAC) grant opportunity, offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Administration for Community Living (ACL), funds the creation and operation of a new national center focused on kinship families and grandfamilies. Authorized under Section 2922 of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the project is designed to make NTAC the go-to national hub for expert guidance on kinship and grandfamily policies, programs, and practical service approaches. The central idea is to strengthen how public agencies, Tribes, and community organizations support grandparents and other relatives who are raising children, especially in cases that involve disability or other complex needs.

At its core, NTAC is expected to do three big things: identify what already works, help develop better approaches where gaps exist, and then help states, territories, and Tribal communities put those approaches into practice. This includes gathering and analyzing data, scanning the field for evidence-based, evidence-informed, and exemplary models, and translating those models into usable tools, training, and implementation support. Where proven approaches are limited, the center is also expected to foster the development of new practices and programs that can become evidence-informed or evidence-based over time.

A major portion of the work is providing training and technical assistance at scale. The primary audiences are systems and organizations that directly shape services for kinship and grandfamilies: state and territorial agencies, Tribal governments and Tribal organizations (including urban Indian organizations), and other government, nonprofit, and community-based organizations. The opportunity also explicitly includes secondary sectors that often intersect with kinship families, such as education systems, foster care and child welfare, and criminal justice. In addition, the center is meant to support other professionals, policymakers, and advocates who influence or design kinship-related policy and programs. While the center is not primarily a direct-service program, its work is intended to ultimately benefit a secondary target population: grandparent and kinship caregivers age 55 and older, as well as the grandchildren and children they are raising, including children with disabilities.

The grant envisions a national operation that can reach all target audiences from the start, using multiple delivery methods. NTAC must maintain a dedicated website and provide learning and technical assistance through virtual options and in-person events when feasible and safe. The center is also expected to actively facilitate peer learning and cross-jurisdiction exchange among states, territories, and Tribal entities, so that strong strategies developed in one place can be adapted and replicated elsewhere.

The scope of technical assistance is intentionally broad because kinship and grandfamily needs cut across many systems. The center must be able to provide resources and training related to health promotion (including mental health and substance use disorder treatment), education navigation and stability, nutrition supports, housing stability, financial needs, legal issues (such as custody, guardianship, and benefits access), disability self-determination, caregiver support, and other issues that commonly affect kinship caregivers and the children in their care. Another required element is emergency preparedness and response planning: NTAC is expected to help government programs, nonprofits, and Tribal entities coordinate how they will support kinship and grandfamilies during national, state, territorial, Tribal, and local emergencies and disasters.

Equity is not treated as an add-on in this opportunity. The center is expected to promote equity throughout its work and to implement culturally and linguistically appropriate approaches across all training, technical assistance, tools, and communications. That expectation applies across every target audience, including Tribal communities and diverse kinship caregiver populations, and it signals that the center should tailor assistance to different contexts rather than offering one-size-fits-all guidance.

Structurally, this is a discretionary cooperative agreement, meaning the federal agency is likely to have substantial involvement in guiding or partnering on key aspects of the project. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity, with any additional clarifications in the full announcement). ACL anticipated making one award, with a maximum award amount of $1,990,000. The funding opportunity number is HHS-2021-ACL-AOA-TAKG-0103 (CFDA 93.048), originally posted May 25, 2021, with an original closing date of July 26, 2021. Overall, the grant funds a single entity to design, staff, manage, and maintain a national center that helps systems improve policies and coordinated supports for kinship and grandfamily households nationwide.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Technical Assistance Center on Kinship and Grandfamilies" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.048.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 25, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,990,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for HHS 2021 ACL AOA TAKG 0103

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