August 24 , 2004
This page provides answers to frequently asked questions
about the Safe Start Promising Approaches for Children Exposed to
Violence Program Announcement. The questions are organized by the
following topics:
Application Process
Where can I get a copy of the Safe Start Promising Approaches
for Children Exposed To Violence program announcement?
The entire 53-page program announcement is available on the Current
Funding page of OJJDP's
Web site.
How do I apply for funds under this program?
Read the program announcement. If your organization/agency is able
to form a collaborative with at least one other agency or organization
to deliver programming that meets the requirements of the program
announcement, you may be eligible to apply for funding. You must
first register
online
with the Office of Justice Program's Grants Management System
(GMS). The deadline for registering is September 8, 2004. If you
do not register on GMS before the deadline, you will not be eligible
to submit an application.
When are applications due?
Applications are due by 8:00 p.m. ET on September 10, 2004. There
will be no exceptions to this deadline. You are advised
not to wait until the last minute to submit your application because
you will not be given an extension if your computer or Internet
connection or other equipment fails to work or you are unable to
reach the GMS Help Desk for assistance because the line is busy.
Will this program announcement be reposted next year?
No. At this time, there are no plans to offer funds under the Safe
Start Promising Approaches for Children Exposed to Violence Program
to any new sites next year. The sites that are selected this year
will be eligible to apply for continuation funds of up to $210,000
per year in 2005, 2006, and 2007 through a noncompetitive process.
Eligibility
Who is eligible to apply?
Applicants must represent a collaboration of any two or more eligible
entities. Eligible entities include: public agencies, private nonprofit
organizations, or private for-profit organizations. For-profit organizations
must agree to waive all fees and profits to be eligible for federal
funding.
Some jurisdictions are not eligible to apply because they have received
funding under phase one of the Safe Start initiative. These jurisdictions
are listed below.
Who is not eligible to apply?
Because these jurisdictions have already received Safe Start demonstration
funding, agencies in the following jurisdictions are not eligible
to apply: Baltimore,
MD; Bridgeport,
CT; Chatham
Co., NC; Chicago,
IL; Pinellas
Co., FL; Rochester,
NY; San
Francisco, CA; Sitka,
AK; Spokane,
WA; Washington
Co., ME; and Zuni,
NM.
Does my program need to serve a minimum number of children
to be eligible?
No. There is no minimum requirement for the number of children to
be served. Rather, reviewers will consider the size of the population
in your target area and the intensity, length, and scope of services
you propose to provide. The reviewers will then determine if the
budget you propose is reasonable for the number of children you intend
to serve. We anticipate receiving applications from rural communities
with relatively small populations and from urban areas where hundreds
of children per day are identified as having been exposed to violence.
No preference will be given to one type of site over another.
Can my community submit more than one application?
Yes, however, although there is no prohibition against a single
community (state, city or county) submitting more than one application,
it is extremely unlikely that more than one application from a single
location would be selected for funding because geographic and regional
balance will be one of many criteria the reviewers use to rank the
applications. Also, if more than one agency (or group of agencies)
in a single community are interested in providing services to children
exposed to violence, it is most efficient for them to work together
and submit a single collaborative application.
Funding
What is the award amount?
The maximum award amount is $210,000 per year for up to four years.
Sites will not have to re-compete every year, but they will be required
to submit a new 12-month budget and work plan each year. Assuming
the site meets OJJDP's performance standards, funding will
be renewed up to $210,000 per year for up to three more years (in
2006, 2007, and 2008). Thus the maximum total funding over the four
years of the program is $840,000 per site. Note: All funding
is contingent on annual appropriation of sufficient funds by Congress.
What is the $10,000 data collection set aside for?
Of the $210,000 available per year, $10,000 per year is to be budgeted
for data collection. The $10,000 is to be used for collecting performance
measure data quarterly and data on children served twice per year.
The data that must be collected are listed on pages 15–17 and
29 of the program announcement. Sites will transfer the data into
a spread sheet and send the spreadsheet to OJJDP at prescribed intervals.
The $10,000 is not intended to pay for local evaluation.
When will funding announcements be made?
Applications will be competitively reviewed during fall/winter 2004–05.
We anticipate that all funding announcements (both rejections and
award letters) will be made in spring 2005. No information about
the status of your application will be available before then.
When will funds be available?
For the purposes of the applications due on September 10, 2004,
sites should anticipate that funds will be available on July 1, 2005.
However, keep in mind that this date is only a projection, and may
change.
Program Purposes/Requirements
For what purposes can funds from this program be used?
These funds must be used for implementing programming and policy
changes to reduce the negative impact of exposure to violence on
children. The program announcement lists both best practice models
and national experts in the field of children's exposure to
violence whose work might be consulted to inform your decision about
what kind of programming/policy changes your site will implement.
Is there a planning phase for this program?
No. Sites should plan to implement their services to children and
begin collecting data on children served within the first 12 months
after the award is made. If your community would benefit from a needs
assessment, a community study of the incidence of children's
exposure to violence, or coalition building exercises, these activities
should be concluded prior to submitting your application to OJJDP.
What responsibility will my site have for local evaluation?
None. Sites are only responsible for collecting data on performance
measures and on children served. The national evaluator will conduct
an evaluation of each site and will keep the sites informed about
evaluation findings.
Can my application/proposed plan include a local outcome
evaluation component?
Applicants are advised to think carefully before deciding to include
plans for a local outcome evaluation. All applicants will be required
to participate in the national evaluation of the initiative, regardless
of whether or not they are conducting a local evaluation. Further,
sites will not be permitted to engage in any local evaluation activities
that impede or disrupt the national evaluation. For example, if a
local site planned to conduct interviews with families served and
the national evaluation also calls for interviews of families during
the same time period, the site would only be permitted to conduct
their interviews after the national evaluator was finished.
Can my application/proposed plan include a process evaluation
component?
Sites are encouraged to assess their implementation process to assure
that the programming being implemented meets the site's goals
and standards and reflects the logic model proposed by the site.
A process evaluation is one formal mechanism for accomplishing this.
Can my application/proposed plan include a research component?
The focus of this program announcement is direct services to children.
Some research may be a component of improving the delivery of services
to children exposed to violence.
What is expected in terms of the letter(s) of agreement
and memorandum(s) of understanding required by the program announcement?
Different agencies use these terms differently, and the name or
format your agency uses for these documents (letter versus memorandum)
is not critical.
OJJDP requires applicants to the Safe Start Promising Approaches
for Children Exposed to Violence Program to submit at least one letter
of agreement/letter of support/memorandum of understanding from one
or more co-applicants. The document should state that the signer
acknowledges that the applicant agency has submitted an application
under this program announcement and that the signer is representing
themselves as the co-applicant and collaborator on the project. The
role(s) the co-applicant will have in the project and any resources
the co-applicant brings to the application must be explicitly listed. Applications
that do not include a detailed letter of commitment from a co-applicant
will not be considered for funding. (See also "Who
is eligible to apply?" above).
Your application may also include additional correspondence from
any agency that will participate in the project but will not have
the role of co-applicant. This correspondence can be more informal
and should indicate the signer's support for the proposed project,
without committing the signer to a role as a co-applicant. These
additional documents are optional.
Budget
What period should be covered in the budget I submit with
my application?
This budget should be for a maximum of $210,000 for the initial
12 months of work.
Is there a funding match required?
No.
Are indirect costs allowed?
Yes. Indirect cost rates must be federally approved. For more information,
see the Office of Justice Programs' Financial Guide.
What budget format should I use?
A sample budget worksheet in the format preferred by the Office of Justice Programs can be
downloaded from the OJP Web site.
Are fees for service permissible grant expenditures?
Yes. Service providers can be reimbursed for fees and salaries associated
with providing treatment.
Evaluation
What can I learn about the national evaluation of this
program mentioned in the program announcement?
The national evaluation of the Safe Start Promising Approaches for
Children Exposed to Violence Program will be conducted by an organization
chosen in a competitive process under a separate program announcement
that will most likely be released in early 2005.
The national evaluator will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of
Safe Start Promising Approaches with data supplied by the sites on
children served and with data the national evaluator will collect
from the comparison/control groups.
What do you mean by comparison/control group?
Information about program evaluation strategies that include explanations
of comparison/control group methodology is available from the Northwest
Regional Educational Laboratory (see Comparison
Group Model and an Example and Control
Group Model and an Example
and the Promising
Practices Network.
It is not important that an applicant understand all the nuances
of comparison/control group methodology, only that you understand
generally why comparison/control groups are used and agree that if
selected, your site will comply with a comparison/control group study
that will be implemented by the national evaluator.
What is my site's responsibility for collecting data
from the comparison/control group?
The sites will have no responsibility for collecting data from
the comparison/control group. Those data will be collected by the
national evaluator. The site's only responsibility is to propose
how children for a comparison or control group might be selected,
and to obtain a Memorandum of Agreement from the agency, community,
or organization that would be identifying and referring the comparison/control
group children indicating that they are willing to participate in
this way.
My jurisdiction/agency is not likely to find random assignment
to a no-treatment group acceptable. Would my application be rejected
on those grounds?
No, however, keep in mind that if your program/intervention has
never been evaluated using an experimental or quasi-experimental
design, then you do not know whether the program/intervention you
are delivering is benefiting children. It may have no effect at all,
or it may have an unanticipated negative effect. In the absence of
conclusive evaluation data, it is premature to conclude that randomly
assigning children to a no-treatment group is equivalent to denying
them beneficial services.
Nonetheless, the national evaluation may make use of comparison
groups instead of randomly assigned control groups. Under this structure,
it would be acceptable to compare the children you are serving with
similar children in another jurisdiction, neighborhood, or community
who are not receiving your services, or to compare children who receive
standard services to children who receive your enhanced services.
What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB)?
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are the governing bodies that
assure that data collection efforts are in accordance with all relevant
local, state, and federal laws to protect human subjects.
Background information on IRBs is available from the National
Institute of Justice
and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
Most local and state governments, colleges and universities, hospitals,
and private contract research firms have IRBs in place. Agencies
that might be able to help you find an IRB to review your data collection
plans for the purpose of the application include a local jail, hospital,
mental health treatment facility, public health agency, community
college, or four-year college or university. Try calling these agencies,
explain that you are submitting an application for federal funding
and are required to collect data on the children that you serve,
and you therefore need IRB clearance and ask if they have ever encountered
this situation and what they did about it. It is likely that
at least one of these agencies will have some experience they would
be willing to share.
IRB reviews are now available from for-profit organizations, if
the potential applicant does not have access to an IRB through his/her
own institution. They cost about $6,000-$10,000, and those costs
would need to be built into the first year's budget. One could
find those firms by querying the term "Institutional Review
Board" with any Internet search engine.
You do not need to have IRB clearance at the time your application
is submitted to OJJDP. In your application, you can outline the process
for getting IRB clearance in your community. If possible, you should
start the process, so that you could say in your application that
your study/plan/design was under review by an IRB and give the expected
date for final clearance. Applicants are not required to get final
clearance until/if you are funded. In fact, some IRBs won't
review a study until after funding is secured.
Will my site be responsible for collecting data from the
comparison/control group?
No. The sites will have no responsibility for collecting data from
the comparison/control group. Those data will be collected by the
national evaluator. The site's only responsibility is to propose
how children for a comparison/control group might be selected. Although
it is not a requirement of the application, sites might wish to obtain
some documentation of support from an agency, community, or organization
that could identify and refer subjects for the comparison/control
group. This documentation, which could take any form (e.g., a letter
or memo) would indicate that the supporting agency, community, or
organization is aware of your proposed project and would be willing
to consult with the national evaluator. It is not necessary to have
an official Memorandum of Agreement, although such an agreement would
be evidence to the reviewers that the proposed strategy is viable.
For Further Information
Where can I find information about the demonstration sites
funded by phase one of the Safe Start initiative?
Information about lessons learned (as well as a Safe Start directory
and program descriptions) is available from the National
Center for Children Exposed to Violence.
How can I learn more about the evaluation of phase one of
the Safe Start initiative?
OJJDP is holding four
audioconferences that
will provide a brief overview of the Safe Start Promising Approaches
for Children Exposed to Violence Program and will feature presentations
by the national evaluation team for phase one of the Safe Start initiative.
Each of the four audioconferences—which will be held on Tuesday,
August 17, 1:30–3 p.m. ET,
Thursday,
August 19, 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET,
Wednesday,
August 25, 1:30–3 p.m. ET,
and Tuesday,
September 7, 1:30–3 p.m. ET—will
cover the same material. For more information, go to OJJDP's Event
calendar, select the date you prefer, and
click "Safe
Start." The event details page will provide instructions for participating
in the audioconference, or, if the conference has already taken place,
will provide links to an audio recording of the most recent conference
or written transcripts of any previous conference.
Can I contact the OJJDP program managers?
OJJDP progam managers are only able to answer questions from applicants
about the technical requirements of the program announcement. No
other contact with OJJDP program managers is permissible as it would
be an unfair advantage for some applicants over others who did not
have the opportunity to meet with OJJDP staff.
How can I ask OJJDP staff a question about the requirements
of the program announcement?
Please call 202–307–1341.
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