Executive Summary:

The Family and Youth Services Bureau is accepting applications to provide support to public and private entities for the development and implementation of the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program.  The purpose of these programs is to educate young people and create an environment within communities that supports teen decisions to postpone sexual activity until marriage.  Acceptable applications will be designed to provide abstinence-until-marriage education as defined by Section 510(b)(2) of the Title V Social Security Act, for adolescents aged 12 through 18.  The anticipated number of awards is 50-60, with funding ranges between $250,000 and $600,000 depending upon the availability of funds and enactment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 program appropriation.

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

Legislative Authority

A. Legislative Authority

The Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program is authorized by Title XI, Section 1110 of the Social Security Act.

Programs funded through the CBAE program must promote abstinence education as defined by Section 510(b)(2) of Title V of the Social Security Act and given below.  Programs that utilize this definition promote "abstinence-until-marriage education." Sex education programs that promote the use of contraceptives are not eligible for funding under this announcement.

For purposes of this program, the term "abstinence education" means an educational or motivational program that:

(A) Has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;

(B) Teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;

(C) Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;

(D) Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;

(E) Teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;

(F) Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;

(G) Teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and

(H) Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

B. Background of Funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education Program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that nearly 900,000 adolescents under the age of 19 become pregnant every year and about three million become infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Despite recent improvements in teen pregnancy and birthrates, the United States (U.S.) rates are higher than any other developed nation.  According to a National Vital Statistics report, there were 34.7 births per 1,000 unmarried females, aged 15-19 in 2004.  When teens give birth, their future prospects decline. Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school, more likely to be single parents, and more likely to live in poverty than other teens.  Of equal concern is the fact that, according to CDC reports, there are approximately 18 million new STD cases in the U.S., and about one-fourth of these are among adolescents.  Having multiple sexual partners is the factor most closely identified with acquiring an STD. 

Despite these negative statistics, choosing to abstain from sexual activities until marriage, marrying someone who has also abstained, and maintaining a mutually monogamous relationship offer youth 100 percent protection from pre-marital pregnancy and from acquiring an STD.  For teens who have been sexually active, a decision to delay further sexual activity until marriage offers 100 percent protection from new risk.

Today's youth are bombarded by implicit and explicit messages that promote sexual activity before, and outside of, marriage.  Unfortunately, teens receive less information about the physical and emotional benefits that they are more likely to find by having one lifelong sexual partner within marriage.  Those youth who are aware of these benefits and want to delay sex until marriage may not receive from society the support and training that they need to achieve this goal.  Government agencies often use special programs to target specific audiences that are underserved by other systems.  The increasing numbers of youth who are open to the message of delaying sex until marriage are such an audience. 

Teen sexual abstinence improves preparation for stable marriage, especially when teens have a greater awareness of the psychological, emotional and relational context in which sexual relations take place.  This is important because research demonstrates that healthy marriages are beneficial to children.  Children growing up in a healthy marriage are, for example, significantly less likely to experience physical, sexual and emotional abuse or neglect, welfare dependence, poverty, drug or alcohol abuse, emotional and behavioral problems, academic failure or incarceration.

The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) administers the CBAE program.  This program complements other programs administered by FYSB by working to prevent young people's involvement in risky behavior such as alcohol, drug use and crime; providing youth with healthy messages about their bodies, their behaviors, and their interactions; and supporting youth in making the healthy decision to postpone sexual activity until marriage.

C. Purpose, Priorities and Scope of the CBAE Program

1. Purpose: 

The CBAE program will support programs that are designed to promote abstinence-until-marriage education as defined by Section 510(b)(2) in Title V of the Social Security Act, for adolescents aged 12 through 18.  The entire focus of these programs is to educate young people and create an environment within communities that supports teen decisions to postpone sexual activity until marriage.  Since communicating abstinence education to various target populations requires a number of different approaches, activities may include adult and peer mentoring, before- and after-school programs, and parent education groups to promote abstinence from sexual activity until marriage.

2. Priorities:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to address the following:

Cultural Sensitivity and Environment
Culturally sensitive and age-appropriate programs are associated with higher rates of success in accomplishing program goals.  Therefore, successful applicants will tailor programs to the unique cultural and environmental needs of the target population they intend to serve.  For example, programs designed to serve youth in foster care should give consideration to the factors resulting in those youth being at greater risk for premarital sex and how abstinence-until-marriage education materials can be adapted so that they are relevant and effective.

Healthy Marriage
Successful applicants will equip participants with skills and knowledge that give them a greater capacity to develop both healthy relationships in the short-term and healthy marriages in the long-term.  Relationship training may cover a range of topics, including: teaching the characteristics of healthy relationships and healthy marriage, learning how to communicate effectively and manage conflict, and developing a "go-slow," low intensity approach to teen relationships, to name a few.

Medical Accuracy
Applicants are required to ensure that all data in their applications are true and correct.  This applies to medical information presented in all curricula funded under this program announcement.  Applicants must sign the assurance contained in Appendix B. 

Grantees are not required to provide information on contraception except in the instances where they produce materials subject to Section 317P(c)(2) of the Public Health Service Act, as described in this announcement.  In general, information on contraceptives, if included, must be medically accurate and should include information on the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of the type of contraception discussed in the curriculum.

Should ACF find medically inaccurate information during the review process, or at any time during the grant project period, grantees will be required to correct the inaccuracies. 

Section 317P(c)(2) of the Public Health Service Act
Mass produced materials that as their primary purpose are specifically about STDs, including human papillomavirus, are required by Section 317P(c)(2) of the Public Health Service Act to contain medically accurate information regarding the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of condoms in preventing the sexually transmitted disease the materials are designed to address.  Mass produced materials are considered to be specifically designed to address STDs if more than 50 percent of the content is related to STDs. 

Sustainability
In FY 2006, the project period for CBAE grants was extended from three to five years.  One reason for the extension was to give grantees more time to enhance their sustainability.  Successful applicants will build capacity through private, local, State and other governmental development to increase their ability to continue the project past the grant period.  Applicants should clearly demonstrate an achievable plan for financially sustaining the project after the grant project period ends.

Evaluation
A second reason for the extension from three to five years is to ensure that programs can adequately evaluate the effectiveness of their intervention.  Successful applicants will clearly identify the outputs and outcomes of their program and show that they have adequate plans to collect and analyze their data and report their findings.

Outputs are the direct products or deliverables of program activities.  Often they are a measure of the service delivery (i.e., how much service was delivered and to how many people).  For example, an abstinence education program may provide a class to teach students the skills and knowledge necessary to remain abstinent until marriage.  One output measure for that activity is the number of people who completed the class.  Successful applicants will provide quantified projections for all of their identified project outputs.  There are three outputs that grantees are required to estimate and track:

• The number of youth served;
• The hours of service provided to each youth; and
• The number of youth that complete the program. 

Applications that do not present reasonable methods of collecting this data accurately and routinely will receive fewer points as described in the Evaluation Criteria given in Section V.1.  Successful applicants will choose additional outputs that will allow for effective monitoring and management of the project.  Additional examples of outputs include the number of staff trained to provide services, the number of events hosted, number of marketing materials distributed, the number of organizations represented in a coalition, the number of student mentors trained, the number of parents reached, etc. 

Outcomes are the results of a program, typically describing a change in people or systems.  For example, youth that participate in an abstinence education program may be more likely to commit to abstain from sex until marriage.  Applicants are expected to measure the following two outcomes:

• The number of youth who have never had sexual intercourse and remain abstinent following the abstinence education program.
• The number of youth who have had sexual intercourse but have discontinued having sex following the abstinence education program.

Successful applicants will include plans for measuring outcomes six months after completion of the abstinence education program.   

Beyond these two core outcome measurements, applicants are encouraged to evaluate even longer-term outcomes (for example, one-year, three-year, or five-year outcomes), though applicants are not required to do so if this proves to be unfeasible. In other words, applicants will not be excluded from consideration solely because their plans do not include the measurement of longer-term outcomes; however, priority consideration will be given to those applicants who include plans for tracking youth several years after program completion and measuring longer-term outcomes (for example, one-year, three-year, or five-year outcomes).

Additional examples of outcomes that could be examined include:  knowledge of the benefits of abstinence, relationship skills and knowledge, refusal or assertiveness skills to resist sexual advances, frequency of teen pregnancies, frequency of STDs, knowledge of the relationship of alcohol and drug use to vulnerability to sexual advances, etc. 

Successful applicants will also contract with independent, third-party evaluators to form and implement an evaluation plan to show that the project activities are accomplishing the goals of the project.  A detailed evaluation plan should include: information about the affiliation and qualifications of the evaluator, hypotheses or research questions that are directly tied to program objectives, description of the comparison strategy (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental), expected sample size (including recruitment strategies), how outcomes will be operationalized (including data collection instruments), plans to ensure that the instruments are age appropriate, plans to ensure accurate responses, plans for the protection of data (e.g., confidentiality issues), plans for data analysis (including statistical techniques), plans for follow-up assessment beyond pre- and post-testing, and plans for how relevant findings will be reported to the professional field. 

To support quality evaluations, the project periods are five years.  ACF requires that a minimum of 15 percent of the requested budget be used for the purpose of program evaluations.  For example, if an applicant has requested the full amount of $600,000, it must indicate that $90,000 of this total amount is dedicated to evaluation activities.

Grantees may be asked to participate in a national evaluation of the CBAE program.  Successful grantees must be willing to cooperate with any research or evaluation efforts sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

3. Scope:

All aspects of the proposed program must be consistent with the definition of abstinence education pursuant to A-H of Section 510(b)(2) of the Social Security Act.  Additionally, successful applicants must adequately address each of the elements within the "Scope" section of this program announcement as indicated below.

Required Content:

• A curriculum must contain material consistent with the A-H elements. 
  
  
• ACF will evaluate all proposed curricula, supplemental materials, and proposed or anticipated modifications to the curricula to assure compliance with the 13 themes outlined below. This review will include a content analysis to determine whether at least 70 percent of the material directly relates to the 13 themes and that each theme is adequately addressed.
  
  
• No one theme should be over- or under-represented in the entire curriculum. 
  
  
• A curriculum must not contain any material inconsistent with any of the A-H elements.
  
  
• Material must have as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity.
  
  
• A curriculum must not promote or encourage sexual activity outside of marriage. 
  
  
• A curriculum must be age-appropriate with regard to the developmental stage of the intended audience.  Graphic images of genitalia for purposes of illustrating the effects of STDs are inappropriate for certain age groups, especially if classes are not gender separated.

Additional Guidance Regarding Curriculum Content:

• Abstinence curricula must have a clear definition of sexual abstinence that must be consistent with the following:  "Abstinence means voluntarily choosing not to engage in sexual activity until marriage.  Sexual activity means physical sexual contact between individuals that involves the genitalia of at least one person." 
  
  
• The curriculum must have a clear message regarding the importance of abstinence from sexual activity until marriage and must emphasize that the best life outcomes are more likely to be obtained if an individual abstains until marriage.
  
  
• The term "resources" must refer to all materials to be used in the submitted curriculum.
  
  
• Throughout the entire curriculum, the term "marriage" must be defined as "only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife" (consistent with Federal law).
  
  
• The curriculum must teach the psychological and physical benefits of sexual abstinence-until-marriage for youth.
  
  
• The curriculum must teach the importance of marriage, commitment, responsible parenthood, and the potential negative consequences of out-of-wedlock childbearing to all racial, socioeconomic, geographic, age, gender and ethnic groups.
  
  
• Information on contraceptives, if included, must be age-appropriate, medically accurate, and presented only as it supports the abstinence message being presented.  The curriculum must have as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity.   
  
  
• The following National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases definition for STDs must be applied throughout the curriculum:
  "A sexually transmitted disease is any contagious disease that is transmitted through direct person to person sexual contact.  Sexually transmitted diseases are contracted through exchange of semen, blood, or any other body fluids or by direct sexual contact with the affected body area of an individual who has a sexually transmitted disease."

Successful Abstinence Education Curriculum

A.  It is essential that the abstinence education curriculum has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity.

The curriculum must be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Has as its exclusive purpose to teach abstinence.  Every element, goal, and objective of the curriculum must be consistent with the abstinence-until-marriage message.  The curriculum must teach abstinence in preparation for marriage throughout.
  
  
• Teaches the social gains realized by abstaining from non-marital sexual activity.  (Included in themes D1, D2, F1, and F2 described below.)
  
  
• Teaches the psychological gains realized by abstaining from non-marital sexual activity.  (Included in themes B1, B2, D1, D2, and E1 described below.)
  
  
• Teaches the health gains realized by abstaining from non-marital sexual activity.  (Included in themes B2, C2, and E2 described below.)

B.  It is critical that the abstinence education curriculum teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-aged children.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme B1.  Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the expected standard for all school-age children. 

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the expected standard for school-age children.
• Teaches that pursuing the expected standard of abstinence serves to establish an understanding of, and respect for, others.
• Teaches that committed caring relationships require respect for others, their feelings and their bodies.
• Teaches that abstinence reflects qualities of personal integrity and is honorable.

Theme B2.  Teaches, in an age-appropriate manner, the topic of returning to abstinence, that teens who have engaged in non-marital sexual activity may abstain from further non-marital sexual activity, thereby reducing potential negative psychological, health, and social consequences.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that teens who have been sexually active may choose to return to abstinence.
• Teaches that teens who choose abstinence, even after they have been sexually active, are likely to improve their future well-being.

C.  Abstinence education curriculum must teach that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, STDs, and other associated health problems.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme C1.  Teaches, in an age-appropriate manner, that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy. 

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that contraception may fail to prevent teen pregnancy and that sexually active teens using contraception may become pregnant.
  
  
• Teaches the published failure rates associated with contraceptives relative to pregnancy prevention, including "real use" versus trial or "laboratory use," human error, product defect, teen use and possible side effects of contraceptives.  (References for information must be provided with the curriculum.)

Theme C2.  Teaches, in a medically accurate and age-appropriate manner, that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid the sexual transmission of STDs and related health problems.  Teaches the harmful physical effects of infection by STDs that may result from sexual activity outside of the context of faithful marriage.  Teaches the physical health gains realized by abstaining from sexual activity.  (This theme is limited to STDs; the physical effects of out-of-wedlock pregnancy are covered in themes F1 and F2.)

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches the epidemiology of STDs in the U.S. (e.g., infection rates, modes of transmission, existence of incurable and potentially fatal STDs).  (References for information must be provided with the curriculum.)
  
  
• Teaches the limitations of contraception to consistently prevent STDs.
  
  
• Teaches that sexually active teens increase the risk of contracting an STD with each additional sex partner.
  
  
• Teaches the adverse physical, emotional and socio-economic consequences associated with contracting an STD.
  
  
• Teaches that acquiring an STD may potentially affect future relationships.
  
  
• Teaches that abstinence decreases the potential for experiencing other associated health problems (e.g., infertility, chronic pelvic pain, liver disease, certain reproductive organ cancers).
  
  
• Teaches the increased biological susceptibility to STD infection associated with earlier age of initiation of sexual activity.

D.  It is required that the abstinence education curriculum teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme D1.  Teaches that the expected standard for sexual activity is within the context of a mutually monogamous marriage relationship.  Teaches that healthy human sexuality involves enduring fidelity, love and commitment; and that human happiness and well-being are often associated with a stable, loving marriage.  Teaches that non-marital sex can undermine the capacity for healthy marriage, love and commitment.  Teaches that abstinence is beneficial in preparation for successful marriage and significantly increases the probability of a happy, healthy marriage.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that non-marital sex in teen years may reduce the probability of a stable, happy marriage as an adult.
• Teaches that healthy human sexuality involves enduring fidelity, love and commitment.
• Teaches that teen abstinence may increase the probability of a healthy marriage.
• Teaches that teen non-marital sex may not evolve into an intimate enduring relationship.
• Teaches that sex can be fulfilling when practiced within the intimacy, love and commitment of marriage.

Theme D2.  Teaches that human sexuality includes deep emotional and psychological aspects and is not merely physical in nature. 

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that mutual faithfulness, intimacy and commitment within marriage can lead to increased human happiness. 
• Teaches that premarital sexual activity can create a pattern of relationship instability.
• Teaches the difference between love and sex.
• Teaches that sexual activity exclusively within marriage can serve to promote healthy emotional bonding.
• Teaches that the lack of commitment in non-marital sex may increase the potential for emotional harm.
• Teaches that males and females may view sex, intimacy, and commitment differently.
• Teaches the short-term and unstable nature of many teen sexual relationships.

E.  It is essential that the abstinence education curriculum teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme E1.  Teaches the harmful psychological effects that can occur as a consequence of sexual activity outside the context of marriage. Teaches the psychological gains that can be realized by abstaining from sexual activity until marriage.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches the potential negative psychological effects (e.g., depression and suicide) associated with adolescent sexual activity.
• Teaches that abstinence can help teens to fulfill age-appropriate, psycho-social, developmental stages. 
• Teaches the harmful psychological effects that can be associated with experiencing relationship failure, especially if sexual intimacy was experienced before marriage.
• Teaches that abstinence may increase the freedom to enjoy emotional health by lessening the likelihood of experiencing the negative emotions that can be associated with a decision to become involved in premarital sexual activity.

Theme E2.  Teaches that teen sexual activity may have harmful effects in addition to the effects previously mentioned in C1, C2, and E1.  Teaches that abstinence can help youth to avoid these potentially harmful effects.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that teen sexual activity is associated with decreased school completion, decreased educational attainment, and decreased income potential.
• Teaches that teens who are sexually active are also more likely to engage in other risk behaviors such as:  smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, violence, and crime.

F.  It is critical that the abstinence education curriculum teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme F1.  Teaches that sexual activity outside of marriage may result in non-marital pregnancy.  Teaches, in an age-appropriate manner, that bearing children out-of-wedlock may have harmful consequences for the child.  Teaches that by abstaining from non-marital sexual activity, teens may have increased potential to form healthy marriages that will benefit their future children.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that teen sexual abstinence will decrease the probability of out-of-wedlock child bearing and may improve preparation for a stable and healthy marriage.
  
  
• Teaches that healthy and stable marriage may greatly improve the well-being of children. 
  
  
• Teaches that a healthy marriage will significantly decrease the likelihood that one's children will experience:  physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse or neglect; welfare dependence; poverty; drug or alcohol abuse; emotional and behavioral problems; academic failure; and incarceration. 
  
  
• Teaches that the earlier the initiation of non-marital sexual activity, the greater the probability of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and birth.

Theme F2.  Teaches the potential beneficial effects of marriage to the well-being of adults and society. Teaches, in an age-appropriate manner, that bearing children out-of-wedlock can have harmful consequences for the child's parents and society as a whole. 

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches the multi-faceted benefits of healthy marriage to our society (e.g., increased life span; higher standards of living; higher levels of sexual satisfaction). 
  
  
• Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock increases the likelihood that a mother will live in poverty, become dependent on welfare, and/or experience significant delays in, or interference with, achieving desired life goals.
  
  
• Teaches that adults who are married are less likely to be involved in illegal activity, abuse substances or spend time in prison.
  
  
• Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is associated with increased rates of depression, domestic violence, and failed relationships.
  
  
• Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock can result in an increased potential for government expenditures and can have negative effects on society (e.g., increased services for non-marital parents and children, higher medical costs, higher rates of crime, incarceration and/or academic failure). 
  
  
• Teaches the importance of healthy and stable marriage to economic well-being and prosperity and how abstinence in the teen years can contribute to long-term healthy and happy marriages.
  
  
• Teaches the association between healthy marriage and adult happiness.
  
  
• Teaches the relationship of abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage to responsible parenthood.
  
  
• Teaches how marriage can increase the probability of responsible fatherhood. 
  
  
• Teaches that males who father children out-of-wedlock may face substantial child support payments for the next 18 years and other legal obligations.

G.  Abstinence education curriculum must teach young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances.

The curriculum must adequately address each of the themes below and be consistent with the bulleted examples.

Theme G1.  Teaches the importance of goal setting and future-oriented thinking as a means of promoting sexual abstinence.  Teaches the importance of personal character in deciding to remain sexually abstinent.  Teaches the value of building and maintaining healthy relationships that are free from sexual involvement.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that sexual desires are natural and controllable and that individuals are capable of making choices to abstain from sexual activity.
• Teaches the value of building and maintaining healthy relationships that are free from sexual involvement.
• Identifies role models for success and examples of healthy sexual values.
• Teaches that being sexually active does not prove one is mature, successful or popular. 
• Teaches the importance of personal character and self-discipline in deciding to remain sexually abstinent.
• Teaches skills for improving risk assessment, healthy decision making, refusal skills and self-discipline concerning sexual activity.
• Enhances future orientation, helping the young person who has chosen abstinence to develop and implement long-term life goals for themselves as individuals.
• Enhances a sense of personal efficacy, creating a strong personal understanding that significant life goals are personally attainable and that current conduct can lead to goal attainment.
• Teaches that abstinence is a means of developing discipline, self-awareness, and goal-setting behaviors.
• Teaches that the expected standard of abstinence provides guidelines for decision-making and/or goal-setting behaviors.

Theme G2.  Teaches techniques and skills to help young people reject sexual advances and maintain the expected standard of abstinence. 

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Enhances sense of personal efficacy in students that they can, as individuals, adhere to abstinence standards.
  
  
• Teaches examples of verbal and non-verbal responses designed to stop sexual advances.
  
  
• Provides skills for maintaining independent personal standards regarding abstinence and for resisting peer pressure to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage.
  
  
• Teaches how to set and communicate boundaries and avoid settings and circumstances commonly associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in sexual activity (e.g., staying out late, being alone with a date in an unsupervised setting, attending parties where sexually active peers are likely to attend).
  
  
• Teaches how to avoid settings that involve potential interaction with pornography (e.g., explicit movies, TV, magazines, Internet).
  
  
• Provides an understanding of how the media can influence sexual behavior and skills for resisting negative media influences.
  
  
• Teaches students to ask for help from parents and adults who can support and reinforce abstinence-until-marriage decisions.

Theme G3.  Teaches that the use of drugs or alcohol can increase one's vulnerability to sexual advances (including sexual exploitation or violence).  Teaches skills for avoiding high-risk situations where sexual activity is more likely.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Teaches that alcohol and/or drug use can decrease self-control, lower levels of inhibitions, and adversely influence decisions regarding sexual behavior.
  
  
• As a means of promoting sexual abstinence, encourages participation in age-appropriate activities that do not involve the use of alcohol and/or drugs.
  
  
• Teaches techniques for refusing to participate in alcohol, tobacco and drug use.
  
  
• Teaches that abstinence increases the potential for avoiding other high-risk behaviors (e.g., drug abuse, alcohol abuse, tobacco use and sexual violence).
  
  
• Explains how situations or circumstances associated with alcohol, drug abuse or other high-risk behaviors can contribute to the increased likelihood of encountering sexual advances.

H.  It is required that the abstinence education curriculum teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

The curriculum must be consistent with the bulleted example.

• Teaches the relationship between self-sufficiency and abstinence-until-marriage.  Teaches that the delay of the initiation of sexual activity until marriage can significantly improve life outcomes, financial well-being and marital stability.  Included in themes B1, B2, D1, D2, F1, and F2.

D. Other Program Requirements

Grants under this program shall be made to entities that agree that, with respect to an adolescent to whom the entities provide abstinence education under such grant, the entities will not provide to that adolescent any other education regarding sexual conduct, except in the case of an entity expressly required by Federal law to provide health information or services [42 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 710(b)(2)(A)].  Each adolescent shall not be precluded from seeking health information or services from the entity in a different setting­­ - either in time or place - than the setting in which abstinence education was provided.  Nothing shall preclude entities that have a public health mandate from discussing other forms of sexual conduct or providing services, as long as this is conducted in a different setting - either in time or place - than where and when the abstinence-until-marriage course is being conducted.  ACF requires applicants to prepare, sign and submit with their applications a document of assurance that speaks to this separation of Federal abstinence education services and private abstinence and/or sex education services.  An example of an acceptable statement of assurance is provided in Appendix A.

All grantees must send at least one key staff person to attend one grantees' meeting per year of three days each in Washington, DC.  The initial meeting is expected to be held shortly after the official award date.  Grantees are also strongly encouraged to send at least one key staff person to attend a regional conference once a year.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

This announcement invites applications for five-year project periods (up to $600,000 per budget period).  In the first year of the project, grants will be awarded on a competitive basis.  Continuation grant applications will be considered on a noncompetitive basis for years two through five subject to availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the grantee, and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the Federal Government.  Grants will be awarded for 12-month budget periods with a five-year project period.

Applicants will prepare a detailed budget for the first year of the project only.  Applicants may not request increased levels of funding in years two through five.

Awards under this announcement are subject to the availability of funds.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants:

• State governments
• County governments
• City or township governments
• Independent school districts
• Public and State-controlled institutions of higher education
• Indian/Native American Tribal governments (Federally recognized)
• Indian/Native American Tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized)
• Public/Indian Housing Authorities
• Non-profits with 501(c)(3) IRS status (other than institutions of higher education)
• Non-profits without 501(c)(3) IRS status (other than institutions of higher education)
• Private institutions of higher education
• For-profit organizations (other than small businesses)
• Small businesses
• Special district governments

Faith-based and community organizations that meet the statutory eligibility requirements are eligible to apply under this announcement.

Organizations and their faith-based and community partners shall not use direct Federal grants or contracts under the CBAE program to support inherently religious activities such as religious instruction, worship, or proselytization.  Therefore, an organization must take steps to separate, in time or location, their inherently religious activities from the CBAE funded services.  Some of the ways organizations may accomplish this include, but are not limited to, promoting only the Federally funded program in materials, websites, or commercials purchased with any portion of the Federal funds.  Further, participation in such activity by individuals receiving services must be voluntary.

A faith-based organization receiving HHS funds retains its independence from Federal, State, and local governments, and may continue to carry out its mission, including the definition, practice, and expression of its religious beliefs.  For example, a faith-based organization may use space in its facilities to provide secular programs or services funded with Federal funds without removing religious art, icons, scriptures, or other religious symbols.  In addition, a faith-based organization that receives Federal funds retains its authority over its internal governance, and it may retain religious terms in its organization's name, select its board members on a religious basis, and include religious references in its organization's mission statements and other governing documents in accordance with all CBAE program requirements, statutes, and other applicable requirements governing the conduct of HHS funded activities.

Regulations pertaining to the Equal Treatment for Faith-Based Organizations, which includes the prohibition against Federal funding of inherently religious activities, can be found at either 45 CFR 87.1 or the HHS website at http://www.os.dhhs.gov/fbci/waisgate21.pdf.

Sex education programs that promote the use of contraceptives are not eligible for funding under this announcement [42 U.S.C. Section 710(b)(2)(A)].

Grantees currently receiving funding from the Abstinence Education program in FYSB may not apply for funding unless they are in the final year of their project period.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching: None

3. Other:

Disqualification Factors

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Address to Request Application Package:

2. Content and Form of Application Submission:

Application Content

Each application must include the following components placed in the order given:

1)      Application for Federal Assistance - applicant must use Standard Form (SF) 424.

2)      Table of Contents - In the past, some successful applicants have used a second table of contents or index that serves as a cross-reference, clearly directing reviewers to the part of the application that responds to the evaluation criteria in Section V.

3)      Project Abstract - A single-spaced, typed abstract not to exceed one page must be included in the application.  Use plain language that is easy for non-experts to understand.  Guidelines for content and format of the abstract are as follows:

Contact information at the top of the abstract should include: 

• Name of Project;
• Name of Project Director(s);
• Full mailing address;
• Telephone number of contact person (include area code);
• Fax number for contact person;
• E-mail address for contact person; and
• Web site (if applicable)

The section headings of the abstract should include:

• Objectives and Need for Assistance:  Describe the problem(s) the project is designed to address.  State the major goals and objectives of the project;
• Approach: Explain the project activities planned for reaching the project goals; 
• Evaluation: Describe the techniques for tracking outputs and measuring outcomes resulting from the activities.  Clearly indicate the "dose" that each participant will receive in abstinence education.  The dose information must include the number of participants for the first year of the project, a break-down of this information for each component of the intervention, and an average.  For example, if the intervention involves 500 young people taking a school curriculum that is five hours and 200 of these participants are also taking part in a 20-hour after school peer mentoring program, the following information should be stated:
• 300 participants will receive a dose of five hours of a school curriculum.
• 200 students will receive a dose of 25 hours of abstinence education in the form of a five-hour school curriculum and a 20-hour peer mentoring program.
• On average, students will receive a dose of 13 hours of abstinence education during the first year of the project. The average number hours of abstinence education received by each student was calculated as follows:

(300 participants x 5 hours) + (200 participants x 25 hours)	= 13 hours
500 total participants



• Organizational Profile: Describe the roles and responsibilities of the applicant organization, key staff members and any partner organizations to complete the project; and
• Budget: Indicate the total amount of requested funding (one-year budget period only).

4)      Project Description - A narrative description that addresses the criteria described in Section V.

5)      Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs SF- 424A.

6)      Detailed Budget and Justification - Provide a budget with line-item detail and detailed calculations for each budget object class.  Provide a narrative budget justification that describes the necessity of the proposed costs.   The detailed budget and justification must address the criteria given in Section V. 

7)      Logic Model - ACF requires applicant organizations to use a model for designing and managing their project.  A logic model is a one-page diagram that presents the conceptual framework for a proposed project and explains the links among program elements.  While there are many versions of logic models, for the purposes of this announcement the logic model should summarize the connections between the:

• Goals of the project (e.g., objectives);
• Inputs (e.g., organizational profile, collaborative partners, key staff, budget);
• Activities (e.g., approach);
• Outputs - the direct products or deliverables of program activities; and
• Outcomes - the results of a program, typically describing a change in people or systems. 

The project's evaluation plan should describe how the outputs and outcomes will be measured.  Additional information about the development of logic models may be available on the Internet at the FYSB web site: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/. 

8)      Work Plan - CBAE requires applicant organizations to develop a work plan in table format (limited to two pages) that lists a set of activities to be conducted in order to accomplish each objective.  For each activity listed, the applicant should include at least the following information: party responsible, start and end dates, and status (i.e., a field for tracking the progress of the activity).

9)      Curriculum Description - ACF requires applicants to provide a detailed description of each of the curricula they propose to use (limited to six pages each).  The curriculum description consists of two parts:

• Background Information - Indicate the applican