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The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps and Civilian Climate Corps ProgramsOverview: NPS Youth and Veteran Development Programs represent the future of the NPS and encompasses a full range of 21CSC/CCC oriented developmental programs and projects conducted in and around national park units, NPS support offices, as well as in local communities and with partner organizations. NPS Youth Development Programs are committed to evolving and advancing vibrant and relevant youth and young adult programming that emphasize the mission of the NPS. NPS Youth Development Programs are designed to provide employment, education, experiential learning, and public service opportunities to U.S. citizens and legal residents who are between the ages of 16 and 30, and veterans up to 35 years of age.The 21CSC/CCC is a collaborative effort between federal government agencies and non-profit service organizations to put America’s youth and veterans to work protecting, restoring and enhancing America’s great outdoors. Through the 21CSC/CCC, young people and veterans will accomplish meaningful work, and gain important personal and professional skills while building a lifelong connection to the outdoors. The 21CSC/CCC strives to achieve the following public purpose goals and objectives:1) Put Americans to Work: The 21CSC/CCC will provide service, training, education and employment opportunities for thousands of young Americans and veterans, including low income and disadvantaged youth.2) Preserve, Protect, and Promote America's Greatest Gifts: The 21CSC/CCC will protect, restore, and enhance public and tribal lands and waters as well as natural, cultural, and historical resources and treasures. By producing high-quality, cost-effective project work from the 21CSC/CCC will also increase public access and use while spurring economic development and outdoor recreation.3) Build America's Future: Through service to the United States of America, the 21CSC/CCC will help develop a generation of skilled workers, educated and active citizens, future leaders, and stewards of natural and cultural resources, communities, and the nation.4) Provide a Living Wage: A reasonable living wage which is at the minimum equivalent to the minimum wage for the area. A continuum of benefits to support a corps members whole person can include compensation, housing, and other benefits.5) Provide a Pathway to Employment: Build a pipeline of talent and skilled labor of individuals inspired to enter public service or set them up for good-paying careers through intentional labor partnerships, pre-apprenticeship programs, and more.6) Represent America: Corps members should reflect the rich diversity of America, including hiring people from underserved communities, individuals with disabilities, Native Tribes, returning veterans, and unskilled young adults seeking vocational, internship, and educational opportunities.7) Tackle Climate Change: Tackle climate change from all angles by expanding the scope of climate solutions projects eligible for federal government support.8) Appropriate conservation projects and other appropriate projects to be carried out on federal, state, local, or private land as part of a federal disaster prevention or relief effort.Purpose: The NPS Youth Development Programs Division seeks to develop collaborative partnerships with non-profit youth-serving organizations who have the expertise to develop and administrator 21CSC programs that focus on providing employment, education, and engagement opportunities for U.S. citizens and legal residents in NPS units and affiliated sites such as National Register of Historic Places, National Heritage Areas, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Historic Landmarks, National Trails, and adjacent gateway communities. The primary purpose of the funds is for the benefit of the interns participating in the program.Participant Requirements: U.S. citizens and legal residents between the ages of 16 and 30 years of age, and veterans up to 35 years of age.Types of Projects: Natural and cultural resource conservation projects that are developed in collaboration with NPS officials with an emphasis on public purpose for the benefit of the American public, as well as, for providing employment and educational opportunities to young people and veterans. These projects will provide the participants with job skills training, education, and/or professional development. The employment focused projects are organized in either: 1) a crew-based format where the participants work collectively and intensely together and are directly supervised by trained and experienced crew leaders or conservation professionals; or 2) a individual or small team-based format where participants work individually or in coordinated teams under the direction of conservation professionals on initiatives that require specific skills and dedicated attention. The work projects include significant outdoor activity and/or helps young people and veterans connect with “America’s Great Outdoors”. Some projects may include work primarily indoors (i.e., research, policy, web development, visitor services, or administration) but also has a clear and direct connection to natural and cultural resource conservation.Project Examples:Climate change mitigation and resilienceCyclic maintenanceDevelopment of educational resource materials for visitorsEcosystem restorationEnhancing recreational opportunitiesField-based service such as trail building/restoration, removing invasive species and habitat restoration.GIS and mapping resourcesInterpretation of natural and cultural resourcesMuseum curationPreserving historic structuresProtecting of wildlife and preserving lands and structuresResearch such as scientific, historic, archival, archaeological digs, oral histories, historic preservation, and habitat surveys etc.Restoration and rehabilitation of facilitiesSupport management of natural and cultural resources such as developing and implementing resource stewardship plans, developing educational and informational materials for park visitorsTechnologically based natural and cultural resource educational programs and communication outreachVisitor educationEducation Projects: The National Park Service is committed to providing educational opportunities to 21CSC qualified individuals that help them to learn about American values, civic engagement, and citizenship stewardship. These projects utilize various educational techniques to convey and teach the NPS mission of natural and resource conservation.Education Project Examples:Projects that target 21CSC qualified participants and provide place-based learning opportunities with a focus on natural and/or cultural resource stewardship.Seminars that provide training opportunities for 21CSC qualified participants that promote natural and cultural resource stewardship and gateway community collaboration.Applicant Organizational RequirementsThe applicant organization should be able to clearly demonstrate their ability to design natural and cultural resource conservation projects that accomplish needed and important work on public lands while at the same time providing their 21CSC participants with educational, technical, life, and leadership skills. Each participant should develop a sense of community and purpose from their work on these projects. NPS may give preference to qualified youth or conservation corps organizations (see definition below) located in a specific area that have a substantial portion of members who are economically, physically, or educationally disadvantaged to carry out projects within the area. Park asset acquisition or personal services are not allowable.Public Land Corps Law DefinitionQualified Youth or Conservation Corps means any program established and administered by a State or local government, by the governing body of any Indian tribe, or a nonprofit organization that: 1) Carries out appropriate conservation projects on or related to eligible service land; 2) Is capable of offering meaningful, full-time, productive work for individuals between the ages of 16 and 30, inclusive, or veterans age 35 or younger, in a natural or cultural resource setting; 3) Engages participants in a variety of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training, and support services; 4) Provides participants with the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service to their community and the United States; and 5) Provides the individual with a living allowance, stipend, or wages.

The Street Outreach Program (SOP) provides street-based services to runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been subjected to or are at risk of being subjected to sexual abuse, prostitution, sexual exploitation, and severe forms of human trafficking in persons. These services, targeted in areas where street youth congregate, are designed to assist such youth in making healthy choices and providing them access to shelter as well as basic needs, including food, hygiene packages and information on a rage of available services.

The Basic Center Program (BCP) provides temporary shelter and counseling services to youth who have left home without permission of their parents or guardians, have been forced to leave home, or other homeless youth who might otherwise end up in the law enforcement or in the child welfare, mental health, or juvenile justice systems. BCPs work to establish or strengthen community-based programs that meet the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth and their families. BCP award recipients provide youth under 18 years of age with emergency shelter, food, clothing, counseling and referrals for health care. BCP award recipients can provide up to 21 days of shelter for youth and seeks to reunite young people with their families, whenever possible, or to locate appropriate alternative placements. Additional services may include: street-based services; home-based services for families with youth at risk of separation from the family; drug abuse education and prevention services; and at the request of runaway and homeless youth, testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

The Maternity Group Home (MGH) program provides safe, stable, and appropriate shelter for pregnant and/or parenting youth and young adults ages 16 to under 22 who have runaway or are experiencing homelessness, and their dependent child(ren), for 18 months and, under extenuating circumstances, up to 21 months. Service providers must accommodate for the needs and safety of the dependent children to include facility safety standards for infants and children on the premises. MGH services include, but are not limited to, parenting skills, child development, family budgeting, and health and nutrition education, in addition to the required services provided under the Transitional Living Program to help MGH youth and young adults realize improvements in four core outcome areas. The MGH combination of shelter and services is designed to promote long-term, economic independence to ensure the well-being of the youth and their child(ren).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS or Service) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nation’s food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. The FWS is committed to building and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the ethic, age, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and language diversity of contemporary America. The FWS operates a variety of programs that promote wildlife conservation and public land management under the Public Lands Corps Act (PLC) through engagement, employment, and education of our nation’s diverse youth and veterans. FWS programs operating under the Public Lands Corps Act have been designated as covered programs under Justice40 (Executive Order 14008). The FWS strives to meet the Federal Government’s goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal Investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The categories of investment are: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation of reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure. The Public Lands Corps (PLC) Program is authorized by Congress under Title 16 USC Sec. 1721-1726; Public Law 109-154, Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2005 (amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993), and all subsequent amendments. Guidance authorizes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to (1) establish PLC Programs (2) certify participants who meet the PLC eligibility requirements for the PLC non-competitive hiring authority status, and (3) ensure consistent program standards throughout the FWS. The purpose of the FWS PLC Programs is to provide work and education opportunities for youth (defined as ages 16-30 inclusive, and up to age 35 for veterans) participants in the areas of natural and cultural resource conservation, development, and scientific research. Participants perform work on our nation’s public lands by providing additional, unique capacity designed to boost the impact of the FWS for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the American people. The PLC FWS Youth Corps Program allows the FWS to establish partnerships with Partner organizations (Partners), generally defined as “qualified youth or conservation corps,” using financial assistance/cooperative agreements or MOUs, to employ the next generation of conservationists in paid PLC projects and internships. Partners must be designated as an official member of the FWS Youth Corps in order to certify Participants. FWS Youth Corps application information is available in the attachments to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The purpose of this NOFO is not to establish new partnerships. See Full Announcement for additional information and application instructions. Unsolicited partnership applications or projects that are not collaboratively developed between an existing FWS Youth Corps member and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be returned as ineligible. ***Applicants seeking technical or financial assistance from a FWS PLC programs are requested to consult with a local FWS office BEFORE developing or submitting an application (see FWS Youth Program Contacts included in the Related Documents of this announcement or visit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws.gov) to locate a FWS office in your area. ***Unsolicited Partnership applications submitted through Grants.gov will be returned as ineligible. See Related Documents for application instructions for FWS Youth Corps.

**A modification to this NOFO was made on April 4, 2024. There are no content changes to application or program requirements. The funding opportunity number was changed from HHS-2024-ACF-ACYF-CW-0056 to HHS-2024-ACF-ACYF-CT-0056. There were changes made in Section I, Statutory Authority; and Section II, Expected Number of Awards and Estimated Total Funding. In Section III, Eligibility was changed to exclude for-profit organizations and small businesses. American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children are nearly 3 times more likely to enter foster care, compared to non-Native children. These four year grants are intended to generate evidence for how best to effectively implement child welfare practices and ongoing active efforts to maintain AI/AN families by funding state and tribal partnerships to jointly design and operate Indian child welfare best practice implementation demonstration sites. The evidence generated and lessons learned through this effort are intended to contribute to implementation efforts nationally to help maintain and preserve AI/AN families and allow their children to remain connected to their communities and cultures. The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity is to create and implement intergovernmental partnership models to improve implementation of child welfare best practices that are culturally appropriate for federally recognized AI/AN children to prevent maltreatment, removal from families and communities, and improve safety, permanency, and well-being. Recipients will serve as demonstration sites to design and implement projects to effectively implement culturally appropriate best practices in Indian child welfare, including measuring improvements in child welfare practice, Indian child welfare codes, legal and judicial processes, case monitoring, case planning, data collection, in-home family preservation services, infrastructure, and systems change. Partnerships must include the state Court Improvement Program, the state child welfare agency, and one or more tribal governments or tribal consortia including corresponding tribal court(s). The "Tribal government" partner(s) may be tribal child welfare agencies where appropriate under tribal law or custom.Effective culturally appropriate best practices for implementation require a high degree of collaboration between state and tribal courts and Indian child welfare agencies. Thus, both states and tribes must identify, build, and enhance necessary capacities. State/tribal collaborations will work together to craft solutions for longstanding challenges to providing effective best practices in Indian child welfare in ways that work best for their communities. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage state and tribal governments to work together to find creative, rational ways to meet the needs of AI/AN families with culturally appropriate best practices in Indian child welfare, with active efforts to retain or reunite Indian children with family as the “gold standard” for best Indian child welfare practice. The award also provides an important opportunity for states and tribes to build or strengthen relationships of trust by working together toward common family preservation goals. As part of the project, recipients may also consider the role of civil legal services in implementation efforts. Assessment of the success and/or need for legal representation to parties in Indian child welfare cases may be included in project work, as may provision of direct civil legal services, to the extent that such legal services are an identified part of a pilot or practice model to be tested.For purposes of this funding opportunity, "Tribal courts" are defined consistent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs regulations as "a court with jurisdiction over child custody proceedings and which is either a Court of Indian Offenses, a court established and operated under the code or custom of an Indian tribe, or any other administrative body of a tribe which is vested with authority over child custody proceedings.

NIMH seeks applications for pilot research to adapt, optimize, and test empirically supported behavioral interventions that address common sleep problems in adolescents and young adults with or at risk for a mental health disorder. Pilot trials should be designed to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability, safety, and potential effectiveness of the approach in real world settings, and to conduct a preliminary test of the interventions impact on target mechanisms and sleep and mental health outcomes, and to obtain preliminary data needed as a prerequisite a larger-scale effectiveness trial. An emphasis is placed on studies that address the needs of youth from understudied and underserved populations.

The Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families' Family and Youth Services Bureau announces the anticipated availability of funds under the General Departmental Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (GDSRAE) Program. The purpose of the GDSRAE Program is to fund projects to implement sexual risk avoidance education that teach participants how to voluntarily refrain from non-marital sexual activity. The services are targeted to participants that reside in areas with high rates of teen births and/or are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The goals of GDSRAE are to empower participants to make healthy decisions, and provide tools and resources to prevent pregnancy, STIs, and youth engagement in other risky behaviors. Successful applicants are expected to submit program plans that agree to: use medically accurate information referenced to peer-reviewed publications by 1) educational, scientific, governmental, or health organizations; 2) implement sexual risk avoidance curricula and/or strategies with an evidence-based approach integrating research findings with practical implementation that aligns with the needs and desired outcomes for the intended audience; and 3) teach the benefits associated with self-regulation, success sequencing for poverty prevention, healthy relationships, goal setting, and resisting sexual coercion, dating violence, and other youth risk behaviors such as underage drinking or illicit drug use without normalizing teen sexual activity.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to support targeted efforts to address youth violence in a school-based setting (K–12th grade only). OJJDP seeks to increase school safety through the development and expansion of evidence-based and promising violence prevention and reduction programs and strategies to support school climate. Through this initiative, OJJDP expects applicants to utilize a collaborative approach between schools and community-based organizations (CBOs) to develop and implement these strategies.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks applications for funding to support cross-system collaboration to improve responses and outcomes for youth under the age of 18 or youth under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system with mental health disorders (MHD) or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (MHSUDs) who come in contact with the juvenile justice system. This program supports public safety efforts through partnerships with youth justice, mental health, and substance use agencies to enhance responses to justice-involved youth with MHD and MHSUDs.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to provide funding to communities to develop coordinated and comprehensive community-based approaches to help children and their families who are exposed to violence build resilience, restore their safety, heal their social and emotional wounds, and prevent future violence and delinquency. Funding can be used to develop and/or enhance support services for children exposed to violence to reduce the adverse impact of violence on youth, families, and communities, and to help family-serving organizations better recognize and help families at risk for exposure to violence.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to establish by cooperative agreement the National Tribal Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement (Center). The Center will serve as the Children’s Bureau’s (CB) primary vehicle for delivering effective, high-quality technical assistance (TA) to Title IV-B and Title IV-E American Indian and Alaska Native Nations (AI/AN). TA provided will enhance organizational and system performance, and improve outcomes for tribal children, youth, and families by honoring Indigenous Ways of Knowing (IWOK) and working collaboratively to ensure the preservation of tribal cultures.The Center will provide culturally responsive TA in these areas:Workforce Supports: Increase the knowledge, skills, and capacities of child welfare professionals in the tribal child welfare workforcePrevention Programs: Support for the development, enhancement, and expansion of tribal prevention programsDevelopment of Tribal Child Welfare Programs in Support of Federal Requirements: Support successful development, enhancement, expansion, and implementation of tribal programs in meeting federal requirementsTribal-State Collaboration: Develop and support meaningful state and tribal collaborationsData Management: Enhance capacity for data collection, analysis, visualization, and procurement of case management systemsFunding Opportunity Goal(s) CB's goals are: (1) to assist tribes in achieving sustainable, systemic change that results in greater safety, permanency, and well-being for children, youth, and families. and (2) to dramatically improve the experiences of children, youth, and families when contact with the child welfare system is necessary and (3) to deliver effective, high-quality technical assistance to tribal child welfare agencies.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announces funding for a new Refugee Children and Youth Resilience Program. Through this award, ORR intends to establish a program that will strengthen support for ORR-eligible children, youth, and the adults caring for them by building staff capacity with child welfare knowledge at refugee-serving agencies. The goals of this new program are three-fold: 1) to provide virtual Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) through a child protection lens to ORR-eligible children, youth, and their families, as well as refugee-serving agencies, to ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth as they navigate the refugee resettlement and integration processes, 2) to provide in-person and group trainings to local agency staff to enable better communication and coordination between local child welfare agencies and refugee-serving agencies and to increase local capacity to support refugees children, youth, and their families, and 3) to provide virtual and emergency in-person child welfare and protection case consultations and deploy culturally competent social work, mental, and behavioral health staff to facilitate on-the-ground interventions, including during emergency crises involving refugee children, youth, and their families. The recipient is expected to foster and engage with a network of subject-matter experts (SMEs) with child welfare experience in the fields of refugee resettlement and social work to provide both remote and on-site training, technical assistance, and consultations on critical topics, such as family strengthening, family reunification, mental health, and integration.The recipient will be expected to conduct regular needs assessments to determine the T&TA focus areas. Additionally, the recipient will be required to develop an online resource hub with resources related to refugee children and youth resiliency. This resource hub will contain relevant information about the research and best practices that support ORR-eligible children, youth, and families as they navigate the resettlement and integration processes in the United States.ORR-eligible children, youth, and families include those eligible for refugee benefits and services including refugees, asylees, Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders, victims of human trafficking, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Amerasians, children in the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) program, and other populations as determined eligible by Congress.