Applications in response to both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 funding opportunity announcements will first be screened by the Office of Adolescent Health for “responsiveness” to make sure that the proposal meets all of the requirements laid out in the specific funding announcement. Applications that meet the screening criteria will then be reviewed on a nationwide basis by an Objective Review Committee, which may include expert peer reviewers and federal government personnel. Final award decisions will be made by the Director of the Office of Adolescent Health. All awards will be made by the end of September 2010.

There are many best practices for successful grant proposals regardless of the funder or the announcement. First, read the funding announcement completely and carefully-every detail is important! Second, make a task timeline and checklist for all of the pieces of the application that need to be completed, and assign who is doing what and by when. Plan to be ready to submit your proposal at least a day in advance of the due date to account for any contingencies. Even a minute late will mean all your hard work could be lost! If the announcement requires an electronic submission (e.g.,through Grants.gov) make sure that you start the registration process early, as this can often take some time to complete. Make sure that your proposal is completely responsive to the funding announcement and that you respond to all of the review criteria given as strongly as possible. When writing your proposal, assume that the person reviewing it knows nothing about teen pregnancy, your organization, your youth population and the program you are proposing to replicate.

ETR is one of the largest nonprofit health publishers and the largest nonprofit publisher of evidence-based health programs for youth. Science is a core value of ETR's and all of our evidence-based programs have been rigorously evaluated and have been shown to be effective. Many of our programs have been developed and tested internally through our nationally recognized Research Department. In addition, our staff of highly trained professionals across the organization keep abreast of the best in the field and connect with outside researchers whose programs meet ETR's high standards.

No. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was directed to establish the Office of Adolescent Health in the appropriations bill that also established the new Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. The new office is housed within the Office of Public Health and Science in the Office of the Secretary at HHS.

ETR can provide a host of resources to applicants proposing to use one of our evidence-based programs for grant proposals, including user-friendly summaries of our programs and the evidence supporting them, and access to journal articles.  In addition, ETR can provide professional training and technical assistance services as a partner on applications.

Applicants who choose to propose adaptations need to pay careful attention to the wording in the FOA, which states that common adaptations that would be allowable include “changing names or details in a role play, updating out-dated statistics, adjusting reading and comprehensive levels, making activities more interactive or tailoring learning activities and instructional methods to youth culture or developmental level.”  In addition, “Applicants may also propose adaptations of an evidence-based program to make the program more relevant to ethnic, racial or linguistic characteristics of the population to be served. OAH approval of any adaptation is required prior to use in the fully implemented program.” The FOA states that applicants should receive training or technical assistance on acceptable adaptations and/or clearly describe the proposed adaptations that fit the definition given in the FOA.  For the purposes of the proposal, if applicants are unsure about what exact minimal adaptations are needed or are acceptable, they can acknowledge that some minimal adaptations may be needed for their population and describe how they will inform this process during the phased-in implementation period with the appropriate training and guidance. ETR can provide training and technical assistance on acceptable adaptations to grantees during the phased in implementation period.  See the link to Training and TA on the left menu bar.

Choosing the right program for your population can be challenging.  Applicants should review the list of eligible programs carefully and contact the developers or publishers for more details that can help them make the decision and give them information and resources they need to make a compelling case for why the selected program is a good fit with their proposed target population and that they will have access to the required implementation materials and training in their proposal.  See ETR’s Product Comparison grid for a quick glance at key features of our evidence based programs and our program specific pages for even further details and resources. 

The NOA does not say that an applicant must have prior experience with the particular program that they propose in their application.  Applicants should demonstrate in their proposals that they have the capacity and readiness to replicate the selected program in their community.