A pre-submission webinar was held via Zoom on April 3 to provide an overview of the funding opportunity and the process for applying, as well as to answer questions from potential applicants.  

Implementation Sites Pre-Submission Webinar Recording

Webinar Slides

Implementation Site Application

FAQ

1.  How much funding is available?

Each Implementation Site that is selected will receive approximately $125,000 for the start-up phase (July 1, 2023, through September 29, 2023). Funding for Years 2, 3, and 4 is anticipated to be $450,000 per year and is dependent upon performance and ZERO TO THREE receiving the renewal cooperative agreement(s) from HRSA.

2.  Is there a cap on the indirect rate?

The last page and section of the Budget Template addresses the indirect costs (IDC).

Applicants can use the negotiated rate. There is no IDC cap as long as it is a federally approved rate. Applicants will need to provide a copy of their Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). If the applicant does not have a negotiated federal rate for IDC, the applicant can use the de minimis rate of 10%.

3.  Can you please clarify who "partner" refers to in the budget narrative? Is the "partner" the org applying for the grant?

Partner refers to the applicant organization.

4.  What period does this requirement (subrecipient narrative/detail) cover?  The template indicates Budget Justification (narrative, line-item detail) for the first 3-month budget period. I realize that there still needs to be a budget submitted for the entire project period.  Is it necessary to provide budget costs for years 2-4 as indicated on the tables?

The secondary subrecipient budget should be submitted for each of the 4 years (period 7/1/23 – 9/29/23).  The Year 1 budget will need to include details; each of the Year 2 through Year 4 budgets would be the planned total allocated amount.

The applicant should provide line-by-line detail for Years 2-4 for all categories.  The exception is that only the total figure for salaries is listed for Years 2-4. The applicant should provide the planned detailed budget and projected totals for each category for each Years 1-4.

5.  Since we are applying as a collaborative, most of the work will be contracted through the fiscal sponsor to the participating agencies.  I am seeing a note that requires subrecipients to submit a budget narrative and budget detail to ZTT. Are we able to submit one master budget narrative/detail that includes and identifies all the work of all contractors?

A detailed budget for each contracted secondary sub-recipient should be submitted as part of the applicant’s “master” budget.

6.  We will have costs to contract with the University School of Medicine for staff to support the work, such as our state HealthySteps Director, etc and with the Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment for all Data and Evaluation staff. Are these considered secondary sub-recipient organizations? And if yes, then you need a budget and budget narrative included for each of these?

The applicant should determine if the organization is contracting with a consultant or contracting with a secondary sub-recipient organization.

When contracting with a secondary sub-recipient, the applicant should have each sub-recipient     organization provide a budget and budget narrative.

7.  Is the budget due for the 3-month start-up phase only or for the full period of performance (start-up phase, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4)?

The budget of $125,000 is for the 3 months of Year 1 (7/1/2023 through 9/29/2023).  The project budget for Years 2-4 is $450,000. Applicants should complete the budgets for Years 2-4 with the projected amount with the Year 1 application. The projected amounts are estimates only and provide information about future plans but are not final figures. The applicant will be required to submit budgets annually for Years 2, 3, and 4 as the project develops.

8.  We understand that Year 1 is considered only 3 months. In personnel section should the Year 1 salary for a staff member on the grant be listed as ¼ of whatever % FTE for each year 2-4?

There can be different arrangements for allocation of staff time across Years 1-4. The % of FTE staff member’s time spent during each year depends on the tasks assigned and time allocated for those responsibilities.  One example is funding at a consistent percentage across all 4 years, resulting in” ¼ of whatever % FTE for each year 2-4”.  Another example is an allocation   of FTE (50% or more) during Year 1 justified for start-up activities and then different percentages between Years 1-4 due to other project-related tasks.

9.  Should all template tables (travel, equipment supplies, contractual costs, other costs, indirect costs) be completed?

 Yes, please use the Budget Narrative template and complete all tables in the budget templates to indicate the budgets for Years 2-4. Please note any particular changes that are anticipated in the budgets for those years.

10.  I would like to verify that an organizational budget is not needed; only a grant budget needs to be submitted.

Yes, only the budget for this project needs to be submitted.

11.  Are these federal grant dollars that successful coalitions will receive?

Funding is budgeted to be sub-awards as part of the overall cooperative agreement with HRSA. The funds are federal dollars.

12.  Is there a possibility of carrying over funds from the start-up phase into future years? Depending on when the Implementation Sites are notified, it could be difficult to get funds out for the 3-month start-up phase.

There is potential for carryover. The initial phase is short; funds can be obligated, such as through contracts with partners. When considering and developing an Implementation Site Team, applicants may want to identify a fiscal entity to receive the funding that is in a position to get funding set up quickly through contracting for services and obligation of funding or can expedite hiring and contractual processes. The ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center will host an in-person meeting on September 6-7, which is an opportunity for an Implementation Site Team to include more partners.

13.  Can funds be used for actual service delivery of programs or expansion of existing efforts?

Funds can be used for actual service delivery, systems capacity development, and expansion of existing efforts with state and community partnerships. The budget distribution should align with the purposes and goals in the application and will be considered during the application review process. The Implementation Site goals, as stated in the pre-submission webinar, are:

• Advancing the focus on promotion of healthy development, early identification, intervention, and linkage.
• Establishing a continuum of connected perinatal, physical, mental, nutritional health, early childhood education, and human/social services.
• Advancing equity, inclusiveness, access, and trust in the ECD systems supporting responsive caregiving and early relational health through state and local infrastructure and governance models.
• Building and promoting family and community leadership.
• Supporting integrated cross-sector data systems/analysis strategies that inform policymaking and resource allocation.
• Identifying and making investments that support sustainability.

14.  Is it correct that funds can be used for direct services? If so, should applications focus-in on statewide implementation, or would it be acceptable to focus in on one or more communities within the state?   

• Yes, the funds can be used for direct services. 

• It is acceptable for the applicant to include a focus on one or more communities with high poverty for the P-3 population. This is an opportunity to spread the capacity and reach in partnership with local communities. Each state is at a different point in their statewide provision of early childhood developmental health system and may have gaps in services for different P-3 populations, particularly for those living in high poverty communities. The leadership structure and activities should grow out of the current landscape and goals.  Spread and scaling of efforts across the state must be included in the applicant’s planning

15.  The application does not indicate how many points the budget is weighetd. Is it just noted that we have one?

The Budget is worth 10 points, as noted in the pre-submission webinar. The budget should support project implementation with adequate resources to achieve proposed goals and activities and as is appropriate to advance equity across partners.

16.  When does the Center plan to select the Implementation Sites?

The application review process will occur between May 15, 2023 and June 12, 2023. Announcement of the 3 selected Implementation Sites will occur in the second half of June 2023.

17.  Can a state without a current ECCS award partner with a current ECCS state to submit an application?

No, they would not be eligible, unless proposing to work with an ECCS state in a multi-state effort (e.g., a region that crosses state borders) and planning to effect demonstrable improvements within that ECCS state. The intention of the Implementation Site design is to leverage existing ECCS capacity and align with state-specific ECCS work.

18.  Is there additional information on whether the submission should come from the ECCS awardee versus a state agency partner?

The ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center encourages state agency partners and other interested parties to have a discussion about which organization is best positioned to coordinate the Implementation Site funding and contracts needed with the early childhood system partners. This is not limited to state agencies.

19.  We are applying as a collaborative - this is a grouping of organizations committed to working together for children.  The collaborative utilizes one agency as a fiscal sponsor.  For the purposes of applying, do we name the fiscal sponsor or the collaborative as the Implementing Site Applicant?  

The fiscal sponsor would be named as the applicant. Details should be provided about the applicant procedures for contracts, invoicing, and reporting to the collaborative.

20.  Will applications from a specific state be considered on a first-come-first-serve basis?

Since only one application will be accepted per eligible state, it is expected that the ECCS awardee and interested parties will have a discussion about what arrangement of organizations would work best in order to improve the early childhood developmental health system. Regardless of which organization is identified as the applicant, the ECCS awardee’s involvement is required.

21.  Are organizations required to be a Help Me Grow affiliate to qualify?

No, no particulat model is required.  The Implementaton Site Team is expected to build upon and expand the existing capacity and services.

22.  The community lead director is asking whether she will be considered a co-grantee or just a community partner? We will want to include her contributions in the budget as her staff will be assisting with outreach events (such as community diaper showers and rural diaper drives, etc.), and I would like for her to be a part of our core site team listed above.

The design of your partnerships is up to you and your team. Only one organization can receive the award and be responsible for managing the partnerships and subcontracts.

The awarded applicant will submit a budget outlining the scope of work and proposed subaward to team members/ organizations or agencies, if applicable.   If you decide to have a “co- lead” on this opportunity, you can designate her as co-lead and include her in the budget.  Each co-lead should have very specific, designated tasks and authority described in the application.

In this funding opportunity, community partners are expected to be actively engaged in planning, decision-making, and providing feedback on all activities. Some community partners might serve on the Implementation Site Team; others might not be on the Site Team but participate as leaders at the community or state level and volunteer their time.

Subcontractors are defined as a fiscal relationship; they would be contracting with the lead agency/ organization for a specific task or activity, reporting on activities/ tasks and receiving periodic compensation related to those activities/ tasks. There might be partners/ Site Team members who are also subcontractors, but not every partner would have to be a subcontractor. 

23.  If this is her role, would the other diaper banks, be considered subcontractors?

If the individual is made a co-lead,  the fiscal relationship is dependent upon how you decide to include them in your budget.  The fiscal relationship the Implementation Site’s subcontractor has with other agencies (such as other diaper banks in this example) would depend on the subcontractor’s decision about how to manage and report on the tasks the applicant has determined for the subcontractor.  It would be helpful to check with your own agency’s fiscal administration and that of the subcontracting agency to be certain that is a shared understanding about how this subcontract would work.

24.  Will the other core site team members also be considered subcontractors? I have reviewed all of the support materials, but still unclear on this piece.

Core Site Team members are only subcontractors if they have a written contract to complete certain tasks and are receiving financial compensation for those tasks.

25.  Last, we have additional interest from other child health such as resident physicians in med/peds, who have a passion for perinatal and pediatric care in rural communities in our state. Can they also become subcontractors in this work to support our Implementation Site and help build capacity and spread this work?

The decision about subcontractors depends on your overall plan. Your application should propose activities that address needs and gaps in the developmental health system with the goal of improving the well-being of children 0-3 and their families living in high need areas.  The design could include a variety of contractual relationships. Each contract should specify the activities directed to achieve project goals, who will do these tasks, the time frame, the reimbursement, the monitoring, the reporting requirements, and the relationship of the subcontractor to the Implementation Site Team. An explanation of how this subcontract relationship would work would be included in your application narrative as well as identified in the budget section.

26.  We have many more interested partners and collaborators that will be central to this work that we have room for on our site team of 5-7, and they are major players and will contribute greatly to this work and they are very eager. But can we still offer them subawards as a major collaborator(s)?

It is your decision on who you offer a subaward; their activities should be included in your plan.  Per the application,  “Implementation Site Team of 5–7 people who have authority to influence early childhood policy/practice and make changes (e.g., hold key positions or have decision-making power across public and/or private organizations); and “Each Implementation Site Team Member will submit a Letter of Commitment identifying a commitment of effort, time, and resources dedicated for achieving the project goals.”  In addition, the Implementation Site Team will be the primary recipients of TA, the Team is expected to engage additional partners, including diverse family, community, and health providers with lived experience, in decision-making.  

27.  Regarding the implementation site team, I see that a community-based organization must be included but then I also see that you're looking for individuals who have the authority to influence policy/practice.  Woluld a representative from something like Help Me Grow Florida colunt as the community-based organization since they oversee the local Help Me Grow programs or are you all looking specifically for a local program? We've also discussed having someone from the agency that oversees an Early Head Start program in one of our counties.  We're just trying to identify the most appropriate people and finding the balance between community-based level of influence. 

Each member of the Implementation Site Team is expected to bring particular knowledge and leadership ability to influence change. Community level representation is expected on the ECDHS Implementation Site Team membership in order to support the feedback loop between communities and the state level system, to leverage the existing momentum and perspective to initiate change locally, and to understand and adapt to local needs. If a proposed member of the Implementation Site Team offers both state and community level representation, be sure to clearly explain in your application how they do so and how this will be leveraged.

28.  Will it be required or only recommended that our fiscal agent for this project also be a member of our implementation site team?

The fiscal agent is not required to be on the Site Team.  The fiscal agent should be well-informed and supportive of the activities of the Implementation Site Team.  The procedures for communication, reporting and decision making with the fiscal agent should be fully described.

29.  For the Site Team travel to DC, should we anticipate the entire site team coming, or a set number of team members? 

The travel to DC in September 2023 can include the entire Implementation Site Team of 5-7 members.  It is your decision on the number of participants, based on your budget.

30.  Is the focus of the work on evaluating an activity/model that the Center is already implementing?

The ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center is gathering information and resources about productive approaches for building capacity and reach among diverse settings and with different populations, with a particular focus on high childhood poverty. The Implementation Sites will work with the Technical Assistance Team to implement, revise, and innovate model(s), with consideration of the state early childhood system history, resources, and goals.

31. Is there a model that each funded site will implement and test? Or, is the idea that each site will develop a model to implement to achieve the intended outcomes?  

One of the purposes of the Center is to identify components of a comprehensive early childhood developmental health model(s). Each of the 3 Implementation sites will be implementing and testing a model or components of a model (depending on what already exists in the state’s early childhood system). The model(s) will be informed by the Center evaluation efforts, the literature review, and information from subject matter experts. It is expected that the Implementation Sites will provide input on the model(s) proposed, share lessons learned throughout the process and provide feedback on the model(s).  Sites may vary with regard to system readiness and service innovations necessary to serve their communities. 

32.  Is evaluation a requirement, beyond the implementation of work within the grant?

Each Implementation Site will work with the TA Team and the ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center evaluation partners to develop a workplan, an equity plan, and a monitoring plan. There will be routine reporting on a site’s progress as well as data collected to evaluate the overall progress of the Center’s work.

33.  Regarding the long-term outcome that includes “establishing a continuum of connected perinatal and physical, mental, nutritional health; early childhood education; and human/social services,” is the Center looking for systems-building between these areas?

Yes, a long-term outcome is improved developmental health systems across services at the state and community level for the P-3 population and their families.

34.  Where do we provide details about any of the activities that we envision as possibilities for this project?  Are we supposed to do that in the budget?  Or is that in the State Goals and Activities?

The activities should be described in the State Goals and Activities. The budget should align with appropriate expenses for those activities.

35.  Is the May 15 due date definitive? The time to coordinate or negotiate with an ECCS awardee and review/approval the proposal is limited.

May 15 is the definitive date; applicants ideally have an existing relationship with ECCS awardees to aid coordination. The funding opportunity may also serve as a catalyst for conversations and developing partnerships.

36.  Are there any pages or character limits?

The Narrative Part II section is limited to 30 pages.

37.  I know it’s going to be submitted through the ZTT portal and cannot tell yet if there are text size limitations for these sections. Do you know if this will be an issue if we ended up with 30 pages of single-lined text?

There is no restriction on submitting 30 pages of single-lined text.  However, the information submitted by the applicant is expected to be relevant to and focused on the questions in each section of the application.

38.  Can I upload supporting documents to the application?

The applicant can upload documents in the 1 box following Question #8, as necessary that support the application.  The 2 boxes following the Budget section are not restricted to budget-related items.  Please note that only one document can be uploaded to each box.  The applicant can follow the same procedures as noted for the commitment letters. 

39.  Will the pre-submission webinar presentation, recording, and questions-and-answers be available?

The webinar presentation, recording, and questions-and-answers are available on the application page: https://zerotothree.secure-platform.com/ecdhs.