Model for Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Tribal Environmental Health Activities

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

[Announcement 490]

Model for Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Tribal

Environmental Health Activities

Introduction

The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 1994 funds for a

cooperative agreement with tribal governments to develop, implement,

and evaluate environmental health education projects.

The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the

health promotion and disease prevention objectives of ``Healthy People

2000,'' a PHS-led national activity to reduce morbidity and mortality

and improve quality of life. This announcement is related to the

priority area of Environmental Health. (For ordering a copy of

``Healthy People 2000,'' see the section Where To Obtain Additional

Information.)

Authority

This program is authorized under Sections 101(36), 104(i) (14) and

(15) and 126 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,

and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund

Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) [42 U.S.C. 9601(36),

9604(i) (14) and (15) and 9626].

Smoke-Free Workplace

The PHS strongly encourages all grant recipients to provide a

smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all tobacco products.

This is consistent with the PHS mission to protect and advance the

physical and mental health of the American People.

Eligible Applicants

Assistance will be provided to Indian tribes or consortia of Indian

tribes. Indian tribes are defined in Section 101(36) 42 U.S.C. 9601 as

``any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or

community, including any Alaska Native village but not including any

Alaska Native regional or village corporation, which is recognized as

eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United

States to Indians because of their status as Indians.''

Availability of Funds

Approximately $200,000 is available in FY 1994 to fund 2-5 awards.

It is expected that the average award will be $53,000, ranging from

$40,000 to $75,000. It is expected that the awards will begin on or

about September 30, 1994, and will be for a 12-month budget period

within a total project period of up to five years. Funding estimates

may vary and are subject to change.

Continuation awards within the project period will be made on the

basis of satisfactory progress and the availability of funds.

Use of Funds

Funds may be expended for reasonable program purposes, such as

personnel, travel, supplies and services, including contractual

services. A tribal government, native Alaska village, or tribal

consortium as the direct and primary recipient in a PHS grant program,

must perform a substantive role in carrying out project activities and

not merely serve as a conduit for an award to another party or provide

funds to an ineligible party.

Purpose

The purpose of this cooperative agreement program is to build

environmental health capacity within the American Indian and Alaska

Native communities. Capacity building efforts will address one or both

of the following: (a) the design of a model for health care professions

and community environmental health education, or (b) the development of

an environmental health education program related to hazardous

substances. The cooperative agreement program will assist tribal and

village governments in addressing community concerns related to

hazardous substances waste sites and in the development,

implementation, and evaluation of culturally relevant, tribal-based

environmental health education activities for American Indian and

Alaska Native communities and for the health professionals and

paraprofessionals serving these communities.

American Indian and Alaska Native environmental and health staff

and other professionals and paraprofessionals need additional training

to be able to respond appropriately to environmental health questions

currently being asked by individual community members and to develop,

implement, and evaluate appropriate community and health professional

environmental health education activities.

The proposed program should include health professional and

paraprofessional training in: (1) the surveillance and prevention of

human exposure to hazardous substances prioritized by the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and ATSDR, (2) the screening, diagnosis, and

treatment of environmental illness in American Indian and Alaska Native

community members, and (3) appropriate outreach and risk communication

with members of communities potentially exposed to hazardous substances

in the environment.

Project activities may include: courses, workshops, or conferences;

development of culturally appropriate environmental health materials;

and participation in other activities necessary to educate American

Indian and Alaska Native community members, tribal health and

environment professionals and paraprofessionals, and other health

professionals serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

The community education activities should be designed to appropriately

address identified community health concerns related to hazardous

substances waste sites and to promote interest in health and science

careers.

The program should also result in the development of models for

environmental health training and education activities that can be

disseminated for use by other American Indian and Alaska Native

governments.

Program Requirements

In conducting activities to achieve the purpose of the program, an

American Indian and Alaska Native government or consortium shall be

responsible for conducting activities under A., below, and ATSDR will

be responsible for conducting activities under B., below:

A. Recipient Activities

1. Develop and implement education activities related to preventing

and managing environmental health problems on tribal lands. These

activities should be designed to improve the knowledge and skills of

community members and health professionals and paraprofessionals

concerning such topics as:

a. Health conditions possibly related to hazardous substances at

sites;

b. Health studies being done by ATSDR concerning chronic exposure

of American Indian/Alaska Natives to hazardous substances;

c. Hazardous substances information and site-specific risk

communication;

d. American Indian and Alaska Native community risk communication

and outreach;

e. Environmental health guidelines and policy, and health-based

environmental standards.

2. Develop educational materials specifically targeted for American

Indian and Alaska Native communities and the health professionals and

paraprofessionals serving them, including materials in appropriate

languages.

3. Select and implement appropriate methods to disseminate

educational materials to American Indian and Alaska Native communities

and the health professionals and paraprofessionals serving them.

4. Develop an evaluation plan to ascertain the effectiveness and

impact of the program activities and the overall program.

5. Develop, evaluate, and disseminate to appropriate audiences the

tribal training and education model developed as a result of this

project.

B. ATSDR Activities

1. Assist in the identification of education and training needs of

target audiences.

2. Assist in the design, implementation, and evaluation of

community environmental health education and health professional and

paraprofessional health education activities.

3. Assist in the design and implementation of training activities

for tribal, local, and State staff serving the environmental health

needs of American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

4. Provide current information and instructional resources about

the possible health effects related to exposure to hazardous substances

in the environment.

5. Assist in development of an overall evaluation plan to determine

the effectiveness and impact of the project on knowledge, skills,

attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences.

6. Provide site-specific assistance and direction on possible cost

recovery activities.

Evaluation Criteria

The application will be reviewed and evaluated by an ATSDR-convened

objective review panel based on the following criteria:

A. Technical Review Criteria

1. Proposed Program--50%

a. Understanding of environmental health problems to be addressed;

b. Identification of target groups and their education and training

needs;

c. Extent to which project objectives are realistic, measurable,

and related to program requirements;

d. Specificity and feasibility of proposed activities and methods

used to carry out the project; and

e. Specificity and feasibility of the proposed schedule for

implementing project activities.

2. Proposed Project Management--20%

a. Ability of the applicant to provide appropriate program staff

and support staff, including possible contractor(s), to the project;

and

b. Plans for collaborative efforts and appropriate letters of

support included.

3. Proposed Project Evaluation--30%

The adequacy of the proposal relative to:

a. Appropriateness of the methods used to evaluate the individual

activities and overall project;

b. Thoroughness of the methods used to evaluate the individual

activities and overall project; and

c. Extent to which the evaluation plan includes measures of program

outcome and effectiveness, such as changes in participant's knowledge,

attitudes, and behaviors.

4. Proposed Project Budget--(not scored)

The extent to which the proposed budget is reasonable, clearly

justified with a budget narrative, and consistent with the intended use

of cooperative agreement funds.

B. Continuation awards within the five-year project period will be

made on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Satisfactory progress in meeting past budget period objectives;

2. Objectives for the next budget period are realistic, specific,

and measurable;

3. Any proposed changes in project objectives, methods of

operation, staff or contractor(s), or evaluation procedures which will

facilitate achievement of project goals.

4. Any budget changes or requests are clearly justified and

consistent with the intended use of cooperative agreement funds.

Executive Order 12372 Review

This program is not subject to Executive Order 12372 review.

Public Health System Reporting Requirements

This program is not subject to the Public Health System Reporting

Requirements.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number is 93.161.

Other Requirements

A. Disclosure

The applicant is required to provide documentation that any medical

information obtained pursuant to the agreement, pertaining to an

individual and therefore considered confidential, will be protected

from disclosure when the consent of the individual to release

identifying information is not obtained.

B. Cost Recovery

The CERCLA of 1980, as amended by the SARA of 1986, provides for

the recovery of costs incurred for response actions at each NPL

Superfund site from potentially responsible parties. The recipient

would agree to maintain an accounting system that will keep an

accurate, complete, and current accounting of all financial

transactions on a site-specific basis, i.e., individual time, travel,

and associated costs including indirect costs, as appropriate for the

site. The applicant would also maintain documentation that describes

the site-specific actions taken with respect to the site, e.g.,

contracts, work assignments, progress reports, and other documents that

describe the work performed related to a site. The recipient will

retain the documents and records to support these financial

transactions, for possible use in a cost recovery case, for a minimum

of ten years after submission of a final Financial Status Report (FSR),

unless there is a litigation, claim, negotiation, audit, or other

action involving the specific site, then the records will be maintained

until resolution of all issues at the specific site.

C. Third Party Agreements

Project activities which have been approved for contracting shall

be formalized in a written agreement that clearly established the

relationship between the tribal government and the proposed contractor.

The written agreement shall at a minimum:

1. State all applicable requirements imposed on the contractor

under the terms of the cooperative agreement, including requirements

concerning technical review and ownership of materials.

2. State that any copyrighted or copyrightable works shall be

subject to a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to the

Federal government to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use them, and to

authorize others to do so for Federal government purposes.

3. State that whenever any work subject to this copyright policy

may be developed in the course of the cooperative agreement project by

the contractor, the written agreement must require the contractor to

comply with these requirements, and can in no way diminish the

government's right in that work.

4. State the activities to be performed, the time schedule for

those activities, the policies and procedures to be followed in

carrying out the agreement, and the maximum amount of money for which

the recipient may become liable to the contractor under the agreement.

The written agreement required shall not relieve a tribal

government of any part of its responsibility or accountability to PHS

under the grant. The agreement shall retain sufficient rights and

control to the tribal government to enable the tribal government to

fulfill this responsibility and accountability.

D. ATSDR Review

All materials developed with cooperative agreement funding must be

reviewed by the ATSDR Project Officer in draft before they are used and

disseminated. ATSDR will return draft materials with comments within

two weeks of receipt.

E. OMB Clearance

Projects that involve the collection of information from 10 or more

individuals and funded by cooperative agreement will be subject to

review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork

Reduction Act.

Application Submission and Deadline

The original and two copies of the application PHS Form 5161-1

(Revised 7/9, OMB Control Number 0937-0189) must be submitted to Henry

Cassell, Grants Management Officer, Grants Management Branch,

Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., Room 300, Mailstop E-

13, Atlanta, GA 30305, on or before September 1, 1994.

1. Deadline

Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they

are either:

a. Received on or before the deadline date: or

b. Sent on or before the deadline date and received in time for

submission to the objective review group. (Applicants must request a

legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated

receipt from a commercial carrier or U. S. Postal Service. Private

metered postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.)

2. Late Applications

Applications which do not meet the criteria in 1.a. or 1.b. above

are considered late applications. Late applications will not be

considered in the current competition and will be returned to the

applicant.

Where To Obtain Additional Information

To receive additional written information call (404) 332-4561. You

will be asked to leave your name, address, and phone number and will

need to refer to Announcement 490. You will receive a complete program

description, information on application procedures, and application

forms.

If you have questions after reviewing the contents of all the

documents, business management technical assistance may be obtained

from Maggie Slay, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management

Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), 255 East Paces Ferry Road, NE., Room 300, Mailstop E-

13, Atlanta, GA 30305, telephone (404) 842-6797. Programmatic technical

assistance may be obtained from Christine Rosheim, D.D.S., M.P.H.,

Health Education Specialist, Division of Health Education, ATSDR, 1600

Clifton Road, Mailstop E-33, Atlanta, GA 30333, telephone (404) 639-

6206.

Please refer to Announcement 490 when requesting information and

submitting an application.

Potential applicants may obtain a copy of ``Healthy People 2000''

(Full Report, Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or ``Healthy People 2000''

(Summary Report, Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) referenced in the

Introduction through the Superintendent of Documents, Government

Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325, telephone (202) 783-3238.

Dated: July 26, 1994.

Claire V. Broome,

Deputy Administrator Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

[FR Doc. 94-18613 Filed 7-29-94; 8:45 am]

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