Discretionary Cooperative Agreements to Support the Demonstration and Evaluation of Safe Communities Programs

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Discretionary Cooperative Agreements to Support the Demonstration

and Evaluation of Safe Communities Programs

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Announcement of discretionary cooperative agreements to support

the demonstration and evaluation of Safe Communities programs.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

announces a discretionary cooperative agreement program to demonstrate

and evaluate the effectiveness of the Safe Communities concept for

traffic safety initiatives. The Safe Communities program offers

communities a new way to control traffic injuries. This approval

recognizes that traffic-related deaths and injuries are primarily a

local community problem. The Safe Communities program adopts a

comprehensive injury control approach to address traffic injury

problems within the context of all injuries. Recognizing that traffic

fatalities are only a small part of the total traffic injury problem,

it focuses on injuries (as opposed to fatalities) to define the traffic

safety problem, and asks who is paying the costs of the injuries. Four

characteristics define the Safe Communities approach: data linkage,

expanded partnerships, citizen involvement in setting priorities, and

integrated and comprehensive injury control.

This notice solicits applications from public and private, non-

profit, not-for-profit and commercial organizations, governments and

their agencies, or a consortium of these organizations that are

interested in developing, implementing and evaluating the Safe

Communities approach in their community. The funds from this program

may only be used to support traffic safety activities within the larger

context of community injury control efforts. NHTSA anticipates awarding

two (2) demonstration and evaluation projects for a period of three

years as a result of this announcement.

DATES: Applications must be received at the office designated below on

or before June 4, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Applications must be submitted to the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Contracts and Procurement

(NAD-30), ATTN: Amy Poling, 400 7th Street, S.W., Room 5301,

Washington, D.C. 20590. All applications submitted must include a

reference to NHTSA Cooperative Agreement Program No. DTNH22-96-H-05166.

Interested applicants are advised that no separate package exists

beyond the contents of this announcement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

General administrative questions may be directed to Amy Poling, Office

of Contracts and Procurement, at (202)-366-9552. Programmatic questions

relating to this cooperative agreement program should be directed to

Dr. Maria E. Vegega, Policy Advisor, Traffic Safety Programs, NHTSA,

Room 5125 (NTS-01), 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 (202)

366-1755, or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The past several decades witnessed dramatic advances in medical

care and shifts in health behaviors. Despite the advances, injuries

remain a major health care problem, and the leading cause of death for

persons from age 1 to 44. Fatalities, however, are only a small part of

the total injury picture. For each injury-related death, there are 19

injury hospitalizations and over 300 injuries that require medical

attention. These injuries account for almost 10 percent of all

physician office visits and 38 percent of all emergency department

visits. For an individual, these injuries can vastly diminish quality

of life. For society, injuries pose a significant drain on the health

care system, incurring huge treatment, acute care and rehabilitation

costs.

Motor vehicle injuries, in particular, are the leading cause of all

injury deaths and the leading cause of death for each age from 5

through 27. Motor vehicle-related injuries are the principal cause of

on-the-job fatalities, and the fatalities, and the third largest cause

of all deaths in the U.S. Only heart disease and cancer kill more

people. However, far more people are injured and survive motor vehicle

crashes than die in these crashes. In 1994, for example, while over

40,000 persons were killed in motor-vehicle related incidents, over 3.1

million were injured in police-reported incidents; an even greater

number utilized emergency departments. These injured persons often

required medical care and many required long-term care. The costs of

these injuries are enormous, over $137 billion each year in economic

costs and $14 billion in medical costs.

The vast majority of these injuries and deaths are not acts of

fate, but are predictable and preventable. Injury patterns, including

traffic-related injury patterns, vary by age group, gender, and

cultural group. There are also seasonal and geographic patterns to

injury. Once the cause of the injury is identified, intervention can be

designed to address the cause and reduce the number of injuries.

Safe Communities: A New Generation of Community Programs

American traffic safety advocates have traditionally worked in

partnerships with many organizations and groups to achieve a

successful, long and established history in preventing and reducing

traffic-related injuries and fatalities. For over 15 years, community-

based traffic safety programs have been and remain an effective means

for identifying local crash problems and providing local solutions.

Building on past success, the Safe Communities program offers

communities a new way to control traffic injuries. This approach

recognizes that traffic-related deaths and injuries are primarily a

local community problem. Effective preventive efforts require a

coordinated approach involving Federal, State and local organizations.

The Safe Communities approach adopts a comprehensive injury control

approach to address traffic injury problems within the context of all

injuries. Recognizing that traffic fatalities are only a small part of

the total traffic injury problem, Safe Communities focus on injuries

(as opposed to fatalities) to define their traffic safety problem, and

ask who is paying the costs of the injuries. Safe Communities recognize

the importance of citizens in identifying community problems and

solutions, as well as the importance of partnerships in implementing

solutions to community problems.

The Safe Communities approach represents an evolutionary (rather

than revolutionary) way in which community programs are established and

managed. Four characteristics define the Safe Communities approach:

data linkage,

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expanded partnerships, citizen involvement in setting priorities, and

integrated and comprehensive injury control. Each of these

characteristics is described below.

Data linkage is critical to Safe Communities because addressing

traffic-related injuries suggests that not only fatalities are reduced,

but injuries and health care costs as well. This shift from an emphasis

on fatalities to one emphasizing injuries and cost reduction means that

different data bases need to be identified. Police crash reports tell

only part of the story. Health departments, hospitals, EMS providers,

business, rehabilitation programs, and insurance companies become

sources for understanding the magnitude and consequences of traffic

injuries and monitoring progress in reducing the problem. Data linkage

also identifies common risk factors (e.g., young people who drink are

at risk for impaired driving, violence, sex, drowning, etc.) so that

countermeasures can be designed to address them (e.g., traffic safety

and violence prevention efforts can join forces to reduce youth access

to alcohol).

Expanded partnerships are important to solve local injury problems

effectively through comprehensive and collaborative strategies. Traffic

safety advocates have long recognized that traffic problems are too

complex and resources too limited for them to solve in isolation. As a

result, over the years, the traffic safety community has worked with

law enforcement, emergency medical services, local government, schools,

courts, business, health departments, and community and advocacy

organizations to reduce traffic injuries. Safe Communities continue to

work with these existing partners, but also seek to expand the

partnership base to involve actively the medical, acute care and

rehabilitation communities. These groups, which have traditionally been

focused on treating disease, need to be engaged as integral partners in

preventing injuries.

Safe Communities enlist business and employers as full partners in

community injury prevention activities. Employers need to understand

how traffic-related injuries contribute to their overall costs, and how

participation in community-wide injury prevention efforts can help them

reduce their own costs due to motor vehicle injuries. Through

partnerships and collaboration, Safe Communities spread program

ownership and delivery systems throughout the community. Finally, Safe

Communities provide an opportunity for traditional traffic safety

partners--such as law enforcement and schools--to understand better the

linkages among risk-taking behaviors. For example, individuals who

commit traffic offenses may also be involved with other kinds of

problem or illegal behaviors.

Citizen involvement and input are essential to establish community

priorities for identified problems. Town meetings are routinely used to

solicit citizen input and feedback about community injury problems.

Individual citizens are actively involved in identifying, designing and

implementing solutions to their injury problems. Citizens actively

participate in problem identification, assume responsibility and

ownership for shaping solutions, and share in both the successes and

challenges of their program.

An integrated and comprehensive injury control system is used,

incorporating prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation as active and

essential participants in solving community injury problems. This is

the crux of the Safe Communities approach, and often one or more of

these groups have not traditionally been involved in addressing

community traffic injury problems. Involvement of the three component

groups will not happen overnight or in every community, but it is

something to strive for over time.

The ``evolutionary shift'' from current programs to Safe

Communities is summarized in Table 1 (below). Community partners

participate as equals in developing solutions, sharing success,

assuming program risks, planning for self-sufficiency, and building a

community infrastructure and process for continual improvement of

community life through reduction of traffic-related injuries,

fatalities, and costs.

Table 1.--New Thinking About Community Programs

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Current program emphasis Evolving program emphasis

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Reducing fatalities.......... Reducing fatal and non-fatal injuries &

health care and social costs.

Traffic safety as the Traffic safety integrated into broader

objective. injury control efforts.

Prevention-based solutions... Systems-based solutions (integration of

prevention, acute care, rehabilitation).

Agency-based delivery system. Community/citizen ownership.

Traditional traffic safety Adds new or expanded health, injury,

partners. business and government partners.

Administrative evaluation.... Impact evaluation/cost benefit analysis.

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Objectives

Under this cooperative agreement program, the effectiveness of the

Safe Communities approach for traffic safety initiatives shall be

demonstrated and evaluated to determine the impact on reducing traffic

related injuries and associated costs to the community. Specific

objectives for this cooperative agreement program are as follows:

1. Work with existing community traffic safety and/or injury

control coalitions and apply the defining characteristics to establish

a Safe Communities approach for reducing traffic injuries.

2. Use community and/or state data, as appropriate, to define the

community's traffic injury problem within the context of the

community's overall injury problem. Where possible, population based

data are preferred. Data sources in addition to police crash reports

are to be used for this purpose. Where possible, the costs of traffic

injuries to the community (which may include emergency medical

services, acute care, hospital, medical, rehabilitation, insurance,

lost wages, and workmen's compensation) are to be documented.

3. Actively engage community residents in defining both the

community's traffic injury problem as well as solutions to the problem.

The grantee shall develop strategies for ensuring citizen involvement

throughout the project.

4. In addition to traditional traffic safety partners (e.g., law

enforcement) identify and actively engage health care (both provider

and payer) and business partners in the Safe Communities approach. The

grantee is responsible for ensuring active and committed participation

from these two sectors.

5. Implement a program to reduce traffic-related injuries in the

community. The programs could address any area of traffic safety

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including alcohol-impaired driving, use of occupant restraints,

speeding, emergency medical services, or pedestrian or bicycle safety.

The intervention program should be based on data and citizen input and

should actively engage all sectors of the community, including health

care, business, local government, law enforcement, schools, and media.

6. Evaluate the effectiveness of the Safe Communities approach in

reducing traffic-related injuries and associated costs. In addition,

evaluate the process of establishing a Safe Communities approach (what

works, what does not work, how to engage partners, how to overcome

barriers, challenges, how to turn challenges into opportunities, etc.).

Availability of Funds and Period of Support

A total of $675,000 is available in Fiscal Year 1996 to fund two

(2) demonstration and evaluation projects for a project of three years.

In each project, $150,000 must be dedicated to evaluation activities.

Given the amount of Federal funds available for this effort, applicants

are strongly encouraged to seek other funding opportunities to

supplement the Federal funds.

NHTSA Involvement

NHTSA will be involved in all activities undertaken as part of the

cooperative agreement program and will:

1. Provide a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR)

to participate in the planning and management of each cooperative

agreement and to coordinate activities between the grantees and NHTSA.

2. Provide information and technical assistance from government

sources within available resources and as determined appropriate by the

COTR.

3. Serve as a liaison between NHTSA Headquarters, Regional Officers

and other (Federal, State and local) interested in the Safe Communities

approach and the activities of the grantee.

4. Stimulate the transfer of information among cooperative

agreement recipients and others engaged in Safe Communities activities.

Eligibility Requirements

Applications may be submitted by public and private, non-profit,

not-for-profit and commercial organizations, and governments and their

agencies or a consortium of the above. Universities, colleges, research

institutions, hospitals, other public and private organizations, and

State and local governments are eligible to apply. Interested

applicants are advised that no fee or profit will be allowed under this

cooperative agreement program. These demonstration projects will

require extensive collaboration among each of these various

organizations in order to achieve the program objectives. It is

envisioned during the pre-application process, these various

organizations will designate one organization to prepare and submit the

formal application.

Application Procedure

Each applicant must submit one original and two copies of the

application package to: NHTSA, Office of Contracts and Procurement

(NAD-30), ATTN: Amy Poling, 400 7th Street, S.W., Room 5301,

Washington, DC 20590. Submission of three additional copies will

expedite processing, but is not required. Applications must be typed on

one side of the page only, and must include a reference to NHTSA

Cooperative Agreement No. DTNH22-96-H-05166. Unnecessarily elaborate

applications beyond what is sufficient to present a complete and

effective response to this invitation are not desired. Only complete

application packages received on or before June 4, 1996 will be

considered.

Application Content

1. The application package must be submitted with OMB standard Form

424 (Rev. 4-88, including 424A and 424B), Application for Federal

Assistance, with the requirement information filled in and certified

assurances signed. While the form 424A deals with budget information,

and Section B identified Budget Categories, the available space does

not permit a level of detail which is sufficient to provide for a

meaningful evaluation of the proposed total costs. A supplemental sheet

shall be provided which presents a detailed breakdown of the proposed

costs, as well as any costs which the applicant indicates will be

contributed locally in support of the demonstration project.

2. The application shall include a program narrative statement

which addresses the following information in separately labeled

sections:

a. A description of the community in which the applicant proposes

to work. For the purposes of this program, a ``community'' includes a

city, town or county, small metropolitan area, or even a large

neighborhood (i.e., it does not have to correspond with a political

jurisdiction). It should be large enough so that the program can have a

demonstrable effect on injuries, while not so large as to lose a sense

of community. The description of the community should include, at a

minimum, community demographics, the community's traffic injury

problem, data sources available, exiting traffic safety or injury

control coalitions, and community resources.

b. A description of the goal of the program and how the applicant

plans to establish a Safe Communities program in the proposed site.

What will the applicant do to ``move'' the site towards the Safe

Communities concept? What will be different from existing community

programs? How will the applicant obtain citizen involvement in setting

program priorities? What health and business partners will be engaged?

How will they be engaged? What will they do?

c. An Implementation Plan that describes the interventions or

activities proposed to achieve the objectives of the Safe Communities

program. If this application is submitted by a community with an

existing traffic safety program that will serve as the starting point

for the Safe Communities program, and has done problem identification,

then the specific interventions or activities proposed should be

described. If this application proposes establishing a new program,

then a description of the types of activities and interventions which

the Safe Communities program will give priority consideration should be

provided. What action will the community undertake to reach its

objectives? How will the intervention be delivered? How will delivery

be monitored? What are the expected results from the intervention?

d. A detailed Evaluation Plan (both quantitative and qualitative)

that describes the kinds of questions to be addressed by the evaluation

design, what the outcome measures are, how they will be measured, the

methodology for collecting the data, how often data will be collected,

and how the data will be analyzed. The plan should indicate how action

undertaken by the community will be linked with outcome measures. It is

important that the area encompassed by the Safe Communities program

coincide with the population covered by the data to be used in the

evaluation, or that the data systems allow the disaggregation of the

relevant population.

e. A description of the full working partnership that has been or

will be established to conduct the Safe Communities program. The

application shall describe all the partners that will participate in

the program (e.g., local government, law enforcement, health care,

injury prevention, insurance, business, education, media, citizens) and

what the role of each partner will

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be. A complete set of letters of commitment from major partners,

organizations, groups, and individuals proposed for involvement in this

project shall detail what each partner is willing to do over the course

of the project period. For partners serving as data sources, the letter

shall also indicate the data which will be provided, or for which

access is authorized, and any limitations on the use of the data by the

Safe Communities program, or by the NHTSA.

f. A description of how the project will be managed, both at the

applicant-level and at the community level. The application shall

identify the proposed project manager and any personnel considered

critical to the successful accomplishment of this project, including a

brief description of their qualifications and respective organizational

responsibilities. The roles and responsibilities of the applicant, the

community and any others included in the application package shall be

specified. The proposed level of effort in performing the various

activities shall also be identified. A staffing plan and resume for all

key project personnel shall be included in the application.

g. A separately-labeled section with information demonstrating that

the applicant meets all of the following special competencies:

(1) Knowledge and familiarity with data sources such as police

crash and crime reports, EMS files, emergency department data, hospital

discharge data, and injury cost data (i.e. cost of injuries to the

community), and injury surveillance systems (including analyzing and

linking such data files). Availability of and accessibility to relevant

data in their community for use by the Safe Communities Team and

includes at least the police crash reports and one or two injury data

sources.

(2) Capable of:

i. Designing comprehensive program evaluations;

ii. Collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative

data;

iii. Synthesizing, summarizing and reporting evaluation results

which are usable and decision-oriented.

(3) Experience in working in partnership with others, especially

business, health care systems (providers and payers) and government

organizations, media and with local citizens in implementing solutions

to community problems.

(4) Experience in implementing injury control programs (prevention,

acute care, rehabilitation) at the community level.

h. A Dissemination Plan that describes how the results of this

demonstration and evaluation project will be shared with interested

parties. The Dissemination Plan should include preparation of a final

report and process manual (see reporting requirements), a briefing at

the NHTSA headquarters, presentation at one or more national meetings

(e.g., APHA, Lifesavers * * * ), and if appropriate, preparation and

submission of a paper for publication in a professional journal.

Application Review Process and Evaluation Factors

Each application package will initially be reviewed to confirm that

the applicant is an eligible recipient and that the application

contains all of the items specified in the Application Contents section

of this announcement. Each complete application from an eligible

recipient will then be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee. The

applications will be evaluated using the following criteria:

1. Understanding of the Community (10%). The extent to which the

applicant has demonstrated an understanding of the proposed community,

including the community's demographics, traffic safety problem,

resources (including data), and political structure. The extent to

which the applicant is knowledgeable about community data sources, is

able to use the data sources to define the community traffic injury

problem, and has demonstrated the community's need for a Safe

Communities approach to controlling traffic injuries and the

community's willingness to commit and participate in the program. The

extent to which the applicant has access to the community and potential

target populations in the community.

2. Goals, Objectives and Implementation Plan (20%). The extent to

which the applicant's goals are clearly articulated and the objectives

are time-phased, specific, measurable, and achievable. The extent to

which the Implementation Plan will achieve an outcome-oriented result

that will reduce traffic-related injuries and costs to the community.

The Implementation Plan should address what the applicant proposes to

implement in the proposed community and how this will be accomplished.

The Implementation Plan will be evaluated with respect to its

feasibility, realism, and ability to achieve the desired outcomes.

3. Collaboration (20%). The extent to which the applicant has

demonstrated that a full working partnership for data acquisition and

analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of the program has

been established among the applicant and critical components in the

community. Has the applicant specified who will be involved in the

program and what the role of each partner will be? The extent to which

the applicant has demonstrated access to partners deemed critical to

this effort, such as health care, business, and local government. Has

the applicant shown that potential partners are committed to working

with the program? In what way will potential partners participate? The

extent to which the applicant describes how citizens will be actively

engaged in the Safe Communities program.

4. Evaluation Plan (25%). How well the applicant describes the

proposed evaluation design and the methods for measuring the processes

and outcomes of the proposed interventions (countermeasures). How well

will the Evaluation Plan be able to measure the effectiveness of the

Safe Communities approach? Does the applicant provide sufficient

evidence that the proposed community partnership is committed to

evaluation? Are there sufficient data sources and is there sufficient

capacity to collaborate with appropriate community program partners to

ensure access to data; identify/create and test appropriate

instruments; and collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data

for measuring the effectiveness of the Safe Communities approach? How

well does the applicant ensure the availability of staff and facilities

to carry out the submitted Evaluation Plan?

5. Special Competencies (15%). The extent to which the applicant

has demonstrated knowledge and experience accessing and using relevant

data sources, designing and implementing comprehensive program

evaluations (using both qualitative and quantitative data),

implementing injury control programs, and working in partnership with

others on community programs.

6. Project Management and Staffing (10%). The applicant provides a

reasonable plan for accomplishing the objectives of the project within

the time frame set out in this announcement. The extent to which the

proposed staff, including management and program staff and community

partners, are clearly described, appropriately assigned, and have

adequate skills and experiences. The extent to which the applicant has

the capacity and facilities to design, implement, and evaluate a

complex and comprehensive community program. The extent to which the

applicant provides details regarding the level of effort and allocation

of time for each staff position. Did the applicant submit an

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organizational chart and resume for each proposed staff member?

Special Award Selection Factors

While not a requirement, applicants are strongly urged to seek

funds from other Federal, State, local and private sources to augment

those available under this announcement. For those applications that

are evaluated as meritorious for consideration of award, preference may

be given to those that have proposed cost-sharing strategies and/or

have other proposed funding sources in addition to those in this

announcement.

Terms and Conditions of Award

1. Prior to award, each grantee must comply with the certification

requirements of 49 CFR Part 20, Department of Transportation New

Restrictions on Lobbying, and 49 CFR Part 29, Department of

Transportation Government-wide Debarment and Suspension (Non-

procurement) and Government-wide Requirements for Drug Free Workplace

(Grants).

2. Reporting Requirements and Deliverables:

a. Quarterly Progress Reports should include a summary of the

previous quarter's activities and accomplishments, as well as the

proposed activities for the upcoming quarter. Any decisions and actions

required in the upcoming quarter should be included in the report. The

grantee shall supply the progress report to the Contracting Officer's

Technical Representative (COTR) every ninety (90) days, following date

of award.

b. Program Implementation and Evaluation Review. The grantee shall

submit a revised program Implementation and Evaluation Plan no more

than 12 months after award of the cooperative agreement, or as soon as

the Safe Communities program has completed the problem identification

activity, has determined what traffic safety problem or problems will

be addressed, and determined what program or programs will be

implemented to reduce the traffic-related injuries. The NHTSA COTR will

review and comment on this revised plan. The plan should describe the

problem identification effort (data sources used, how analyzed, and the

results including costs of traffic injuries to the community), how the

community's traffic injury problems and proposed solutions were

determined, how input was obtained from citizens, and how the program

will be evaluated. This final Evaluation Plan should describe how the

effectiveness of the Safe Communities program will be determined and

how the process issues involved in establishing and implementing a Safe

Communities program will be determined.

c. Draft Final Report and Draft Process Manual. The grantee shall

prepare a Draft Final Report that includes a description of the

community (including the traffic safety problem and data sources to

support the problem), partners, intervention strategies, program

implementation, evaluation methodology and findings from the program

evaluation. The grantee shall also prepare a Draft Process Manual

describing what happened in the community in establishing a Safe

Communities approach to traffic injury. In terms of technology

transfer, it is important to know what worked and did not work, under

what circumstances, and what can be done to avoid potential problems in

implementing community programs. This Process Manual shall contain the

``lessons learned'' in establishing a safe community. The grantee shall

submit the Draft Final Report and Draft Process Manual to the COTR 90

days prior to the end of the performance period. The COTR will review

each draft document and provide comments to the grantee within 30 days

of receipt of the documents.

d. Final Report and Process Manual. The grantee shall revise the

Draft Final Report and Draft Process Manual to reflect the COTR's

comments. The revised documents shall be delivered to the COTR on or

before the end of the performance period. The grantee shall supply the

COTR one camera-ready copy, one computer disk copy in WordPerfect

format, and four additional hard copies of each revised document.

3. Meetings and Briefings. The grantee shall plan for at least one

meeting per year in Washington, D.C. with the NHTSA COTR and other

interested parties, as well as an interim briefing approximately midway

through the Project Period, and a final briefing at the end of the

project period. In addition, a presentation at one or more national

meetings (e.g., APHA, Lifesavers * * *) should be considered as part of

the Dissemination Plan.

4. During the effective performance period of cooperative

agreements awarded as a result of this announcement, the agreement, as

applicable to the grantee, shall be subject to the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration's General Provisions for Assistance

Agreements.

Issued on March 29, 1996.

James Hedlund,

Associate Administrator for Traffic Safety Programs.

[FR Doc. 96-8312 Filed 4-3-96; 8:45 am]

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