Frequently Asked Questions

NOFO DP-24-0139 is part of a pilot program called NOFO100. The purpose of the NOFO100 pilot is to create NOFOs that are more accessible, making them more equitable. In doing so, NOFO100 follows some basic principles:

• Plain language: Using plain and simple language is kinder to applicants and likely to yield better responses.
• Simpler formats: Following human-centered design makes information easier to follow and find.
• Less is more: Including only what an applicant needs to know to apply makes responding simpler.
• Consistency: Connecting key sections helps applicants follow instructions and write better applications.

In CDC/DASH’s previous NOFO (CDC-RFA-PS18-1807), non-governmental organizations were funded to provide technical assistance and capacity building to local education agencies to implement school-based prevention activities. CDC’s new NOFO does not include a component to fund organizations to provide technical assistance and capacity building. This shift is intended to develop a new approach to providing technical assistance and professional development. With this new approach, DASH will be able to support education agencies and youth more broadly.

A school district is an education agency at the local level which exists primarily to operate public schools or to contract for public school services. A school district may also be called a local basic administrative unit, local education agency (LEA), parish, or independent school district (ISD).

No. Surveillance funding is intended only for the administration, dissemination, and use of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and School Health Profiles (Profiles). Support for any other school-based surveillance activities, including out-of-state travel, with these funds is prohibited.

No registration is needed. You simply log in during the time of the preferred informational webinar. See page 46 of the full NOFO, found under the “Related Documents” tab, for more information on the informational webinars. The links to the Zoom meetings in the NOFO are functional.

Yes, recipients should collect the answer sheets and submit them to CDC for scanning. Recipients are not responsible for scanning.

Recipients that obtain data representative of their jurisdiction receive formatted data tables. Recipients that do not obtain representative data receive a raw, unweighted data file.

NOFO DP-24-0139 does not state if a one-year or a five-year budget should be submitted. However, the Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs form (SF-424A) is a one-year form.

The applicant organization should be registered in SAM.gov and Grants.gov. Please refer to pages 3 and 45 of the NOFO.

No. Page 11 of the NOFO states, “You can only apply for one component.”

No. Page 11 of the NOFO states, “You can only apply for one component.” You must apply for a component to have an opportunity to be funded.

Only the high school YRBS is required. As always, conducting middle school YRBS is optional. However, the NOFO does require What Works in Schools programmatic activities for grades 6-12. For Component 1, this requirement is on page 14. For Component 2, this requirement is on page 21.

Pages 13, 20, and 24 of the NOFO all state, “The logic model shows the strategies and activities of the program along with the outcomes we expect over time. We will require you to report on the following outcomes indicated by an asterisk (*).

Additionally, page 41 of the NOFO states, “The work plan connects your period of performance outcomes, strategies and activities, and measures. It provides more detail on how you will measure outcomes and processes.”

Yes, please refer to pages 57 through 64 of the NOFO which shows the scoring criteria for relevant experience and capacity to carry out the activities and achieve the project outcomes.

Page 69 of the NOFO states the following: “We ask that you let us know if you plan to apply for this opportunity. We do this to plan for the number of reviewers we will need to evaluate applications. You do not have to submit a letter of intent to apply.”

Page 6 of the NOFO states the following:

“Expected average award amount per budget period:

• Component 1: $300,000 for What Works in Schools implementation, $60,000 for school-based surveillance, and an optional $7,500 for the addition of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) questions to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
• Component 2: $300,000 for What Works in Schools implementation, $60,000 for school-based surveillance, and an optional $7,500 for the addition of ACEs questions to YRBS.
• Component 3: $100,000 for school-based surveillance and an optional $12,500 for the addition of ACEs questions to YRBS.”

Page 7 under Funding strategy states, “Funding may differ based on demonstration of need such as burden data, reach of proposed activities, and availability of funds.”

CDC hopes so. Page 65 of the NOFO states, “Our ability to make awards depends on available appropriations.”

We hope more funding will become available for ACEs in future years. Page 65 of the NOFO states, “Our ability to make awards depends on available appropriations.”

The standard YRBS questionnaire will have no more than 89 items. If you only need to add 8 ACEs questions, you will not need to delete any standard questions, since recipients are allowed to have up to 99 questions on their questionnaires. If, however, you need to add 16 ACEs questions, then you will need to delete some standard questions. You are permitted to delete two thirds of the standard questions.

The following questions are required for Tier 1 ACEs funding:

1. During your life, how often has a parent or other adult in your home insulted you or put you down?
2. During your life, how often has a parent or other adult in your home hit, beat, kicked, or physically hurt you in any way?
3. Has an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever made you do sexual things that you did not want to do?
4. During your life, how often has there been an adult in your household who tried hard to make sure your basic needs were met, such as looking after your safety and making sure you had clean clothes and enough to eat?
5. During your life, how often have your parents or other adults in your home slapped, hit, kicked, punched, or beat each other up?
6. Have you ever lived with a parent or guardian who was having a problem with alcohol or drug use?
7. Have you ever lived with a parent or guardian who had severe depression, anxiety, or another mental illness, or was suicidal?
8. Have you ever been separated from a parent or guardian because they went to jail, prison, or a detention center?

The following questions in addition to the 8 Tier 1 questions above are required for Tier 2 ACEs funding:

1. During your life, how often have you felt that you were treated badly or unfairly because of your race or ethnicity?
2. During your life how often have you felt that you were treated badly or unfairly because you are or people think you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning? This could include being treated badly because of who you are sexually attracted to or because you express your gender in a way that is different than what people expect.
3. Have you ever seen someone get physically attacked, beaten, stabbed, or shot in your neighborhood? (Note: this is a standard YRBS question.)
4. During the past 12 months, how many times has a parent or other adult in your home hit, beat, kicked, or physically hurt you in any way?
5. During the past 12 months, how many times has a parent or other adult in your home insulted you or put you down?
6. During your life, how often have you felt that you were able to talk to an adult in your family or another caring adult about your feelings?
7. During your life, how often have you felt that you were able to talk to a friend about your feelings?
8. Do you agree or disagree that you feel close to people at your school?

Conducting or not conducting YRBS does not affect your eligibility. However, it does affect your scoring by the review panel. Page 40 of the NOFO states the YRBS is a required data source for evaluation activities. There are many other references to the completion of the YRBS throughout the NOFO.

Additionally, page 12 of the NOFO states:

“Strategies, activities, and outcomes by component

We know that many factors may affect your ability to implement all required activities. If there are state, territorial, tribal, or local policies or laws that prohibit specific required activities, you must describe in your application:

• Which activities are prohibited by policies or laws
• Alternative activities you will implement to achieve the outcomes in the logic model”

Yes, page 51 of the NOFO states, “At least 1 full-time employee (FTE). This 1.0 FTE can be split up among up to three staff.”

There is no standardized health education curriculum required or recommended in the NOFO. Health education curriculum decisions and actions should be made in alignment with adolescent health data, student health and learning standards, and local district, school, and community priorities.

Page 15 of the NOFO states, “Health education instructional programs should:

• Align with a district or school scope and sequence
• Be culturally responsive, inclusive, developmentally appropriate, and focused on meeting the needs of students who have been marginalized, including students from racial and ethnic minority groups, students who identify as LGBTQ+, and students with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Incorporate sexual and mental health content
• Prioritize skills to identify and access health services
• Assess student performance”

No. We do not anticipate asking for data collection to be conducted with each school. We may ask Program Managers to estimate the overall numbers of schools implementing activities, but we will not ask for PERS data from individual schools.

Yes, page 8 of the NOFO provides examples of 4 ways your agency can show legal authority and oversight. They are as follows:

“Districts can demonstrate this legal authority and oversight in the following ways:

• state, territorial, or local legislation
• a charter document
• a letter from the state or local superintendent
• a letter from the Governor’s office”

Yes, that is up to the applicant. The NOFO for Component 1 and 2 recipients does require at least 10% of the program funds be used to support program evaluation activities, apart from surveillance. This requirement is mentioned on pages 38, 51, 60, and 62 of the NOFO.

Yes, you can. You can work directly with that NGO to negotiate the services and cost of those services you want from that NGO.

CDC requires a total enrollment of at least 40,000 students in grades K-12 to help reach the largest number of students and maximize the impact of federal funds.

Priority schools as described in NOFO PS18-1807 or PS13-1308 are not mentioned in this NOFO DP-24-0139.

Contiguous is defined as “sharing a common border or touching.” For this NOFO, a consortium is defined as “a group of multiple school districts that border each other and have a designated lead district or organization responsible for organizing these districts. These school districts must have a combined student enrollment of at least 40,000.”

If your school district does not have a total enrollment of at least 40,000 students in grades K-12, you can combine with neighboring school districts to apply for Component 2: Consortia Support of What Works in Schools and School-Based Surveillance. Please note for Component 2, all collaborating school districts in a consortium must be contiguous. Contiguous is defined as “sharing a common border or touching.”

For this NOFO, a consortium is defined as “a group of multiple school districts that border each other and have a designated lead district or organization responsible for organizing these districts. These school districts must have a combined student enrollment of at least 40,000 in grades K-12.”

No, page 51 of the NOFO states, “At least 1 full-time employee (FTE). This 1.0 FTE can be split up among up to three staff.”

Pages 32, 53, and 54 of the NOFO all refer to Memorandum of Understanding in the singular. Pages 53 and 54 state the following:

“The lead organization must submit a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that includes commitment of involvement from each school district in the consortium. See Organizational Capacity, Collaboration.

The MOU should delineate roles and responsibilities and be signed by the superintendent or designee of each participating school district.

Applications without the signed MOU will be considered nonresponsive and not be reviewed.”

Only the lead agency for the consortium needs to register for SAM.gov and Grants.gov before submitting an application.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) wants Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) to have full and open competition. Please see: HHS Grant Process and Eligibility. CDC will fund only one Component 3 application per state, territory, or tribal nation.

While agencies are encouraged to apply for surveillance funding for both YRBS and Profiles, applicants can apply for reduced amounts of funding under Component 3 for a single survey (either YRBS or Profiles). Surveillance funding is intended only for the administration, dissemination, and use of the YRBS and Profiles. Support for any other school-based surveillance activities with these funds is prohibited.

No, it does not. It is a part of the evaluation strategy for Components 1 and 2.

Only the high school YRBS is required. As always, conducting a middle school YRBS is optional.

No, that was a requirement of NOFO DP18-1801. Because all cooperative agreements under DP18-1801 have ended, that requirement has ended. There are no required nutrition questions for NOFO DP-24-0139.

Yes, all funded recipients will use the standard YRBS questionnaire as the starting point for their jurisdiction’s questionnaire.

No, CDC views them as separate jurisdictions.