Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program (Tribal PREP)

The Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program, or Tribal PREP, is a federal cooperative agreement administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Administration for Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, Division of Positive Youth Development. Opportunity HHS-2026-ACF-ACYF-AT-0015 supports American Indian and Alaska Native communities in implementing culturally appropriate youth pregnancy prevention education. The program is intended primarily for AI/AN youth ages 10 through 19 and may also serve pregnant youth and parenting mothers under age 21. Its goals are to prevent adolescent pregnancy, reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, promote personal responsibility and behavior change, support positive youth development, and prepare youth for successful transitions to adulthood. Funded projects must provide medically accurate, complete, age-appropriate, and culturally appropriate education with substantial emphasis on both abstinence and contraception. Projects may replicate evidence-based effective programs, incorporate elements of effective programs, or implement promising practices tailored to AI/AN communities. They must address delaying sexual activity, contraception, prevention of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and at least three of the six congressionally mandated Adulthood Preparation Subjects. Projects must incorporate positive youth development, age-appropriate body literacy, sexual risk avoidance education, online safety, protection of parental rights, and universal human trafficking education. Recipients must conduct a community-led local evaluation using culturally appropriate methods and participate in ACF performance measurement and collaborative learning activities. ACF expects approximately 3240000 dollars in total program funding and anticipates making 9 awards. The minimum award amount for the first one-year budget period is 350000 dollars and the maximum is 600000 dollars. ACF plans a five-year project period consisting of five one-year budget periods, subject to the availability of federal funds. Tribal PREP requires recipients to allocate 15 to 20 percent of their annual project budget to evaluation activities. Funds may not be used for construction, purchase of real property, major renovation, pre-award costs, referrals unrelated to authorized award activities, or payment for health care or related services for youth by recipients or subcontractors. Indirect costs may be charged using an approved negotiated rate or, when applicable, a de minimis rate of up to 15 percent of modified total direct costs. Prime recipients must maintain a substantive role when using subawards. There is no required cost share or matching contribution, and voluntary cost sharing is not considered during merit review. Eligible applicants are federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Tribal organizations must demonstrate that they satisfy the applicable tribal organizational requirements, and additional documentation may be required when eligibility is not evident. Faith-based and community organizations may participate when they meet the stated eligibility requirements. Individuals, sole proprietorships, federal entities, and foreign entities are not eligible. Collaborative projects are encouraged, but a collaborative group must identify an eligible primary applicant responsible for administering the award. All applicants must provide the required Tribal Assurances and written support from their governing body. Subrecipients must also meet the NOFO eligibility requirements. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov unless ACF has approved an exemption for paper submission. Applicants must have active SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations, but these registrations are not pre-application gating requirements. The application consists of standard Grants.gov forms and two primary files. File one contains a table of contents, a one-page project summary, the project narrative, and the line-item budget and budget narrative. The narrative addresses purpose and need, geographic location, objectives, approach, needs assessment and planning, population, project timeline and milestones, logic model, performance and local evaluation, expected outcomes, organizational capacity, federal award oversight, sustainability, protection of sensitive information, and dissemination. File two contains required attachments, including applicable ACF priorities alignment attestation, indirect cost documentation, eligibility documentation and Tribal Assurances, organizational capacity supporting information, third-party agreements, and letters of support. The combined page limit for files one and two is 100 pages. ACF estimates an average public reporting burden of 60 hours for the project description, line-item budget, and justification. Applications first undergo an initial responsiveness review and then qualifying applications are scored through merit review. Reviewers assess purpose and need, response and project approach, evaluation, resources and capabilities, support requested and budget justification, and alignment with applicable ACF vision, mission, values, priorities, and guiding principles. Selection also may consider emerging, unserved, or underserved populations, geographic distribution, past performance, compliance with program requirements, risk, and overall agency priorities. High-quality applications should demonstrate specific and measurable connections between program design, evaluation, expected outcomes, and relevant ACF priorities and should provide a feasible budget with 15 to 20 percent allocated to evaluation. Applications are due August 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time for electronic submissions. The expected project start date is September 30, 2026. The program contact is Dara Yahya at FYSB.NOFOTPREP@acf.hhs.gov or 202-240-3985. The planned project period is five years, with continued funding subject to federal fund availability and award requirements. Recipients must comply with applicable federal grant requirements, participate in required training and technical assistance, obtain required review approval for evaluation activities, submit materials for medical accuracy review, and submit required performance and financial reports. Performance reporting is semiannual, and financial reporting requirements are specified by ACF for funded recipients.

Address every scored criterion directly and in the requested order; use specific data to establish population and geographic need; provide a detailed and feasible Phase 1 needs assessment and capacity-building process; show clear links among activities, milestones, logic model, outputs, outcomes, and evaluation; demonstrate culturally respectful tribal and community participation in evaluation; document the qualifications of the project team and local evaluator; provide complete third-party agreements and organizational capacity evidence; allocate 15 to 20 percent of the annual project budget to evaluation; justify budget calculations with quantities and unit costs; demonstrate specific and measurable connections between relevant ACF priorities, program design, performance measures, evaluation, and continuous improvement.