thank you for joining us today and welcome to the Ana on demand webinar review of the 2024 Ana notice of funding opportunities today's webinar is brought to you by the Eastern region training and Technical assistant center a resource of the administration for Native Americans before we get started with this webinar we want to let you know due to the rules that govern the US Department of Health and Human Services Grant award process we are unable to take any questions during this recorded webina
r my name iswan ooi and I will be your presenter today I am a technical assistance provider with the Eastern region training and technical assistance center I have been with the Eastern region for 3 years and I am an enrolled member of the United catua band of Cherokees of Oklahoma before we get started please take note that this webinar does not take the place of a reading and understanding the notice of funding opportunity when putting together your Ana application be sure to read the noo thor
oughly and follow all instructions closely in the event of a discrepancy between the webinar and the noo the noo takes precedence again this webinar does not take the place of reading the noo the administration for Native Americans or Ana is a US Federal agency with a mission to promote self-sufficiency for Native Americans Alaska Natives and Pacific Islanders by providing discretionary grant funding for community-based projects training and technical assistance to eligible tribes and Native org
anizations Ana envisions a nation where all Native communities are thriving now I'd like to welcome commissioner Kunes to provide us with some opening remarks Patrice hkes of standing Rock Lakota descent is the commissioner of the administration for Native Americans in her role as commissioner she serves as the deputy assistant secretary for Native Affairs and as chair of the HHS interdepartmental Council on Native American Affairs commissioner kunish holds a JD from the University of Colorado S
chool of Law and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of government please welcome commissioner kunish shant napi Patrice Kunes IMI hello my relatives I greet you today with a warm heart and handshake my name is Patrice Kunes and I am a descendant of the hunga Lota from the standing rocku Nation I am the commissioner of the administration for Native Americans I'm also the deputy assistant secretary for Native American Affairs at the the administration for children and families in these roles I
am involved in an array of policy issues at the department concerning native people and communities just like yours the administration for Native Americans or Ana as we refer to ourselves is really pleased to announce the publication of our new 2024 notice of funding opportunities these also are called noos and this is how we make our grants to Native communities Ana's five new noos are part of our strategic priority to make funding opportunities much more accessible and to align with HHS wide
initiatives to redesign and streamline all funding opportunities this year we've made significant changes to our noos we have dramatically simplified all of A's five noos and our application process for example we have reduced the overall application requirements the number of scoring criteria from 31 to 20 and we've also significantly shortened the overall application form in addition and quite importantly starting this year Ana will fully fund Grant Awards upfront this is a significant change
from our previous practice of in incremental annual funding for three-year projects this really to me exemplifies our commitment to self-governance and self-determination where decisions are made at the local level and are Community Driven as part of the revisions to the scoring criteria we have removed bonus points this year and we are eager to hear from native communities about what are your most pressing Community needs and your big ideas for addressing those challenges we hope the applicatio
ns reflect a really bright opportunity for you to help native economies Thrive and families flourish our Ana team spent most of last year working together to revise the noos and we hope our efforts will encourage your community or organization to consider Ana as a potential funding source for your project this year our training and Technical assistance team will be ready to assist you in the application process as well W Tonka thank you and we look forward to seeing your applications soon thank
you commissioner kunish for those remarks in this webinar we will focus on Ana's newly published notice of funding opportunity announcements or noos for short to help you apply for an Ana Grant this webinar will focus on on three primary objectives one provide an overview of the five Ana noos Two review the Ana noo application content and requirements and three learn about the application review and award process the 2024 noos are broken down into steps we will begin with step one review the opp
ortunity for those of you who have applied for an AA Grant in past years there are some terminology changes to be aware of this year when it comes to the application components what used to be labeled the approach is now the project narrative and the budget justification is now the budget narrative the catalog of federal domestic assistance number or cfda number is now known as the federal assistant listing number the non-federal share is now the cost share and finally what we used to call panel
review will now be called Merit review now we will go over the five different types of Ana funding opportunities for FY 2024 the first Ana funding opportunity is social and economic development strategies or SS for short the sets program is Ana's broadest and most competitive program of the five funding op opportunities the s's program promotes the social and economic independence of American Indians Alaskan natives native Hawaiians and Native Pacific Islanders from American Samoa Guam and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands said's projects focus on one or more of the following three connected Concepts which form a foundation for sovereignty and self-determination these three concepts are one Social Development that supports programs and services that Safeguard the health well-being and culture of native peoples two economic development that supports the development of stable Diversified local economies that provide jobs and business opportunities promoting economic well-
being in Native American communities and three governance projects that assist tribes native organizations and Alaskan native Village governments to increase their ability to enhance administrative infrastructure and capacity to develop and enforce laws regulations codes and policies that benefit the community the goal of the SS Alaska program is to promote social and economic independence of Alaska native peoples like the SS program SS Alaska projects focus on the same connected Concepts that f
orm a foundation for sovereignty and self-determination the first concept of Social Development supports programs and services that Safeguard the health well-being and culture of Alaska native peoples two economic development that supports the development of stable Diversified local economies that provide jobs and business opportunities promoting economic well-being in Alaskan native communities and three governance that assists tribes native organizations and Alaskan native Village governments
to increase their ability to enhance administrative infrastructure and capacity to develop and enforce laws regulations codes and policies that benefit the community the purpose of the language preservation and maintenance program is to help Native Americans ensure the survival and vitality of Native American languages P&M projects work toward this goal by providing services like Native American language revitalization projects such as training or certification programs for Native American langu
age teachers intergenerational Native American language projects that bring Youth and Elders together interpretation and translation projects such as training community members to serve as interpreters or translators and project involving transcription oral stories technology recordings and language materials such as training community members to produce or participate in various types of media or producing different types of materials to teach your language the purpose of the Esther Martinez im
ersion program is to ensure the survival and vitality of Native American languages through immersion language instruction Emi projects must meet the requirements for either a Native American language Nest or Native American language survival school it is important to note that to be eligible for an Emi Grant your tribe or organization must provide certification that you have at least 3 years of experience operating or administering a Native American language Nest language survival school or any
other language emergent educational program language n and survival schools are both site-based educational programs in addition to being site-based educational programs Native American language nests provide education for at least 10 children under the age of seven and it must provide at least 500 hours of native language instruction per child per year Native American survival schools also need to provide at least 500 hours of native language instruction per child per year survival schools must
be the Principal place of instruction for at least 15 students and math reading and Sciences are taught in a native language the survival School must also be located in areas with a high percentage of native students for other emergent education programs instruction is through Native American language immersion I would like to emphasize again that an Emi application must include language certification that demonstrates you have at least three years of experience operating or administering a Nat
ive American language Nest survival school or other language education program the environmental regulatory enhancement program is designed to support Native American tribes' ability to enforce environmental laws ER promotes Environmental Health in American Indian and Alaskan native communities by supporting programs that align with the tribes' cultural and natural resource management priorities projects funded through this opportunity May focus on one or more of these activities listed on the s
lide strengthening environmental regulatory programs integrating traditional ecological iCal knowledge into program Administration to advance historic preservation advancing the management and co-management of lands addressing climate change and promoting environmental justice a total of 25 awards are expected in this year's funding cycle for P&M Ana expects to award four P&M Awards splitting a total funding pool of $4 million and Emi is expected to receive two Awards with a total funding pool o
f $1 million 14 SS projects are expected to share a total funding pool of $13 million two awards are expected to be given to saids Alaska applications with a $1 million funding pool and lastly Ana expects to award three er projects with a total funding pool of $2 million project and budget periods can be 12 months 24 months or 36 months except for Emi which has project periods of 36 months 48 months or 60 months the maximum award amount you can spend each project year is $300,000 it is important
to note that Ana will award all federal funds at the start of the award now we will review who is eligible to apply on the slide is a list of types of tribes and organizations that may apply for an Ana Grant in addition to this list faith-based and Community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive Awards under Ana funding opportunities entities that may not apply for an Ana Grant are individuals including Sole proprietorships and foreign entities this list o
f eligible entities can be found in all noos Ana requires organizations that are not a federally or state recognized tribe Alaskan native Village government or public government agency in the US territories to provide documentation that a majority of your board members are representative of the Native American American communities that Ana serves this includes tribal colleges and universities or territorial schools or universities governed by a board that is separate from the tribe or territoria
l government it also includes an American Indian tribe Alaskan native Village or public government in the Pacific territories applying as a nonprofit organization if you are required to include an assurance of Community representation on board of directors you must submit documentation that identifies each board member by name and indicates one or more of an Ana's three categories of community representation which include one members of a federally or state recognized tribe or two persons who ar
e recognized by members of the eligible Native American Community to be served as having a cultural relationship with the Community this second category of community representation requires a cultural relationship defined as lineage familial marriage or other traditional or social connection to the community and not a business or work relationship the third category is persons considered to be Native American as defined in 45 CFR section 1336 point10 and Native American Pacific Islanders as defi
ned in section 815 of the Native American programs act please note that applicants that do not include this documentation in their attachments will be disqualified and the application will not be considered for competition an application without an assurance of community representation on board of directors is a disqualification Factor just to be clear if you are a ferally or state recognized tribe Alaskan native Village government or public government agency in the US territories you do not hav
e to provide this assurance Ana has a long-standing policy that organizations can have no more than one active award per assistance listing number for an Ana program at any given time to be eligible under the Ana noos you cannot have a current active Ana award under the same assistant listing number you are applying for in other words organizations with an Ana award that will continue beyond the start date of a possible new award and have the same assistant listing number as the noo you are appl
ying for are ineligible to apply for a new Ward the application will be disqual qualified and will not be included in the competition this disqualification Factor does not impact organizations that have an Ana award under a different assistance listing number so if you have a current Ana Grant and you are planning to apply for another Ana Grant be sure that the assistance listing number of your current Ana Grant is not the same as the one you are applying for otherwise your application will be d
isqualified Ana does not allow costs involving construction the purchase of real property or any costs tied to Major Renovations applications that include costs related to any of these categories are not eligible to be awarded an Ana Grant Ana also has a list of projects that are not eligible for Ana funding projects for which a recipient will provide third-party training and technical assistance to other tribes or Native American organizations or to non-members of the recipient organization are
ineligible projects that require funding for feasibility studies business plans marketing plans or written materials such as manuals that are not an essential part of the applicants longrange development plan are ineligible projects with core Administration functions that essentially support only the applicants ongoing administrative functions and are not related to the proposed project are ineligible for funding projects that support ongoing Social Service delivery programs or the expansion or
continuation of existing Social Service delivery programs are ineligible projects that do not further the three interrelated Ana goals of Economic Development Social Development and cultural preservation are ineligible projects from a consortia of tribes that do not include documentation from each participating Consortium member specifying their role and support are ineligible for funding and finally projects that involve the purchase of real estate are ineligible for funding cost sharing the N
ative American programs act statutes require Ana applicants to contribute 20% of their Project's total cost you can meet your match requirement through any combination of cost sharing cost sharing can include in-kind or non-cash contributions from Partners or other third parties cash contributed by your tribe or organization or cash contributed by part Partners or other third parties additional ways to meet your cost sharing requirements can be found on the Ana's applicant Resource page as menti
oned before Ana applicants are required to contribute 20% of your Project's total cost to figure out how much that is you will start with the federal share you are requesting from ANA you will then divide that amount by four and that will give you the amount of your cost share if you add the requested Federal share with your cost share you will arrive at your total project costs in the example on the slide the applicant is requesting $100,000 from ANA to figure out how much the applicant will ne
ed to provide as cost share the $100,000 is divided 4 which equals $25,000 therefore the applicant will need to provide $25,000 in cost share if we add the cost share of $25,000 to the amount requested of $100,000 the entire project cost is $125,000 please note that you must follow through on your promise of cost sharing funds even if you promise more than the 20% required these cost sharing commitments are included in the notice of award indirect costs are defined as those for a common or joint
purpose across more than one project and that cannot easily be separated by project there are two methods to charge indirect costs the first method is an approved rate this method is for tribes and organizations that currently have an indirect cost rate approved by a federal agency if you do have an approved indirect cost rate that is the rate you will use for your application the second method is the Dom Minimus rate if your tribe or organization has never received a negotiated indirect cost r
ate you may elect to charge a DI Minimus rate of 10% also if you are awaiting approval of an indirect cost proposal you may also use the DI Minimus rate of 10% now we will move on to step two getting ready to apply before you attempt to do anything with your application please make sure you have an active registration with sam.gov and an active account with grants.gov in order to apply for Ana funding your tribe or organization must have an active registration with sam.gov which includes having
a unique entity identifier or UEI for short you want to start this process today as it can take up to several weeks if you believe your tribe or organization already has a sam.gov registration please make sure that your registration is current and active as for grants.gov make sure your tribe or organization has an active account with grants.gov you will not be able to submit your application as all applications are submitted electronically through grants.gov both of these registrations are free
of charge the application package includes all the forms you need to apply to find the application package head over to grants.gov once you're in grants.gov click on the search grants tab find the opportunity number box and type in hhs-k then click on the blue search button it is case sensitive so remember to use all caps you should see a table with a list of opportunities to choose from click on your selected opportunity number and once you're on The View Grant page click on the blue box title
d package you can also search by the federal assistant listing number by using the advanced search option you can find the federal assistant listing number in the noos under basic information in step one for SS and SS Alaska the listing number is 93.612 for P&M and Emi the listing number is 93.57 and for ER it is 93.5 A1 if for some reason you are not able to download the application from grants.gov you may request it from the Grant Management contact found towards the end of each not noo now on
to step three preparing your application applications must follow the formatting standards provided in the noos in order to be accepted for review applications must be in Times New Roman 12o font with the exception of the required standard forms and om approved forms all application materials must be formatted so that they print on a 8 and 1/2 by 11in white paper with 1-in margins all around there is a 100 page limitation for applications however page limitations do not include standard forms a
nd om approved forms such as the Ana objective work plan the one-page project summary is also excluded from the 100 page limitation a list of what is counted towards the 100 page limit can be found in the app application checklist under step five of the noos page numbers for each page within the application are not required but they are highly encouraged all applications must be double spaced and again in Times New Roman 12o font sections of the application that are allowed to be single spaced a
re the table of contents project summary line item budget but budget narrative and any tables and footnotes applications that fail to adhere to formatting font and Page limitation requirements will be adjusted by the removal of pages from the application pages will be removed before the Merit review and will not be available to reviewers every application must have the following components a table of contents a one-page project summary project narrative organizational capacity line item budget b
udget narrative attachments and required standard forms as mentioned earlier in this webinar to be eligible for an Emi Grant your tribe or organization must certify that you have at least 3 years of experience operating or administering a Native American language nest language survival school or any other language educational program you must also certify that 500 hours of language emergent instruction has been accomplished again language certification is a requirement for Emi applications we wi
ll now briefly review each of the required application components first up is the project summary the project summary is a one-page single space summary of your proposed project remember to keep this to only one page the project summary is not counted towards the 100 page limit the project narrative is where you will address all your proposed activities it is a critical section of your application which Ana evaluates and ranks against other applications using the Merit review criteria remember t
hat substance and measurable outcomes are more important than length Ana is particularly interested in Project narratives that convey strategies for achieving intended goals and objectives components of the project narrative include geographic location past Ana project performance if applicable current Community condition project goal objectives project implementation plan community-based strategy the population to be served outcomes and your objective work plan the organizational capacity secti
on of your application will describe your organization's data management plan and Staffing plan and include qualifications and experience of Staff Partners and Consultants this section should also include your oversight plan oversight is the process by which an entity Senior Management ensures projects are performed in compliance with award requirements the line item budget and budget narrative justify the cost you ask for and includes added details including detailed calculations for the object
class categories this information should be provided for each project year any attachments to your application will be uploaded in grants.gov using the other attachments form these attachments are included in the overall application page limit unless it says otherwise some examples of attachments you will need to include are your current indirect cost rate agreement if you have one proof of nonprofit status if you are a nonprofit organization Assurance of community representation on board of di
rectors and letters of support these are just a few examples of the types of attachments you will include with your application listed here are the standard forms you will need to complete alongside your application you can upload these standard forms at grants.gov and they can also be found in the noo application package we will now turn our attention to step four learning about review and award we have already discussed two major disqualification factors no Assurance of community representatio
n on board of directors and having a current Ana Grant with the same assistance listing number as the one you are applying for in addition to these two major factors there are a few more disqualification factors such as submission after the deadline and requesting project costs that are above the reward ceiling if you are disqualified for any reason Ana will notify you by email within 30 days of the application deadline disqualification factors are screened for during the initial review of appli
cations applications are reviewed to make sure they meet the basic requirements this is also the time where pages are removed from applications that exceed the page limit or are blurred or elgible applications that pass the initial review by Ana will be moved on to the Merit review the Merit review involves a panel reviewing applications that pass the initial review the reviewers use the Merit review criteria to score the applications all Ana applications will be reviewed and scored on three maj
or Criterion the project narrative organizational capacity and the line item budget and budget narrative the table on the slide shows the point breakdown for each Ana program you can see that all of the program areas have the same point values except for Emi this is the point breakdown for the first major Criterion the project narrative as you can see there are eight elements that make up the project narrative section for the SS SS Alaska erere and P&M programs and nine elements for Emi for this
Criterion reviewers will evaluate if your proposed strategy to complete the project is feasible effective community-based and likely to achieve intended objectives and outcomes they are also evaluating to see if your project narrative is clear logical and detailed you will notice the first element of the Pro narrative is native language certification as it was mentioned earlier in the webinar this certification applies to Emi applications only the certification is a zero or 10 score the applica
tion either has it or it doesn't so make sure your language certification is included in your application if you are seeking an Emi award organizational capacity is the second major Criterion to be reviewed and scored it is worth a total of 15 points except for Emi which is worth 14 points this section of the Merit review criteria includes essential components of the organizational capacity section of your application reviewers will evaluate whether the application demonstrates the key staff and
management who will oversee federal funds and delivery of the project objectives the last major Criterion is the line item budget and budget narrative the line item budget and budget narrative are worth 10 points for each of the Ana programs for this Criterion reviewers will consider the degree to which the application designates adequate resources to carry out the proposed project activities while ensuring that the proposed costs are reasonable based on the geographical location of the applica
nt a detailed line item budget and budget narrative is required for every year of the project the line item budget includes all required items to implement the project including travel to mandatory Ana trainings and meetings the budget narrative should provide a detailed Narrative of how costs were calculated for each item listed in the line item budget for every year of the project this includes a basis for cost estimates such as equipment personnel and travel the budget narrative should also d
escribe how expenditures align with the project narrative and the owp as well as provide information or documentation to demonstrate the required commitment of non-federal share contributions after all the applications have been reviewed and scored by the Merit review Ana staff then conduct an internal review where they review and analyze the applications ranked highest as a result of the Merit review and scoring this internal review is used to determine each application's consistency with the p
urposes of the Native Americans programs act all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements and the noo requirements after the internal review Ana then starts the selection process when making funding DEC decisions Ana considers the following Merit review results the Ana internal review results organizations serving emerging unserved or underserved populations geographic distribution of an Ana Awards and the past performance of the applicant if applicable please keep in mind that Ana's commi
ssioner has discretion to make all final funding and award decisions before making an award Ana reviews the risk that you will not prudently manage federal funds if you had a past Federal award Ana needs to make sure you've handled those Awards well and demonstrate it sound business practices Ana uses sam.gov responsibility and qualification to check this history for all Awards likely to be over $250,000 if Ana finds a significant risk AA may choose not to fund your application or may Place spec
ific conditions on the award if you are awarded an Ana Grant Ana will email or transmit through their Grant systems a notice of award to your authorized official the notice of award is the only official award document the notice of award tells you about the amount of the award important dates and the terms and conditions you need to follow until you receive the notice of award you have not received an award project costs that you incur before you receive a notice of award are at your own expense
and cannot be reimbursed application submission and deadlines is step five the most important piece of information you want to remember is the application due date because this webinar was recorded before the noos were published please please check the noo you are applying for to confirm the correct due date whatever the due date is the time the application is due is 11:59 p.m. eastern time application submitted after 11:59 p.m. eastern time of the due date will be disqualified you must submit
your application through grants.gov unless Ana gives you an exemption for a paper submission for instructions on how to submit your application in grants.gov see the quick start guide for applicants make sure that your application passes the grants.gov validation checks or Ana will not receive your application please do not encrypt zip or password protect any files as this can cause errors in Ana receiving your application if you need to submit a paper application you must request an exemption p
lease keep in mind that you may not submit a paper application until you receive approval from ANA submitting a paper application without prior approval will result in the application being disqualified improperly named electronic files will not pass validation at grants.gov make sure when you are naming your files that your file names are 50 characters or less do not attach any documents with the same name use unique names for each file also Ana does not recommend using special native language
diacritical markings or characters in your file names as it could potentially cause a file upload error please observe the electronic file naming conventions to prevent any file upload errors or validation issues to make sure you have everything you need to apply for for an Ana Grant the noos provide an application checklist under step five remember there is a 100 page limit for your application and if you are an organization or a tribe applying as a nonprofit please remember to include your Ass
urance of community representation on board of directors document we are at the final step step six learning what happens if you are awarded an Ana Grant if you are awarded an Ana Grant there are important rules and requirements you'll need to follow first you will need to follow all the terms and conditions stated in your notice of award document next all Grant recipients must comply with applicable federal tribal and state laws with respect to criminal history record checks and clearances thro
ugh child abuse and neglect and sex offender registries you also must disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest to Ana if there is a nationally declared emergency Ana will exercise maximum flexibility as needed and appropriate for current Awards requirements may be conducted virtually and timelines modified in consultation with Ana Ana encourages you to educate yourself on intellectual property rights and the protection of ownership to language materials history music and dance cere
monies and other forms of knowledge and cultural practices that originate from native communities moreover Ana encourages you to learn how such rights may be transferred via Contracting with third parties that produce resources data and materials develop because of Ana funding Ana is unable to provide legal advice or guidance on this matter but Ana funds may be used for legal expenses relative to this matter and lastly Ana Grant recipients are required to attend post- awward training you must ha
ve the Project Director and a financial management staff person working on the project attend post awward training during the first year of your award you must also attend an annual Ana recipient meeting during each year of your Ana award please note that you must include travel expenses associated with attendance at the post awward training and annual Ana recipient meeting in your line item budget and budget narrative if your application is funded you will have to submit financial and performan
ce reports listed here are the reports you will be submitting if awarded the ongoing progress report and the sf425 will be submitted semiannually the sf425 will also be submitted annually the SF 428 the tangible personal property report will be submitted annually and at the end of your project an alcome tracker will be developed for each project objective during the post award process with assistance from ANA staff and is not required to be submitted with your application the outcome tracker wil
l align with information from the application to include a means for measurement and annual targets for achievement the outcome tracker is designed to support project staff in monitoring progress during project implementation if you are going to use federal funds to support a business operation you must provide a business plan during the award negotiation period this business plan should include an executive summary a description of the industry a description of the products or services to be pr
oduced sold or marketed market research a marketing plan an operational plan an assessment of risks and assumptions financial statements if already in operation and forecasted balance sheet operational statements including project operational costs and cash flow projections here are a couple of resources you can use in developing your application in addition to the noo announcement the ACF and Ana websites are there for your reference many of the resources you may need are housed in the Ana appl
ication resources and toolkit website and we've included the sam.gov and grants.gov websites again for your convenience an provides free training and technical assistance to Native Community serving organizations in four regions starting from the East the Eastern region covers everything from North Dakota down to Texas and everything east of there the western region serves the remaining Western continental US the Alaska region covers the state of Alaska and the Pacific region serves Hawaii Ameri
can Samoa Guam and the common wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands all regions are conducting both in-person and virtual pre-application training please contact your Regional technical assistance center or visit their website for current training dates and locations and other services provided you can find each of the regions contact information at the bottom of the slide this concludes the review of the 2024 noos thank you again for taking time out of your busy day to join us we look forward
to assisting you with your application and answering any questions you may have good luck on your applications and have a great rest of your day
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