Alternatives to Fingerprinting Infrastructure Modernization for Child Welfare

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), invites eligible applicants to submit applications to administer the Placement and Coordination (PC) program. ORR will provide funding to diversify providers of PC services through awards to eligible organizations not currently implementing the Program of Initial Resettlement (PIR). New providers will strengthen the national resettlement framework by contributing unique innovations and perspectives.PC providers will be responsible for administering services including the Program of Initial Resettlement (PIR) and Intensive Case Management (ICM) through one or more local service providers. Through PIR, PC providers will review refugee case profiles assigned by ORR, conduct outreach to identified U.S. ties, and confirm case placement locations. PC providers will either serve cases directly or place them with local resettlement providers (LRPs) in their network. After the refugee arrives, the LRP will assume responsibility for providing PIR services for 30 to 90 days after arrival in the United States, based on self-sufficiency needs of the case. Examples of services include airport pickup upon initial arrival, securing and furnishing housing, benefits applications, referrals, provision of cultural orientation, and provision of direct assistance. Through ICM, providers will serve individuals with significant vulnerabilities that create barriers to assimilation and self-sufficiency for a service period of six to 12 months, or 12 to 24 months for individuals with long-term physical or mental health conditions or disabilities. Examples of services include regular case management discussions, psychosocial support, and connections to external sources of assistance.

The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to:promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness;provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, States, Indian Tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities [as defined in section 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103) (TDHEs)], and local governments to quickly rehouse individuals and families experiencing homelessness, persons experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to, or fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and youth experiencing homelessness while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness;promote access to, and effective utilization of, mainstream programs and programs funded with State or local resources; andoptimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.The goal of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) is to support the development and implementation of a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness and sharing that experience with and mobilizing communities around the country toward the same end. The population to be served by the demonstration program is youth ages 24 and younger who are experiencing homelessness, including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth.

1. NOFO HighlightsThe Youth Homelessness NOFO provides competitive awards to eligible applicants under two different programs-Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) grants- Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 14.277Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)- ALN 14.276Under the YHSI grants, HUD will make awards to selected communities to support them in establishing and implementing a response system for youth homelessness or for improving their existing response system. HUD will select approximately 49 communities for YHSI grants.Under the YHDP, HUD will provide funding to communities to implement housing and supportive services projects. HUD anticipates selecting between 26 and 50 communities, with a priority for communities with substantial rural populations in up to sixteen locations.Separate from this NOFO, technical assistance will be available to assist selected communities implement and improve their YHSI and YHDP projects. HUD expects communities to fully participate in any evaluation activities conducted by HUD beginning no earlier than the award announcement.See Section III for additional information about this NOFO.

The Office of Community Services (OCS) announces the availability of funds for a Diaper Distribution Demonstration and Research Pilot (DDDRP). OCS anticipates awarding approximately $29 million available through fourteen cooperative agreements to eligible Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) state associations, tribes that were funded directly by the CSBG in fiscal year (FY) 2025, and the CSBG-funded territories.The Diaper Distribution Demonstration Research Pilot (DDDRP) is a demonstration program, designed to evaluate the implementation and impact of the DDDRP program. Specifically, the purpose is to test the ability of CAAs and other non-profit community organizations to 1) deliver a continuous, sufficient supply of diapers to caregivers and children with low incomes, who are American citizens or eligible residents, and to 2) improve these families overall health and economic well-being. There are five areas for activities. 1. Establishing diaper distribution partnerships with local service organizations to operate and expand diaper distribution programs.2. Providing training and technical assistance (T/TA) to help diaper distribution partners expand and/or strengthen existing diaper distribution programs. 3. Working with diaper distribution partners to make bulk purchases and ensure economies of scale. 4. Referring families receiving diapers to appropriate services that promote family stability, employment, and economic self-sufficiency and mobility. 5.Participating fully in the federal evaluation of DDDRP.

The Wilson Fish Bridge to Employment Program (WF B2E) provides funds to ensure recipients of Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) can access required employment services as outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act. ORR"s primary strategy for ensuring access to these required services in most states is through the Refugee Support Services (RSS) program. Beginning in FY 2027, RSS will no longer be available in select states. The WF B2E program provides required employment training and placement services, as well as English language training, to recipients of RCA in the states where RSS will no longer operate. Services provided under this program are only available to individuals within the first 36 months after they either arrive in the United States or within the first 36 months they receive an ORR-eligible status. Approved projects will fund required services either directly or through subawards. Details on the states in which this program will operate will be available in the forthcoming NOFO.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) anticipates soliciting applications for a National Research Center for Promoting Work and Strong Families.The Center aims to improve the effectiveness of federal and state policies that promote the dignity of work, economic self-sufficiency, and family stability through marriage, responsible fatherhood, child care, and reduced dependency on public assistance. The Center will support rigorous, policy-relevant research and build stronger connections between researchers and policymakers in human services programs.The Center will carry out three core activities to achieve its goals:Fellowship program: Support in-residence fellows placed within ACF and other HHS offices to provide policy-relevant research expertise on work, earnings, family stability, child care, and human services programs.Extramural research grants: Oversee a competitive grant program to fund timely, actionable research aligned with ACF priorities. These priorities include: promoting the dignity of work, economic self-sufficiency, and family stability.Knowledge building and communication: Host in-person and virtual events. Produce policy-focused materials to make sure that research findings are accessible and actionable for federal, state, tribal, and local policymakers.The Center will emphasize research that promotes the dignity of work as a means to economic self-sufficiency and strong and stable families. This research will ideally help identify redundancies across government welfare programs and make sure that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently to help individuals and families rely less on public assistance. Activities must align with ACF"s statutory authorities and may not support diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI/DEIA) activities, consistent with General Policies in this NOFO.ACF anticipates making one cooperative agreement award for a five-year project period. Activities must align with the statutory authorities supporting this NOFO. The recipient must be able to show, and ACF must be able to monitor, that funds appropriated were spent on activities that can be directly attributed to those required and allowed by each funding source.

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), announces funds for a National Center for Native Training and Technical Assistance (the Center). The Center will be ANA"s primary provider of training and technical assistance (TTA). The goal is to build the capacity of ANA applicants and recipients to implement successful strategies and facilitate sustainable and successful outcomes that strengthen Native American communities. The beneficiaries of TTA are tribes and Native American communities, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Native Pacific Islander organizations and their partners. The Center will assist applicants and recipients to plan, develop, and implement community-driven projects aligned with ANA"s goals. The Center will also train communities on leveraging additional resources, complying with federal requirements, and sustaining projects past ANA funding. ANA expects the Center to use innovative and user-friendly solutions for providing TTA in both virtual and in-person formats. The Center will also focus on collecting data to better understand how beneficiaries interact with ANA"s TTA and how to improve the success of funded projects. The project will have a 36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods.

The NATIVE Act cooperative agreement will support Tribal Tourism Grant Program (TTGP) and Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) applicants, which is comprised of Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations, by identifying technical assistance needs and delivering targeted capacity-building support to expand cultural heritage tourism and increase visitation. The selected recipient will provide tools, strategies, and expertise to enhance and grow tourism activities and destinations, while facilitating coordination between the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce in planning and implementation.The NATIVE Act requires identification of a means for delivering and coordinating Federal technical assistance and resources for cultural heritage tourism in collaboration with Federal partners, including the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Commerce and other Federal agencies and entities with tourism expertise. The NATIVE Act provides authority so the "Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall enter into a memorandum of understanding or cooperative agreement with an entity or organization with a demonstrated record in tribal communities of defining, introducing, developing, and sustaining American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian tourism and related activities in a manner that respects and honors native traditions and values."Native Hawaiian organization means a nonprofit organization: (A) that serves the interests of Native Hawaiians; (B) in which Native Hawaiians serve in substantive and policymaking positions, and; (C) that are recognized for having expertise in Native Hawaiian culture and heritage, including tourism.Awards are made for an initial one-year budget period and may receive continuation funding for up to four additional one-year budget periods, for a total period of performance not to exceed five years. Continuation funding is contingent upon satisfactory performance, the availability of funds, and agency priorities.

This program will fund projects focused on technology-enabled strategies that improve adoptive matching, placement, and permanency for children in foster care awaiting adoption. The funds, awarded to four regional centers, will be used to design, implement and evaluate these strategies.These centers will focus on children with an adoption permanency goal or who are legally free for adoption due to child welfare involvement. Centers will partner with state, territorial, tribal, and local child welfare agencies and courts to develop secure, accessible technology solutions that improve how families are matched with children in need of permanent homes. Proposed solutions must be interoperable with existing systems and may include tools such as data-informed recruitment support, AI-assisted matching, and predictive analytics.Each center will strengthen data infrastructure, support continuous quality improvement, and develop scalable resources that jurisdictions nationwide can adopt. ACF will define four national service regions to ensure full U.S. coverage. Centers will provide regional innovation support, training, technical assistance, and dissemination of best practices while collaborating nationally on shared learning.Applicants will be expected to demonstrate measurable improvements in match timeliness, placement stability, and adoption finalization outcomes.

This funding opportunity aims to support innovations that build evidence on how to help children and youth with complex or high-acuity needs achieve permanency through adoption. The projects will focus on collaborative, system-level efforts to recruit, train, support, and retain families who can meet these children's needs.Projects must be led by researchers who work within a child welfare agency or work in close partnership with one or more child welfare agencies. Together, researchers and child welfare program staff will identify and evaluate promising collaborative approaches.Collaborations that include Medicaid Section 1115 Research and Demonstration Projects, private adoption agencies, or community- or faith-based organizations are of particular interest.You'll be expected to: (1) Study how the model works in practice (i.e., implementation study). (2) Evaluate the effectiveness of the approach. (3) Use the most rigorous research designs, methods, and analytic techniques that are appropriate and sufficient to address the research questions of interest.Projects are expected to build on the existing research evidence and contribute generalized knowledge.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Training, Technical Assistance, and Capacity Building Center (RHYTTAC) provides direct training and technical assistance to existing RHY award recipients and subrecipients to enhance their efforts to successfully implement FYSB-funded projects. FYSB expects to award one cooperative agreement to strengthen and build the capacity of runaway and homeless youth and other youth-serving professionals and service providers across the nation by:Developing relevant and interactive training products for in-person and virtual adaptation.Disseminating evidenced-based, evidence-informed, and best practices related to issues impacting youth who have runaway from home, youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, and youth and young adults at risk of becoming homeless.Providing targeted technical assistance to RHY award recipients and youth-serving organizations to address current and potential needs.Leading coordination activities among RHY award recipients and other RHY funded partner organizations.

To support the Administration for Children and Families" initiative, A Home for Every Child, the Children"s Bureau will award one grant to establish the Foster Parents Network Analytics Hub (HUB) to achieve a foster home-to-child ratio of more than 1:1 in every state by 2029. The HUB will advance the goal by providing states with advanced analytics tools and intensive technical assistance to optimize their foster parent networks.This national demonstration project under Section 426 of the Social Security Act, the HUB will develop a secure, accessible analytics platform integrated with state Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System and Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS/CCWIS). It will also deliver rapid technical assistance to help states analyze foster home dynamics, identify capacity gaps, develop targeted retention strategies, and improve placement matching. This initiative exemplifies ACF's commitment to results and evidence by focusing on measurable outcomes, using data and proven practices to improve performance, and ensuring efficient use of taxpayer dollars through rigorous performance monitoring.This five-year cooperative agreement will establish the HUB, prioritizing immediate deployment, measurable impact, and sustainable capacity building.