2021 Empowering Communities to Address Behavioral Health and Chronic Pain through Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs | HHS 2021 ACL AOA CSSG 0018

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2021 ACL AOA CSSG 0018

The 2021 Empowering Communities to Address Behavioral Health and Chronic Pain through Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs grant (Funding Opportunity Number HHS-2021-ACL-AOA-CSSG-0018) is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living (ACL). It uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, meaning the federal agency typically expects to have an active role in supporting and guiding recipients during the project period rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The program sits within the health activity category and is associated with CFDA 93.734. The opportunity was created on December 3, 2020, and the original application closing date was February 2, 2021.

At its core, the grant is designed to help communities strengthen how they respond to behavioral health needs and/or chronic pain among two priority groups: older adults and adults with disabilities. The focus is not just on providing services, but on building a coordinated community approach that can show results and last beyond the grant. The program emphasizes practical, evidence-based self-management education and self-management support models that help people build skills to manage ongoing conditions in everyday life, including symptom management, communication with providers, medication and treatment adherence, goal setting, and maintaining function and quality of life.

The opportunity has two main goals. Goal 1 is about planning and strategy: applicants are expected to form robust partnerships and develop a comprehensive, results-based strategy for addressing behavioral health and/or chronic pain locally. In practice, this points to cross-sector collaboration among organizations that touch the target populations, such as aging services, disability networks, healthcare providers, behavioral health providers, community-based organizations, and potentially payers and other stakeholders. The strategy is expected to be more than a general intention; it should be grounded in community needs and built around measurable outcomes, coordinated referral pathways, and a clear plan for delivering and tracking services.

Goal 2 is about expansion and participation: grantees are expected to significantly increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities who actually enroll in and complete evidence-based self-management education and/or self-management support programs. The intention is to empower participants to manage chronic conditions more effectively, specifically in the areas of behavioral health and chronic pain, while also improving access and uptake at the community level. A key feature of this goal is sustainability. Applicants are expected to pursue strategies that keep these programs operating after federal funding ends, which often implies planning for ongoing delivery capacity, workforce development (such as training facilitators), referral and recruitment systems, partnerships that embed programs into existing service pipelines, and potential financing or reimbursement approaches where feasible.

Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, other Native American tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education). This wide range of eligible applicants reflects the community-based nature of the work and recognizes that effective behavioral health and chronic pain supports often require coordination across multiple local systems.

In terms of scale, the award ceiling listed is $300,000, and ACL expected to make about eight awards under this announcement. Overall, the grant is best understood as a community capacity-building and service expansion initiative: it supports the creation of a coordinated local strategy and the measurable growth of evidence-based self-management offerings for older adults and adults with disabilities, with an explicit expectation that grantees plan early for how the work will continue after the grant period ends.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2021 Empowering Communities to Address Behavioral Health and Chronic Pain through Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.734.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 03, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 02, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for HHS 2021 ACL AOA CSSG 0018

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