Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments Super Call 2022-2023 Notice of Funding Availability and Guidance For Programs/Projects Serving Older Adults and Individuals with Disabilities

Introduction

The Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (PPACG) is issuing a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to call for various programs and projects serving older adults and individuals with disabilities in El Paso, Park, and Teller counties. Programs/projects awarded funding from this call will be eligible to receive funds beginning on July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. PPACG receives funding for programs/projects serving older adults and individuals with disabilities through:

• Older Americans Act (OAA) and Older Coloradans Act (OCA)
• FTA-5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program
• Local Funding for Transportation of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities

This NOFA sets forth guidelines for submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI), applicant and program/project eligibility, evaluation criteria, selection process, and schedule for this call. All LOIs are due to PPACG via email submittal by Monday, December 27, 2021, 5:00 p.m. Late LOIs will not be accepted or considered for funding.

Definitions

OAA provides funding for programs that support adults aged 60 years and older, including:

• Access Assistance: a service assisting caregivers in obtaining access to services and resources available within their communities.

• Case Management: assistance in either the form of access or care coordination in circumstances where care recipients are experiencing diminished functioning capabilities, personal conditions, or other characteristics which require the provision of services by formal service providers.

• Caregiver Counseling/Training: counseling to caregivers to assist them in making decisions and solving problems relating to their caregiver roles. This includes counseling to individuals, support groups, and caregiver training of individual caregivers and families.

• Caregiver Information services: a service for caregivers that provides the public and individuals with information on resources and services available to the individuals within their communities.

• Chore: services designed to increase the safety of older adults living at home, such as assistance with heavy housework, yard work, or sidewalk maintenance. Chore services are one-time, seasonal, or occasional in nature and are planned with input from the older adult.

• Congregate Meals: a meal provided in a congregate or group setting.

• Counseling: assists older adults in making decisions and solving problems related to living independently. This includes counseling to individuals, support groups, and caregiver training (of individual caregivers and families).

• Education: a supportive service designed to assist older adults to better cope with their economic, health, and personal needs through services such as consumer education, continuing education, falls prevention education, medication management education, pre-retirement education, financial planning, and other education and training services which advance the objectives of the OAA.

• Evidence Based Health Promotion: a program that meets the current definition of evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion as defined by the Administration for Community Living.

• Home Delivered Meals: a meal provided to an older adult in their place of residence.

• Homemaker: in-home services for older adults who are unable to perform two or more Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), including preparing meals, laundry, shopping for personal items, managing money, using the telephone, or doing light housework.

• Legal Assistance: legal advice, counseling, and representation provided by an attorney or other person acting under the supervision of any attorney.

• Material Aid – aid in the form of goods or food, including assistive technology devices, hearing aids, oral health, dentures, emergency assistance, and food delivery.

• Nutrition Counseling: individualized advice and guidance by a registered dietician to individuals and their caregivers, for those individuals at nutritional risk because of their health or nutritional history, dietary intake, medication use, or chronic illnesses. Nutrition Counseling addresses the options and methods for improving nutrition status.

• Nutrition Education: a program delivered by a registered dietician to promote better health by providing accurate and culturally sensitive nutrition, information, and instruction to older adults and their caregivers in a group or individual setting.

• Reassurance: the process of contacting an older adult on a regular basis to provide comfort and/or help.

• Transportation: travel to or from one location to another in a vehicle. Does not include any other activity.

• Visually Impaired Services: supportive services and assistance designed to assist older adults to better cope with their economic, health, and personal needs through services such as education, case management, information and assistance, and assistive technology.

• Voucher Programs: enable older adults to choose their provider for Chore, Transportation, Personal Care, Homemaker, and Respite services.

FTA-5310 provides funding for programs that support older adults and individuals with disabilities, including:

• Assisted Transportation: assistance and transportation, including escort, to a person who has physical or cognitive difficulties using regular vehicular transportation.

• Contracted Mobility Services: direct cost associated with providing transportation provided to seniors and individuals with disabilities through the FTA-5310 program.

• Paratransit Services: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) transportation services provided by Mountain Metropolitan Transit.

• Specialized Transportation: transportation services provided beyond Mountain Metropolitan Transit’s paratransit services for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

• Subrecipient: a non-federal entity that receives a federal award from a direct recipient to carry out part of a federal program but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program. A subrecipient may also be a recipient of other federal awards directly from a federal awarding agency.

Application Process and Deadlines

All applicants will apply through PPACG’s Request for Proposal System, OAA-SYS. PPACG will provide login access to the system once you have submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) and the RFP system for the new grant cycle is launched.

• LOI: due to PPACG by Monday, December 27, 2021, 5:00 p.m. Please refer to the attached template and send to Melody Dowell at mdowell@ppacg.org and Laura Crews at lcrews@ppacg.org.

• RFP release: Wednesday, January 5, 2022. PPACG will send access and login instructions to each eligible applicant.

• Applicant proposals: due to PPACG via the RFP online system by Friday, February 11, 2022, 5:00 p.m.

• Tentative date for award notification: June 2022

Program Descriptions

The OAA supports a wide range of social services and programs for individuals aged 60 years or older. These include supportive services, congregate nutrition services, home delivered meals, family caregiver support, homemaker assistance, and additional programs to make independent living a viable option. OAA programs address the needs and concerns of all older adults at the regional and local levels. Directed by the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging (PPAAA) for El Paso, Park, and Teller counties, OAA programs make it possible for older adults to choose the services and living arrangements that suit them best. Each program includes policies and procedures to ensure service delivery is appropriate for the best possible physical and mental health outcomes and comprehensive long-term care services, among other objectives.

FTA-5310 is a formula program that provides PPACG funds for contract mobility services in the Colorado Springs UZA. These transportation services are designed to improve mobility and meet the needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities. The FTA-5310 program requires subrecipients to provide a 20 percent match for contract mobility services. FTA-5310 program

provides funds for transportation carried out to meet the special needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities when public transportation and complementary paratransit services is insufficient, inappropriate, or unavailable. For example, beyond a ¾ mile radius of paratransit services, service needed beyond paratransit level of service i.e. Door thru Door, and/or services that extend beyond the time paratransit services are available. FTA-5310 projects must be targeted toward meeting the transportation needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities, although they may be used by the public on an incidental basis. It is not sufficient that seniors and individuals with disabilities are included (or assumed to be included) among the people who will benefit from the project.

Available Funding

PPACG reserves the right to award some or all the funds available in this table based on application evaluation outcomes. Funds are subject to change based on the appropriations process at the state and federal levels. Click here for a service area map.

• OAA: for state fiscal year 2021-2022, PPACG awarded $3.5 million to contracted providers. PPACG will use this estimate to determine SFY 2022-2023 awards with the understanding that this funding is subject to change based on the appropriations process at the state and federal levels. Funding available for El Paso, Park, and Teller counties.

• FTA-5310: $690,000. Funding available for Colorado Springs Urbanized Area (UZA).

• Local Funding for Transportation of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities: $126,000. Funding available for Peak Rural Transit Authority boundaries.

Subrecipient Eligibility and Allowable Expenses

The following organizations are eligible for funding:

• A private nonprofit organization
• A state or local governmental authority

Allowable expenses include:

• Direct costs (those costs that may be computed and identified directly with a particular program/project)
• Indirect costs (only through OAA eligible programs)
• Depreciation (for vehicles purchased through state, federal, local, or OAA funds depreciation is not an allowable expense)

• Fuel and oil expenses
• Vehicle maintenance activities
• Vehicle insurance
• Driver, supervisor, and dispatcher salaries and fringe benefits
• Purchased transit services

Local Match

Approved applicants are required to provide a local match. The local match requirement depends on program type and ranges from 10-25 percent. Local match can come from many sources, including state or local appropriations, tax revenues, private donations, revenue from service contracts, income generated from advertising and concession, and volunteer hours – provided its use as match is not prohibited or disallowed by that funding source. Local match may only be used once; e.g., the same OAA funds may not be used for two different grant applications.

Local match may include local cash or in-kind match. In-Kind match may consist of non-cash contributions of time, equipment, space, and other items committed to the goals of the program. In-kind matching may involve the use of items or personnel time donated by a third party, i.e., volunteer labor. Local cash match is cash to cover program costs not already covered by PPACG. The difference between program actual cost and PPACG reimbursements may also be considered cash match. May include grantee organization’s own funds or cash donation from non-federal third parties.

Selection Process

The selection process is a public process involving external stakeholders and committee members comprised of community members, programmatic experts, and representatives from regional municipalities.

PPACG staff do not expect applicants to know which of the many funding sources might be the most appropriate for them. Therefore, PPACG will use the following applicant eligibility guidelines to determine the appropriate funding source(s) for each applicant. PPACG will largely determine the eligibility of each applicant project based on the Agency Profile and staff knowledge of each applicant’s operation, along with the information provided in the application. Staff and the selection committees will consider funding projects from each of the programs for which an applicant and each project is eligible, subject to availability and scoring of the project.

Committee Review Schedule
Staff screen applications to ensure eligibility.
Applications are reviewed and scored by the Technical Review Sub-committees (TRS) for AAA and Transit Programs.
Technical Review Sub-committees will present funding recommendations to the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) for OAA programs and the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) for 5310 and local transit funds at their monthly public meetings. A public comment period for recommendations begins.
Applicants can contest recommendations in writing to the AAA Director.
The RAC and TRS will submit final funding recommendations to PPACG’s Board of Directors	Recommendations from the TAC will be presented to the Community Advisory Committee to review before making the final funding recommendations to PPACG’s Board of Directors
PPACG’s Board of Directors will review funding recommendations from the review committees and any contests or public comments that were relevant to the selection of projects and funding allocations.
PPACG Board of Directors, after review, approves the distribution of funds or requests further review from committees.

All projects will be evaluated based on the criteria listed below. Applications are given a score of 0 to 3.0 in ¼ point increments for each element. The element score is then weighted based on the below criteria and added together to derive the total merit score.

1. Financial Need- Weight 10%

2. Service Justification- Weight 15%

3. Coordination and Effectiveness- Weight 20%

4. Alignment with PPACG’s Strategic Plan, Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging (PPAAA)  4 Year Plan, and Coordinated Human Service Plan – Weight 20%

5. Budget Review and Financial Management Capacity – Weight 20%

6. Past performance managing PPAAA and CDOT grants – Weight 15%

Any applicant not meeting the criteria will be contacted by PPACG and given the opportunity to respond to any finding of ineligibility. Applicants must be prepared to take full responsibility for

carrying out the proposed project. Projects cannot later be transferred or reassigned to another agency. PPACG encourages agencies to collaborate on projects.

Recipients of funding will be assessed annually for civil rights, programmatic, and fiscal compliance. Recipients must verify expenses and tie them to their program outcomes listed in their proposal. Once an agency’s budget is approved by PPACG staff, a recipient cannot change or add a line item expense to their budget to help prove cost. Additionally, during the contract period, recipients of OAA funds must participate in a community satisfaction survey and program-based survey performed by the State Unit on Aging (SUA). Agencies are responsible for any costs associated with survey distribution and collection.

Non-discrimination and Civil Rights

All recipients of transportation funds (5310, OAA, and Local Transportation funds) must adopt a Title VI plan that meets the requirements stated in FTA’s Title VI Circular. Applicants will be required to have Title VI plans developed and adopted prior to receiving any funds. Applicants will be provided templates to craft their plans if there is not a current plan in place. Recipients will be monitored yearly for Title VI compliance during their program review period.

The Title VI Plan must include.

• A detailed description of how your organization will provide outreach and services to Limited English Proficient individuals

• Assurances of following ADA rules and regulations, including certificates of equivalent service for vehicles that are not ADA accessible

• Policies and procedures of how a citizen may submit a Civil Rights complaint and a description of the review process

• Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Please refer to FTA’s Circular for more information: https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/FTA_Title_VI_FINAL.pdf