This funding opportunity announcement provides Fiscal Year 2012 funds for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program (THV).

Funds will support 5-year demonstration grants (cooperative agreements) between ACF and Federally-recognized Indian Tribes (or a consortium

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of Indian Tribes), Tribal Organizations, or Urban Indian Organizations to conduct community needs assessments; develop the infrastructure needed for widespread planning, adopting, implementing, expanding, enhancing, and sustaining of evidence-based maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting programs; and provide high-quality evidence-based home visiting services to pregnant women and families with young children aged birth to kindergarten entry.Home visiting programs are intended to promote outcomes such as improved maternal and prenatal health, infant health, and child health and development; reduced child maltreatment; improved parenting practices related to child development outcomes; improved school readiness; improved family socio-economic status; improved coordination of referrals to community resources and supports; and reduced incidence of injuries, crime, and domestic violence.

The goals of the THV are to support healthy, happy, successful Indian children and families through a coordinated, high-quality, evidence-based home visiting strategy, and to build the evidence base for home visiting programs with a focus on American Indians.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agencies collaborating to implement the THV within the Department of Health and Human Services, also intend for the program to result in a coordinated system of early childhood home visiting in Tribal communities that has the capacity to provide infrastructure and supports to assure high-quality, evidence-based practice.During the five-year project periods of the cooperative agreements, funds will support:Conducting a Tribal needs assessment that considers community characteristics; the quality and capacity of existing home visiting programs, and other supportive services; coordinates with other relevant needs assessments; and involves community stakeholders as appropriate;Collaborative planning efforts to address identified needs by developing capacity and infrastructure to fully plan, adopt, implement, and sustain high-quality home visiting programs that have strong fidelity to evidence-based and promising home visiting models;Providing high-quality evidence-based home visiting services to pregnant women and families with young children aged birth to kindergarten entry; andConducting rigorous local evaluations that may include examining effectiveness of home visiting models in serving Tribal populations; adaptations of home visiting models for Tribal communities; or questions regarding implementation or infrastructure necessary to support evidence-based home visitation models.Year one funds will be awarded to conduct a needs assessment and planning phase to meet identified needs.

Pending successful completion of year one activities, grantees will be required to submit a workplan for approval by ACF and HRSA.

Funds for the implementation phase (Years two to five) will be awarded annually thereafter and will be at a level higher than the level of year 1 funding.

During years two to year five, grantees will implement approved workplans to provide high-quality evidence-based and promising home visiting services; begin to track progress toward the required three and five year benchmarks; and cooperate with any research or evaluation activities related to this cooperative agreement.