Charting a Course for Economic Mobility and Responsible Parenting - Cohort 2 | HHS 2021 ACF OCSE FD 1858

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2021 ACF OCSE FD 1858

Charting a Course for Economic Mobility and Responsible Parenting - Cohort 2 is a three-year federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, through the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). It is offered as a discretionary cooperative agreement, meaning awardees should expect an active partnership with the federal program, including shared learning and coordination expectations. The central purpose is to design and deliver practical interventions that help teens and young adults understand the real-world financial, legal, and emotional responsibilities that come with becoming a parent, using the child support program's expertise as a foundation for education and motivation.

The program is aimed at teens and young adults ages 13 to 25. This includes young people who have not started families as well as unmarried parents. The core strategy is prevention and preparation: equip participants with clear information and relatable tools so they are more likely to postpone parenthood until they have finished school, begun a career path, and entered a committed relationship. The underlying idea is that better timing and planning around parenthood can strengthen economic stability and support healthier family formation outcomes over time.

Applicants are expected to build projects that do not operate in isolation. Each project design should map existing public and private organizations already serving these age groups and then create or deepen partnerships to connect participants to additional supports. These wraparound connections might include education and training options, employment and workforce services, mentoring, relationship education, or other community resources that reinforce economic mobility and stability. OCSE is looking for projects that can connect responsible parenting education with concrete pathways that help young people improve their longer-term prospects.

Rather than starting from scratch, the opportunity encourages grantees to build on and improve existing responsible parenting, paternity establishment, and child support awareness models, while also allowing space to develop new materials and tools when needed. In practice, this could include updated curricula, digital content, outreach strategies, or locally tailored messaging that resonates with specific communities. A major expectation is that grantees will produce resources and lessons that can be shared and reused, not only within their own jurisdictions but across the broader network of state and tribal IV-D child support agencies.

Evaluation is a required component. Grantees are expected to collaborate with state or tribal universities to evaluate their interventions, which signals an emphasis on evidence-building, credible measurement, and learning what works. In addition, this is the second cohort of the initiative, following the first cohort awarded in FY 2020. Cohort 2 awardees (FY 2021) are required to participate in peer learning opportunities with Cohort 1, creating a structured environment for sharing approaches, troubleshooting implementation challenges, and spreading promising practices more quickly across locations.

Eligibility is limited to state governments, federally recognized tribal governments, and other tribal organizations. The funding opportunity number is HHS 2021 ACF OCSE FD 1858, and it is associated with CFDA numbers 93.563 and 93.564 under the Income Security and Social Services category. The application window opened December 21, 2020, with an original closing date of March 24, 2021, and electronic submissions were due by 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline. Awards could be as high as $1,000,000 each, with an estimated 18 awards anticipated. OCSE also notes a preference for proposals that reach different priority sub-populations or use substantially different approaches or operate in different geographic areas than the FY 2020 recipients, suggesting the agency wants diversity in models and settings to broaden what the field learns from the overall initiative.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families - OCSE in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Charting a Course for Economic Mobility and Responsible Parenting - Cohort 2" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.563, 93.564.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 21, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 24, 2021 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 18 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).

Apply for HHS 2021 ACF OCSE FD 1858

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