Children and Families Administration September 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The 1998 Head Start Reauthorization (42 U.S.C. 9844(g); section 649(g)(1) of the Head Start Act, as amended) called on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to form an independent panel of experts (i.e., an Advisory Committee) to offer advice concerning research designs that would provide a national analysis of the impact of Head Start Programs. The September 28-29, 2005 meeting provides an opportunity for the Advisory Committee to provide advice on the analysis plans for the study following the June 2005 release on the first impact findings.

The Administration for Children and Families announces publication of the Biennial Report to Congress on the Status of Children in Head Start Programs, Fiscal Year (FY) 2003. The report is mandated under Section 650 of the Head Start Act, as amended, which requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit a report to Congress at least once during every two-year period on the status of children in Head Start programs. During FY 2003 more than 909,000 children were enrolled in Head Start programs including 62,000 children in Early Head Start programs serving children between birth and three years of age.

This final notice announces the availability of funds and award procedures for FY 2005 Targeted Assistance Program (TAP) grants to States for services to refugees under the Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP). These grants are for service provision in localities with large refugee populations, high refugee concentrations, and where specific needs exist for supplementation of currently available resources. Qualification of counties for eligibility for targeted assistance program grants is determined once every three years as stated in the FY 1999 Notice of Proposed Availability of Targeted Assistance Allocations to States which was published in the Federal Register on March 10, 1999 (64 FR 11927). The FY 2002-FY 2004 three-year project cycle has expired. FY 2005 is the year for the re-qualification of counties for the three-year project cycle, FY 2005, FY 2006, and FY 2007 for TAP funds. Qualifications of counties are based on the arrivals of refugees (see Footnote 1, eligible population) during the 5-year period from FY 2000 through FY 2004, and on the concentration of the arrivals population as a percentage of the general population. Counties that qualify for TAP FY 2005 funds on the basis of the most current 5-year population are listed in this proposed notice in Table 1, Table 2, Table 4, and Table 6. Under this final notice, a total of 48 counties (Table 1) qualify for targeted assistance grants. Of these, 6 new counties (Table 2) qualify for targeted assistance grants, and 11 counties (Table 3) which previously received targeted assistance grants no longer qualify for targeted assistance program funding. Application Deadline: Application deadline for targeted assistance program funding will be September 12, 2005. A full application is required this qualifying year, FY 2005. Six (6) new counties are eligible for targeted assistance. Counties that have received TAP funds in the past and will continue to qualify for TAP have not been required to submit a full application since FY 2002. Application requirements in the second and third of a 3-year project cycle will be less extensive.

Notice is hereby given that a noncompetitive grant supplement is being made to the following state agencies: State of Nebraska Health & Human Services, University of Kentucky Research Foundation, State of Oregon, New York Office of Children & Family Services, State of Louisiana, Iowa Dept. of Human Rights Criminal & Juvenile Justice, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Illinois Department of Human Services, Governor's Office for Children Youth & Families. The purpose of this supplement is to support collaborations between state-level agencies and local community jurisdictions regarding positive development opportunities available to young people as approved in their original planning grant.