The Coronavirus Response & Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 provided ACL $275 million to be allotted to three categories:
- $168 million for Nutrition Services under the authority of Title III-C-2 of the Older Americans Act;
- $7 million for Native American Nutrition and Supportive Services under the authority of Title VI, Parts A&B of the Older Americans Act; and
- $100 million in first-time direct funding for Elder Justice Activities/Adult Protective Services under the authorities of the Elder Justice Act.
These funds will allow ACL, States, Territories, and Tribes additional abilities to offer supports aligned with the goals of enhancing community living during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, ACL awarded the $175 million for Nutrition Services and Native American Nutrition and Supportive Services to enhance ongoing community efforts begun with the support of previous COVID-19 supplemental appropriations. Tables showing this week’s nutrition awards will be available on 1 February 2021 at acl.gov/about-acl/budget.
ACL is thrilled to make available this first-time funding under the Elder Justice Act in the following manner:
- $93,880,000 to States for enhancing Adult Protective Services (APS) as authorized in Section 2042(b) of the Social Security Act. Because ACL has not previously awarded formula grants to all State APS offices, ACL is publishing a Federal Register announcement describing the amount of funding available to each State based on the formula in the statute and is requiring a Letter of Assurance and Initial Plan from States outlining their proposed activities to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19. Details of this process can be reviewed in the Federal Register announcement.
- $4,000,000 for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program authorized in Section 2043(a)(1)(A). Because these awards are to existing awardees (State Units on Aging under Title VII of the Older Americans Act), ACL used the same allocation formula as previous COVID-19 supplemental awards to determine the amount to be made available to each State. Similarly, States will need to respond with a Letter of Assurance indicating the activities they will conduct. Details for accessing these funds can be found in the Federal Register announcement.
- In addition, to support APS agencies, ACL will be establishing a National Training Center for Adult Protective Services as authorized under Section 2042(a)(1(C)&(E). We will be publishing a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to receive applications, in the coming months.
Public inspection of the Federal Register Documents is currently available through 31 January 2021 for both the Program Application Instructions for Adult Protective Services Funding and the Program Application Instructions for Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Funds. On 1 February 2021 you can find the published documents by searching federalregister.gov for “Program Application Instructions for Adult Protective Services Funding” (Document number 2021-02091) and “Program Application Instructions for Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Funds” (Document number 2021-02092) or use “community living” as your search term.