Applications for 2010 Drug Free Communities Program Now Available

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced that the 2010 DFC Request for Applications(RFA) is now available.

The RFA can be downloaded from the following Web sites:

• ONDCP’s DFC Primary Web site
• SAMHSA’s Web site
• Grants.Gov Web site .

To assist you in responding to this year’s RFA, ONDCP will post a training video and PowerPoint presentation to the DFC Web site early next week. Additionally, ONDCP and SAMSHA are hosting three “live” versions of the online workshop in the following locations:

• Ft. Worth, TX – January 26th
• Salt Lake City, UT – January 28th
• Washington, DC/National Harbor, MD – February 12th (in conjunction with CADCA’s National Leadership Forum)

These workshops will begin at 8am with registration and end at approximately 1pm in all locations. At the Salt Lake City and National Harbor sites, Native American/American Indian Support Sessions are also being held from 2pm-4pm. Please see the information below to register. There is no fee for the workshop itself (coalitions are responsible for travel costs) and the workshops are NOT mandatory in order to apply for the DFC grant.

In an effort to better focus the DFC RFA on community coalitions working to create changes in the community environment, ONDCP and SAMHSA have pared down this year’s document and provided a series of clear and concise questions that should be easier for an applicant to understand and clearer for a Peer Reviewer to score. As always, please pay special attention to the program’s Statutory Eligibility Criteria found on our website at ondcp.gov/dfc/cer.html and clearly defined within the RFA. Applicants who do not meet all eligibility requirements will not proceed to Peer Review.

If you have questions related to the content of the RFA, please call the hotline at 240-276-1270 or email your questions to dfcnew2010@samhsa.hhs.gov. If you have financial or grants management questions, please call Barbara Orlando at 240-276-1422 or email her at Barbara.orlando@samhsa.hhs.gov.

The deadline for applying is Friday, March 19, 2010.