The Federal Health Department is offering this grant to support Tribal Planning and Implementation for Community Health Aide Programs.

• A federally recognized Indian Tribe as defined by 25 U.S.C. 1603(14). The term “Indian Tribe” means any Indian Tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or group, or regional or village corporation, as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States (U.S.) to Indians because of their status as Indians.

• A Tribal organization as defined by 25 U.S.C. 1603(26). The term “Tribal organization” has the meaning given the term in Section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(l)): “Tribal organization” means the recognized governing body of any Indian Tribe; any legally established organization of Indians which is controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by such governing body or which is democratically elected by the adult members of the Indian community to be served by such organization and which includes the maximum participation of Indians in all phases of its activities: provided that, in any case where a contract is let or grant made to an organization to perform services benefiting more than one Indian Tribe, the approval of each such Indian Tribe shall be a prerequisite to the letting or making of such contract or grant. Applicant shall submit letters of support and/or Tribal Resolutions from the Tribes to be served.

Additional Information on Eligibility
The IHS does not fund concurrent projects. If an applicant is successful under this announcement, any subsequent applications in response to other Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) announcements from the same applicant will not be funded. Applications on behalf of individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign organizations are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Specifically, an applicant may not apply to both this opportunity, CHAP Tribal Planning & Implementation, and the CHAP Tribal Assessment and Planning (TAP) opportunity (number HHS-2023-IHS-TAP-0001).

The purpose of the Tribal Planning & Implementation (TPI) program is to support the planning and implementation for Tribes and Tribal Organizations (T/TO) positioned to begin operating a Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) or support a growing CHAP in the contiguous 48 states. The program is designed to support the regional flexibility required to implement a CHAP unique to the needs of individual Tribal communities across the country through the identification of feasibility factors. The focus of the program is to:

1. Develop clinical supervisor support for primary care, behavioral health, and dental health clinicians providing both direct and indirect supervision of prospective health aides;

2. Identify area and community-specific health care needs of patients that can be addressed by the health aides;

3. Identify and develop a technology infrastructure plan for the mobility and success of health aides in anticipation of providing services;

4. Develop a training plan to include partners across the T/TO’s geographic region to enhance the training opportunities available to prospective health aides to include continuing education and clinical practice;

5. Identify best practices for integrating a CHAP workforce into an existing Tribal health system;

6. Address social determinants of health that impact the recruitment and retention of prospective health aides; and

7. Identify the total cost of full implementation of a CHAP within an existing Tribal health system.