1. Grant Objectives. The successful Applicant will implement strategies to increase the number of individuals in the peer workforce, reduce barriers to certification enrollment and completion, and provide resources and assistance to aid in obtaining and retaining employment, including tracking and reporting completion of the work and objectives of the program. The successful Applicant may utilize subgrantees or subcontractors to perform work described in the Grant Agreement. Utilization of partners is encouraged to the extent it enhances the capacity and performance of the successful Applicant’s project. For all subawards and subcontracts, the successful Applicant must comply with the procurement standards, competitive selection requirements, subaward procedures (including reviewing subrecipients for risk), and other requirements of Texas Grant Management Standards, if applicable, and applicable law. Applicant must identify any known subgrantees and subcontractors that it intends to utilize for any portion of the work in its Grant Application. Applicant may also select subgrantees and subcontractors following the grant award. See Texas Grant Management Standards, Sub-grantee and Contractor Determination, for a discussion of subgrantee versus contractor (vendor) relationships. The successful Applicant will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and activities supported by the Grant Agreement and is accountable to the OAFC for the performance of all requirements of the Grant Agreement and ensuring appropriate expenditures of grant funds. The successful Applicant must maintain a sound financial management system that provides appropriate fiscal controls and accounting procedures to ensure accurate preparation of reports required by the Grant Agreement and adequate identification of the source and application of grant funds awarded to the successful Applicant. 2. Needs Assessment. Applicants shall submit with their Applications a plan to complete a single needs assessment for the project. The Grant Recipient shall complete the needs assessment within the first six months of the grant term. The plan shall include a method to obtain existing data sources from counties and regional health agencies across the state. The needs assessment should focus on identifying recruitment and retention challenges impacting the peer workforce by region, county, and population. The needs assessment should be used to determine where and how to direct grant funding to implement the strategies outlined in Section III.C.3. The assessment should include, but is not limited to the following: a. Assessment of current workforce and workforce needs. b. Barriers to completing and maintaining peer certification. c. Pay and compensation structure for certified peer support specialists and peer supervisors. d. Specific challenges related to recruiting, certifying and retaining peer specialists by region, county, and population. e. Gaps in training and continuing education opportunities for peers and organizations employing peers. f. Strategies for recruiting individuals into the field. g. Strategies for retaining peers in the workforce. h. Resources available to support the peer-to-peer workforce. A report detailing the findings from the needs assessment shall be provided to CPA. Results of the needs assessment will be used as a baseline to track success of the program and measure the Grant Recipient’s performance. Cost efficient use of funding for this purpose and the proposed workplan for completing the needs assessment will be considered when evaluating applications (see Section VII.B.2).
