Advancing State Implementation of the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers | HHS 2025 ACL AOA CGNS 0016

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2025 ACL AOA CGNS 0016

The Advancing State Implementation of the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers grant opportunity is a discretionary funding program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living (ACL). It is offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning ACL will likely have an active partnership role with recipients during the project period. The NOFO is designed to put into practice the demonstration authority in Section 373(i) of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (as amended) by helping states move from broad national recommendations into real, on-the-ground caregiver supports that are coordinated across agencies. The central organizing framework for all funded work is the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, and applicants are expected to use that Strategy to guide what they build, improve, and implement statewide.

The focus of the program is statewide implementation, not just isolated local pilots. Grantees are expected to convene and formalize cross-agency partnerships within state government and with relevant statewide systems to decide which specific Strategy goals, recommendations, and actions they will prioritize. In practice, that could mean aligning aging services with health, disability, behavioral health, veteran services, Medicaid and long-term services and supports, workforce entities, or other state-level partners that touch family caregiving. The intent is to improve how caregiver supports are planned and delivered across systems, reduce fragmentation, and strengthen the overall state infrastructure that families rely on when caring for older adults or other individuals needing assistance.

Projects are structured as two-year efforts with an initial planning and coordination phase of up to the first six months. During this early period, states can focus on building partnerships, selecting the Strategy actions they will address, defining roles, setting up implementation structures, and preparing for execution. A key requirement comes at the end of the planning window: recipients must submit a sustainability plan that explains how the work will continue after federal funds end. After that, the remainder of the two-year period is intended for implementation and execution, where states carry out the activities proposed, demonstrate progress, and embed improvements into routine operations so that benefits to caregivers can last beyond the grant.

Eligibility is narrowly limited. Only State Units on Aging (SUAs), specifically the state entities that administer Title III-E of the Older Americans Act (the National Family Caregiver Support Program), may apply. The NOFO notes that ACL confirmed this limited competition approach is allowable and frames the funding as being sought from a previously identified list of existing awardees (the SUAs) to improve administration of their current awards. Foreign entities are explicitly ineligible to apply or receive funding under this announcement.

In terms of funding scale and competition, ACL expects to make about four awards, with an award ceiling of $490,000. The opportunity is cataloged under Assistance Listing (CFDA) 93.052 and is categorized under Income Security and Social Services. The funding opportunity number is HHS-2025-ACL-AOA-CGNS-0016. The posting date is June 17, 2025, and the application closing date is July 16, 2025. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted, time-limited investment to help state aging agencies coordinate across state systems, choose high-value actions from the National Strategy, implement them statewide, and demonstrate a clear plan for sustaining those changes once the two-year federal project period ends.

• The Administration for Community Living in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advancing State Implementation of the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.052.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-06-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-07-16. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $490,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for HHS 2025 ACL AOA CGNS 0016

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