The purpose of this state and federally funded, competitive grant is to enable districts to plan, implement and sustain comprehensive sexual health education programs. This grant is administered in partnership with the Department of Public Health (DPH) and supported, in part, by the federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). Through this grant, districts will receive professional development and technical assistance to build capacity and infrastructure to foster an environment for comprehensive sexual health education. Districts or districts in partnerships with community-based organizations will select and implement an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program while incorporating selected adulthood preparation subjects in middle schools (MS) and/or high schools (HS). See the PREP Program Overview in the Additional Information section below for more information.
The priority of this grant is to create or improve teen pregnancy prevention education programs at the MS and/or HS level in public school districts in communities with greatest need for sexual and reproductive health services as determined by DPH's Sexual and Reproductive Health Need Index.
Participating districts will designate a Partners for Youth Success Planning Team of at least 2–3 persons to be responsible for:
Bringing together a local team of health teachers, administrators, health professionals, parents/caregivers, youth, community partners and others. Local teams should consist of at least one middle or high school health teacher and one district level administrator (e.g., curriculum director/coordinator, health education department head, etc.). Local teams will:
Perform an environmental scan to assess staff capacity, policies and resources needed for the implementation of an evidence based comprehensive sexual health education curriculum
Assess the risk and protective factors in their communities in order to choose an appropriate curriculum from the options provided (see the Evidence-Based Program Descriptions in the Additional Information section below.)
Develop action plans to address areas of need/growth, acquire needed professional development and to implement the chosen evidence based curriculum in year 2 and beyond.
Attending all required trainings sponsored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and/or DPH.
Competitive priority will be given to:
Public school districts (including charter school districts) and collaboratives in or that primarily serve students in the eligible communities may apply.
Eligible communities are those in the top two tiers of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Need Index (See the Sexual and Reproductive Health Need Index in the Additional Information section below for more information) and which have a school district with an LEA Need Index of 80 or higher. For the purposes of this grant program, a district's LEA Need Index equals the sum of the district's 2022 percent of high needs students, out-of-school suspension rate, and chronic absenteeism rate [missing 20 percent of days] for 2022.
Fund Code 211 — State Line Item 4513-1005Fund Code 716 — Federal CFDA: 93.092
Federal grant funds must adhere to:
Approximately $77,500 is available. Approximately 20% of funds will be prioritized for schools and districts in chronically underperforming status.
Districts, including charters and collaboratives, may apply for up to $15,500.
This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.
Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.
Funds can be used to:
Upon Approval — 6/30/2024
Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for continuation grant(s) in Fiscal Year(s) 2025-2026. Continuation grant funding amounts may be reduced each year to encourage sustainability.
Office of Student and Family Support
Chiniqua Milligan
Friday, March 8, 2024*
Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.
*All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.
The Department will hold a Question and Answers Session via webinar on Thursday, February 29, 2024 from 11:30am to 12:30pm. Please use the online registration form to register. During this session, the Department will answer applicants' questions.
Questions may be submitted in advance of the session via the registration from or by emailing achievement@mass.gov with the subject line "PREP – Planning and Capacity Building". Due to the competitive nature of this grant, questions and responses will be shared during this session so that all potential applicants have the opportunity to hear the information.
The Q& A document will also post to Student and Family Support (SFS) - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (under Personal Responsibility Education Program).
PREP Program Overview
Evidence-Based Program Description
Description of Sexual and Reproductive Health Need Index
Planning grant template
Grant Assurance template (to be uploaded into GEMS)
The FY24 Fund Code 0716/0211 Partners for Youth Success: PREP Planning and Capacity Building grant will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.
Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)
Important note: Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application by the due date listed in the RFP
Last Updated: February 9, 2024
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Voice: (781) 338-3000 TTY: (800) 439-2370
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