Conference on the Well-Being of Asian American Senior Citizens – Session 3A

Betty Wu: Welcome everyone to Breakout Session 3A, “Government Grants and Program Evaluation.” My name is Betty We, a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Performance, and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grants at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). My office oversees the over-arching policy, and also the administration of grants managing processes for the entire department.

I’m going to spend the next half hour in helping you navigate through what some might call a very complex system to receive federal grants. The best way to start is to log on to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website, www.hhs.gov. Everything you want to know about the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can be found on this website. In fact, I’m very proud to share with you that the HHS is the largest federal agency in terms of budget, close to 700 billion dollars. Of those 700 billion dollars, over 300 billion goes into grants, which is what we do. As Secretary Michael Leavitt says, “We’re in the business of helping the American people.” We’re currently employing the latest and most cutting edge research, so that Americans can have a robust life as we age.

Before Michael Leavitt came to office, after being appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate, he was the governor of Utah. HHS works hand in hand with the White House when it comes to policies that affect health and research. I recommend that all of you visit our website on a quarterly basis, because every three months we will update on the latest priorities for HHS. The reason why I want you all to be familiar with this document is that everything that we do will be according to this document.

There is about 900 plus days left in the Bush administration. I can tell you that we’re on this train that’s going over 1,000 miles. We know that the health concerns of the American people is a real priority. In this leading document, you will be able to see what we mean by a transformed healthcare system. Now you might think this is great, I can click through the HHS website. But, did you know that under HHS, there are actually eleven agencies? I work for a 700 billion dollar conglomerate. Under this conglomerate, there are eleven divisions or subsidy areas, and all these subsidy areas, under HHS, they’re all their own entities. For instance, today, we’re talking about aging. How many of you’re familiar with the Administration of Aging? Those of you who aren’t familiar with this administration, you probably should, especially since you’re in this field. The reason that I want to show you this and every other website is that within HHS agencies, you’ll have a toolbar that says Grant Programs.

This is important, because unless, you go to the website, it’s very difficult to get information. What other tools can you use in order to find out what’s available from the federal government? Do you hear about grants through your friends, or maybe through the newspapers? When you’re reading the papers, it’s probably too late because the grants might have already been awarded. So how do all of you receive this information?

Audience: Word of mouth, especially if you know other agencies.

Betty Wu: Well, what I want to do is to empower you. Empower you to take advantage of the public information on our website, to go in and really understand and to search for what’s available. I don’t want to spend too much time in each of these agency’s website, but just remember that there are eleven agencies in HHS, everything to do with children, seniors, research, health resource and services administration. especially if you’re in a community health center. Health resource and services administration provides grants to these programs, such as CMS, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. If you’re participating in the Medicare Part D Implementation Program, and you ask if there’ll be grants available, just go to CMS and you’ll be able to find out.

Now, I’m going to show you a shortcut in terms of being able to go into one portal and finding all the information you want, by visiting Grants.gov. Grants.gov was started in 2001 when President Bush came into office. President Bush believes in accountability, transparency and leveling the playing field, so he told the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create an E-portal, where anyone 24/7 can go to with a few clicks to find opportunities. How many of you know about this website.

My office, HHS, is the lead agency along with OMB in implementing this. I have a staff around twenty, and their job is to make sure that the website is up to date with all the relevant, latest information. We also work with twenty-five other agencies in the Federal government, meaning that it’s now an initiative that 75% of all Federal announcements, and opportunities must be posted on Grants.gov. Going forward to the next fiscal year, our target is 100%. So really, without even going to HHS.gov, or to the Administration of Aging, Grants.gov will give you a one stop portal to navigate into finding opportunities. The way that this website or initiative works is that all the twenty-six agencies involved, have to contribute to this portal, which is administrated by HHS.

To us this website, you have to register as an organization. What we’re trying to do is to fine tune this as well. We welcome you to work with us. I think there’s a 1-800 number in case you have any problems. I think it’s important when you encounter problems, that you should call us. The reason why I’m here from Washington D.C is to talk about what we’re doing as an administration, also we want to hear from you too, the people we’re providing these opportunities for.

Audience: One of the good things about the website is that once you go through with the registration process, then it’s really easy to find things. The first time around is very challenging.

Betty Wu: This brochure will let you know what you need to do, step by step. Your organization must be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). As this lady said, the first couple of times you might scratch your head and think that the government is playing around with you, and that they don’t want you to get a grant. But I assure you, that’s not the case here. Secretary Leavitt and President Bush believe in transparency. Why should only one organization keep on receiving all of these grants, especially when there are more needy communities? You don’t want to get shut out from the system. I believe that this website will help you, or at least that you can share this information with other people.

Regarding program evaluation, I don’t know how much all of you know about this website, www.expectmore.gov. This website was just launched last February by OMB. This administration has done more than any other administration in terms of providing access. How many Federal programs do you think there are? Thousands. Just at HHS alone, we have over 300 programs with a budget of around 300 billion dollars. It’s really difficult every time when you read about certain budget gets cut, while others get instituted, and you scratch your head and ask where do all of these people get this information? A politician would say, “This organization wants this type of funding, and therefore they will get it.” With expectmore.gov, it becomes even more transparent now. You or anyone else, will be able to see how some of these programs are being assessed in terms of performance.

Now you might say, well who has time to read all of this? I can tell you that we’re coming up with the New York ‘08 budget for Federal funding, and this is a tool that Congress, the Senate, the White house and Federal agencies are using to justify why certain programs will have continued funding, and other will be cut. As a country, to go into the 21^st Century, we must do away with programs that were instituted back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s that have a different set of standards that might not be applicable to today’s demographics. With this type of tool, it gives us, the government, and you as individual, information that has never been available before.

Audience: Are the evaluations done by independent evaluators, outside contract? How does that work?

Betty Wu: I can tell you how it works in HHS. In the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Budget Technology Grants, I oversee grants, but have a Deputy Assistant Secretary to oversee budgets. In his office, he has staff and their job is to assess these programs. In partnership with OMB, we have a say in about every President’s Management Agenda (PMA). Every quarter, just like public companies which report earnings and performance, the PMA is our tool here. This type of information is essential if your organization will be planning strategically for the next year with your board members. You may want to go to with website and justify why we don’t want to even consider administrating this program. Or if you have a grant that has been available to you for the past few years or decades, but because it hasn’t performed well, there might be a chance that the program might be cut. So, I think there’s a lot of information here that you can use.

Each agency within HHS has a different set of evaluation. The office I work at, what we do is to make sure that policies are being applied and implemented by all the agencies. My office also reviews announcements of grants.

Right now what we’re trying to do is use expectmore.gov, and try to align all of these programs at HHS with a series of grant opportunities. There are thousands of grants that flow across HHS every year. What I’m trying to do is innovate.

I’m going to show you another website that you can also use. Let’s go to Grants and Budgets, www.hhs.gov/grantsnet. This page is being updated by my office, and gives you a one stop website to gather all the information about what grants and announcements are available, so that you can click the on agencies and get there without have to go to each individual agency. When it has been totally updated, the application process, and funding opportunity will be here. This will be an exciting website to visit.

The Office of Grants will give you a better understanding of what my office is about and also our responsibilities. From here, you can go to Grants.gov, which will also show you all the funding that’s available through the various staff divisions, other offices within HHS that are also providing funding opportunities. Once we update our grant portal, you’ll be able to review our policies. This site will give you everything you need to navigate. There are three websites to take away from today, HHS.gov, grants.gov, and expectmore.gov. Thank you all for coming.