Healthy Lifestyles in Youth Project | HHS 2017 IHS HLY 0001

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2017 IHS HLY 0001

The Healthy Lifestyles in Youth Project is an Indian Health Service (IHS) cooperative agreement designed to strengthen health promotion and health education for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children, with a specific focus on youth ages 7 to 11. The central idea is early intervention: helping kids build healthy habits around nutrition and physical activity before preventable conditions take hold. The long-term goal is to prevent or delay obesity and related chronic diseases, especially type 2 diabetes, by making healthy eating and daily movement a normal, supported part of childhood in community-based settings.

Under this opportunity, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) continues its partnership with Native American Boys and Girls Club sites located within Tribal communities. These Clubs are expected to deliver structured health and physical education programming that helps youth achieve and maintain healthier lifestyles, develop a broad range of physical skills, and strengthen teamwork and cooperation. The approach is intentionally practical and community-centered: children are not only taught concepts like balanced nutrition and the importance of activity, but they are also given consistent opportunities to practice those behaviors through organized lessons, games, and group activities.

A key component of the program is the Together Raising Awareness for Indian Life (TRAIL) curriculum, a three-month sequence of 12 lessons created specifically for youth in Native American Boys and Girls Clubs. TRAIL is meant to give participants a clear, age-appropriate understanding of healthy lifestyles with diabetes prevention as a guiding theme. The curriculum blends nutrition education, physical activity promotion, and prevention content with activities that support self-esteem and positive decision-making. It also draws on Tribal traditions and history, helping youth connect health concepts to cultural identity while covering topics such as healthy food choices, the influence of media on eating behaviors, and the real-world impact of diabetes on individuals and communities.

Physical activity is reinforced through Club-wide programming, including the Nike Let Me Play and SPARK activity models. These are used to encourage fun, inclusive movement and games with an emphasis on reaching about 60 minutes of activity each day. Beyond individual behavior change, TRAIL emphasizes teamwork and service, pushing the program outward into the community through projects like starting community gardens and organizing broader fitness events. These activities are intended to reconnect youth to where food comes from, increase access to healthier options, and create positive community norms around staying active.

The opportunity builds on a long operational history. Since TRAIL began in 2003, it has been implemented in more than 79 Native American Boys and Girls Club of America sites across 17 states, with more than 50 sites currently participating across 15 or more states. Reported outcomes include improved participant knowledge about diabetes and healthy food choices, along with gains in fitness and physical activity levels. This continuation funding is intended to maintain and expand that momentum by supporting at least 50 Club sites in establishing and implementing the curriculum and related activities.

Operationally, NCAI is responsible for selecting and supporting participating Club sites and for providing the infrastructure that keeps the program consistent and measurable across locations. That includes technical assistance and consultation, training, monitoring, and evaluation, plus administering funds to support local implementation. A key restriction is geographic and eligibility-based: Club sites located outside Tribal communities are not to be considered, and IHS grant funds can only be used to provide services to eligible IHS beneficiaries.

From a grants perspective, this is a discretionary cooperative agreement (meaning IHS has substantial involvement in the project’s direction and oversight rather than simply issuing funds). It is structured as a single-source competing continuation award, with NCAI identified as the only eligible applicant due to its established performance record and its unique capacity to sustain the program. The rationale includes NCAI’s existing relationships with the Boys and Girls Clubs organization and staff, its proven ability to implement the TRAIL curriculum, and its stewardship of the project website and the program’s data and evaluation systems. To receive continuation funding, NCAI must demonstrate compliance with prior grant terms and conditions.

In terms of the published opportunity details, the funding opportunity number is HHS-2017-IHS-HLY-0001, under CFDA 93.933. The agency is the Indian Health Service. The expected number of awards is one, with an award ceiling of $1,250,000. The original closing date listed for the announcement was May 15, 2017, and the opportunity was created on March 17, 2017. Eligible applicants are effectively limited to NCAI as the designated single source for this continuation effort.

• The Indian Health Service in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Healthy Lifestyles in Youth Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.933.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-03-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-05-15. (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 $1,250,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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