1. Question: Would a local community-based organization (CBO) also be eligible to apply?
Answer: No. Only California County and City Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs) are eligible; however, applicants are strongly encouraged to establish robust partnerships with other community-based organizations to effectively carry out programmatic functions.
2. Question: Can you tell me if nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply as lead agency or serve as a subcontractor to county or city behavioral health services? If nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply, what are the expectations for partnering with local health jurisdictions?
Answer: No. Only California County and City LHJs are eligible; however, applicants are strongly encouraged to establish robust partnerships with other community-based organizations to effectively carry out programmatic functions.
3. Question: To confirm, you are awarding up to five applicants?Answer: Yes, this RFA is intended to fund five LHJs, each for a five-year term at up to $200,000 per year.
4. Question: Can the informational webinar slide deck be posted on the RFA site?
Answer: The slide deck can be requested by sending an email to cannabis@cdph.ca.gov.
5. Question: Why is there a delay in the implementation of the grant until 2027?
Answer: The July 1, 2027, start date is to allow sufficient time to award grants and execute contracts.
6. Question: Is there a template or form available for the Letter of Intent.
Answer: No, there is no form or template for the Letter of Intent. Please follow instructions on page 23 of the RFA. Letters of Intent must be an email that includes in a PDF attachment:
- The Applicant's (LHJs) name
- Service areas
- The name, position title, email address and phone number of a contact person at the applicant organization
- Name and signature of an authorized agency signatory or official agent
- Letters of Intent should be submitted to Cannabis@cdph.ca.gov.
7. Question: Is Docusign an acceptable form of signature for the Letter of Intent?
Answer: Yes.
8. Question: The work with schools- is this during school hours or outside of school hours (i.e. after school or lunchtime)?
Answer: Program activities involving schools may be conducted at any time that aligns with program objectives and operational needs; activities are not limited to after school or lunch periods.
9. Question: Are there restrictions that only cannabis can be talked about for this funding or can tobacco, other drugs etc. also be discussed alongside cannabis?
Answer: Applicants must implement a cannabis education strategy to improve awareness and knowledge of the risks associated with usage among youth and young adults. The inclusion of education for substances beyond cannabis is optional, but highly recommended.
10. Question: Since the non-profit letter from each subcontractor is due with the application, would we have to identify the agency we are subcontracting with in the application/budget? Can changes be made to this, if needed, since it would be pending our internal procurement process?
Answer: Yes. The subcontracted agencies must be identified in the letters of support; however, this designation may be modified if necessary.
11. Question: Are there any specific partners you would suggest Letters of Support be requested from?
Answer: Applications must include three letters of support or Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) from non-applying organizations, indicating their agreement with the activities and partnerships. The three required letters must be on the partner organization's letterhead and include the signature, name, and title of a contact person. The organizations may be modified if necessary.
12. Question: To follow up on my question about the non-profit letter and naming of the agency in the application, may we make changes to this since it may be impacted based on our procurement process?
Answer: Yes, organizations may be modified if necessary.
13. Question: How will you take into account rural or small counties data and applications so that we have a chance and the limited awards are not given out to large counties.
Answer: All applications are evaluated using the scoring criteria for each section: Project Narrative, Work Plan, Evaluation Plan, Budget Detail, and Budget Narrative. Each application can receive a maximum of 100 points. The five applicants with the highest total scores will be awarded funding.
14. Question: During the RFA webinar you shared that counties must have sub-contractors identified in the application. Per Shasta County policies we must have a competitive bidding process for subcontracts and that is impossible to do prior to the application due date. Can you confirm whether we have to have the exact provider identified or if we can focus on the number of subcontractors and their responsibilities in the application without identifying the exact organization. Essentially for us, if we have to know the exact organization we likely cannot subcontract at all and there are multiple CBOs in our county with experience doing Youth Engagement and Mobilization.
Answer: Applications must include three letters of support or Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) from non-applying organizations, indicating their agreement with the activities and partnerships. This is to demonstrate collaboration and capacity; however, the organizations may be modified if necessary.
15. Question: Does the Cannabis Education and Youth Prevention team suggest a method for calculating baseline reach?
Answer: CDPH suggests measuring baseline reach by quantifying the number of materials disseminated or shared including information about where, when, and how the materials were shared. Applicants can also track the number of events held at which information is shared, along with the number of attendees. For materials and information shared on websites, applicants can measure the number of material downloads and/or website visits. Baseline reach would be the number of materials disseminated (including in-person dissemination, website visits, and website downloads) for the fiscal year 2025-2026 (July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026)
16. Question: If a jurisdiction is currently funded by a LCEYP grant and recently placed campaign materials, is the reach from that activity considered baseline reach?
Answer: Baseline reach would be the number of materials disseminated (including in-person dissemination, website visits, and website downloads) for the fiscal year 2025-2026 (July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026). Any dissemination of materials as part of a currently funded CEYPP grant would be included in the baseline measurement if disseminated or shared during this period
17. Question: If baseline reach is calculated from recent placement of campaign materials, it may impact jurisdictions' ability to increase reach. Will the California Department of Public Health consider this when reviewing applications?
Answer: CDPH recognizes that some jurisdictions may already be disseminating campaign materials and this may affect the ability to increase reach. CDPH suggests that applicants note this in their applications. In this case the goal for Option A may be to maintain current level of reach or to achieve a more modest increase in reach.
18. Question: Are cannabis campaign media assets available for dissemination? For example, social media ads to use for paid media.
Answer: Yes, Campaign assets are available for use.
19. Question: For the Alternatives to Suspension Program in Schools, is it required that schools or school districts adopt a policy, or are we solely accountable for meeting the activities aimed at achieving related goals and objectives?
Answer: You are only responsible for the activities and deliverables listed in the Scope of Work
20. Question: Will we need to address or incorporate all 5 strategies in our application or can we select a few?
Answer: The RFA requires incorporation of all five program strategies over the full five year grant period. While annual work plans are not required to implement every strategy each year, all five strategies must be implemented at least once during the grant term.
Budget and Budget Narrative
21. Question: Are we required to name the agency or agencies we are subcontracting with in the application and budget? If so, are we also required to submit their SAM insurance, in addition to ours? If our internal processes require us to use a competitive method for procuring services, and the agencies we identified in the application and budget end up not being selected, may we make amendments to the named agencies under the subcontract line in our budget?
Answer: If subcontractors are known at the time of application, they should be named and the required details should be included. If subcontractors are not yet known, this information may be submitted to CDPH later. If a competitive process results in different subcontractors than those initially listed, grantees may submit updated subcontractor information to CDPH for review and approval.
22. Question: For programs that receive tobacco prevention money, are there restrictions for using that staff? Would there be different staff for this program or could this build onto a tobacco program?
Answer: The RFA does not restrict applicants from using staff who are also funded through other prevention programs. Applicants may use existing staff if they have the capacity to complete the proposed cannabis‑prevention activities and can accurately track and allocate staff time across funding sources. Staff may support both programs if time and activities are properly documented and charged to the correct funding source.
23. Question: Is it possible to have a slow start up for the budget as the program capacity builds, using different amounts of funds in different years? Or is it required to use $200k/year?
Answer: We anticipate rollover will be permitted; however budgets should be developed at up to $200,000 per year.
24. Question: So no rollover of funding if money is unspent?
Answer: The RFA states that grantees may have an opportunity to rollover funds and CDPH will notify grantees if those opportunities are available. However budgets should be developed at up to a maximum of $200,000 per fiscal year.
25. Question: Just recently we had our IDC for state grants renegotiated to 55%. This is not explicitly listed in Attachment K, but it does state that we requested an ICR Exemption. Are we able to use the new 55% ICR when applying for these funds? If not, would it default back to our previous negotiated ICR of 25%?
Answer: Applicants must use the 2026–27 CDPH‑approved indirect cost rate listed in Attachment K. Indirect costs cannot exceed the rate shown in Attachment K.
26. Question: Are there any restrictions to staff positions? For example, since you will have a subcontractor for evaluation, can we also have an epidemiologist on the budget?
Answer: There are no prescribed restrictions on staffing; however, staffing patterns must be structured to align with proposed activities and ensure adequate support for all programmatic functions.
27. Question: The RFA states that CDPH will not reimburse for meals or refreshments served at meetings, workshops, or trainings, and that promotional items (“swag") are not reimbursable. It also notes that Behavioral Modifications Materials (BMM) may be reimbursable if they are incentives to motivate and/or reinforce service recipients' positive behavior with CDPH prior approval. Considering this, from a budgeting perspective, it seems that parent/caregiver incentives should be categorized as BMM (participant incentives) within the Budget Detail and Budget Narrative. Please confirm this is a correct interpretation.
Answer: Parent or caregiver incentives should be budgeted as Behavioral Modification Materials (BMM), provided they meet the RFA requirements - specifically, that they are used to motivate, and/or reinforce services recipients' positive behaviors, and not related to or promote cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, or other substances and with CDPH prior approval.
28. Question: Under the BMM guidance, would modest incentives for parents and caregivers be allowed if they are directly tied to specific, documented YCPI activities (e.g., parent education sessions, focus groups, and evaluation survey completion)?
Answer: Behavioral Modification Materials (BMM) Incentives may be reimbursable if the incentive is to motivate, and/or reinforce services recipients' positive behaviors, and not related to or promote cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, or other substances and with CDPH prior approval.
29. Question: Would parent incentives need to be structured so that full participation is required to receive the incentive (similar to our established youth coalition incentives from previous round)?
Answer: The RFA does not specify how Behavioral Modification Materials (BMM) incentives must be structured or require that full participation be completed to receive them. Incentives for parents or caregivers may be allowable as BMM as long as they are used to motivate, and/or reinforce services recipients' positive behaviors, and not related to or promote cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, or other substances and with CDPH prior approval.. Grantees may determine an appropriate incentive structure that aligns with their program design and meets BMM requirements.
30. Question: If such parent incentives are allowable, can CDPH provide examples of allowable expense types and reasonable parameters, such as small‑value gift cards (e.g., to offset time, transportation, or childcare); transit support or other participation-related supports?
Answer: The RFA does not list specific examples of Behavioral Modification Materials (BMM), typical allowable parent or caregiver incentives may include small‑value participation‑related supports-such as gift cards, or other modest items designed to motivate, and/or reinforce services recipients' positive behaviors, and not related to or promote cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, or other substances and with CDPH prior approval.
31. Question: Are there any explicit limitations or prohibitions beyond meals/refreshments and swag?
Answer: In addition to prohibitions on meals/refreshments and promotional items, funds may not be used for lobbying activities, building or facility purchases or renovations, vehicles, or major equipment costing over $5,000.
32. Question: In regard to SAM insurance - Could you clarify if this is an attachment provided by CDPH? I have received the RFA by email with attachments up to O, but that was prior to the webinar.
Answer: There is no CDPH designated attachment form for the SAM insurance. This should be submitted in whatever form the applying LHJ has as proof of insurance.