Affordable Care Act (ACA) Personal Responsibility Education Program

The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) supports prevention education services for youth ages 10 to 19, to include special populations of youth who are at risk for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Such populations include youth in foster care and juvenile justice systems, victims of human trafficking, and youth in runaway or homeless situations. The program also provides participants with education on at least three of six adulthood preparation topics (adolescent development, healthy life skills, healthy relationships, parent-child communication, financial literacy, and career and educational success) to support successful transition to adulthood.

Eligible applicants include the 49 United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. States or territories that did not apply for and receive funding in FY 2010 or 2011, are no longer eligible to apply for this program for the five-year project period and their allotments are made available as Competitive PREP awards to community-based organizations for the same State or territory. Competitive PREP eligible applicants are organizations or entities, including faith-based organizations or consortia, located in the following states or territories only: Florida, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia, New Hampshire, American Samoa, and Marshall Islands. Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from the merit review and funding under this funding opportunity.

Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity.

PREP projects provide services to adolescents. Applicants are encouraged to serve youth populations who are the highest risk or vulnerable for pregnancies or otherwise have special circumstances, including youth in and aging of out foster care, homeless youth, youth with HIV/AIDS, victims of human trafficking, pregnant youth who are under 21 years of age, parenting youth who are under 21 years of age, and youth residing in areas with high birth rates for youth.

There are 49 State PREP recipients. In FY2025, states and territories submitted a letter of intent to receive awards. For discretionary awards, each application is reviewed against four factors: eligibility, the application deadline, required electronic submission or waiver requested and approved, and the Award Ceiling. If the application does not meet all of these factors, then it is disqualified from the merit review process. After the initial review, applications are reviewed and evaluated by merit review panels using only the criteria described in the Application Review section of the NOFO. Each panel is composed of experts with knowledge and experience in the area under review. Generally, review panels include three reviewers and one chairperson. While merit review scores and their ranking are not binding, ACF does consider them when selecting projects for funding. Scores and rankings are only one element used in the award decision-making process. Other criteria are explained in the Program Description section and in the Application Review section of the NOFO. For example, ACF reserves the right to evaluate applications in the larger context of the overall portfolio by considering the geographic distribution of federal funds (e.g., ensuring coverage of states, counties, or service areas).