Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life) | HHS 2025 ACF OFA ZD 0013

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2025 ACF OFA ZD 0013

The Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life) opportunity is a competitive federal grant program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA). It is issued as a discretionary cooperative agreement under CFDA 93.086 (Income Security and Social Services) and is authorized by Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. The overall purpose is to fund community-based projects that help young people build skills for healthy relationships and family life while also strengthening their readiness for employment and longer-term economic stability.

READY4Life is focused specifically on serving youth who are either high school aged (grades 9-12) or in late adolescence and early adulthood, defined here as ages 14 to 24. The program explicitly includes youth who are pregnant and/or already parenting. Funded projects are expected to deliver healthy marriage and relationship education (often referred to as marriage and relationship education/skills, or MRES), along with parenting supports where applicable for young mothers and fathers. In addition to relationship and parenting content, the program emphasizes practical life and economic mobility components, including financial management education and job and career advancement activities. In other words, the grant is designed to combine relationship skill-building with concrete supports that can help young people navigate school-to-work transitions, make informed financial choices, and plan for stable futures.

A major expectation for applicants is the ability to demonstrate real organizational capacity to carry out the proposed work in the specific community they intend to serve. This typically means showing that the organization has the staffing, partnerships, experience, and operational infrastructure needed to implement programming at scale and with consistency, rather than offering only a loosely defined set of activities. Because this is a cooperative agreement, recipients should also be prepared for a more engaged relationship with the federal funder than in a standard grant model, which can include closer federal involvement in certain aspects of project oversight, performance expectations, and coordination.

Eligibility is broad and includes most types of domestic public and private organizations. Eligible applicants include state, territorial, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status); for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and other eligible entities listed in the announcement. Two groups are clearly excluded: individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities. Applications from those ineligible categories will be disqualified from merit review and cannot be funded.

Faith-based and community organizations are explicitly eligible as long as they meet the standard requirements that apply to all applicants. The notice also states that ACF will not discriminate in selecting recipients based on an organization’s religious character or affiliation, consistent with applicable federal protections and rules (including 45 CFR Part 87 and 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.). This means faith-based organizations may compete on equal footing with other applicants, while still needing to follow the same programmatic and administrative expectations tied to federal funding.

Key administrative details in the source information include the funding opportunity number (HHS 2025 ACF OFA ZD 0013), an original application closing date of July 29, 2025, an award ceiling of $1,250,000, and an expected 26 awards. The opportunity was created on July 15, 2025. Overall, READY4Life is positioned as a sizeable investment in integrated youth programming that blends relationship education, parenting support for young families, financial capability, and workforce or career advancement, with the goal of strengthening healthy family formation and long-term stability for participating young people.

• The Administration for Children and Families - OFA in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.086.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-07-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-07-29. (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 26 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for HHS 2025 ACF OFA ZD 0013

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