(1) Grants will be awarded to eligible applicants for specifically designed projects. Preference in awarding grants shall be given to projects which use a variety of community resources and agencies. Priority in awarding of points for community grants shall be given to programs that serve areas of the state which demonstrate the highest percentage of pregnancies of females aged 13 years of age or older but younger than the age of 18 within the geographic area to be served by the grant. Projects selected for the adolescent pregnancy prevention statewide campaign, adolescent pregnancy evaluation grant, and state coalition grants will be eligible for noncompetitive funding for up to three years, pending availability of funds and based upon satisfactory progress toward program goals. Projects which do not make satisfactory progress toward program goals shall be required to competitively bid for refunding. After three years, all projects must competitively bid for refunding. Projects funded prior to July 2000 under the community adolescent pregnancy prevention and services grants are eligible for funding for up to nine years, pending availability of funds if the programs are comprehensive in scope and have demonstrated positive outcomes. Grants awarded after July 2000 must be comprehensive in scope and be based on existing models that have demonstrated positive outcomes.
An increasing grantee match will be required. A 5 percent grantee match will be required in year one. The match will increase by 5 percent each subsequent year a project receives funding. In-kind matches may be applied toward the grantee match. Projects which do not make satisfactory progress toward program goals shall be required to competitively bid for refunding.