ED Press Release: U.S. Department of Education Announces Awards of Over $70 Million to Improve School Climate and Keep Students Safe

The U.S. Department of Education has announced funding awards through four new grant programs designed to help keep students safe and improve learning environments. These programs are School Climate Transformation grants to school districts, School Climate Transformation grants to states, Project Prevent grants to school districts, and School Emergency Management grants to states. To see the list of winners for each program as well as detailed information on the program initiatives view the US ED press release.

The Insight Team would like to congratulate two of our clients who were fortunate to be awarded funding in these important new programs. Cleveland Hill Union Free School District, NY, was awarded a  2014 School Climate Transformation Grant for LEAs. Cleveland Hill’s Year 1 award amount is $222,037, and the five-year award is anticipated to be $1,095,493. New London Public Schools, CT,  was awarded a 2014 Project Prevent Grant. New London’s Year 1 award amount is $616,131, and the total five-year award anticipated to be between $2.5 and $2.9 million.

ED.gov press release: U.S. Department of Education Invests More Than $70 Million to Improve School Climate and Keep Students Safe

2015 PEP Grant Applicants

Updated January 2015: In communications we recently had with the PEP Program Manager, Carlette KyserPegram, we learned that the amount appropriated by Congress for 2015 was NOT enough to make new PEP grants in 2015. See more details here.

We are now in one of the busiest times of the year for educators and administrators. With the summer break coming to a close and the school year kicking into full swing, everyone has a full plate. For schools and organizations interested in applying for a PEP grant, it is important to keep the possibility of a 2015 competition on your radar. With the continued competitiveness of this important federal grant program, schools need to really prepare early in order to put themselves in a good position to submit a competitive application.  For a few tips on important actions you can take to get a jump start on grant applications check out this list we put together with our partners at Polar USA.

If you are interested in hiring Insight to work with your school in developing and writing a PEP grant application, please contact us. We have several schools already on board for this year and will be taking on a limited number of  additional applicants on a first come first serve basis. We are optimistic that there will be a 2015 competition, and with 2014 funding going “down the slate” to high-scoring but non-winning 2013 applicants, it is expected that a large number of applicants would be submitting in the event of a new competition 2015–making this year’s competition even more competitive.

We’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to assist many clients in securing PEP funding. We’ve seen firsthand the incredibly positive personal fitness and nutrition education achievements this program has had on students around the country. Our CEO Rosalie Mangino-Crandall has written 24 winning PEP grants and edited another 46 winning PEP grants (70 total!).

For more information on our PEP Grant services check out the PEP Grant section of our site, or contact us. You can email info@insightgrants.com or fill out our contact form online here. We would be happy to discuss your ideas, where you currently are, our fees for developing and writing your application, and the best way to proceed.

We hope everyone has a safe and successful start to the school year!

Innovative Approaches to Literacy grants are open–and due SOON!

The US Department of Education’s Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant program is currently open! This is a great opportunity for high-poverty schools to work with their school libraries to apply for 2-year literacy improvement projects. This grant has a super short application period, though. Applications became available 6/18/2014 and are due 7/17/2014, so act NOW if your organization is eligible and you want to apply!

Innovative Approaches to Literacy

What kinds of projects are funded? The IAL program supports high-quality programs designed to develop and improve literacy skills for children and students from birth through 12th grade in high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools. ED intends to support innovative programs that promote early literacy for young children, motivate older children to read, and increase student achievement by using school libraries as partners to improve literacy, distributing free books to children and their families, and offering high-quality literacy activities.

ED expects to award no less than 50 percent of FY 2014 funds to applications from LEAs (on behalf of school libraries) for high-quality school library projects that increase access to a wide range of literacy resources (either print or electronic) and provide learning opportunities to all students.

Proposed projects under the IAL program, based on those plans, may include, among other things, activities that—

1. Increase access to a wide range of literacy resources (either print or electronic) that prepare young children to read, and provide learning opportunities to all participating students;
2. Provide high-quality childhood literacy activities with meaningful opportunities for parental engagement, including encouraging parents to read books often with their children in their early years of life and school, and teaching parents how to use literacy resources effectively;
3. Strengthen literacy development across academic content areas by providing a wide range of literacy resources spanning a range of both complexity and content (including both literature and informational text) to effectively support reading and writing;
4. Offer appropriate educational interventions for all readers with support from school libraries or national not-for-profit organizations;
5. Foster collaboration and joint professional development opportunities for teachers, school leaders, and school library personnel with a focus on using literacy resources effectively to support reading and writing and academic achievement. For example, an approach to professional development within the IAL program might be collaboration between library and school personnel to plan subject-specific pedagogy that is differentiated based on each student’s developmental level and is supported by universal design for learning, technology, and other educational strategies; and
6. Provide resources to support literacy-rich academic and enrichment activities and services aligned with State college- and career-ready standards and the comprehensive statewide literacy plan.

Who can apply? An applicant must be one of the following:

1. a high-need Local Educational Agency (defined as an LEA with 25% of the students aged 5-17 in the LEA from families with incomes below the federal poverty line)
2. an National not-for-profit (NNP) that serves children and students within the attendance boundaries of one or more high-need LEAs;
3. a consortium of NNPs that serves children and students within the attendance boundaries of one or more high-need LEAs;
4. a consortium of high-need LEAs; or
5. a consortium of one or more high-need LEAs and one or more NNPs that serve children and students within the attendance boundaries of one or more high-need LEAs.

To be considered for an award under this competition, an applicant must coordinate with school libraries in developing project proposals.

What is the award size? There are two different award size categories defined by applicant type.

Estimated Range of Awards to LEAs and Consortia of LEAs:  $150,000 to $750,000. The anticipated average award for LEAs and Consortia of LEAs is $500,000. Approximately 30 new awards to LEAs and Consortia of LEAs are expected.

Estimated Range of Awards to NNPs, Consortia of NNPs, and Consortia of NNPs and LEAs:  $3,000,000 to $14,000,000. The estimated average award size is for NNPs, Consortia of NNPs, and Consortia of NNPs and LEAs is $4,500,000. Approximately 1-4 new awards are anticipated in 2014 for NNPs, Consortia of NNPs, and Consortia of NNPs and LEAs.

$24,341,646 is available in total for new awards in 2014.

When is it due? 7/17/2014 (Thursday)

 

Where can I find out more? Visit the official program Applicant page. 

Upcoming applicant Technical Assistance Question and Answer calls will be held 6/25/2014 and 7/1/2014. Click below to register!

• IAL FY 2014 Q&A 1: Applicant Technical Assistance; Wednesday, June 25, 2014; 3:00 pm EDT
• IAL FY 2014 Q&A 2: Applicant Technical Assistance; Tuesday, July 1, 2014; 1:00 pm EDT

A program webinar with a question and answer period took place on June 18, 2014. You can download a recording here.  

Featured Grant Opportunity: School Justice Collaboration Program: Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court

The Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention is offering a federal grant opportunity, titled School Justice Collaboration Program: Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court. The OJDDP is partnering with the Department of Education and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for this program.

The goal of the program is to enhance collaboration and coordination among schools, mental and behavioral health specialists, law enforcement, and juvenile justice officials at the local level to ensure adults have the support, training, and a shared framework to help students succeed in school and prevent negative outcomes for youth and communities.

Further Information on eligibility from grants.gov:

This initiative includes two categories, and the eligibility differs for each:

• Category 1: Local School Justice Collaboration Program. Applicants are limited to local juvenile and family courts (including rural and tribal juvenile and family courts) that can verify that they have a partnership—with a local education agency (LEA) that has applied to the Department of Education’s School Climate Transformation Grants-LEA (SCTG) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Now Is the Time Project AWARE–LEA programs. Additionally, applicants must partner with local law enforcement (via subgrants) as part of their collaborative effort. To meet these eligibility criteria, applicants must provide a letter of commitment or agreement, as described in the RFP, and the Grants.gov tracking numbers for the SCTG and Project AWARE grant programs applications. Awards under this category may be made only to juvenile and family courts in communities that have been awarded Department of Education School Climate Transformation Grants. A factor that will be considered in selection is whether an application also provides a plan to collaborate with the LEA on SAMHSA’s Now Is The Time Project AWARE-LEA program.

• Category 2: School Justice Collaboration Program National Training and Technical Assistance. Applicants are limited to nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations) and institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education). For-profit organizations must agree to forgo any profit or management fee.

When is the Deadline? July 21st, 2014.

Where Can I Get More Information? Visit the grant program page at grants.gov

Why Isn’t Your District Applying for School Climate Transformation Grants for LEAs in 2014?

On 5/13/2014, we published a blog post about one of the US Department of Education’s new school safety grants: School Climate Transformation Grants for LEAs. Applicants can request up to $750,000 per year for up to five years for projects that, “develop, enhance, or expand systems of support for, and technical assistance to, schools implementing an evidence-based multi-tiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students.” This is a terrific opportunity for Local Educational Agencies such as school districts, charter schools, and consortia of LEAs to obtain funding for programs and resources that support positive student behaviors, social and emotional development, and mental health for students!

If these are areas of need in your schools, here are the top 6 reasons you should apply to this program in 2014 rather than a future year:

1. Student needs won’t be resolved without intervention! Every student deserves a safe, comfortable, equitable learning environment that is supportive of his/her success. Apply in 2014 because your students shouldn’t have to wait any longer for an improved school climate–and can’t afford to.
2. Approximately 118 awards are expected in 2014! While 5-10 years ago it might not have been terribly uncommon to see a grant program make 100-200 awards, those days are pretty much gone. In recent years, programs making 50-80 awards are thought to be making a lot of awards since most programs make under 50 awards in a given year, and many make far under 50. Apply in 2014 because based on the anticipated number of awards alone, your odds of winning will be significantly better than for most current grant programs.
3. If this grant is offered again next year, more likely than not ED will only be able to make about half as many awards (or fewer) unless substantially more funding is allocated. In other future years, the number of new awards may be even smaller. Since this is a five-year grant program, this year–the very first year of the program–is likely to be the year we see the most new grants funded for several years since ED will have to use a portion of the funds allocated each future year to fund the continuation awards in addition to any new awards. In some future years, ED will be funding multiple years of continuation awards. For example, in 2018, ED will be funding awardees in Year 2 (2017 winners), Year 3 (2016 winners), Year 4 (2015 winners), and Year 5 (2016 winners). Continuation awards are typically committed before any new awards are made, as is fair. Whatever money remains in the allocation is available for new awards. In some future years, there may only be enough remaining for a small number of new awards or none at all. Apply in 2014 because it is likely fewer new awards (if any) will be available each future year, as the program will be supporting significant numbers of continuation awards.
4. Applications are due 6/23/2014! While that’s less than a month away, if you begin working this week and work very diligently until the deadline, you still have time to put together a strong application. This is especially true if you recently applied for the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling grants due 4/28/2014 or a similarly-focused funding stream, since much of the need information is likely to be the same. You may be shying away from this application based on the fact that it’s due right as school is wrapping up for some districts and after school has closed for the summer for others. Here’s the thing: many schools are thinking that way, and June and July deadlines for US ED grants sometimes have few applicants for that reason! Apply in 2014 to seize the opportunity to be one of what is likely to be a relatively small pool (comparatively) of brave applicants who apply for a grant at the start of or during their summer breaks and capitalize on increased odds of winning as a result!
5. This program is new this year! As programs age, they tend to evolve. While that is usually in many ways a really good thing, from an applicant/awardee standpoint, it often also means more rules and requirements during both the application and award periods. Apply in 2014 to take advantage of what are likely to be the least demanding application and award period reporting requirements!
6. You can be one of the first! If you have an interest in serving as a leader for other schools in your county, region, state, or the nation, this grant offers you a great opportunity to do that in the area of behavioral health–one of the areas for which until now schools haven’t received much funding at all in recent years despite great need. Due to support by both the President and Congress, that’s about to change. 2014 will be the first year of award for this program, as well as for Project Aware (due 6/16/2014), Project Prevent (due 6/30/2014), and School Justice Collaboration Program: Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court (due 7/21/2014). Apply in 2014 to this and/or any of the three other new school safety grants to be leader and a model for other schools in improving student behavior and mental health to improve student safety and achievement!

The Promise Zone Initiative

With several currently open US Department of Education Grants (Project Prevent, Full Service Community Schools, and School Climate Transformation for LEAs) offering Competitive Preference (bonus) points for coordinating with the Promise Zone if the applicant is serving students within the Promise Zone, we thought it would be helpful to outline some basics on this.

What is the Promise Zone Initiative? During the 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out an initiative to designate a number of high-poverty urban, rural and tribal communities as Promise Zones. In these Zones, the federal government will partner with and invest in communities to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, and improve public safety.

Where are the current Promise Zones? Philadelphia (PA), San Antonio (TX), Los Angeles (CA), Kentucky Highlands (KY), and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (OK).

Will additional Promise Zones be added in the future? There are currently plans for 15 more communities to be added in the next three years.

What are the grant implications for Promise Zones? As we are seeing with currently open grant opportunities, applicants serving persons in Promise Zones are given priority. Under the US Department of Education, this is playing out as Competitive Preference (bonus) points. Other grant programs are expected to offer bonus points or other methods for prioritizing applicants coordinating with Promise Zones.

Where can I get more information on Promise Zones? Visit the Promise Zones page at OneCPD Resource Exchange, and check out this fact sheet from whitehouse.gov

School Climate Transformation Grants for LEAs are Now Open!

Another new school safety grant has opened! The School Climate Transformation Grant for LEAs program provides competitive grants to local educational agencies to develop, enhance, or expand systems of support for, and technical assistance to, schools implementing an evidence-based multi-tiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) states that projects should: (1) build capacity for implementing a sustained, school-wide multi-tiered behavioral framework; (2) enhance capacity by providing training and technical assistance to schools; and (3) include an assurance that the applicant will work with a technical assistance provider, such as the PBIS Technical Assistance Center funded by the Department, to ensure that technical assistance related to implementing program activities is provided.

When is the Deadline?: Monday, June 23rd, 2014.

Who Can Apply?: Local educational agencies (LEAs), or consortia of LEAs. An LEA is a public school district or a charter school or cooperative education board designated as an LEA by state law.

Award Information: Range of awards are $100,000 to $750,000 per year for up to 5 years. Applicants may not request more than $750,000 in a single program year. This program does not require matching funds. 118 awards are expected to be made in 2014!

Where Can I Get Complete Details?: The application is available at the School Climate Transformation Grant page on ed.gov

Other Important Information: There are TWO versions of this grant: one for SEAs (State Education Agencies) and one for LEAs! Both are due June 23rd. The information contained here is about the LEA version of the grant. If you are an LEA looking to apply for this school safety funding, be sure you are looking at the ED information on the LEA version of the grant and accessing the LEA RFP and grants.gov application package!

Applicants who apply for this grant AND Project AWARE and coordinate with that effort and discuss the coordination in their applications can receive competitive preference (bonus) points. Applicants can also receive bonus points under the same Competitive Preference Priority by coordinating with other similar efforts in addition to or instead of Project AWARE. See the RFP for details!

Full Service Community Schools Grant Now Open!

Exciting news for elementary and secondary education schools: the Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) Grant is now open! This grant supports projects offering coordination of academic, social, and health services through partnerships between (1) public elementary and secondary schools; (2) the schools’ local educational agencies (LEAs); and (3) community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and other public or private entities.

When is the Deadline?: Friday, June 20th, 2014

Who Can Apply?: An applicant must be a consortium consisting of an LEA and one or more community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, or other public or private entities.

Award Information: The estimated range for awards is $275,000 – $500,000 per year for up to five years. The applicant’s request amount for a single must not exceed $500,000. Applicants MUST provide a cash and/or inkind match and are encouraged to provide a minimum match of 20% from non-Federal sources. An estimated 10 awards will be made in 2014.

Where Can I Get Complete Details?: The Federal Register has thorough information on the grant, and the Full Service Community Schools page on ed.gov is updated with 2014 information. 2014 Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the program’s FAQ page. Note that you will need to go to the Full Service Community Schools grants.gov posting to obtain the full RFP. Once there, click on the “Application Package” tab toward the top of the page, then “Download” in the “Instructions and Applications” column around the middle of the page. Then sign up to receive program updates. Then click “1. Download Application Instruction” toward the bottom of the page.

Other Useful Information: The deadline for notice of intent to apply is May 21,2014, however submission of a Notice of Intent is optional–you can still apply if you don’t submit one. The department will hold a pre-application webinar for prospective applicants on Wednesday, May 21st, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST.

Each applicant must include a Memorandum of Agreement that includes the roles, responsibilities, and signatures of all partners.

Use your time wisely: this is a lengthy, comprehensive application that cannot be completed well at that last minute. Start today!

If you are interested in grant writing or editing services for your project, please contact us. This will be a competitive program with a quickly approaching deadline, the sooner you get started the better!

New Grant Opportunity through SAMHSA: “Now is the Time” Project Aware

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is offering a grant titled “Now is the Time” Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). The purpose of the program is to assist local educational agencies to begin to support the training of school personnel and other adults who interact with youth in both school settings and communities to detect and respond to mental illness in children and youth, including how to encourage adolescents and their families experiencing these problems to seek treatment.

When is the Deadline? Monday, June 16th, 2014

Who Can Apply? Local Education Agencies (LEAs) or consortia of LEAs: LEAs are public school districts and charter schools and/or cooperative education boards designated as LEAs by state law

Award Information: Up to 100 awards are expected to be made. Anticipated award amount is up to $50,000 per year, with a length of project of up to 2 years. There is no match required.

Other Useful Information: Applicants for this grant are also required to also apply for the Department of Educations’ School Climate Transformation Grant for LEAs due June 23rd, 2014. The RFP for that grant can be found at:

Where Can I Get More Information? Get complete program information and the application at the program page on samhsa.gov

Need assistance with grant writing or editing for this project? Please contact us.

Spring 2014 Insight Company News and Notes

The Insight Team has been busy on a number of projects to start 2014. We hope the year has started off well for you. Here are some notes on current items our team has been working on.

• We’ve been making an effort to highlight featured grant opportunities on the Insight blog. While the focus of the grants is often based around physical education, we will also be featuring and discussing a wide variety of grants that cover other industries and topics as well. We also offer some very helpful sources for finding grant opportunities online at our Find Grants page. If you are in the early stages of looking for grant opportunities, that is definitely a good place to start. To stay up to date with the ongoing opportunities we feature, you can subscribe to our blog via email or follow Insight Grants on twitter.

• We’ve recently completed multiple grant proposals as well as editing for various clients. Project topics have varied from physical activity  to fire departments.  Although we can’t share details on these projects yet, we look forward to talking about some of the innovative and exciting projects if funding is awarded.

• Working on applications for the Carol M. White PEP grant program is usually a big spring project for the Insight Team. With no new PEP competition in 2014, it’s important for those interested in physical activity funding to watch for other opportunities and maximize the time they have before the next competition (anticipated 2015). For more information, see our blog post titled, No 2014 PEP Competition?! What Do We Do Now? Applicants from 2013 that scored highly but did not win may be awarded PEP grants in 2014. We’ve started hearing about the first winners TODAY (4/8/2014), as some members of Congress have begun contacting winners in their constituencies. If you’ve won, you may or may not hear directly from Congress, but you WILL eventually hear directly from ED via email and/or mail and you would be listed on the awards list which should surface soon.

• Speaking of PEP, although there is no guarantee of a 2015 PEP competition, we do anticipate one. We’ve already begun signing up and working with applicants interested in applying in 2015. With the competition becoming more and more competitive each year, it helps to get some pieces of your project in order far in advance, and an early start makes this more achievable. If you are interested in working with us for your PEP Grant project, contact us.

• We’re working with various PEP Grant winners to evaluate their ongoing projects. It is amazing to see the hard work of the project directors, school staff, and community stakeholders pay off with students improving fitness levels, nutrition habits, and education. We’ve featured aspects from Kenston Schools in Ohio and the Police Athletic League in NYC, and look forward to sharing more good news from PEP projects in the future.

• We’ve been working with our long-time partner Polar to create some exciting new web resources for grant seekers interested in including Polar products and services in their grant projects! We’ll be posting more on those soon.

• We are currently working with several schools on US ED Elementary and Secondary School Counseling grant applications due 4/28/2014.

• We have begun promoting three exciting US ED grant programs that are expected to open competitions within the month: School Climate Transformations grants for LEAs (school safety), Project Prevent (school safety), and Full Service Community Schools (covers MANY topic areas).

If you’d like us to assist you with your grant application or project evaluation, please contact us.

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