Early Literacy Community Grants - Q_A.pdf

EARLY LITERACY COMMUNITY GRANTS Q&A

Specific area of the RFA being questioned Question Response ? Can the Migrant Education Program Housed at the Clackamas

Education Service District apply for this grant or can only individual school districts apply for it? Thank you! Angelita

Please review Section 1.3 of the RFA, which lists criteria regarding the organization type as well as other criteria that must all be met in order to be eligible to apply.

focus on three specific community-based goals:

Expand culturally and linguistically responsive early literacy programs for children in early elementary grades by:

Encouraging family and caregiver engagement; and Providing research-aligned professional training and coaching for direct service staff in early literacy.

Develop and implement programs that engage parents and children in early elementary grades in early literacy and that are available equitably and statewide.

Provide high-dosage tutoring programs and training to tutors to qualify the tutors for instruction in a manner consistent with research-aligned literacy strategies.

Does the RFA support GED/ESL programs offered by community colleges that directly address literacy for students who are parents?

Do all three goals have to be addressed or is focusing on one or two allowable?

Grant funds must be used for early literacy programs for children in grades Pre-K to 3. Funding to provide services to adults is only one goal of the Grant outlined in the RFA as family and caregiver engagement. However to be eligible, all three goals must be addressed in your proposed project.

Please review Sections 1.1, 1.3, and 2.2.

3.2.1.2 Service Area and Regions Served The RFA states, "Grants will be evaluated with the intent to award at least one (1) application in each Region to expand Program resources for students statewide."

We understand that an organization in Region 2: Northwest, which is our region (Marion and Polk), has already been awarded. Can you speak to whether we can or should apply?

Existing grants awarded to a Grantee in a region do not limit award of a grant(s) from this RFA to that same region.

Page 4, Section 1.3 Eligibility Can you please let us know if an organization is eligible to apply for more than one grant under this RFA? For example, if an organization wanted to apply to lead one program in Region X and one program in Region Y would they be eligible to receive awards for both programs?

While applicants can include more than one region in its application, only one Grant will be awarded to each Grantee, with a maximum Grant amount of $1,000,000. See section 1.2 of the RFA.

Section 1.2 Grant Amount and Duration Do you have an estimate of total funding available and/or the anticipated number of grants awarded?

Total funding available is $8 million. The number of awarded grants will be determined once the evaluation and ranking process has been completed, and will be determined by the approved budget for each of the successful applicants.

1.3 Eligibility, Section A. I am still trying to determine if Serendipity Center is eligible to apply, based on our organization type. We consider ourselves to be one of the following:

Community-Based Organization; -- Serendipity is a K-12 alternative school and considers itself to be a CBO, although ODE has disagreed.

• Early Learning Hub; -- I’m not sure what this means even after reading the definition, can you provide more information/ let me know if this is applicable to Serendipity?

• Provider of Early Learning Services; We do provide early learning services under the definition except that our services happen during the school day. We are an alternative school that serves students from all over the Portland region, from many school districts.

Thank you for clarifying if we are eligible to apply.

Please refer to section 2.2 of the RFA for the definitions of each of the eligible applicant types. Grant funds must be used for early literacy programs that are provided outside of school hours, as stated throughout the RFA.

1.1 Purpose/plan students Can the grant serve youth who are older than grades pre-k-3 if the youth is at a grade 3 reading level or below? And/Or at a math grade three level or below?

Grant funds must be used for early literacy programs for children in grades Pre-K to 3.

2.2 Definition of Terms Does "Community Based Organization" include those run as for-profit entities? Are they thus eligible to submit a grant application?

if not, can we become as a service-provider for an eligible grantee? I have already submitted an application to become an approved provider of high-dosage tutors (tutoring?). Once approved, it is up to us to contact approved grantees to offer our services?

I own a K-12 Learning Center in Bethany, Oregon (now in its 18th year), fully accredited, and with enormous experience in early literacy, and would love the chance to provide instruction to community members who cannot afford to pay for our services themselves.

Please refer to section 2.2 of the RFA for the definitions of each of the eligible applicant types. Since you are not currently on the approved vendor list for High Dosage Tutoring, you would not be eligible to provide those services to grantees using these grant funds.

Page 13: 3.2.1.4 Community Overview The RFA states, "Provide detailed information about the Early Literacy needs of the community your organization proposes to serve with these grant funds, including the demographics of students and families in that community."

We partner with school districts to provide services. Do we need any sort of written letters of commitment or MOUs from districts to include in our proposal?

The RFA does not require submission of agreements between the Applicant and partners or subcontractors as part of the application process.

Eligibility Hope all is well! My team and I were reviewing this RFA and had a quick question regarding eligibility. Do applicant organizations need to be based in Oregon, or are organizations based in other states also eligible to apply?

Please refer to Section 1.3 (Eligibility) and Section 2.2 (Definition of Terms) to determine your eligibility to apply. Please note that the intent of these grants is to increase early literacy in the State of Oregon. As such, even if an Applicant (out of state or otherwise) is one of the five organization types listed in 1.3.A., they must also meet all of the requirements in 1.3.B and 1.3.C., as well as the goals outlined in Section 2.5 and elsewhere in the RFA.

Sections 3.2.1.3 through 3.2.1.11 Equity page 13-14 Are there any word counts or character limits we need to adhere to when answering these items in our application? Or when we upload our responses into Smartsheet?

Each narrative portion of the Smartsheet Application is limited to 4,000 characters as stated on the Application.

High Level Summary for RFA- Early Literacy Success Community Grant

Does WISE qualify as an “eligible organizations in Oregon"?

Please feel free to call me to discuss

Please refer to Section 1.3 (Eligibility) and Section 2.2 (Definition of Terms) to determine your eligibility to apply. Please note that the intent of these grants is to increase early literacy in the State of Oregon. As such, even if an Applicant (out of state or otherwise) is one of the five organization types listed in 1.3.A., they must also meet all of the requirements in 1.3.B and 1.3.C., as well as the goals outlined in Section 2.5 and elsewhere in the RFA.

1. Attachment F - Grant Expenditure Guidance

2. General Question- non specific to RFA materials

3. RFA Section 1.3

4. RFA Section 2.2

1. Is there a limit on what percentage of the grant can be spent on .FTE for staff doing work directly in line with grant activities? (i.e.

payroll for high dosage tutors)

2. Can the grant serve one group of students in pre-K-3? Or would it need to be all 5 grade levels? (i.e. could a grant be for just pre-k students?)

3. Can high dosage tutoring requirements be met in a hybrid format?

For example, online tutoring 1 day a week and in person tutoring the second day that week?

4. Could high dosage tutoring occur in a childcare center for pre-k students? Or would this not count as out of the school day?

1. No, there is no limit of what percentage the grant can be spent on FTE.

2. Yes, you do not have to serve all grade levels and can just serve one of the grade levels in Pre-K to 3rd grade.

However, the grant needs to provide all 3 objectives of the Early Literacy Success Community Grants.

3. Yes, a hybrid format is allowable.

4. High-dosage tutoring can be provided at a childcare center. However, it must be provided outside of the Pre-K student's "school day". For example, if a Pre-K student's typical school hours are from 8am-2pm, high-dosage tutoring must be provided before or after those hours or during the weekends/school breaks.