learn and serve america school-based indian tribes and us territories.pdf

Notice of Federal Funding Opportunity

Federal Agency Name: Corporation for National and Community Service Funding Opportunity Title: Learn and Serve America: School-Based Indian Tribes &

U.S. Territories Grants FY 2011 Announcement Type: Initial announcement CFDA Number: 94.004

Dates: Applications are due March 3, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Successful applicants will be notified by May 2011.

Overview: The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic participation through service and volunteering. As the nation’s largest grantmaker for service and volunteering, CNCS plays a critical role in building the capacity of America's nonprofit sector and enabling America’s volunteers to improve the places we live. Last fiscal year, CNCS helped an estimated 5.5 million Americans step up to serve, the largest total in its history. CNCS’s core programs are AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America and Senior Corps.

Guided by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, CNCS programming promotes service as a solution to educational challenges, striving to ensure every child enters school ready to learn and graduates ready to succeed. On a competitive basis, we fund service-learning in Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories to foster academic achievement and engagement, and civic participation and leadership.

CNCS embraces the Obama Administration’s emphasis on open government and is moving toward greater openness and transparency in grant making. This Notice includes a description of the review and selection process in Section VI., below. In addition, the following information pertaining to this competition will be published on the CNCS website within a period not to exceed 90 days after release of this Notice:

• Internal review worksheet templates and rating system

The following information will be published within a period not to exceed 90 days after announcement of successful applicants:

• Names of all legal applicants submitting compliant applications

• Executive summaries prepared by the applicants included in all compliant applications

• Copy of successful applications

• Results of review for successful applications http://www.nationalservice.gov/

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. What is the purpose of Learn and Serve America School-Based Indian Tribes and U.S.

Territories Grants?

Through our school-based grants we fund service-learning programs that improve academic achievement and civic and academic engagement for children and youth. These service-learning programs not only accelerate education for our students, they help youth to confront local challenges and make their communities vibrant places to live.

Learn and Serve America School-Based grants to Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories enable selected applicants to do one of two things:

• enhance and/or expand effective service-learning programs already underway; or

• develop new service-learning programs in tribal communities or areas within the U.S.

Territories

B. What are the funding priorities for 2011 Learn and Serve America School-Based Grants to Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories?

Funding is directed to service-learning programs that improve academic outcomes for children and youth, particularly those in low-performing schools. Specifically, CNCS supports outcome- and evidence-based programs that help children and youth perform at grade-level and graduate from high school ready for college, work, and life.

Successful applicants will propose a program design incorporating service-learning to achieve the following priorities:

• improve education outcomes for K-12 students;

• increase student interest in civic participation and leadership; and

• promote vibrant communities by developing projects that tackle one or more of the following focus areas, listed alphabetically:

o Community Development or Economic Opportunity o Education o Environmental Stewardship o Healthy Futures o Retention of Tribal Language, History, and Culture o Veterans and Military Families

Note: If an applicant chooses to focus on more than one of these issue areas, there is no advantage or disadvantage for selecting more than one.

The requirement is to select at least one.

C. What is service-learning?

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that connects academic curriculum to community problem-solving.

High-quality service-learning projects are:

• place-based and meet community needs;

• coordinated with a K-12 school, institution of higher education, or community-based organization;

• designed to foster civic responsibility;

• integrated into and enhance the academic curriculum, or meet educational objectives during out-of-school time programming; and

• structured to provide time for the students to reflect on the service experience.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. How much funding is available?

Subject to the availability of appropriations for fiscal year 2011, CNCS anticipates availability of approximately $650,000 to award approximately 3 to 4 new grants of approximately $70,000 to $250,000. Each award will support 1 to 3 years of operations.

B. What is the Project/Award Period?

Grant awards may be for up to three years and can range from one to three years.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Who is eligible for this funding?

Eligible applicants include any federally-recognized Indian Tribe or “State Educational Agencies” for the following U.S. Territories – Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Applicants may propose to directly operate service-learning programs, in partnership with local K-12 school(s), that meet the statutory definition of service-learning, or propose to award subgrants to local educational agencies or local K-12 school(s) which in turn implement service-learning programs that meet the statutory definition of service-learning.

B. Are current or previous Learn and Serve America grantees eligible?

Previous Learn and Serve America Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories grantees are eligible to apply. However, to be competitive, previous grantees should demonstrate how the current proposal builds upon accomplishments of the previously funded activities.

C. How does CNCS define Indian Tribe?

Indian Tribe is defined as a federally recognized Indian Tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Native village, Regional Corporation, or Village Corporation, as defined under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. § 1602), that the United States Government determines is eligible for special programs and services provided under federal law to Indians because of their status as Indians. Indian Tribes also include tribal organizations controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by one of the entities described above.

D. What are the matching requirements?

The Grantee share of the total cost (CNCS Share + Grantee Share) of carrying out a Learn and Serve America School-Based Indian Tribes and U.S. Territories program must be at least:

• 20 percent for the first year

• 35 percent for the second year

• 50 percent for the third and any subsequent years Note: Learn and Serve America grant recipients that received a previous three-year grant from Learn and Serve America are required to have a 50 percent match for each year of the grant.

E. May the grantee’s match be either cash or in-kind?

The grantee’s share of the program cost can be in cash or in-kind, which may include facilities, equipment, or services. The grantee’s share may come from private, state, or non- CNCS federal sources. Note: CNCS’s legislation permits the use of non–CNCS federal funds, except for U.S. Department of Education funding through Title I or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as match for the grantee share of the budget. If you intend to use other Federal funds as match, it may be advisable to discuss with the other federal agency your intention to report expenditures as costs on both grants (matching on the CNCS grant and direct on the other agency’s grant).

F. May an applicant request a partial waiver of the required match?

An applicant may request a partial waiver of the required match by submitting the request to LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov before the application deadline. The partial waiver request must include the following information:

• A statement that you cannot meet your match requirement and a description and explanation of the local conditions that demonstrate a lack of resources at the local level, including trends in unemployment, poverty, foreclosures, etc.;

• A description of the steps you will take to raise match and a description of your future ability and/or inability to raise match;

• A description of the local partnerships you have created in support of your program regardless of whether or not those partnerships result in matching contributions. (This will help us determine the level of community commitment to the program that exists even without financial contributions);

• A statement of how much of the match has been/is expected to be raised;

• A request for a specific amount of match to be waived; and

• Any other information that may be helpful in considering your application.

In accordance with Executive Order 13175 “Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments” CNCS will handle any waiver request from an Indian Tribe in an expedited manner.

mailto:LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov

G. Who is eligible to participate in Learn and Serve America School-Based programs?

School-Based participants are youth ages 5 to 17 engaged in service through the service-learning program. Participants may also include children with disabilities as defined in section 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 USC 1401), who receive services under part B of that Act.

H. What are some of the restrictions regarding the roles of the participants?

Learn and Serve America will not fund organizations or groups to: 1) provide religious instruction, conduct worship services or engage in any form of proselytizing; 2) assist, promote, or deter union organizing; 3) finance, directly or indirectly, any activity designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; or 4) impair existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

A. When are applications due?

Applications are due no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on March 3, 2011. Applications must arrive at CNCS by the deadline in order to be considered.

B. Where can I request application information?

This Notice can be found on the CNCS website:

http://www.nationalservice.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa.asp or by contacting LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov

C. Is a Notice of Intent to Apply required?

Although submission of a Notice of Intent to apply is not mandatory, applicants are strongly encouraged to send an email to LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov stating intent to apply.

Submitting this information will help CNCS plan more efficiently for the review and to contact applicants directly if needed. Include the name of the applicant organization, address, contact person, and phone number in the Notice of Intent.

D. What are the DUNS number and the CCR and are they required?

Applications must include a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and all applicants must be registered with the Central Contractor’s Registry (CCR).

The DUNS number does not replace an Employer Identification Number.

DUNS numbers may be obtained at no cost by calling the DUNS number request line at

(866) 705-5711 or by applying online: http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

The website indicates a 24-hour e-mail turnaround time on requests for DUNS numbers;

however, we suggest registering at least 30 days in advance of the application due date.

Expedited DUNS numbers may be obtained by following instructions found here:

http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/establish-your-business/12334338-1.html.

CCR is the primary registrant database for the U.S. Federal Government. CCR collects, validates, stores, and disseminates data in support of Federal agency contracts, grant awards, http://www.nationalservice.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa.asp mailto:LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov mailto:LSATribesTerritories@cns.gov http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/establish-your-business/12334338-1.html cooperative agreements, and other forms of federal assistance. All grant recipients are required to maintain a valid registration, which must be renewed annually.

We urge applicants that are not already registered with the CCR to begin the registration process immediately in order to avoid any delays in submitting applications. Applicants must have a DUNS number in order to register with the CCR. It typically takes 3 to 5 days to finalize CCR registration. To register online go to www.bpn.gov/CCR.

E. What is the Content and Form of Application Submission?

1. Submitting in eGrants CNCS requires that all applicants submit applications electronically via its web-based application system, eGrants. Applications must arrive at CNCS by March 3, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time in order to be considered. CNCS reserves the right to extend the submission deadline. Any notice of such extended deadline will be posted in eGrants.

We recommend that applicants create an eGrants account and begin the application at least three weeks before the deadline. Applicants should draft the application as a word processing document, then copy and paste the document into eGrants no later than 10 days before the deadline.

Contact the eGrants Help Desk at 888-677-7849 or email egrantshelp@cns.gov if a problem arises while creating an account, preparing, or submitting an application. Be prepared to provide the application ID and organization’s name. eGrants Help Desk hours are 8:00 a.m.

to 8:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

If technical issues will prevent an applicant from submitting an application on time, please contact the eGrants Help Desk prior to the deadline to explain the technical issue and receive a ticket number. If the issue cannot be resolved by the deadline, the applicant must continue working with the eGrants Help Desk to submit via eGrants.

2. Late Applications CNCS may consider an application after the deadline, but only if the applicant submits a letter explaining the extenuating circumstance that caused the delay. The letter must be sent to LateApplications@cns.gov within the 24-hour period following the deadline. Late applications are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

If extenuating circumstances make the use of eGrants impossible, applicants may send a hard copy of the application to the address below in Section VIII Agency Contacts, via overnight carrier. Please use a non-U.S. Postal Service because of security-related delays in receiving mail from the U.S. Postal Service. All deadlines and requirements in this Notice apply to hard copy applications. Hard copy applications must include a cover letter detailing the circumstances that make it impossible to submit via eGrants.

Do not submit supplementary materials such as videos, brochures, letters of support, or any other item not requested in this Notice. CNCS will not review or return them.

http://www.bpn.gov/CCR http://www.americorps.gov/egrants/index.asp mailto:egrantshelp@cns.gov mailto:LateApplications@cns.gov

3. Character Limits In eGrants, applicants will enter text for:

• Narrative Section

1. Executive Summary: 3,100 characters (a brief paragraph, about a quarter-page). Executive Summaries of all compliant applications will be published on the CNCS website following grant notifications.

2. Three-Year Plan – 6,100 characters

3. Participant Development – 8,100 characters

4. Community Needs and Service Activities – 5,100 characters

5. Strengthening Communities – 5,100 characters

6. Organizational Capacity – 9,100 characters

7. Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy – 4,100 characters

8. Clarification Summary – N/A

The character count includes spaces and punctuation.

F. Funding Restrictions

Grants under this program are subject to the applicable Cost Principles under OMB Circulars A-21 (2 CFR part 220), A-122 (2 CFR part 230), or A-87 (2 CFR part 225) and the Uniform Administrative Requirements for grants under A-102 (45 CFR part 2541) or A-110 (45 CFR 2543 or 2 CFR part 21).

Construction is not an allowable activity for this funding. In addition, funds may not be used for:

1. Political Activities Any effort to influence legislation; organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts or strikes; assisting, promoting or deterring union organizing; impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; engaging in partisan political activities or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; and participating in, or endorsing, events or activities which are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials.

2. Religious Activities Engaging in religious instruction; conducting worship services; providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship; constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship; maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

3. Non-Domestic Service Activities/Beneficiaries Generally, grant funds may not be used for international travel or projects where the primary beneficiaries of an activity are outside the United States.

G. Equal Opportunity Survey Applicants are asked to complete the Survey on Ensuring Equal Opportunity for Applicants.

Applicants may complete the survey in eGrants while preparing the application for submission or contact CNCS to obtain a hard copy.

V. APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Application Instructions are approved under OMB Control# 3045-0129, Expiration Date 11/30/2011. They are formatted to correspond to fields in eGrants and clarified through this Notice.

Applicants need to establish an eGrants account by accessing this link:

https://egrants.cns.gov/espan/main/login.jsp and selecting “Don’t have an eGrants account?

Create an account.” If you need assistance with the eGrants system, contact the eGrants Help Desk at 888-677-7849 (talk to an associate or leave a detailed message) or email egrantshelp@cns.gov.

Your application consists of the following components, described in detail below. Please make sure to complete each section.

A. Applicant Info B. Application Info C. Narratives D. Performance Measures E. Documents F. Budget G. Review, Authorize, and Submit

In eGrants, before Starting Section A, you will need to:

Start a new Grant Application by selecting “New” from your eGrants Home Page Select the Program Area, Learn and Serve America, and click “Go.”

Select the appropriate eGrants NOFA: Learn and Serve America Indian Tribes and US

Territories FY 2011

Once you create an application, you will be allowed to edit as needed until you are ready to submit. Note: When you want to return to a previously created application, it will now appear under View My Grants/Applications in the status For Grantee Edit or Action. Clicking on this option will allow you to re-enter your application. Do not use the New button again.

Please note that the Authorized Representative name is blank. You cannot select a name for this field. Instead, the Authorized Representative will need to have his/her own account to click on the Assurances and Certifications at the end of the application.

Under Project Information select, “enter new” and choose a title for your project. You can enter another address for the project, which may or not be the same as that of the Legal Applicant.

Do not select anything under Project Initiative.

https://egrants.cns.gov/espan/main/login.jsp mailto:egrantshelp@cns.gov

To select an individual as the Project Director, choose a name from the pull-down menu or add a new contact.

Enter your project or program Website if you have one.

A. Applicant Info

Please note that the Authorized Representative name is blank. You cannot select a name for this field. Instead, the Authorized Representative will need to have his/her own account to click on the Assurances and Certifications at the end of the application.

Under Project Information select, “create a new” and choose a title for your project. You can enter another address for the project, which may or not be the same as that of the Legal Applicant.

You do not need to select anything for Project Initiative.

To select an individual as the Project Director, choose a name from the pull-down menu or add a new contact.

Enter your program website if you have one.

B. Application Info Areas affected by the project. List only the largest political or municipal entities affected (e.g. counties and cities).

Enter the dates for the proposed project start and end dates. If awarded, your CNCS Program Officer will work with you to finalize your project start date. Your project period should be three years.

Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs: This program is NOT subject to Executive Order 12372.

Delinquent on any federal debt: Check the appropriate box. This question Applies to the applicant organization, not the person who signs as the authorized representative. Categories of debt include delinquent audit allowances, loans, and taxes. If Yes, type your explanation in the text box provided.

State Application Identifier: Enter N/A.

C. Narratives The narrative section of the application is your opportunity to convince reviewers that your project meets the selection criteria.

Please Note: Spaces and punctuation are included in the character count toward the maximum character limit.

1. Executive Summary (Maximum character limit: 3,100, or approximately 1 ½ double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

Briefly summarize your proposed program in a few paragraphs. Think of this summary as your “elevator speech” in which you briefly summarize the key aspects of your proposed program. CNCS will post these summaries on www.nationalservice.gov in the interest of transparency and Open Government.

The summary must include:

• Which office in your organization will administer the service-learning program;

• Major milestones, key tasks and corresponding dates for the development and management of your proposed program (e.g. training events, conferences, recognition events, memorandum of agreements with partners, and start dates for various projects). Please provide this timeline in a clear and concise outline format. Remember that you cannot use bullets or tables in eGrants.

• How your program aims to achieve a specific education-related outcome such as academic engagement or achievement, serving as a bridge to interesting young people in attending college;

• How you will keep the tribal council and other tribal leaders aware of your service-learning program and its accomplishment; and

• If applicable, subgrant information, including: anticipated number of subgrants, size (in dollars) of subgrants, whether the subgrants are competitive, and whether the subgrants are single- or multi-year.

2. Three-Year Plan (Maximum character limit: 6,100, or approximately 3 double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

All applicants must submit a three-year plan that includes:

• Which office in your organization will administer the service-learning program;

• Major milestones, key tasks and corresponding dates for the development and management of your proposed program (e.g. training events, conferences, recognition events, memorandum of agreements with partners, and start dates for various projects). Please provide this timeline in a clear and concise outline format. Remember that you cannot use bullets or tables in eGrants.

• How your program aims to achieve a specific education-related outcome such as academic engagement or achievement, serving as a bridge to interesting young people in attending college;

• How you will keep the tribal council and other tribal leaders aware of your service-learning program and its accomplishment; and

• If applicable, subgrant information, including: anticipated number of subgrants, size (in dollars) of subgrants, whether the subgrants are competitive, and whether the subgrants are single- or multi-year.

• Evaluation Plan. The evaluation plan should contain the strategy you will use to track progress toward meeting goals, objectives, and performance measures;

assessing the program for continuous improvement, and documenting program impact. Applicants are strongly encouraged to allocate ample resources for program evaluation. Grantees and subgrantees may consider an independent evaluation and/or seeking support from higher education institutions or other experts to help design data collection and the evaluation system.

Your plan should describe how evidence will be gathered on the program’s effects on schools, community conditions, and students’ academic or civic engagement or the reduction of students’ risky behaviors.

• Sustainability Activities. Indicate clear plans for sustainability, including how you will institutionalize service-learning in participating youth serving organizations and how you will generate local and institutional support to continue the program beyond the grant period. Describe plans for publicizing and co-branding your program and supporting Learn and Serve America national identity.

3. Participant Development

(Maximum character limit: 8,100, or approximately 4 double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

Recent research supports using a process to increase the likelihood that service-learning will have positive outcomes: (1) Investigating community issues, (2) Planning a project,

(3) Acting to address a problem, (4) Reflecting on their experiences and the process, and

(5) Demonstrating their work to a wider audience. This process is abbreviated IPARD.

While the IPARD process clarifies what service-learning is, the new K-12 Service- Learning Standards for Quality Practice spell out in detail what it takes to provide students with high quality service-learning experiences. A crucial part of a grantee’s role is to understand the IPARD process and how to deliver it in a high-quality manner. For more information on the quality practice standards:

http://www.nylc.org/pages-resourcecenter-downloads- K_12_Service_Learning_Standards_for_Quality_Practice?emoid=14:803&si=2&null=12 62618866533

In this section, please describe how you will use service-learning to achieve the following goals:

• Help participants use the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to address one or more community needs or problems;

• Ensure participants are involved in program planning, that their efforts are recognized, and that they and their teachers receive needed preparation and training;

• Ensure participants are academically and/or civic engaged or refrain from risky behavior;

• Develop a Training and Technical Assistance strategy to assist teachers and others who will work with student participants to use the IPARD process to increase civic and/or academic engagement or reduce engagement in risky behavior;

• Engage and/or serve disadvantaged youth in your program; and http://www.nylc.org/pages-resourcecenter-downloads-K_12_Service_Learning_Standards_for_Quality_Practice?emoid=14:803&si=2&null=1262618866533 http://www.nylc.org/pages-resourcecenter-downloads-K_12_Service_Learning_Standards_for_Quality_Practice?emoid=14:803&si=2&null=1262618866533 http://www.nylc.org/pages-resourcecenter-downloads-K_12_Service_Learning_Standards_for_Quality_Practice?emoid=14:803&si=2&null=1262618866533

• Bring participants from different backgrounds (such as ethnicity, race, religion, socio-economic status, age, grade levels, and physical and academic ability) together to address shared community needs and community problems.

4. Community Needs and Service Activities

(Maximum character limit: 5,100, or approximately 2 ½ double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

In this section, please describe the following:

• The target community(ies) where the service will occur, including basic demographic and socioeconomic information.

• One or more critical community problems or community needs that your program will address from the following list – Health and Wellness, Environment, Education, Veterans and Military Families, Retention of Tribal Language, History and Culture, and Community Development/Economic Development.

Focus on how your program benefits people other than the service-learners and help communities thrive.

• The general rationale for choosing your focus area with evidence and statistics to support your decision.

• Why youth service through schools is an appropriate strategy for addressing the need.

• Your proposed service-learning activities and how they support the strategy.

5. Strengthening Communities (Maximum character limit: 5,100, or approximately 2 ½ double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

This section deals with the impact of service-learning on institutions such as partner organizations, schools, adult volunteers, and tribal elders. It also focuses on how you plan to institutionalize your service-learning program. In this section, please describe the following:

• Your partner organizations and their roles and responsibilities;

• The written documents you will use to formalize partnerships (e.g. memorandum of agreement);

• How the tribal nation will coordinate the service-learning program with the partner school(s);

• The estimated number and process for generating adult volunteers to support or help coordinate your efforts;

• How tribal elders will be involved in your program, such as part of the adult volunteers or as sources to provide guidance, advice, or training for the program;

and

• How your program will work to institutionalize service-learning at the grantee level and, if appropriate, at the subgrantee levels (e.g., service-learning policies, creation of teachers and officials trained to continue practicing service-learning, development of training and technical assistance documents).

6. Organizational Capacity (Maximum character limit: 9,100, or approximately 4 ½ double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

This section refers to the capacity of the applicant to manage a federal grant, effectively lead a group of subgrantees (where applicable), and complete the project plan.

Include the following subheadings in this section of the application: a) Federal Grant Experience/Track Record, b) Program/Fiscal Oversight, c) Previous Experience with Learn and Serve America (or CNCS) Grants, and d) Staff Roles and Experience.

a. Federal Grant Experience/Track Record. Applicants must provide evidence they have the experience and/or the capacity to manage a federal grant (i.e. have the systems in place to manage federal funds). Fund management includes the ability to document and report cash and in-kind matching funds. Applicant must submit a statement that the Tribal Nation or the U.S. Territory is not banned from receiving federal funds or in receivership by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

b. Program/Fiscal Oversight. Applicants must be capable of providing sound programmatic and fiscal oversight. Sound oversight includes the ability to implement ongoing self-assessment and continuous improvement efforts, provide or secure needed technical assistance, monitor service-learning activities, and submit required fiscal and programmatic reports in a timely manner. If relevant, applicants should also describe their capacity to adequately support, assess and monitor subgrantees.

c. Previous Experience with Learn and Serve America (or CNCS) Grants. If applicants have received funding from Learn and Serve America and/or other Corporation for National and Community Service programs, please describe what was accomplished with CNCS funding. Previous Learn and Serve America grantees should describe how the proposed program will build off previous successes or how activities in this application are substantially different. If your organization has never received Learn and Serve America or CNCS funding, you may indicate N/A.

d. Staff Roles and Experience. Applicants should list the key personnel who will oversee and implement their program, describe their roles, responsibilities, and experience administering federal grants. Applicants must ensure qualified personnel who have appropriate experience in service-learning or community-service programming and fiscal management are responsible for program operations.

7. Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy (Maximum character limit: 4,100, or approximately 2 double-spaced pages, 12 point font.)

This section is different from the budget narrative. You are required to address the requested information in each of the two narrative sections respectively. If there are elements of the budget or budget narrative that do no clearly connect with the project activities, please justify their inclusion in this section. In this section you will also describe plans to develop a cost-effective program, including development of diverse resources and how the program will leverage resources to support program implementation and sustainability. Explain how the proposed program will build community support for the program at the local, state and/or national levels.

Please note: Grant applications will be evaluated to ensure that proposed budgets are clearly aligned with the activities outlined in the project plan.

8. Clarification Summary

Please enter N/A.

D. Performance Measures Applicants must create a complete performance measure for Participant Development that delineates how many student participants you will involve and the specific positive effect you expect the service-learning program to have on student academic engagement, civic engagement or risk behaviors. Participants are youth engaged in service-learning activities – not service beneficiaries.

eGrants will prompt you to create a complete measure as follows. After clicking on “Create a performance measure,” you will:

Select the Issue Area and Service Categories that represent the core activities of the proposed program (e.g., Environment, Education, etc.). The Service Category options will be populated based on which Issue Area you select. Select at least one Service Category.

Enter the requested information for the Participant Development measure as prompted by the text box labels. Specify your output, intermediate outcome, and end outcome:

1. Output: estimated number of student service-learning participants over 3 years

2. Intermediate Outcome: X percent of these students who you expect to improve in academic engagement or civic engagement, or X percent of these students who will show a reduction in risky behavior (whichever you chose as the focus for this measure).

3. End Outcome: Aspirational statement of longer-term benefit to participants (e.g., percent of students graduating from high school). You must enter an end outcome even though you will not be required to collect this data.

E. Documents

We cannot accept any attachments with this application. Any documents you send will not be reviewed and will not be returned.

F. Budget

The budget section of your application should reflect the full three years of operating costs. This section is separate from the Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy section.

Your budget narrative must provide a full explanation of associated costs including their purpose, justification, and the basis of your calculations. Where possible, your calculations should be presented in an equation format, identifying the number of persons or items involved, the per-person or unit cost, and/or the annual salary cost.

Summary of statutory budget requirements:

• You must provide match with cash or in-kind contributions from public or private sources, including state or local public or private funds. You may not include U.S.

Department of Education funding from Title I or IDEA as match. If your matching funds come from another federal program, you must first check with that program to ensure that this use is allowable.

• Equipment costs must not exceed 10% of the total CNCS funds requested.

• Administrative/indirect costs must not exceed 6% of the total CNCS funds requested.

Your proposed budget must directly align with your proposal narrative. Reviewers will consider this information in their assessment of the Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy selection criterion.

Follow the detailed budget instructions below to prepare your budget. We recommend using the Budget Worksheet in Attachment C to draft your budget because it mirrors the categories and order of budget items in eGrants. This will save time when you then input the budget information into eGrants.

Once you have entered the information in eGrants, you will be asked to validate your budget, and eGrants will check your submission for errors. You will be able to print a copy of your budget as a report for your records or for proof reading – this report is referred to as your budget narrative and is automatically generated by eGrants from the information you entered.

As you prepare your budget:

• All the amounts you request must be defined for a particular purpose. Do not include miscellaneous, contingency, or other undefined budget amounts.

• Present the basis for all calculations in the form of an equation.

• Please use whole dollar amounts (no cents).

• Do not include unallowable expenses (e.g., entertainment costs or construction).

• All costs must be reasonable and necessary to accomplish the program objectives.

Please refer to the relevant Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) on allowable costs for further guidance. The CFR is online at:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?selectedYearFrom=2009&page.go=Go.%20

• 2 CFR 220 - Cost Principles for Educational Institutions (formerly A-21)

• 2 CFR 225 Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments (formerly A- 87)

• 2 CFR 230 - Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organizations (formerly A-122) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?selectedYearFrom=2009&page.go=Go.%20

Consistency of treatment: To be allowable under this award, costs must adhere to established policies and procedures. These guidelines apply uniformly to activities paid for by both federal grant funds as well as matching funds. Furthermore, activities must be treated consistently regardless of their funding source. In other words, do not list an item in your grant budget at a higher cost than the item would be in budgets submitted to other institutions or grant programs. This requirement applies to both CNCS and matching funds.

Programs must comply with all applicable federal law and regulations for grant management, allowable costs, and audits, including providing audits to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse if they expend over $500,000 in federal funds, as required in OMB Circular A-133.

Detailed Budget Instructions

Source of Match To find the “Source of Match” field for each budget section, click on “Enter source of matching funds” in the section heading. In each section for which you will provide matching funds, enter a brief description – the amount, the approximate amount, the match classification (Cash, In-kind) and Match Source (State/Local, Private, Other). Define any acronyms the first time they are used.

Budget Section I. Program Operating Costs (i.e. Direct Costs)

a. Project Personnel Expenses List all staff who will contribute to the project and are being paid by CNCS funds or whose salary will be counted as match. You may include student workers other than participants in this section. Include the portion of staff time attributed directly to the operation of the Learn and Serve America project. List each program year and staff position as separate line items. Example: Project Director Year 1: 1 person at $60,100 x 100% usage

b. Personnel Fringe Benefits Include the proportionate costs of benefit(s) for your project staff. You can identify and calculate each benefit or show costs as a percentage of all salaries. For example, if a staff person is budgeted at 50% of time, the grantee may charge no more than 50% of total fringe benefits to the grant. Fringe benefit rates totaling greater than 30% of the relevant salary will require additional explanation/justification.

c. Travel Describe the purposes for travel. Allowable costs include transportation, lodging, subsistence, and other related expenses for local and outside the project area travel.

Please specify different types of travel expenses as separate line items (e.g., monitoring visits, conference attendance, etc.). Show detailed breakdown of all costs (e.g. Statewide training conference: 2 people x 3 days @ $50 per day for lodging = $300).

d. Equipment Equipment is defined as tangible, non-expendable personal property having a useful life of more than one year AND an acquisition cost of $5,000 (five thousand) or more per unit (including accessories, attachments, and modifications). Include items that do not meet this definition in section E (Supplies) below. Purchase of equipment is limited to 10% of the total CNCS funding. Show the unit cost as well as the number of units you request. Do not include equipment used for evaluation. Equipment used for evaluation should be documented in the Evaluation section under Program Operating Costs.

e. Supplies Include the purchase of consumable supplies and materials, including equipment that does not fit the equipment definition of D above. You must individually list any single item costing $1,000 (one thousand dollars) or more. Do not include supplies used for evaluation. Supplies used for evaluation should be documented in the Evaluation section under Program Operating Costs.

f. Contractual and Consultant Services Include costs for consultants related to curriculum development (contracts/mini-grants/release time). Payments to individuals for services under this grant may not exceed $617 per day (not including expenses such as travel and supplies). Indicate daily rate for consultants where applicable.

g. Training Include the costs associated with training and technical assistance of faculty and staff, students and community partners associated with the project, especially training that specifically enhances project implementation and professional skills (e.g., project or financial management, or faculty development). Indicate daily rates of consultants, where applicable. Payments to individuals for services under this grant may not exceed $617 per day (not including expenses such as travel and supplies).

h. Evaluation Include costs for project evaluation activities and data collection against performance measures, including subcontracts or additional staff time you did not budget under Section IA (Personnel Expenses). Include use of evaluation consultants, purchase of instrumentation and other costs specifically for this activity. Indicate daily rates of consultants, where applicable. Payments to individuals for services under this grant may not exceed $617 per day (not including expenses such as travel and supplies).

i. Other Support Costs Allowable costs in this category must include travel to CNCS-sponsored meetings and may include dissemination. In addition, these costs may include Internet expenses that are specifically used for Learn and Serve America and are not part of the organization’s indirect /administrative cost. If shared with other projects or activities, you must prorate the costs. List each item and provide a justification in the budget narrative.

Required expenses under this category include:

Travel to CNCS-Sponsored Meetings – Include up to $5,000 in this line item to cover the costs for a staff member to attend 2 CNCS-sponsored technical assistance meetings.

Additional items you may include under this category:

Criminal history background checks – include costs associated with ensuring volunteers and staff receive background checks as required.

Dissemination – Include costs to publish or disseminate training manuals, evaluation assessment tools, promising practice guides and other successful products of your program.

Subgrants (if applicable) If you will be awarding subgrants, include them here. Show the number of subgrants you plan to make and the average amount or range of those subgrants. If you have pre-selected your subgrantees, please include their names on different lines. Subgrant funds may cover only costs allowable under CNCS grant guidelines. Include any match that you will require of your subgrantees under the “Grantee Share” column in this category.

Note that subgrantees can only claim match for direct costs in this section – do not include administrative/indirect costs.

Budget Section II. Administrative/Indirect Costs

Definitions Administrative costs are general or centralized expenses of the funded organization’s overall administration of CNCS funds and do not include particular project costs. These costs may include administrative staff positions. Administrative costs also encompass costs that are included in an organization’s indirect cost rate agreement. Such costs are generally identified with the organization’s overall operation and are further described in Office of Management and Budget Circulars 2 CFR 220, 225, and 230.

The CNCS/federal share of administrative/indirect costs is limited by statute to 6% of total federal funds actually expended under this grant.

Please note: the federal limit on administrative/indirect costs (including the 6% that can be charged to the CNCS share) is cumulative. If your grant program includes subgrantees and they wish to include their own administrative/indirect costs (either CNCS share or Grantee share), they must be included in the Section II totals. In other words, no more than 6% of total federal funds may be allocated to the combined administrative/indirect costs of the grantee plus those of the subgrantees.

Calculations Applicants can choose to use one of two methods to calculate administrative/indirect costs – a CNCS Fixed Percentage method (Option A) or a Federally Approved Indirect Cost Rate method (Option B). Select only one of these options.

a. CNCS Fixed Percentage Method—Option A

If you choose Option A, you may charge for administrative costs a fixed 6% of the total of the federal funds expended. In order to charge this fixed 6%, the grantee match for administrative costs may not exceed 10% of all direct cost expenditures. These rates may be used without supporting documentation and are in lieu of a formally approved indirect cost rate.

To calculate the maximum CNCS Share for administrative costs under Option A, add the subtotals of the CNCS Share column in the Other Supporting Costs portion of Section I and multiply by .0638. This is the maximum amount you can request as the CNCS share. Enter this amount in the CNCS Share column for Section IIA.

b. Federally Approved Indirect Cost Rate Method—Option B Applicants who choose to use their federally approved indirect cost (IDC) rate to calculate indirect costs should select Option B. Specify the Cost Type for which your organization has current documentation on file (i.e., Provisional, Predetermined, Fixed, or Final indirect cost rate). You will be asked to supply your approved IDC rate (percentage). Whether or not your entire IDC rate is used to calculate indirect costs for this grant is at your discretion.

Please show your calculations and indicate, if different than the approved IDC, the rate you have chosen to use.

1. To calculate the total allowable indirect costs for the project, use the method prescribed by your organization (i.e., based on salaries and benefits, total direct costs, or other), and calculate all totals. For example, if Organization X has a federally approved indirect cost rate of 25% of direct costs, it would multiply the total direct costs (the subtotal of Section I:

CNCS Share + Grantee Share) by 25%.

2. Multiply the subtotal of the CNCS Share column in Section I by .0638. This is the maximum amount you can request as CNCS share of indirect costs. Enter this amount in the CNCS Share column for Section II B.

3. To calculate the Grantee Share, subtract the amount calculated in step 2 from the amount calculated in step 1. This is the maximum amount the applicant can claim as grantee share for indirect costs. Enter this amount in the Grantee Share column for Section

II B.

4. Enter the sum of the CNCS and Grantee Shares under the Total Amount column in Section II.B.

G. Funding/Demographics

Please enter the approximate number of participants (K-12 youth) and adult volunteers you expect to engage in service-learning activities during the full, three-year project period.

H. Review, Authorize, and Submit eGrants requires that you review and verify your entire application before submitting, by completing the following sections in eGrants:

� Review � Authorize � Assurances � Certifications � Verify � Submit

Authorization, Assurances, and Certifications Read the Authorization, Assurances, and Certifications carefully. The person who authorizes the application must be the applicant’s Authorized Representative or his/her designee and must have an active eGrants account to sign these documents electronically. An Authorized Representative is the person in your organization authorized to accept and commit funds on behalf of the organization. A copy of the governing body’s authorization for this official representative to sign must be on file in the applicant’s office.

Be sure to check your entire application to ensure that there are no errors before submitting

it. eGrants will also generate a list of errors if there are sections that need to be corrected prior to submission when you verify the application. If someone else is acting in the role of the applicant’s authorized representative, that person must log into his/her eGrants account and proceed with Authorize and Submit.