RFP 5562 QA.pdf

1. In general, this appears to be a relatively light grant to administer with regard to personnel.

From what I understand, the administrative burden would be to distribute the money to the students, and complete the four parts of the reporting requirements: project performance plan, quarterly report, annual report, and final project status report. Is there more to the administration of the grant that I am missing?

The administrative burden may also be included is the risk-self assessment form and FFATA form in which you will need a unique identification number which is required for all of our solicitations prior to contract execution. The administrative duties will also include administration of the tuition assistance and stipends for Graduate-level behavioral health awards.

2. I understand that these funds must be awarded to students only and not used to "increase administrative staff compensation". I don't understand why the sections exist on the budget sheet "Personnel" and "Fringe Benefits" in that case. Who are the personnel that might be compensated using this grant?

This section is listed on the budget table in the event that a college/university does not currently have staff available to run this tuition assistance program with their students. Staff that may be considered in funding as administrative costs would be the staff running and coordinating this grant program.

3. For the top section starting with "Program Income", is this where we would include how much money we collect in tuition annually? Because the sheet refers to "year 1" and "year 2", are we projecting the tuition revenues or reporting past revenues? D. Under "local and state funds", does this refer to money directly from the state of Oregon? E. Under "other support" does this refer to, for example, Oregon Lottery Scholarship money? F. What does the section "Awards" refer to? Is it grants that we have already received? Many of our students have applied for a partial tuition and stipend grant from Rogue Workforce Partnership but haven't received it yet.

Would we indicate that here?

The budget table which is attached to this solicitation is to be used as a guide and is not a requirement for a successful application. The main sections to fill out if your organization request administrative funds to show how those funds will be used as well as plan for divvying out awards to students. This budget table is essentially how you would want to use these funds if awarded.

4. We have some data regarding the demographics of our students specifically their racial and ethnic identity. To answer the questions in part 1 regarding the students demographics, is the best approach to simply ask the students? Are there specific definitions of each term we should use, for example, I've found several definitions for rural. Or should we determine this data some other way such as looking at the number of students that request accommodations to determine how many have a disability, looking at the zip code of the area where they lived at the time of their application to the program, etc?

For demographic data we would recommend that you utilize our REALD from OHAs Equity and Inclusion Division. This can be used as a guide to collect quality data from students during the application process around race, ethnicity, language and disability. The definition that we use is the Oregon Office of Rural Healths definition which defines rural as any geographic area that is ten miles or more from a population center of 40,000 people or more. This link has a list of all of Oregons zip codes and can be used as a guide to determine if someone is rural-frontier or urban. Oregon Zip Code List.

5. Is this grant meant to serve as incentive in the form of student recruitment? In other words, if we won the grant, could we advertise it in the lead-up to the following year's cohort? Or is the timeline of the grant such that we would award it to our existing students in order to incentivize them to meet the purposes of the grant only?

This grant is aimed to incentivize current and future graduate-level behavioral health students. This is also a two-year award program and you will be able to advertise to prospective students.

6. Can you please confirm that we are able to charge our full federally negotiated indirect cost rate on this budget, and that these would be in addition to the direct costs being requested?

You will be able to request 5% of the total requested budget directly for administrative costs in this solicitation.

7. Could you please clarify how administrative costs are to be accounted for, is it 5% of total request, 5% of direct costs, or 5% for salary and 5% for benefits separately?

5% of the total requested budget.

8. Could you please confirm that we can include time for existing staff to manage the program?

Yes, existing staff to manage the program can be included if needed. Ideally, we would want colleges and universities to maximize this grant opportunity to award as many students as possible and work with existing grant programs and staff that you already have.

9. Are applicants to the Tuition Assistance and Stipends for Graduate-Level Behavioral Health Students allowed to include letters of support/commitment as part of their proposals?

Yes.

10. I am wondering if our program would qualify given we are in the application process for students, but do not currently have students enrolled?

Yes, your program would likely qualify and we encourage you to apply!

11. It seem to me that the following programs meet the intent of the RFA: Masters in Social Work Masters in Counselor Education - this has four tracks (Clinical Mental Health, Clinical Rehabilitation, Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling & School Counseling) and leads to eligibility for licensure as a professional counselor. Masters in Speech and Hearing - for those training to be Speech pathologists. This program meets the academic and clinical requirements to be certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association and to be licensed as a speech-language pathologist in Oregon Masters in Early Childhood Education- specifically the track for Infant Toddler Mental Health. It seems to me that the following do not meet the intent of the RFA because they do not have a clinical track: PhD in Social Work PhD in Psychology Would this be correct?

Yes.

12. Must these be clinical programs, or could programs in areas like Public Health and Psychology be included?

Public Health program would not be considered behavioral health but psychology would be included as it would expand access to behavioral health services within Oregon.

13. We have a graduate level professional program: Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Promotion and Health Behavior with graduates who become practitioners in Oregon communities upon graduation. Would this be included as a Behavioral science program?

The solicitation is focused on diversifying the Graduate-level Behavioral Health field of licensed clinicians.

A Masters in Public Health would not qualify to be considered in this solicitation.

14. We have numerous graduate programs in behavioral health. Our ongoing commitments to anti-racism, racial equity and justice continue to attract minoritized students to those programs. We would like to submit a proposal to this exciting program. Should we develop one proposal for the institution as a whole, or should each program submit a proposal?

You should apply as one institution and not by program.