Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2008

Two decades of research have reaffirmed that the single greatest indicator of a child's academic success is the educational level of the parents. More recent research highlights the challenges to our families, our communities, and our economy posed by our state's high incidence of under-educated and limited English proficient adults/parents. A report by MassInc found that one out of three members of the Massachusetts workforce lacks the basic educational foundation needed for today's increasingly competitive economy. A key response to these challenges by the Department of Education, working in collaboration with two dozen other state agencies and statewide organizations, is family literacy - coordinated learning among different generations in the same family that helps both adults and children reach their full personal, social, and economic potential. There are two key policy foundations to this initiative.

• First, we understand that with an estimated 400,000 parents of school age children who are under-educated and/or limited English proficient, there will not be new and separate funding appropriations to provide all of these families with comprehensive family literacy services. Instead, we must find ways to glue together the pre-existing services that are essential to this comprehensive approach.

• Second, it is clear that educational services provided in a stand alone environment cannot succeed adequately on behalf of families confronted with multiple barriers to success. Comprehensive family literacy services must bring education, employment, and health and human services together in order to achieve meaningful family and community success.

Thoughtful investment of resources has resulted in a Massachusetts rich in the breadth and depth of education, health, human service, and employment related services available to residents. The Massachusetts Family Literacy Consortium (MFLC) brings together education, health, human service, employment, and training organizations to forge partnerships that integrate family literacy and family support services. Many of the organizations represented on the MFLC are investing in community-wide efforts to increase the coordination of services and breadth of partnerships working on behalf of a specific population (e.g., children, adults, the unemployed, victims of abuse, etc.) or type of service (e.g., education, health, family protection, occupational training, etc.).

The significant benefit afforded by these community coordination efforts is that they bring a wide array of constituencies, resources, and services together on behalf of the population or services they represent. The continuing challenge is that this primary focus on a specific population or service does not engage every partner as fully as desired. The MFLC has documented that Massachusetts' families would benefit from the comprehensive coordination of these services on behalf of the entire family and community. Hence, this RFP provides funding and other supports to five pilot communities working to:

• cultivate a partnership with the MFLC and its member organizations that includes community leadership, education, employment and training, and health and human service providers * in a comprehensive community partnership that focuses on the entire family and a broad commitment to family and community success;

  * The MFLC has 13 member agencies: Children's Trust Fund; Commonwealth Corporation; Departments of Business and Technology, Education, Early Education and Care, Housing and Community Development, Mental Health, Public Health, Social Services, Transitional Assistance, Youth Services, and Workforce Development; and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Additional members include representation from statewide organizations, service providers, and parents.

• build upon current coordination and integration initiatives and bring them together to achieve comprehensive and integrated family literacy and family support services for families across the community; and

• identify and work to overcome unintended local and state barriers to the coordination and integration of services for families in need.

Pilot communities are responsible for providing services that are collaboratively planned and delivered and mutually reinforcing. Providers in the pilot communities should assume the responsibility for insuring that services are as mutually reinforcing as possible by:

• providing services that are designed and delivered jointly;

• using plain language for materials, forms, and other documents to the maximum extent possible;

• drawing on authentic materials and curricula used by partners, including items such as bus schedules, voting and/or driving manuals, employment applications, medical forms, recipes, newspapers, and quality children's books; and

• cross-training all partner staff in the universe of programs and services.

The coordination and integration of literacy and support services in the pilot communities will be facilitated through co-enrollment of family members. Co-enrollment is enrollment in more than one program at a time, or simultaneous enrollment. This means that the pilot community is responsible for designing a process for identifying children and adults co-enrolled in programs for children (e.g., child care, Head Start, K-12, etc.) and programs for adults, as well as a plan for increasing co-enrollment. While the specifics of each community's plan for increasing co-enrollment will depend upon the assets present in the community, each pilot community will be responsible for assuring that the confidentiality of family information is protected. Additionally, the MFLC and the pilot communities understand that:

• the identification of co-enrolled families is a necessary but insufficient step in coordinating and integrating services;

• the community is working towards increasing the number of people/families co-enrolled;

• the community is dedicating existing resources, financial and otherwise, to support co-enrollment;

• the community is assisting the MFLC in documenting the benefits/challenges of co-enrollment; and

• family economic self-sufficiency is a key ingredient to family success and families are supported in becoming economically self-sufficient.

Year Six of Pathways to Family Success requires a continued emphasis on making progress towards achievement of the long-term Indicators of Success (See Attachment B.) negotiated between the MFLC and the pilot communities. Where a pilot community identifies a barrier to coordination and integration, the community will work with the MFLC and MFLC staff to identify and implement strategic actions to help overcome the barrier.

The MFLC supports the five pilot communities in building comprehensive support for integrated family literacy and support services. * RFP priorities are to:

* Family literacy is a family education and support model that builds on the strengths and addresses the needs of parents and their children. The MFLC defines family literacy as coordinated learning among different generations in the same family that helps both adults and children reach their full personal, social, and economic potential. A comprehensive family literacy program integrates interactive literacy activities between parents and children, parenting and family support, adult education, and age appropriate education for children. The MFLC defines family support as individuals and communities working together to reinforce the capacity of families, building on the strengths of all family members, and ensuring that parents are full partners in achieving family success. Family support provides coordinated services and resources that enable all families to provide care effectively at home, raise children who are ready and able to learn, be self-sufficient economically, participate actively in and contribute to their communities, and have the capacity as individuals and as families to pursue their goals and dreams.

1. create a comprehensive family education and family support system through coordination and integration of local programs and resources from multiple funding sources. This system should include the four required programs identified in the Eligibility section of the original FY2003 RFP: Community Partnerships for Children; Head Start; Title I; and Adult Basic Education. Programs should demonstrate their active involvement in the Pathways initiative by adapting work plans and/or services to support coordination and integration of services for families, entering into MOAs/MOUs, and resource sharing;

2. inventory literacy, employment, health and human service programs, and/or coalitions in local communities. This initiative is intended to bring these coalitions together under the broadest possible umbrella of family and community success. It is not intended to create new or duplicative coalitions;

3. assemble community assessments from these multiple funding sources to develop a complete picture of all relevant family and community needs and assets and identify new resources needed to facilitate a higher level of coordination and integration of services for families in need;

4. develop a comprehensive community plan for coordinating/integrating early childhood education, school-based education, adult education, parenting and family support, concurrent parent and child learning opportunities, employment services, and health and human services for the purposes of delivering more efficient services and improving educational attainment;

5. increase the investment in and commitment of local policy leaders, including superintendents, principals, mayors, selectmen, and legislators in the comprehensive coordination and integration of services for families;

6. contribute to the existing body of knowledge about community collaboration and the state role in facilitating this collaboration by documenting local conditions, challenges, and achievements;

7. work in partnership with the MFLC and its member agencies to identify and overcome specific local and state barriers to implementation of the community plan;

8. document improvements in service delivery for families; and

9. serve as models for producing better outcomes for families in need by cutting across funding streams to integrate literacy and support services. This may involve activities such as preparing reports and/or making presentations to state and local policy leaders for the purpose of replicating this model.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. on the date due.

1. Proposals should be submitted with a cover letter from the Mayor/CEO of the community that serves as a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city and the MFLC. The cover letter should summarize key benefits of participating in Pathways to Family Success and the Mayor's commitment to this coordinated and integrated services initiative with references to specific activities in the FY2008 work plan.

2. Each proposal submitted should contain the following in the order listed.

   	*	Cover Letter/Memorandum of Agreement from Mayor/CEO of the Community
   		Part I - General - Program Unit Signature Page - (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants)
   		Part II Budget Detail Pages (Include both pages) - Instructions
   	*	Budget Narrative (Narrative to be developed by applicants.)
   		Part III - Required Program Information
   		Schedule C - Statement of Participation and Support
   		Statement of Assurances Form
   		Certifications Regarding Lobbying; Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters; and Drug-Free Workplace Requirements
   		Attachment A - FY2008 Work Plan

3. Applicants using Pathways to Family Success funding for a rate based adult education class must complete the required elements of the SMARTT program planning module. Further information can be found on line at: www.doe.mass.edu/acls/smartt/default.html

Submit two (2) sets, each with an original signature of the Superintendent, President, or Executive Director, or other authorized signatory of the grantee. Proposals should be addressed as follows and mailed or delivered by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 5, 2007, to:

Charlene Collins
Fiscal Liaison
Adult and Community Learning Services
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148-5023