Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2009

Even Start Family Literacy Programs build on existing community resources of high quality to create intensive family literacy services. These services are provided to families on a voluntary basis that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours and of sufficient duration to make sustainable changes in a family and that integrate all of the following activities:

1. interactive literacy activities between parents and their children;

2. training for parents about being the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children;

3. parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency; and

4. an age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences.

An integrated project must include the following components: adult education; early childhood/early elementary education; parenting education; interactive literacy; and home visits.

Priorities for this program are to:

1. implement a research-based model that will demonstrate the effectiveness of integrated services for families that will yield the strongest outcomes to support parents and their children in achieving learning and performance standards;

2. provide integrated services that build on existing community resources through collaborative relationships;

3. demonstrate the greatest possible cooperation, coordination, and collaboration among a variety of relevant service providers in all phases of the program;

4. target families most in need as indicated by high levels of poverty, undereducation, unemployment, limited English proficiency, homelessness, or other need-related indicators such as a high percentage of children to be served by the program who reside in a Title I school attendance area, a high percentage of parents who have been victims of domestic violence, or a high percentage of parents receiving public assistance;

5. build capacity within communities to incorporate strategies and practices that support all parents as partners in their children's education to ensure school success; and

6. develop and implement models that can be replicated and adopted by other communities.

GRANT APPLICANTS

A minimum of two agencies need to establish a partnership that has joint responsibility for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the project. An eligible applicant is the partnership between:

a school district and at least one of the following entities with a record of demonstrated quality:

• a non-profit community-based organization;

• a public agency other than a school district;

• an institution of higher education; or

• a public or private non-profit organization (other than a school district).

Partners responsible to provide adult education and early childhood/early elementary education must have the experience and expertise to support families to achieve the required Even Start goals and objectives.

Communities that currently operate Even Start Programs are not eligible to apply: Fall River, Lowell, and Waltham.

Program participants must meet eligibility requirements. (See Eligibility Requirements for Program Participants.)

• A total of $258,029 is available.

• One program will be funded.

Grant monies will be used to pay the federal share of the total cost of carrying out the Even Start Program.

Match: In order for communities to adopt and support the program, legislation requires grant recipients to contribute an increasing match amount each year of local, state, or federal funds. (See Explanation of Grant Award and Required Match.)

Federal legislation prohibits the use of grant funds for indirect costs.

9/1/2008 - 8/31/2009

Please note that the funding for the Even Start Family Literacy Program has not been resolved by the President and Congress for FY2010. If there are adequate funds for FY2010, the successful grantee from this FY2009 RFP will be required to apply in an open and competitive process.

Arlene R. Dale, Even Start State Coordinator adale@doe.mass.edu

All questions regarding the RFP must be e-mailed to: escomp@doe.mass.edu.

Responses to questions will be posted on the Adult and Community Learning Services web site: www.doe.mass.edu/acls/ under:

ACLS Hot Topics

Q&A for FY2009 Even Start Competitive RFP.

The last date for submitting questions is by noon on Friday, May 9, 2008.

Applicants must e-mail a Letter of Intent to Apply no later than noon on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. (See Required Forms.)

E-mail the Letter of Intent to Apply to: adale@doe.mass.edu with Letter of Intent in the subject line.

An e-mail confirming receipt will be sent to applicants.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Competitive proposals must be received at the Department by noon (12:00 p.m.) on the date due regardless of the postmark date and means of transmittal. No facsimile transmissions will be accepted.

The documents listed below should be reviewed prior to preparing a response to this RFP. These documents may be accessed at: www.doe.mass.edu/familylit/resources/ listed under Evidence-Based Family Literacy Models:

• What is the Best Model for Delivering Family Literacy Services? A Review of the Literature;

• Summary of Implications of Key Findings from the Review;

• Key Criteria for Family Literacy Program Design; and

• Guidelines for Effective Comprehensive Family Literacy Programs.

Additional documents that may be helpful are available at: www.doe.mass.edu/familylit/resources/ under Even Start Documents.

• Guidelines for Interactive Literacy

• Guidelines for Family Action Plans

• Guide to Assess Quality of Family Literacy Programs for Massachusetts

Submit no later than noon, Thursday, May 15, 2008, six (6) sets of the proposal, two (2) with original signatures in blue ink.

Mail to:

Arlene R. Dale
Even Start State Coordinator
Adult and Community Learning Services
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148-5023