CNCS – AmeriCorps State and National Grants (2016)

By NLADA on September 10, 2015 • ( 0 )

Notice of Intent to Apply Due: December 9, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Applications Due: January 20, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Description: AmeriCorps grants are awarded to eligible organizations proposing to engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions to strengthen communities. An AmeriCorps member is an individual who engages in community service through an approved national service position. Members may receive a living allowance and other benefits while serving. Upon successful completion of their service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award from the National Service Trust that members can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to qualified student loans.

CNCS may award a Cost Reimbursement, a Fixed Amount grant, or an AmeriCorps Partnership Challenge grant to any successful applicant, but the availability of a Full Time Fixed Amount grant is limited to certain applicants.

Grant awards have two components: operating funds and AmeriCorps member positions. Grant award amounts vary – both in the level of operating funds and in the type and amount of AmeriCorps member positions.

Funding Title: AmeriCorps State and National Grants FY 2016

Agency Name: Corporation for National and Community Service

Funding Instrument Type: Cost reimbursement or fixed amount grants

Express Language for Legal Aid: Yes, the Elder Justice AmeriCorp is one of the funding priorities. According to the NOFA Glossary:

“Elder Justice AmeriCorps: In 2014, the Department of Justice, in partnership with CNCS, launched justice AmeriCorps, a legal aid program to serve vulnerable populations. DOJ (through the Elder Justice Initiative and the Office for Victims of Crime) and CNCS are announcing a new grant program to provide legal assistance and support services to victims of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and to promote pro bono capacity building in the field.

The Elder Justice AmeriCorps program, which is intended to complement the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) 2012 Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration grants and the 2014 Vision 21 Legal Assistance Network Program grants (the Network Grants, which support the development of legal assistance networks providing comprehensive, pro bono legal services for victims of crime), will consist of a single grant to an intermediary organization that will support approximately 60 full-time AmeriCorps positions for each year of the two-year program.

A successful applicant must engage Network Grant recipients (the Alaska Institute for Justice, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Lone Star Legal Aid, Metropolitan Family Services, Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center, the Montana Board of Crime Control, the District of Columbia Office of Victim Services, the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and the New York Office of Victim Services, and/or their legal assistance network partners) and include (but not be limited to) any such entities wishing and eligible to participate in the program as proposed service sites.”

Target Population: See funding priorities below

Expected Number of Awards:

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:

Fixed Amount Grants and Education Award Program Grants
There is no specific match requirement for Full Time Fixed Amount, Education Award Program, and AmeriCorps Partnership Challenge grants. CNCS does not provide all the funds necessary to operate the program; therefore organizations must raise the additional revenue required to operate the program.

Cost Reimbursement Grants

A first-time successful applicant is required to match at 24 percent for the first three-year funding period. Starting with year four, the match requirement gradually increases every year to 50 percent by year ten, according to the minimum overall share chart found in 45 CFR §2521.60

Section 121(e)(5) of NCSA (42 U.S.C. 12571(e)) requires programs that use other federal funds as match for an AmeriCorps grant to report the amount and source of these funds to CNCS on a Federal Financial Report. Grantees must track and be prepared to report on that match separately each year and at closeout.

The living allowance or salary provided to AmeriCorps members in Professional Corps programs (see Glossary) does not count toward the matching requirement.

Alternative Match

Under certain circumstances, applicants may qualify to meet alternative matching requirements that increase over the years to 35 percent instead of 50 percent as specified in the regulations at 45 CFR §2521.60(b). To qualify, applicants must demonstrate that the proposed program is either located in a rural county or in a severely economically distressed community as defined in the Application Instructions. Applicants that plan to request an alternative match schedule must submit a request at the time the application is submitted. State programs submit requests for alternative match to the State Commission. State Commissions submit on behalf of their state applicants and National Directs submit their requests directly to ACAlternateMatchScheduleRequests@cns.gov.

How to Apply: Applicants must submit their applications electronically via the CNCS web-based system, eGrants (egrants.cns.gov). Because it is a unique system, it is recommended that applicants create an eGrants account and begin the application creation process at least three weeks before the deadline. Applicants should draft the application as a word processing document and copy and paste the document into the appropriate eGrants fields no later than 10 days before the deadline. Please note the length of a document in word processing software may be different than what will print out in eGrants. CNCS will consider the number of pages as they print out through eGrants when determining compliance with any page limits in this Notice.

Current Closing Date for Applications:

Notice of Intent to Apply Due: December 9, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Applications Due: January 20, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Estimated Total Program Funding: The actual level of funding will be subject to the availability of annual appropriations, which have not yet been made.

Award Ceiling: Grant award amounts vary – both in the level of operating funds and in the type and amount of AmeriCorps member positions.

Award Floor: Grant award amounts vary – both in the level of operating funds and in the type and amount of AmeriCorps member positions.

Eligible Applicants: Public or private nonprofit organizations, including faith- based and other community organizations; institutions of higher education; government entities within states or territories (e.g., cities, counties); labor organizations; partnerships and consortia; and federally recognized Indian Tribes. Receiving funding previously from CNCS or another Federal agency is not a prerequisite to apply under this Notice.

Priority Consideration: CNCS seeks to prioritize the investment of national service resources in:

Disaster Services – improving community resiliency through disaster preparation, response, recovery,and mitigation
Economic Opportunity – increasing economic opportunities for communities, specifically opportunityyouth (see Glossary), both as the population served and as AmeriCorps members
Education – improving student academic performance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and/orMathematics (STEM) or addressing student and school needs through School TurnaroundAmeriCorps programming (see Glossary and Appendix)
Environment – 21st Century Service Corps (see Glossary)
Veterans and Military Families — positively impacting the quality of life of veterans and improvingmilitary family strength
Governor and Mayor Initiatives (see Glossary)
Programming that supports My Brother’s Keeper (see Glossary)
Multi-focus intermediaries that demonstrate measureable impact and primarily serve communitieswith limited resources and organizational infrastructure. i.e. rural and other underserved communities(see Glossary)
Safer communities – activities that focus on public safety and preventing and mitigating civil unreste.g., summer programming or engaging communities that are part of The National Forum on YouthViolence Prevention.
Elder Justice AmeriCorps (see Glossary)

Policy and Regulations on Use of Funds:

The National and Community Service Act of 1990 as amended by the Serve America Act (PDF)
AmeriCorps Regulations (45 CFR Chapter XXV (2012) (PDF) (XML)
Other Information: CNCS – Managing AmeriCorp Grants: http://www.nationalservice.gov/build-your-capacity/grants/managing-americorps-grants

Current/Past Funding Recipients:

Samples of Successful Application:

Link to Full Announcement: Here

Contact Information:

This Notice is available at http://www.nationalservice.gov/build-your-capacity/grants/funding- opportunities. The TTY number is 202–606-3472. For further information or for a printed copy of this Notice, call (202) 606-7508. For questions regarding multi-state or Indian Tribes applications submitted directly to CNCS, please call (202) 606-7508 or send an e-mail to americorpsgrants@cns.gov. Questions about single state applications should be addressed to the respective State and Territory Commission. A list of all Commissions can be found here: http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/contact-us/state-service- commissions. CNCS’ mailing address is:

Corporation for National and Community Service
ATT: Office of Grants Policy and Operations/ASN Application 1201 New York Avenue N.W.