Phase 1 FAQs – Your questions answered

Awards for Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation will be up to $20 million. Awards for Phase 2 Planning will be $100,000-$250,000.

It is anticipated that there will be 13 awards total for Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation grants. The number and location of awards for Phase 2 Planning will vary depending on how many awards are made in Phase 1 and in which regions.

Collaboratives that receive a Phase 2 Planning grant in October 2022 will be able to apply for a Phase 2 Implementation grant in October 2023.

Phase 1 grantees will be eligible to apply for a secondary award in Phase 2 in order to elaborate or expand upon a Phase 1 award by including new or additional partners, new or more coverage, or significantly new or more activities. The amount for a secondary award will be limited to a certain percentage of the Phase 1 award.

No. Phase 1 award decisions will be made in May 2022. Phase 2 awards will be made in October 2022 and October 2023.

It is possible that there may be more than one planning grant per region. Collaboratives that receive a Phase 2 Planning grant in October 2022 will be able to apply for a Phase 2 Implementation grant in October 2023.

Yes. If an applicant applies for Phase 1 and is not selected, the applicant may apply for Phase 2.

The funding was established in the 2021 Budget Act and provides a one-time $250 million investment from the State General Fund that will fund robust regional collaboratives involving K-12 districts, community colleges, state universities, and workforce development entities. Funds will be provided as grants, and a program-specific grant agreement for collaboratives is under development.

The Phase 1 grant application is anticipated to be released on April 1, 2022. The grant application is still under development. If the final grant application necessitates changes to any of the responses to questions received thus far, this document will be updated accordingly.

Awards for Phase 1 are anticipated to be announced on May 20, 2022.

The grant program will end on June 30, 2026.

The grant program requires collaboratives to meet certain milestones by 2024 and additional milestones by 2026

It is anticipated that there will be one award per CERF region across Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation. Collaboratives are expected to align with the CERF regions. The number and location of awards for Phase 2 Planning will vary depending on how many awards are made in Phase 1 and in which regions. Prospective applicants within a region are encouraged to collaborate with one another and submit a joint application.

The intent of this grant program is to incentivize regional education and workforce collaboration as a way to make a significant impact on the regional economy. For this reason, Phase 1 applications that demonstrate broad impact will have a competitive advantage over those that propose narrowly focused boutique programs.

Funds will be awarded to support regional projects. If a lead applicant chooses to partner outside of the primary region, the application must clearly state how this approach will support overall regional project objectives. Since award amounts will be based on regional considerations, lead agencies should consider how partnering outside of their primary region could impact their budget and the amount of funding available for sub-grants.

The intent of this grant program is to incentivize collaboration in ways that have a substantial impact across populations and geography. It is anticipated that there will be 13 awards total for Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation grants. Organizations can participate in more than one application if their service area crosses several CERF regions. However, a lead agency can serve as lead on only one application.

The intent of this grant program is to incentivize collaboration in ways that have a substantial impact across populations and geography. For this reason, Phase 1 applications that demonstrate broad impact will have a competitive advantage over those that propose narrowly focused programs.

Phase 1 grantees will be eligible to apply for a secondary award in Phase 2 in order to elaborate or expand upon a Phase 1 award by including new or additional partners, new or more coverage, or significantly new or more activities. A list of Phase 1 grantees will be posted on the K16 Collaborative website once award announcements are made.

Phase 1 grantees will be eligible to apply for a secondary award in Phase 2 in order to elaborate or expand upon a Phase 1 award by including new or additional partners, new or more coverage, or significantly new ideas.

The intent of this program is to expand and incentivize collaboration within each region. While only one award will be made per CERF region, three micro regions could work together to form one larger collaborative.

Collaborative partners can be in different regions, if necessary, in order to include all of the required partners. Applicants should explain how they will work together to serve the identified CERF region.

This grant program is aligned with the CERF regions. Applicants should propose to serve one of the 13 CERF regions.

The lead agency for a collaborative application must be one of the required collaborative partners.

Yes. A collaborative is required to include at least one K-12 school district, at least one University of California campus, at least one California State University campus, and at least one California Community College district. Collaboratives are encouraged to include workforce entities and may choose to include other entities, such as private institutions.

No. A SELPA only includes K-12 entities, which does not qualify as a K-16 collaborative for the purposes of this grant program. A SELPA is eligible to be a regional collaborative partner.

The lead agency for a collaborative must be one of the required collaborative partners and is expected to be physically located in the CERF region to be served.

No. The lead agency must be one of the required collaborative partners. A Community College District participating in the consortium could serve as the lead agency.

Only one of the required collaborative partners can be the lead applicant.

No. The lead agency must be one of the required collaborative partners (e.g., a UC campus).

A UC can serve as a lead agency provided the campus has at least a programmatic presence in the region. The UC does not need to have a physical campus in the region to serve as a lead agency.

One of the required collaborative partners must be the lead agency and serve as the fiscal sponsor.

Yes. However, a partner can be a lead agency and fiscal sponsor for only one proposal.

Yes. However, only one entity can serve as the lead agency.

No. A lead agency can be a lead on only one application. A single institution may participate in more than one application but not as the lead applicant.

No. Only one organization, the lead agency, can serve as the fiscal sponsor.

Yes.

Yes. The collaborative should choose its lead agency.

No. Any of the required collaborative partners can be a lead agency.

Stakeholders can choose to add their contact information to this Google sheet if they are open to connecting with others in their region.

Yes, additional partners can be brought onto the grant, subject to OPSC approval. However, they may not be eligible for financial support unless a budget modification request is approved by OPSC.

No. Each K12 district must provide its own letter of commitment for the collaborative. However, a County Office of Education can act as the lead applicant for a collaborative, and fulfill the “at least one K-12 district” requirement.

Charter schools do not qualify as the K-12 required partner but could be part of a collaborative if they are supporting the collaborative in meeting its requirements/goals.

No. An MOU template will not be provided.

The MOU must clearly state the roles and responsibilities of each required collaborative partner and must show proof of signature by a representative of that partner who is authorized to enter into legally binding agreements. Phase 1 applicants are expected to have fully executed MOUs in place by the submission deadline. The only exception to this requirement is if the MOU is pending board approval for one or more partners. Draft MOUs will be accepted in advance of board approval. However, board approval must be obtained prior to the award announcement date of May 20. If board approval is not received by that time, the Phase 1 application submission will not be considered for funding, and the applicant may apply for the Phase 2 funding opportunity. Existing MOUs among partners can suffice. Data sharing agreements are not sufficient.

The MOUs are only required for the required educational partners. Other partners must provide either an MOU or Letter of Commitment.

Yes. All partners on the Steering Committee need to provide an MOU or Letter of Commitment.

No. Industry partners do not all need to align specifically with the occupational pathways, but they should help support pathways in some way or help the collaborative achieve its intended goals. Industry partners can be from the private or public sectors, based on the needs and goal of the collaborative.

Yes. Depending on the selected pathways, school districts can count as employers to meet the minimum threshold of 25% for Steering Committee members. However, a school district that serves as the required partner for the collaborative cannot also be counted as an employer to meet the minimum threshold of 25% for Steering Committee members.

No. At this time, Community Colleges are not expected to participate in CCGI, but that may change in the future.

The self-assessment checklist available on the website is a resource to help collaboratives determine if they are mature and are well-positioned to apply for a Phase 1 grant.

For Phase 1, all of the required partners should already be working together as part of a mature collaborative but new alignments with additional partners could be included as part of a Phase 1 application. Phase 2 Planning grants are intended to support development of new alignments for collaboratives that are not as well-established. The self-assessment checklist available on the website is a resource to help collaboratives determine if they are well positioned to apply for Phase 1.

Whether an applicant applies in Phase 1 or Phase 2 is determined by the collaborative/applicant. The self-assessment checklist available on the website is a resource to help collaboratives determine if they are well-positioned to apply for Phase 1. If applicants are hesitant about the ability of the required partners to follow through on the collaborative’s plan, they may be best served to apply in Phase 2.

Yes. However, there must be a single designated lead agency for the collaborative.

Yes. However, a partner can be a lead agency for only one proposal.

No. However, institutions should consider their logical service area, their capacity, and the overall goals of this program when determining how many collaboratives to participate in.

Yes. However, a UC campus can be a lead agency for only one proposal.

Yes.

Yes. The program anticipates that UCs will need to work across regions or participate in a collaborative where they might not have a physical campus. However, the required UC partner should have a programmatic presence in the region (e.g., satellite operations, extension, college readiness programs, workforce training, etc.).

Yes. However, the required UC and CSU partners should have a programmatic presence in the region.

The implementing language states that the collaborative must include “at least one California Community College District.”

No. A Joint Powers Authority itself is not eligible to fulfill the K12 District requirement, however, the K12 district(s) that are part of the JPA could serve to meet that requirement

There is no size preference for collaboratives as long as they include all of the required partners. Collaboratives are welcome to join or combine forces if that makes sense to serve an identified region and to accomplish the overall project goals.

No. The scoring criteria does not award any additional points to rural collaboratives.

Out of state partners may be included in the collaborative. However, they may not serve as either the lead or the fiscal agent. Funds granted through this program can only be used for California entities and organizations.

A convener is an organization that brings together multiple partners within a collaborative and helps to facilitate and support the collaborative’s activities. Backbone support services can include serving as a fiscal sponsor for the collaborative or providing administrative, operational and/or programmatic support for the collaborative. The convener does not need to be one of the required educational entities.

There is no preferred size and scope of the number of partners in collaboratives. The size should be large enough to include the partners who are critical to advancing the goals of the collaborative. Strong collaboratives include partners who have the capacity to implement the activities proposed by the collaborative. The steering committee and other operational committees should be small enough that significant discussion and decisions can be tackled and completed in regular meetings. Some members of the collaborative may only play a small role, if at scale, in operationalizing the vision of the collaborative.

Employers must comprise at least 25% of the collaborative’s Steering Committee. Based on the identified needs of the region and the pathways to be developed, it is expected that employers will be active partners in the collaborative and will engage in activities that support development and implementation of the career pathways. This could include providing work-based learning, internships, apprenticeships, or other types of activities that offer streamlined pathways to employment.

While there is no ideal organization to serve as the hub, there are organizational characteristics that are likely to make a hub successful. For example, the hub should be fully invested in this work and have the leadership, organizational, administrative, and analytical capacity to propel the collaborative’s work forward. It should be a trusted party within the region. The choice of a hub will depend on the needs of the region and how the collaborative organizes itself.

As part of a regional collaborative, COEs can connect to local employers to increase the number and availability of paid internships in the region and help drive pathway creation and implementation.

As part of a regional collaborative, career centers can connect to educational partners and local employers to support education-to-workforce pathways in the region.

Most Community Colleges already collaborate with their local K-12 LEAs to prepare and transition individuals from secondary education to college. Creating, updating, and maintaining streamlined occupational pathways, aligned with the Recovery With Equity recommendations, accrues benefits to all partners, e.g. the CCC by increasing student outcomes for underrepresented students, K12 by increasing the number and diversity of students continuing education beyond high school, and the region by supporting the education and training of its next generation workforce.

This is a new program designed to incentivize greater collaboration across an entire region in order to support the Recovery With Equity recommendations. It is expected that existing collaboratives apply for this program as a way to support broadening their work to explicitly create specified career pathways in ways that are consistent with the Recovery With Equity recommendations.

A successful collaborative is a group that comes to consensus on their regional goals and has concrete plans to improve student outcomes and prepare the region’s next generation of workers and leaders. Successful collaboratives don’t just meet to discuss regional education issues, they are positioned in ways that actually do the work. The collaborative’s goals reflect the role of each education and workforce partner, emphasize the economic and workforce needs of the region, and focus on lifting up the region through education and workforce training.

Despite being housed at the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC), this is not a facility program. However, a Facility Department can be a member of the collaborative if that is appropriate to serve the overall project goals.

The determination of how the K12 strong workforce program activities align with the requirements of this program will be up to the collaboratives in each region.

All of the required partners should participate in the creation of the pathway(s). Depending on the pathways and the proposed entry point into a particular workforce sector, not all postsecondary educational institutions will have a role in implementing the pathways. The purpose of creating streamlined pathways is to provide students with clear guidance to move through higher education institutions in a way appropriate for their career choices.

The expectation is that pathways are not already built out or fully designed at the time of application and will be developed according to the program requirements and timelines.

As stated in the program requirements, collaboratives must commit to create occupational pathways, including accelerated degree and/or credential programs that incorporate work-based learning, in at least two of the four identified sectors.

Collaboratives must develop one occupational pathway by June 30, 2024 and the second occupational pathway by June 30, 2026.

The program guidelines do not stipulate how much of the occupational pathways need to be designed in advance of the proposal. Collaboratives must commit to developing one occupational pathway by June 30, 2024 and the second occupational pathway by June 30, 2026.

The pathways do not have specific guidelines as long as they are within one of the four identified sectors.

Yes. Another sector can be included as an additional sector. However, the collaborative must address the identified sectors in order to meet the requirements of this grant program, and grant funds can only be spent on activities related to the program requirements.

Yes. The focus of this grant program is primarily region specific.

Projects that promote a green workforce can be a focus area for collaboratives as long as all of the other grant program requirements are met.

Climate can still be a focus area for collaboratives as long as all of the other grant program requirements are met, including development of two occupational pathways from the identified sectors.

Accelerated occupational pathways are those that move students efficiently through education and into the workforce. The ADT 2+2 is an example of acceleration since it includes two years at a CCC and two years at a CSU or UC and accounts for the occupational nature of the pathways.

Credentials are valued by employers in all of these workforce areas. Creating pathways that prepare students explicitly for those credentials can be an important element of a K16 streamlined pathway.

No. CTE pathways data are not currently included in the CCGI system.

CCGI membership can occur after submission of the application. Collaboratives must commit to participate in CCGI as one of their required deliverables for the grant program.

Yes, Bio-Sciences could be considered part of the Health Sector pathway.

The Steering Committee must be composed of at least 25% (or more) of local employers.

Collaboratives must commit to participate in the California Cradle-to-Career Data System’s operational tool, the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI).

All of the partnering high school districts must commit to participate in the California Cradle-to-Career Data System’s operational tool, the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI).

No. The expectation is that each collaborative will clearly identify the target pathways in the application and not wait until further into the project period to plan. The application must include costs for activities to develop the pathways, so the budget and budget narrative must clearly explain these costs.

Possibly. With prior approval from OPSC, reallocation of funds may be allowable to meet grant needs as long as the modifications support the overall project goals as approved in the application and the change in allocation would not have had a negative effect on the score the application received to justify the award.

Yes. Adult Education programs can be included as long as they are supporting a collaborative’s pathways and moving students through education and into the workforce.

Yes. All costs will need to be in alignment with the grant agreement and any stipulations related to allowable costs. The lead agency will be responsible for not “double charging” indirect costs in the overall project budget.

Yes. The maximum indirect rate is 5%.

Indirect costs are allowable at a maximum rate of 5%.

Joint applications are not allowed. Collaboratives must designate a single lead agency.

Collaboratives will determine how to distribute grant funds to their members. The lead agency will be responsible for administering any sub-grants and ensuring compliance with all of the program requirements.

Yes. However, applicants should clearly explain how these costs align with the goals of the project and provide a plan for sustainability to continue these supports after the grant period ends.

Yes, if the student internships are connected to a career pathway and linked to workforce development. Funding should not be used for student interns as personnel for the project. Applicants should clearly explain how these costs align with the goals of the project and provide a plan for sustainability to continue these supports after the grant period ends.

Yes. However, the proposal must be very specific about what this helps to achieve; how the facilities upgrade contributes to the overall project goals; and how ongoing costs, such as utilities or maintenance, will be sustained after the grant period ends. Note that this grant program is not intended to be used as another funding source for general facilities funding.

Not specifically. Facility enhancement is an allowable cost, but the proposal must be very specific about what this helps to achieve; how the facilities enhancement contributes to the overall project goals; and how ongoing costs, such as utilities or maintenance, will be sustained after the grant period ends. Note that this grant program is not intended to be used as another funding source for general facilities enhancement.

Yes. Staffing costs can be supported by the grant. However, applicants should provide a plan for sustainability for these costs for after the grant period ends.

No.

Yes. If more information is needed about a proposal, it will be requested during the review period.

Applications will be evaluated by representatives from OPSC, FoundationCCC, and the K-16 field who are not part of a collaborative that is seeking funding.

Possibly, if the highest scorer is determined to meet the intent of the program. Final award decisions will be made by OPSC with consideration of input provided by FoundationCCC based on the reviews and scores.

No changes have been made to the RFA since its release.

There is no preferred response length. Applicants should address questions completely within the space provided. Responses that have a character limit are noted in the application instructions.

There are four project years for Phase 1 awardees.

No. Grants will not be automatically awarded if there is only one proposal in a CERF region.

No. There is no minimum threshold. However, applications that receive significantly fewer points than other applications will likely not be considered for funding in Phase 1 and are welcome to reapply in Phase 2.

As noted in the Application Guidelines and the Application Template, the application has designated fields for the four required partners. The application also requires an attachment that lists all of the collaborative partners.

Upload fields are provided in the application for required attachments. No other attachments can be included. Collaboratives may include hyperlinks to images, tables, etc., in the narrative response fields of the application. The links may not be visible in the application form but will be live once the application is submitted.

Yes. Submittable automatically saves the application. Applicants can also choose to Save Draft while in progress, so this allows for an application to be saved and returned to at a later time.

This program is centered around the Recovery With Equity recommendations. The grant application is still under development.

A logic model is not required for the application. Applicants may provide a link to a logic model as part of the project narrative, as appropriate or relevant.

This is a new program so has not had any prior successful applications.

The grant application includes a question related to equity and data as part of the overall project design.

This program is centered around the Recovery With Equity recommendations. Priority will be given to collaboratives that are inclusive of their CERF region and its needs.

The intent of this grant program is to incentivize collaboration across an entire region. For this reason, applications that demonstrate a successful collaboration across an entire CERF region will have a competitive advantage over those that propose to serve only part of a region.

A specific target number for students in each pathway has not been defined. The grant application will ask collaboratives to identify the number of individuals they expect to serve in each pathway.

Formal written agreements from each of the required collaborative partners will be required as part of the application.

Employer commitments are not required at the time of application but may be part of the scoring and evaluation criteria. Additional information will be included in the application guidelines.

Scoring and evaluation criteria are included in the Phase 1 Application Guidelines.

The collaborative should explain which field it will be prioritizing based on local and regional needs.

Choosing all industry sectors is not prohibited. The collaborative partners should propose a project that best meets local needs and will achieve the overall project goals.

Scoring and evaluation criteria are included in the Phase 1 Application Guidelines.

Collaboratives will be expected to identify employment outcomes, both qualitative and quantitative, that they are able to track and that support overall project goals. This could include number of certificates and degrees completed in each pathway, number of internships or other work-based learning opportunities completed in each pathway, and successful entry into the workforce in each pathway. Collaboratives should work with their local employer partners to track these outcomes.

Collaboratives will be expected to identify their student and/or institutional outcomes as part of the application and in coordination with FoundationCCC and OPSC as part of the grant agreement.

Expectations for data collection, tracking, and reporting will be outlined in the grant agreement.

Collaboratives will be expected to submit quarterly reports to track progress towards their goals and outcomes as identified in their grant application and grant agreement and also to track expenditures.

Information about data indicators will be provided in the grant application and grant agreement.