Award Information

What is the maximum award amount?

Awards for the Phase 2: Planning Grant will be $100,000-$250,000.

Are the Phase 2 planning and implementation applications handled separately or are they connected?

Collaboratives that receive a Phase 2: Planning Grant in Fall 2022 will be able to apply for a Phase 2: Implementation Grant in October 2023. Note that applying for or receiving a Phase 2: Planning Grant is not a prerequisite to apply for a Phase 2: Implementation Grant.

*What is the limit to the number of planning grants being funded this cycle?

Planning grants are only awarded to CERF regions that have not already received a Phase 1 award. There is a possibility that more than one Phase 2: Planning Grant award is made to an eligible CERF region.

*Can there be more than one planning grant in a single CERF region?

Yes. More than one planning grant can be funded per CERF region. The intent is that there be a single Implementation grant submitted at the end.

*If multiple planning grants can be awarded per CERF region, will the total of all planning grants amount to $100-$250k, or could each of those grants within the CERF region be up to $100-250k?

The amount for each planning grant will range between $100,000 to $250,000 even if more than one planning grant is awarded in a CERF Region.

*Can a Phase 1 implementation grantee apply for supplemental funding in the future to expand the grantee’s project to include counties in the CERF region that were not included in the initial Phase I grant application?

If funds are available, that may be a possibility at a future time and will be announced at that time.

Timeline

What are the dates for the performance period for the Phase 2: Planning Grants?

Estimated project dates for planning grants are November 2022-October 2023. Exact start dates will depend on when the final grant agreement is signed with awardees.

*If a region receives a Phase 2: Planning Grant, would a region then apply to an implementation grant in 2026?

No. The Phase 2: Implementation Grant application will be due in October 2023. Refer to the Timeline on the K-16 website.

Eligibility

Can Phase 1 grantees apply for a planning grant?

CERF Regions with Phase 1 grantees cannot apply for a Phase 2: Planning Grant. However, the lead agency in an awarded CERF region may be able to apply for incremental supplemental funding through the Phase 2: Implementation Grant in October 2023.

*Is this grant open to non-profit universities?

Non-profit universities can be partners in a collaborative, but they cannot be a lead applicant. A lead applicant must be one of the four required educational entities as noted in the program guidelines.

*We are a CTE Charter High School located in a funded CERF Region. Are we eligible to apply?

If your CERF region has already been funded, no. You may wish to reach out to the collaborative for your region to learn of other ways to be involved in the program.

*How can I participate in this program if a Phase 1 awardee only included a "subregion" of counties in the awardee's project?

We suggest you get in touch with the lead applicant from your CERF region. Primary contacts for each Phase 1 awardee are available on the K-16 website.

Lead Agency and Fiscal Sponsor

Who is eligible to be the lead agency?

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

Collaborative Partners and Considerations

For planning applications, when do the district partners need to be finalized?

Each of the four required educational partners must be identified in the Phase 2: Planning Grant application and must provide a Letter of Support indicating agreement to participate in the planning process. All other partners must be identified by the time collaboratives are ready to apply for the Phase 2: Implementation Grant.

Do employer partners need to be identified in the Phase 2: Planning Grant application, or may the participating employers be determined/identified as part of the planning process?

Employer partners do not need to be identified for the Phase 2: Planning Grant.

MOUs are required for the required education partners. Are we required to have MOUs for the additional partners?

For the Phase 2: Planning Grant application, MOUs are not required. Each of the four required educational partners must provide a Letter of Support indicating agreement to participate in the planning process. Note that formal MOUs will be required for each of the four required educational partners for the Phase 2: Implementation Grant.

Do school districts count as employers?

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.

Program Requirements

By when do districts need to be in CCGI?

K-12 members of the collaborative must apply to CCGI beginning in March 2023 as part of the Phase 2: Planning Grant activities. If a collaborative receives a Phase 2: Implementation Grant, the K-12 members must be in contract with CCGI no later than January 1, 2024.

Regarding CCGI, can you elaborate on how you document use of CCGI for a grant deliverable? Is open access level acceptable or do you need the partner membership?

Partnership level is required for all districts participating in collaboratives that are awarded a grant. Also needed will be a data sharing MOU with CCGI, which enables transcript-informed functionality not available to districts who use the basic (open access) tools on the website. Districts can reach out to CommunityEngagement@californiacolleges.edu to begin the process of establishing a partnership.

Do applicants need to name the RWE Recommendations they would like to adopt in their Phase 2: Planning Grant proposal or can they select those during our planning year?

Applicants are not expected to name the RWE recommendations or pathways during the planning year. This information will be required, however, for the Phase 2: Implementation Grant application.

*How do you ensure that an applicant includes in its proposed project activities all counties in the applicant’s CERF region?

The Implementation grant application is a competitive application and the Phase I application questions  and guidelines are included on the website. The scoring of those application questions is outlined in the application guidelines.

*Given that the goal of the grant is to build streamlined pathways from high school to postsecondary and into the workforce; what recommendations do you have for collaboratives interested in exploring and addressing inequities in K-8 that would relate to students’ preparation?

Phase 2: Planning grants are meant to allow awardees the time to create the infrastructure and relationships required for implementation of program objectives and to prepare a strong application for a Phase 2: Implementation grant to address the needs of each region.

*Can you explain a bit about how the requirements and intent of the Phase 2 planning grant differs from the Phase 1 implementation grant?

Phase 1 implementation grants were for established collaboratives with the infrastructure in place to implement program objectives upon funding.  Phase 2: Planning grants are meant to allow awardees the time to create the infrastructure and relationships required for implementation of program objectives.

*For the implementation grant, are you expecting that the entire region would develop the same occupational pathways, or might one subregion build one occupational pathway, and another subregion build others?

Given that needs may vary across the CERF regions, collaboratives will need to articulate how different pathways meet the needs of subregions if this is part of their implementation grant proposal.

Budget and Allowable Costs

Can Planning Grant funds be used for grant writing? Often we understand that grant writing is NOT an allowable expense. We want to make sure we’re planning our budget appropriately.

No. Grant funds cannot be used for grant writing.

Would expenses related to contracting with a project management firm be allowable? The project management firm would oversee the planning activities for all of the partners across our three counties.

Contractors are allowed to complete work that is in line with the goals of the grant, and those costs should be included in the grant budget.

Region

*How were the 13 CERF regions designed?

To find out more about CERF regions, please see this link: https://opr.ca.gov/economic-development/just-transition/cerf.html

Grant Application and Scoring Criteria

*Is there a character/word limit for the narrative?

Narrative answers do not have word limit. Where there is a limit, it will be noted.

*In the narrative sections, does Submittable support tables, charts, or footnotes?

Hyperlinks to such documents can be inserted in response fields.

*If we have more than the four required collaborative partners, is there any guidance on who is listed within the application?

A complete list of partners will be requested as part of the application.

*Letters of support are not required as part of the RFP, but we would like to include them as part of our grant application. Are we able to do this and where would we submit them?

Letters of support from the four required partners are required. They need only indicate agreement to participate in the planning process. Formal MOUs will be required for each of the four required educational partners for the Phase 2: Implementation Grant.

*The work plan sample includes ‘ultimate desired impact; number served; and outcomes & evaluation measures’ - should those elements be included in the planning grant work plan, or can they be deleted?

The work plan example provided is a general format template. Data elements noted can be deleted if they are not reflective of the collaborative’s proposal.

Reporting Requirements

What are the main reporting requirements?

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 to track and report on expenditures.

*Is FoundationCCC leading evaluation efforts in each region or should each region be prepared to do that on their own?

OPSC and FoundationCCC will support various types of evaluation activities throughout the project period. Additional information about reporting requirements can be found in the Phase 1 application guidelines and will also be detailed in the grant agreement for collaboratives that receive an award.

*Is there any advice in terms of data usage that you would like to advise us on as a result of having implementation grants up and running?

If you’re interested in learning more about the data requirements for the implementation phase, you can visit the data resources page on the K16 collaborative website https://k16collaborative.org/program-resources/