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Document Sample
FY12 Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Renewal Grant Questions + Answers
Funding and Eligibility Amounts
1. How were FY12 budget amounts determined? Why did some programs receive
increased or level funding and others cut?
As was presented in the CFCE Bidders’ conference on February 18th, the goal for
adjusting FY12 eligibility amounts was to raise the base CFCE FY12 eligibility amount
to support core functions. In determining the adjusted amounts, the following criteria
were considered:
o FY11 CFCE grant award of 100K or higher;
o Level 4 school district;
o DPH Community – Home Visiting Task Force data; and
o 50% or higher child poverty rate.
In an effort to maximize limited resources and to support core functions for all FY12
CFCE grantees, the Department imposed a reduction on all grantees that received a
CFCE award of $100K or more in FY11. In consideration of the aforementioned
criteria, the following formula was applied to grantees of 100K or more:
o 0.5% decrease from FY11 - grantees are designated a Level 4 district, a DPH
Community and have more than a 50% child poverty rate;
o 0.75% decrease from FY11 - grantees are both Level 4 districts and a DPH
Community;
o 1.5% decrease from FY11 - grantees are either a Level 4 or a DPH
Community;
o 2.5% decrease from FY11 - grantees that do not meet any of the other
criteria.
General
2. Is the FY 12 Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Renewal RFP
considered a competitive grant?
No.
3. I understand that the grant roll out date is for July 1 so that there is a continuity of
services for the summer. Our CFCE‘s lead agency is a public school. We will have a
funding conflict because of our contract. How will this issue be addressed?
In accordance with the terms of the RFP, each CFCE lead agency must deliver services
to families throughout the duration of the grant award period from July 1, 2011 to
June 30, 2012.
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4. Can the CFCE charge families for any types of services, e.g., play groups, parent
education class?
Consistent with prior year CFCE grants, EEC allows grantees to charge fees; however, it
is the Department’s expectation that fees should not be a barrier to parent/family
participation in programs. If you intend to charge fees, please submit your fee policy
with your application, including how you think use of fees may impact access to
programs, for review and approval.
5. How do I access “Family Friend and Neighbor” caregiver names to send them
information?
The following link to the National Child Care and Information and Technical Assistance
Center provides a variety of resources regarding outreach and support to Family,
Friend and Neighbor caregivers:
http://stage.nccic.acf.hhs.gov/poptopics/stateandlocal.html
6. Please define researched based home visits. Is this just for PCHP? We do home visits
with newborns, and provide a baby bag and provide information, resources within
the community. We also do other types of home visits, can we include these
numbers?
Research based home visits means that there is evidence that the content and process
of the home visit has a positive impact on families that can be measured. PCHP and
Parents as Teachers are research based home visiting models. We encourage grantees
to provide newborn home visits as a way of reaching out to all families and linking
them to resources and programs. If your grant program provides other kinds of home
visiting, we would expect it to align with the goals of the CFCE grant and would expect
you to provide a description of the model, the target audience and the expected
outcome(s) of the model in your RFP response.
7. Can we provide parent education series’ for parents of pre-teens ages 9-12? Are we
expected to serve children above age 8?
While the focus of CFCE activities is families with children birth – 8, EEC encourages
CFCE grantees to be equipped to provide information and resources to parents of
children up to age 14. All parent education that is supported with CFCE funds must
have focus on supporting parents as their child’s first teacher and promoting school
success.
8. Can CFCE funds be used to provide Adult Basic Education and adult literacy classes
for parents?
Adult Basic Education, including adult literacy classes, and literacy programming for
children, must be provided as a unified strategy with the primary goal of supporting
family literacy. These activities must happen with children and parents together, not
as individual activities. The content of any ABE programming, including adult literacy
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classes, supported with CFCE funds must be directly linked to improving literacy
outcomes for children.
9. Do CPCs and MFNs still exist?
EEC implemented the CFCE grant in FY10 in order to consolidate multiple community
based grant programs, including CPCs, PCHPs and MFNS, into one locally based
strategy to address the needs of children and families. While agency titles may reflect
language from a former grant, EEC has 110 Coordinated Family and Community
Engagement grantees.
10. Can money for newborn visiting for home visits be done for early care for Head Start
programs where home visits are required by that grant?
Yes, however, the funds must support all families in your service area, not just Head
Start eligible families. As such, the Department expects that funds associated with the
CFCE grant will not be used to supplant funding that is provided by another source to
pay for activities that are a requirement of another grant program.
11. How do we give a dollar amount to some in-kind services?
Depending on the in-kind service, the value should be determined based on the actual
cost of providing the service. For example, if you have in-kind space for your
playgroups, the actual cost of the space, the amount of time it is used, and any other
expenses related to maintenance, etc, would determine the in-kind benefit to your
grant program. The source of the in-kind services would be able to provide you with
the best estimate of the value of the services.
12. Could you please discuss what trainings CFCE coordinators should attend? We
receive so many opportunities from the department, CTF, etc. Are there some that
are mandatory?
In accordance with Appendix H of the RFP, the Lead Coordinator must attend all
relevant trainings and meetings. If a required training and/or meeting is being held,
the Department will notify you in advance.
13. Can we use CFCE funds to pay for staff or consultants to support parents as
advocates by attending Special Ed conferences, etc?
CFCE funds may not be used to pay for staff or consultants to attend Special Education
conferences as advocates for parents. However, CFCE grantees are expected to link
families to resources/agencies that can provide them with support in navigating the
special education system. The following link to the Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education website is an example of a resource that
provides information for families who are engaged in special education.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/links/advocacy.html
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14. While we can encourage our local providers to enter their information on the
registry, couldn’t this be made mandatory as a part of licensing?
Annual registration by educators is required by the Department’s licensing
regulations. Pursuant to EEC regulations at 606 CMR 7.09(4), all educators must
register annually with the Department, in accordance with EEC policies and
procedures.
15. When writing the responses, can we use bullets or a chart?
Yes, bullets and charts may be included in your response.
16. Narrative question # 11 asks for our activities for the whole year. It will be
impossible for us to include everything on one and a half pages. Is there any
flexibility in the number of pages allowed per question?
Grantees must list all activities within the one and a half page limit. However, grantees
may attach an appendix that provides additional information about the activities
listed in their response.
17. There is a submission deadline of March 11th in the middle of the grant language as
opposed to the March 29th deadline on the procurement information page. The
29th, right?
The submission deadline is March 29th. The incorrect date of March 11th has been
corrected.
18. In the past, we have provided networking opportunities for the providers in our
community. Is this an allowable activity for CFCE grantees?
For the purposes of this grant, we are defining networking as an “exchange of
information” among individuals or groups, not professional development.
CFCE grantees are expected to facilitate access to networking opportunities for small
and large early education and care and out-of-school time programs in their service
area to exchange local/state information. For example, inviting the regional EPS
grantee to a meeting at the beginning of FY12 to talk to the programs in your service
area about the FY12 professional development calendar would be an appropriate
networking opportunity. Inviting the regional Mental Health grantee to a meeting to
talk about the FY12 Mental Health grant would be another appropriate networking
opportunity.
Whenever possible, this information exchange should happen within your council
meetings, but we recognize that not all programs in your service area are council
members. Networking opportunities should be limited to 3 or 4 times per year.
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Budget
19. If a lead agency assigns a set fringe amount for all grants, does an adjustment have
to be made if the CFCE coordinator is able to take health care benefits but chooses
not to because they are covered under another policy?
Yes, you may adjust your fringe allocation as long as you document why you have
made this adjustment in your budget narrative.
20. When creating the budget, was consideration given to using same budget form that
DESE uses? (Makes it easier for school districts)
This budget was designed from the ESE budget.
21. There seems to be a calculation problem with the subcontract form.
If you are having difficulty with the forms, please contact grants administration at:
procure@massmail.state.ma.us
22. Does the 8% admin cap apply to each individual subcontractor budget as well as the
lead agency budget?
Yes.
23. I am subcontracting through a bid and will not know the name of the subcontractor
until the bid process is completed. Is it all right to submit the subcontract without a
specific agency name?
Yes. The scope of the work of the subcontractor should be explained in your budget
and budget narrative. Please notify EEC with the name of the subcontractor once the
bid process is finished.
Scoring
24. What will the scores for the grants be used for?
Appendix B outlines the scoring process and includes the following information:
Scores will be used to assess the strength of proposals received and to determine
whether a performance/monitoring plan should be developed and implemented for a
grantee. EEC reserves the right to alter the amount of funding, available to or
awarded to a grantee based on the grantee’s score. Additionally, EEC reserves the
right not to renew a grant based on a Respondent’s proposal score.
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25. How will our scores be communicated to us?
EEC will retain a scorecard for each grant application. A grantee may request a copy
of their scorecard as part of a public records request. Such request should be sent via
e-mail to the EEC Grant Contact Person named in the RFP.
Strategic Planning
26. We did not receive funding for strategic planning; therefore, our plan will not be
completed by the end of March. Is there any possible way to extend time for this
section?
All grantees should use the results of their planning efforts to inform their responses
in the FY12 RFP. EEC welcomes CFCE grantees who did not receive specific strategic
planning awards to share their strategic plans with the department prior to the end of
this fiscal year.
27. After reviewing the Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grant Fund
RFP, there are some questions on how we should approach this application and its
12 Narrative Questions. Since Framingham is one of the grantees for the Strategic
Planning Grant, due March 18th, we are trying to understand how best to respond to
this RFP given the plan outlined in our own 3 year Strategic Plan. The narrative
questions do not seem to equate clearly into an outlined plan for goals and
objectives like the FY 11 grant did, and, which served as guidance for enhancing our
program activities this past year, but seem instead to be asking several questions
not directly related to our activities.
As stated by the Commissioner in the CFCE statewide meeting on February 18, 2011, it
is the responsibility of the grantee to link their strategic plan to their narrative
response in the FY12 renewal application.
Narrative Questions
28. Are we to speak to both a plan for increase and decrease or just decrease?
(narrative question 2)
Please include specific examples of services that you would increase or decrease in
response to increases or decreases in funding to support your grant program.
29. Please define the word region. If a CFCE serves only one community, should we track
the demand for services and unmet needs for the community or the region in which
the community resides?
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Grantees are responsible for tracking the demand for services and unmet needs for
their service area.
30. What information would you like for demographics? (narrative question #3-see
below).
Will DCF tell us who the families are in our district? If families are not in a program
and isolated or linguistically isolated how will we know they exist?
The demographic information that you include in your response should provide EEC
with a complete picture of the families you are serving, which will support how you
allocate resources in your grant application. Pertinent data related to the
demographic elements (a-e) embedded in the question should be included in your
response.
DCF will not release names of families who live in your service area. The question asks
you to explain how you plan to conduct outreach to all families in your service area,
including outreach plans for DCF involved families.
31. If CFCE activities are being supported by in-kind funds, fundraising and/or other
grants, should the activities listed in Question 11 include all activities that meet the
objectives and priorities of the CFCE grant?
Your response to this question must reflect the activities that are directly funded by
the CFCE grant. Activities that meet the objectives of the grant, but are not supported
with CFCE funds, can be included in this section, but please indicate that they are
supported with other resources. In-kind, fundraising and/or other grant-funded
activities should be reflected on the CFCE FY12 In-Kind Contributions and Fund Raising
attachment.
32. In the narrative there appeared to be many questions including both families and
providers. Can we service both in relation to those questions and our services?
CFCE grantees are expected to respond to these questions in alignment with the
specific objectives and allowable activities of the FY12 CFCE grant with regard to
families and providers.
33. What do they mean by mixed delivery system? Is it the combo of different kinds of
providers?
As stated under Question #5, the mixed delivery system includes all of the early
education and care options available to families, e.g. child care centers, out of school
time programs, family child care homes, public preschool programs, private schools,
charter schools, Head Start programs, infant and toddler centers, and/or those
providing informal child care as a family, friend and neighbor caregiver.
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34. Do you have suggestions for up-to-date regional demographic data by occupation?
Or will demographic data for region suffice? Occupational data often stops at state
or county level. How do we get current (not 2000 census) data?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has both state and city data for 2009.
http://www.bls.gov/home
35. “Describe your program or agency governance?” Is this CFCE staff or council
members?
Your response to Question #5 should include the role of your agency, specific CFCE
staff, your council and other partners in the governance of your CFCE grant.
36. Is it acceptable to answer questions on a regional basis? This makes sense for small
communities. We would submit answers that are similar for the beginning but will
have local information at the end.
Communicating with other CFCE grantees in your region to discuss common regional
resources for information and support that assist you in meeting the objectives of the
CFCE is encouraged. For the purposes of this renewal application, each grantee is
responsible for submitting responses to the narrative questions that specifically relate
to the needs of the families in their service area.
37. Please explain what you mean by “intake.” (Narrative Question #12)- Are you
expecting every contact we receive to be documented on an intake form? As
providers and agencies are stakeholders should we intake them also?
While EEC is not requiring you to create specific intake forms for all of the
stakeholders in your community, we want to understand how you are determining
their needs. “Intake” is how and what information you get from families, providers,
and agencies to determine how you identify and respond to their needs. How do you
determine what services and supports a family needs? How do you determine where
to refer an early education and care program for comprehensive services or a provider
for professional development?
Transitions
38. As part of our transition activities for preschoolers who have not had a formal
preschool experience, we want to offer a summer early childhood program that
helps get them ready for kindergarten. We also share information and resources
with their parents. Is this an allowable expense through the CFCE grant?
EEC expects CFCE grantees to conduct outreach to and provide learning opportunities
for families with preschoolers who have not had formal preschool experience. These
activities should happen throughout the year, not only in summer months. Parents
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must be onsite and have a role in these learning experiences. As stated in the Fund
Use section of the RFP, grant funds shall not “be used to provide direct services in
early childhood programs.” Hence, CFCE grant funds may not be used to pay for
licensed or license exempt early education and care for children.
39. Under the description of different kinds of transitions, what does “changes in rules
and expectations of children and families mean? Does this mean rules and
expectations of the State?
“Changes in rules and expectations of children and families” includes a whole range of
changes that occur when children and families transition out of one setting to another
setting. These changes could include methods of communication between the
program and the family, drop off and pick up processes, opportunities for parent
involvement, etc.
Parent-Child Home Program
40. For the CFCEs that also have PCHP grants – should budget adjustments (reductions)
be made equitably across the board, (i.e. can we reduce the # of PCHP families as we
reduce our CFCE activities?)
As in past years, is the CFCE required to serve a certain number of PCHP families as
based on the grant allocation?
Can we choose to use any amount of our funding toward PCHP or is there a specified
amount?
Each CFCE grantee listed in Appendix I: Parent Child Home Program Guidelines and
Service Delivery Requirements is responsible for how they allocate CFCE resources,
including funds to support their PCHP program. If the projected number of children to
be served in PCHP in FY12 differs from the number served in FY11, please explain in
your response.
41. My question concerns the PCHP portion of the Coordinated Family & Community
Engagement Grant. On the statistics page, my question concerns the data for FY11.
Since we will not have final statistics until May 2011 and the RFP is due March 29,
2011 how do you want us to complete this section? What if the numbers change
before the end of the program year?
Please make your best projections for FY11 and FY12. We will ask you to confirm your
FY11 projections prior to the end of the fiscal year.
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Screenings and Assessments
42. We are internationally affiliated Parents as Teachers program. A requirement of PAT
is for participating children to be screened annually. Can we use EEC funds for this
purpose? Also, PCHP programs can use funds for fees. Can we use CFCE to pay for
PAT recertification fees?
EEC requires all CFCE grantees to refer families to screening resources in their
communities. For PCHP and PAT, CFCE funds may be used to support the screening
requirements for program participants only, if it is documented that appropriate
screening resources that would support the screening requirements of PCHP and/or
PAT are not otherwise available in the community.
CFCE funds may be used to support the recertification of the PAT program. If your
agency receives other funding for the PAT program, EEC would expect to support a
portion of your recertification fees. In your renewal application, please include a
description of the PAT program model and how it links to your overall FY12 CFCE plan.
43. How does DEEC define "screenings"?
Please define screening – preschool, kindergarten, family screening?
CFCE grantees should be prepared to respond to the requests of families and early
education and care programs for current information about community resources that
can provide a range of screenings related to child development, including physical and
mental health, cognitive development, school readiness, speech, hearing, vision, etc.
Whenever possible, families should access screenings through their medical home.
Can we do hearing screenings at programs for families, because it says no screenings
at all? Am I interpreting this right?
CFCE grantees are expected to provide early education and care and out-of- school
time programs with referrals to community based resources that can provide all types
of screenings. CFCE funds may not be used to pay for screenings.
The CFCE grant application clearly states that grantees may not provide screenings.
Can we set up a screening with a local dentist and schedule families to see him, if
the dentist is providing the screenings pro bono and no CFCE funds are paying for
the screenings? This would only require some admin time on our part.
Yes, you can provide scheduling support for screenings to facilitate access for the
families.
44. Can we do individual observations at programs if the parent requests it? I did one
this year because the parent really wanted me to see her child in school, because
she was confused about the feedback she was getting from the school. Since this is
not an assessment, nor is it PD for the programs, but support for the parent can we
still do it?
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Can a CFCE Outreach Worker observe children in classrooms in order to create a
behavior plan to be used to strengthen home/school connection?
It is the role of the CFCE grantee to refer families to community-based resources to
support their needs. These resources can include mental health agencies, early
childhood special education professionals in the public schools, early intervention
programs, etc. Referrals should be to specific individuals within those agencies who
can address parents’ concerns with appropriate information and services, which could
include observation. It is not the role of CFCE grantees to conduct observations of
children.
Dual Language Learners
45. What if you don’t have any dual language learners? I have families that speak
multiple languages but all of my families speak English.
CFCE grantees are expected to have a thorough understanding of the families in their
service area. Your renewal application should communicate a complete and accurate
picture of those families and an appropriate plan for addressing their needs.
Strengthening Families Self-Assessment
46. In question 10, how do you define “program area”? Is it a specific numbered
question in each separate Program Strategy in Strengthening Families? (For
example, father involvement seems to span 3 separate questions, whereas
opportunities for families to socialize is in one.)
“Program area” is a reference to the specific numbered question in each separate
Program Strategy. If you notice that a few of your top five areas are related, we would
expect that you would address those as one, e.g. father involvement, and include
additional areas that did not surface as an area of strength for your grant program.
47. Can grant funds help pay to address needs identified in the Strengthening Families
Self-Assessment? For example, can funds cover staff training for cultural
competency if this is an identified need?
Providing training for your CFCE staff to address the needs that surfaced in your
Strengthening Families Self-Assessment is an appropriate use of CFCE funds, as long as
the training aligns with the objectives and allowable activities of the CFCE grant.
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Comprehensive Services
48. What can we do/provide to educators in terms of 'comprehensive services'?
As stated in the RFP, CFCE grantees are required to be “a local resource for
information about professional development opportunities.” CFCE grantees do not
provide comprehensive services to educators. For early education and out of school
time programs, CFCE grantees are required to provide referrals to comprehensive
services that meet the needs of children and families in their programs.
49. What supportive services can we provide to educators and providers, besides giving
referrals? Can we give them access to resource materials to borrow?
CFCE funds may not be used to purchase resource materials for educators and
providers. Resources that are available for parents may be made available to
educators and providers. As stated in the RFP, grantees are expected to employ a
variety of methods for sharing information and resources with local educators and
providers, including governance council meetings, email distribution, and web
postings.
50. Can we reach families indirectly through providers by doing activities with the
children at their sites and sending home information that extends the ideas to
home?
What is meant by not being able to provide DIRECT services in early childhood
programs? Can we do parent/child activities at programs at drop off/pick up?
CFCE grantees may provide learning opportunities for children with parents who are
onsite and actively engaged in the experience. Allowable activities include,
playgroups, literacy activities, etc. (See Appendix F: Allowable Grant Activities)
Please note: Learning opportunities for parents and children together must be
available to all families in your service area, not specific families who participate in a
particular early education and care program. If your lead agency has licensed or
license exempt early education and care programs, CFCE funds are not intended to
support activities specific to those programs at drop off/pick up.
Professional Development
51. Is the CFCE staff allowed to do any kind of program enhancements (modeling small
group activities with children, maybe on health topics or literacy, etc) or in-services
for providers on pertinent issues as part of the work of promoting individual
educator competency?
CFCE grantees are responsible for providing small and large early education and care
programs with referrals to professional development opportunities and linking
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individual educators to the EPS grantee for individual planning, coaching and/or
mentoring. CFCE funding may not be used to provide in-service training for providers.
Data Collection
52. Much of our outreach is done online, i.e. sending providers information for their
staff and parents. I have also created an Early Childhood Website where families
can get a lot of the information, i.e. preschool and other childcare options in the
district, screening information, a link to the EEC website, kindergarten registration,
local playgroups, parent activities, etc. There is no way to track how many families
accessed that information and therefore did not have to call for a referral.
How do we account for the data of how many families received information and
referrals? The website is linked to the District website, and I cannot track the
information.
Please include in your count the number of recipients who receive informational
emails from you. In addition, include in your totals the number of times you post
resource information on your website. As you cannot determine how many people
accessed the website information, note in the comment section of your report the
number of families (population of families with children 0-14) for whom the
information may be relevant. This gives us an idea of the potential reach of your web
posting.
Reporting and Deliverables
53. Any idea what the OUTCOMES we need to report on will be, page 7 for the final
report. Is this just comparing out projections to what actually happened?
Reporting will be based on comparing projections in the Projected Deliverables Report
to the actual numbers of each of the items listed on the report at the end of FY12.
Please note: as stated in the RFP, EEC reserves the right to modify and/or add
additional reporting requirements.
54. Projected Deliverables #2. Are these strictly numbers of programs that contacted us
and then we gave them a referral? Or can we include, for instance, if we send out
(email/mail) information to all programs on Early Intervention, who to call, where to
call, etc?
In addition to counting the referrals you provide to programs that contact you for
information about a specific comprehensive service, you may include the number of
programs to whom you provide referrals to comprehensive services more generally,
including those that received an email blast from you that included updated
information on a local resource, etc.
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EEC Waitlist
55. I have been a number of EEC meetings where the waitlist has been discussed. In the
training, I heard that only eligible families should be added to the waitlist. In other
meetings, I have heard that all families who want to be added to the waitlist should
be added. Please clarify.
Any family seeking child care financial assistance may access the EEC waiting list, as
placement on the waiting list does not require verification of eligibility requirements.
However, you should explain to families that EEC child care financial assistance
contains several requirements, including, but not limited to, verification of total
household income, and work, education or training participation.
56. Can EEC provide training on waitlist policies on an ongoing basis and provide us with
forms and possibly a script to use for intake? Will EEC provide training on the new
waitlist? Will CFCE grantees receive information about the process for updating
family records on the waitlist?
Yes, training will be provided for CFCE grantees.
Concrete Supports
57. In the past, we have used CFCE funds to provide concrete supports- purchase
food/supplies for the food pantry, other basic needs assistance, e.g. fuel assistance,
etc. Are these concrete supports allowable expenses under the CFCE grant?
CFCE grantees are expected to refer families to locally based resources for concrete
support.
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