[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 203 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56151-56152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28135]
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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Notice of Availability of Funds to Foster an Increase in
AmeriCorps Members Involved in Teaching and Teacher Education
AGENCY: Corporation for National and Community Service.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds to foster an increase in the
number of AmeriCorps national service participants involved in teaching
and teacher education.
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SUMMARY: The Corporation for National and Community Service (the
Corporation) will use approximately $100,000 to award one or two grants
to organizations that currently operate a national service program
enrolling AmeriCorps members, for the purpose of increasing the
connections between AmeriCorps national service and teachers.
DATES: All proposals must be submitted by November 16, 1998. The
Corporation anticipates announcing its selections under this
announcement no later than December 1, 1998. The project period is
negotiable, but is anticipated to end no later than December 31, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Proposals must be submitted to the Corporation at the
following address: Corporation for National and Community Service,
Attn: Gary Kowalczyk, 1201 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20525.
This notice may be requested in an alternative format for the visually
impaired.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or to obtain
an application, contact the Corporation for National and Community
Service, Jeffrey Gale at (202) 606-5000, ext. 280.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Corporation is a federal government corporation that encourages
Americans of all ages and backgrounds to engage in community-based
service to meet the nation's educational, public safety, environmental
and other human needs. In doing so, the Corporation fosters civic
responsibility, strengthens the ties that bind us together as a people,
and provides educational opportunity for those who make a substantial
commitment to service. Each year, the Corporation supports
approximately 40,000 AmeriCorps members who perform substantial service
in communities across the country.
Since its inception in 1993, the Corporation has devoted a
substantial part of its activities to helping to meet the needs of
children and youth. Last year at the Presidents' Summit on America's
Future in Philadelphia, President Clinton, former Presidents Bush,
Carter, and Ford, Mrs. Nancy Reagan, and General Colin Powell, with the
endorsement of many governors, mayors, and leaders of the independent
sector, declared: ``Our obligation, direct and unmistakable, is to
assure that all young Americans have:
Caring adults in their lives, as parents, mentors, tutors,
coaches;
Safe places with structured activities in which to learn
and grow;
A healthy start and healthy future;
An effective education that equips them with marketable
skills; and
An opportunity to give back to their communities through
their own service.
These five goals are now the five fundamental resources sought by
America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth, the organization pursuing
the goals of the Presidents' Summit. The Corporation seeks to promote
the use of AmeriCorps members, and the principles of service-learning,
in achieving goals four and five.
The National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended,
specifically encourages the involvement of teachers, and those studying
to become teachers, in AmeriCorps national service. Through this
Notice, the Corporation seeks to strengthen that involvement. Under
subtitle H, the Corporation may support innovative and model
activities, including those undertaken by programs funded under
AmeriCorps*State/National and Learn and Serve America and including
those that promote service-learning. 42 U.S.C. 12653. Through this
Notice, the Corporation announces its intention to provide assistance
under subtitle H to organizations currently enrolling AmeriCorps
members in programs supported under AmeriCorps*State/National and Learn
and Serve America, with funds earmarked for planning and technical
assistance activities to develop more effective connections between
AmeriCorps and teachers, teacher training, and teacher education. The
activities supported under this Notice must incorporate service-
learning principles, as defined below.
This Notice builds upon the Corporation's literacy activities under
the America Reads Challenge, and is intended to enable national service
to help meet teacher shortages in certain areas of the country and in
certain subjects.
Eligible Applicants
Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education and
nonprofit organizations that have an existing grant or agreement with
the Corporation to enroll AmeriCorps members in a program that includes
teachers, teacher training, or teacher education. Given the limited
scope of eligible applicants, the Corporation expects fewer than ten
applications.
Purpose of Assistance
This assistance will support planning and technical assistance
activities to develop more effective connections between AmeriCorps and
teachers, teacher training, and teacher education, with the goal of
increasing the number of AmeriCorps members involved in teaching in
areas of need as defined by local communities; teacher education; and
teacher training. The Corporation intends that the activities supported
under this Notice will result in an increase in requests to expand and/
or modify existing national service programs to include new teaching-
related initiatives and in applications for Corporation assistance from
teaching-related programs. Assistance may not be used to support an
activity that is both conducted by a national service program and is
already supported by Corporation assistance.
[[Page 56152]]
The planning and technical assistance activities must incorporate
service-learning.
Service-learning means a method under which students or
participants learn and develop through active participation in
thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs
of a community; is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary
school, institution of higher education or community service program,
and with the community; that helps foster civic responsibility; and
that is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the
students, or the educational components of the community service
program in which the participants are enrolled; and provides structured
time for the students or the participants to reflect on the service
experience. The grantee is expected to coordinate with institutions of
higher education, local education agencies, state education agencies,
national service programs, and others to achieve the objectives of the
grant.
Eligible applicants have considerable freedom to identify the
specific activities under its grant proposal. The most important
consideration is that the planning and technical assistance activities
promote an expansion in the number of AmeriCorps members serving as
teachers and or involved in teacher training and education programs.
The following are examples of specific tasks that the grant may
support:
Organizing efforts by institutions of higher education to
review their existing programs and determine ways in which national
service programs may support objectives related to providing teachers
at the elementary and secondary levels.
Developing and distributing materials to leaders in the
fields of service and education explaining the opportunities to
strengthen relationships between national service and teacher
education.
Conducting outreach to Superintendents of Schools to
explain how AmeriCorps national service might be useful in meeting
school districts' needs for highly qualified and trained teachers who
are knowledgeable about service-learning.
Establishing a network of higher education institutions,
such as faith-based institutions, agreeing to use national service
resources to help provide teachers and strengthen teacher training and
education.
The Corporation has a particular interest in proposals that would
foster an increase in the number of AmeriCorps members involved in
teaching-related activities through the AmeriCorps Education Award
Program. The AmeriCorps Education Awards Program provides education
awards to national, state and local community service programs that can
support most or all of the costs associated with using AmeriCorps
members with funding sources other than the Corporation. The program is
intended to: (1) Expand opportunities for individuals to serve as
AmeriCorps members and receive educational benefits; (2) broaden the
network of national service programs and strategies; and (3) increase
the number of communities using AmeriCorps members to help meet their
education, public safety, environmental, and other human needs.
The assistance provided under this Notice must also promote the
Corporation's Learn and Serve America program. A key purpose of the
Learn and Serve America grant program is to build an ethic of service
among students by making service an integral part of their education
and life experiences. School-based, community-based, and higher
education programs integrate community service with academic curriculum
or with other learning opportunities. In doing so, these programs
enable students to place their studies into context, improve their
academic performance, develop a strong sense of civic responsibility,
and help meet educational, public safety, environmental, and health and
other human needs in their communities.
For more information on the programs supported by the Corporation,
see the Corporation's 1999 Guide to Programs and Grants, available on
our website at www.nationalservice.org, or contact the Corporation
representative listed above.
Contents of the Proposal
Eligible organizations must submit a proposal with the following
information:
1. Background concerning the applicant's current national service
programs.
2. A designation of the organizations that the applicant will work
with to achieve the goals of this notice.
3. A description of the proposed objectives and activities,
including an indication as to how these specific planning and technical
assistance activities will lead to an increase in the number of
AmeriCorps members involved in teaching, teacher training, and teacher
education. The proposal must also differentiate between the proposed
objectives and activities and those of its currently-funded national
service program.
4. An estimated budget for the program, consistent with the
description below.
The application may not exceed 20 pages in length. Narrative must
be in double-space typeface. More detailed instructions concerning the
contents of the application are contained in the application package.
Budget and Finances
The grant may support reasonable and necessary costs typically
associated with a program of this type. This grant will not pay for any
activities of an existing national service program already supported by
Corporation funds. The applicant may request any amount necessary to
carry out the purpose of the grant, but in no circumstances can the
amount requested, or awarded, exceed $100,000.
The grantee assumes full financial responsibility for the program.
In addition to the negotiated grant amount, the Corporation will
provide support at meetings and/or conferences conducted under the
grant in order to assure that all involved have an accurate
understanding of national service programs. The Corporation will also
promote the availability of education awards on a national basis.
The Corporation anticipates that the grant(s) made under this
announcement will not be renewable.
Selection Criteria
The Corporation anticipates supporting one or two grants under this
Notice. In awarding these grants, the Corporation will consider:
program design (60%), including the likelihood of achieving the
proposed objectives; organizational capacity (25%); and budget/cost
effectiveness (15%). The Corporation will make all final decisions
concerning awards and may require revisions to the original grant
proposal in order to achieve the objectives under this Notice.
Dated: October 15, 1998.
Kenneth L. Klothen,
General Counsel, Corporation for National and Community Service.
[FR Doc. 98-28135 Filed 10-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6050-28-U
