All grant activities of the Council are governed by the Council's federally approved state plan and by the procurement requirements of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.   The Council does not have discretionary funds beyond those published in our RFP books and our notices of funding for smaller grants such as Grassroots Advocacy and Minority Outreach.  Changes to the RFPs issued require amendments to the State Plan and federal approval.

• Periodically the Council issues a "Request for Proposals" (RFP) booklet. In the booklet are descriptions of projects that Council will be funding and instructions on how grants must be written to meet the Council's requirements. People on the Council's mailing list receive the booklet in the mail. Other copies of the booklet are distributed by hand or accessed on the Council's website. The Council only accepts proposals for the projects described in the RFP booklet.
  


• Under each specific "Request for Proposal" there are dates listed for preproposal conferences. A preproposal conference is a meeting time where you ask questions of the project officer from the Council who will oversee the funded projects. The due date and time are very important to note. If the proposal is late, it must be disqualified. Also, it is very important that organizations that are interested in specific "Request for Proposals" send in the "intent form" (located within the Request for Proposal Booklet). This lets the Council know you are interested, which grants you are interested in, and assures that you receive a copy of the official answers to questions raised during the preproposal conference.
  


• Once proposals are submitted, a group of evaluators read and score them according to criteria developed by the Council. Evaluators are volunteers and include Council and Committee members and also other individuals with expertise or knowledge in the particular area. The group discusses each aspect of the proposals and ranks them according to how well they matched what the Council described in the "Request for Proposals" document.
  


• Organizations who submitted grants are notified of whether or not their grant was selected. For those who had successful grants, there can be times when certain parts of their work plan or budget need to be explained further or adapted slightly. The Council staff will come and visit and a grant will be signed. Those organizations that are not awarded a grant are encouraged to call and discuss the evaluation committee's findings with the project officer.
  


• Occasionally, the Council may accept proposals for smaller grants such as Grassroots Advocacy Grants or Minority Outreach Grants.  These are announced on our website.  These grants are also described in the "Request for Proposals" booklet. These efforts also must follow a particular format. Interested individuals can call the Council to get the appropriate application.

Don't miss the next opportunity to receive a grant from the Council! If you are not currently on the Council's mailing list, request to join it here. Being on the mailing list assures that you will receive notices of grant opportunities.