Dear Colleagues,

I hope that the summer is off to a good start for all of you. We have been busily preparing for the National Conference. Not only are the workshops and plenaries going to be thought provoking and entertaining, we are working on several draft documents to share with you at the Town Hall meeting, grantee luncheons, and AmeriCorps leadership coffee.

The AmeriCorps leadership coffee is your opportunity to talk with David Eisner, CEO; Jerry Bridges, CFO; Liz Seale, COO; several board members and me. As in years past, this is a heavily attended event. Please RSVP for yourself and one board or commission member to sdesai@cns.gov by July 6th.

Many of you have wondered about the next steps for reporting since the WBRS integration project ended earlier this year. At the Town Hall meeting we will walk though our long term vision for replacing WBRS functionality with new or existing systems. The presentation will include the proposed changes, a timeline for rollout, the training and technical assistance and an opportunity for feedback from the field. Obviously this will be a much longer discussion than at the conference, however as we begin awarding grants for 2007 there are a few things that you need to know.

We have designed a new streamlined progress reporting form that will replace the APR map and progress reporting in WBRS. You will use the new eGrants-based reporting system for the first time this December. We look forward to sharing a draft of the new format with you at the conference, and incorporating your comments before the new eGrants screens are finalized. Because we are implementing this system now, if you received a grant in the 2007 competition, please do not complete the APR map or start any reports in WBRS. We will have more detailed instructions available during and after the conference but don't want to cause duplication of effort at this point. If you have any questions, please contact your program officer.

Thank you for your continued patience. See you in Philadelphia.

Sincerely,

Kristin