|
Dear National Service Colleagues,
It has been very inspiring to hear, see, and read about the engagement of AmeriCorps members across the country in important relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. AmeriCorps members are making enormous impacts in the lives of those in need both in the Gulf region and in communities throughout our nation that have welcomed evacuees.
Additional Funds Available
CNCS has been able to identify and make available additional funds to support current grantees in creating maximum impact in areas affected by the recent disasters. These funds are limited. We expect to have at least $15 million available. These funds are available to current AmeriCorps State and National competitive grantees.
We are particularly interested in providing additional funds to the following types of programs:
- Programs that are experienced and involved in disaster response.
- Programs located in AL, MS, LA, TX or in other states housing many evacuees.
- Programs focusing on mobilizing volunteers to assist with disaster response.
We expect to announce a similar program for formula grantees within the week.
Although a State may apply priorities different than those of the Corporation in funding its formula programs, we strongly encourage States to use these additional formula funds for hurricane recovery efforts.
Criteria
Requests for a budget amendment will be assessed against criteria, as reflected in the following questions:
- Describe the community need caused by the disaster(s), how you will address that need with additional funds, and what outcomes you expect to achieve. If necessary, grantees will submit new performance measures that align with their plan.
- If you propose to carry out activities you haven’t done in the past, describe your capacity to make this shift successfully without diminishing program quality.
- If you plan to send members to a new location or locations, describe your connection with the area(s) where you plan to have members serve.
- If you expect to add new members, describe your ability to absorb the increase in members and your training strategy.
- To what extent will you be able to deploy members quickly?
- Explain how long you plan to engage in this activity. Will the project be complete in a few weeks, a year, or longer?
- Describe your source(s) of match for these additional funds. Grantees will submit a revised budget in eGrants.
- If you are a National Direct grantee, please describe the extent to which you have consulted and coordinated with the state commission in every state in which your members will be providing disaster response service.
Additional Consideration
AmeriCorps staff will also evaluate past performance when making funding decisions. If an applicant is a recently funded grantee, staff will evaluate the quality of the current program design.
How to Request Additional Funds
- Contact your Program Officer and discuss your request, and whether it will require new performance measurements.
- Programs requesting amendments will create a new amendment in their current grant and provide a brief 1-3 page narrative responding to the criteria (above) in the new Amendment Justification field.
- Your Program Officer will let you know if you need to enter revised performance measures in eGrants.
- All grantees requesting an amendment will provide a revised budget in order to be considered for these funds.
State Programs
Subgrantees will initiate their budget amendments to their current grants with the state commissions. The Corporation will consider a request for amendment from a commission subgrantee only if the state commission has first approved the request.
Approving Requests
The Corporation plans to consider these requests for amendment on a rolling basis, in weekly batches. Our objective is to be able to deploy funds quickly and flexibly where the support can have the greatest positive impact.
AmeriCorps will be sending out answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) in early October. If you have any questions, please contact your CNCS Program Officer. For additional information, please click here.
Sincerely,
Rosie Mauk
Director, AmeriCorps
OMB No.: 3045-0113
Expiration Date: 03/31/2006
|
