[Federal Register: May 24, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 101)]
[Notices]
[Page 36580-36583]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24my02-58]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA 84.184B]
Mentoring Programs; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002
Purpose of Program: This program provides assistance to promote
mentoring programs for children with greatest need that: (1) Assist
these children in receiving support and guidance from a mentor; (2)
improve the academic performance of the children; (3) improve
interpersonal relationships between the children and their peers,
teachers, other adults, and family members; (4) reduce the dropout rate
of the children; and (5) reduce the children's juvenile delinquency and
involvement in gangs.
Eligible Applicants: (1) Local educational agencies (LEAs); (2)
nonprofit, community-based organizations (CBOs), which may include
faith-based organizations; and (3) a partnership between an LEA and a
CBO.
Note: We strongly encourage partnerships between LEAs and CBOs
that propose school-based mentoring programs.
Applications Available: May 24, 2002.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 2, 2002.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 2, 2002.
Estimated Available Funds: $17,500,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000-$200,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $150,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 115.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
[[Page 36581]]
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 85, 97, 98, and 99; and (b) the final priorities, selection
criteria and definitions for this grant competition as published in
this notice.
Priorities
Statutory Priority: This competition focuses exclusively on
projects designed to meet the statutory priority in section
4130(b)(5)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as
amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
To be eligible for funding, a project must propose mentoring
programs and activities to serve children with the greatest need living
in rural areas, high-crime areas, troubled home environments, or who
attend schools with violence problems.
For FY 2002 this priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet this priority.
Competitive Preference Priority: Within the statutory priority for
this competition for FY 2002, we will award five additional points to
novice applicants. These points are in addition to any points the
application earns under the selection criteria for this program.
Note: The total number of points an application may earn is 105.
Requirements
Projects funded under this priority must--
(A) Link children with mentors who--
(i) Have received training and support in mentoring;
(ii) Have been screened using appropriate reference checks, child
and domestic abuse record checks, and criminal background checks; and
(iii) Are interested in working with children with greatest need;
(B) Be designed to achieve one or more of the following goals with
respect to children with greatest need:
(i) Provide general guidance.
(ii) Promote personal and social responsibility.
(iii) Increase participation in, and enhance the ability to benefit
from, elementary and secondary education.
(iv) Discourage illegal use of drugs and alcohol, violence, use of
dangerous weapons, promiscuous behavior, and other criminal, harmful,
or potentially harmful activity.
(v) Encourage participation in community service and community
activities.
(vi) Encourage setting goals and planning for the future, including
encouragement of graduation from secondary school and planning for
postsecondary education or training.
(vii) Discourage involvement in gangs.
Grant funds must be used for activities that establish or implement
a mentoring program, which may include:
1. Hiring of mentoring coordinators and support staff;
2. Providing for the professional development of mentoring
coordinators and support staff;
3. Recruitment, screening, and training of mentors;
4. Reimbursement to schools, if appropriate, for the use of school
materials or supplies in carrying out the mentoring program;
5. Dissemination of outreach materials; and
6. Evaluation of the mentoring program using scientifically based
methods.
Participation by Private School Children and Teachers
LEAs that receive a Mentoring Programs grant are required to
provide for the equitable participation of eligible private school
students and their teachers or other educational personnel. In order to
ensure that grant program activities address the needs of private
school children, timely and meaningful consultation with appropriate
private school officials must occur during the design and development
of the program. Administrative direction and control over grant funds
must remain with the grantee.
Maintenance of Effort
An LEA may receive a grant under Mentoring Programs only if the
State educational agency finds that the combined fiscal effort per
student or the aggregate expenditures of the agency and the State with
respect to the provision of free public education by the agency for the
preceding fiscal year was not less than 90 percent of the combined
fiscal effort or aggregate expenditures for the second preceding fiscal
year.
Prohibited Uses of Funds
Grant funds may not be used to (1) directly compensate mentors; (2)
obtain educational or other materials or equipment that would otherwise
be used in the ordinary course of the grantee's operations; or (3)
support litigation of any kind.
Participation of Faith-based Organizations
Faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for grants under
this competition provided they meet all statutory and regulatory
requirements.
General Information
The Assistant Secretary may take into consideration the geographic
distribution of the projects, including urban and rural locations, in
addition to the rank order of applicants. To the extent practicable,
the Assistant Secretary will select not less than one grant recipient
from each State for which there is an eligible entity that submits an
application of sufficient quality. Contingent upon the availability of
funds, the Assistant Secretary may make additional awards in FY 2003
from the rank-ordered list of unfunded applications from this
competition.
Application Requirements
Applications submitted under this program must include the
following:
(1) A description of the plan for the mentoring program the
eligible entity proposes to carry out;
(2) Information on the children expected to be served by the
mentoring program;
(3) A description of the mechanism the eligible entity will use to
match children with mentors based on the needs of the children;
(4) Information regarding how mentors and children will be
recruited to the mentoring program;
(5) Information regarding how prospective mentors will be screened;
(6) Information on the training that will be provided to mentors;
and
(7) Information on the system that the eligible entity will use to
manage and monitor information relating to the mentoring program's:
(i) Reference checks;
(ii) Child and domestic abuse record checks;
(iii) Criminal background checks; and
(iv) Procedure for matching children with mentors.
Assurances
Applicants must provide the following assurances:
(1) An assurance that no mentor will be assigned to mentor so many
children that the assignment will undermine the mentor's ability to be
an effective mentor or the mentor's ability to establish a close
relationship (a one-to-one relationship, where practicable) with each
mentored child;
(2) An assurance that the mentoring program will provide children
with a variety of experiences and support, including--
(i) Emotional support;
(ii) Academic assistance; and
(iii) Exposure to experiences that the children might not otherwise
encounter on their own;
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(3) An assurance that the mentoring program will be monitored to
ensure that each child assigned a mentor benefits from that assignment
and that the child will be assigned a new mentor if the relationship
between the original mentor and the child is not beneficial to the
child;
(4) An assurance from each CBO submitting an application that it is
eligible under the definitions provided.
Definitions
(1) The term ``child with greatest need'' means a child who is at
risk of educational failure, dropping out of school, or involvement in
criminal or delinquent activities, or who lacks strong positive role
models.
(2) The term ``mentor'' means a responsible adult, a postsecondary
school student, or a secondary school student who works with a child
to--(a) Provide a positive role model for the child; (b) Establish a
supportive relationship with the child; and (c) Provide the child with
academic assistance and exposure to new experiences and examples of
opportunity that enhance the ability of the child to become a
responsible adult.
(3) The term ``non-profit'' refers to a school, agency,
organization, or institution owned and operated by one or more
nonprofit corporations or associations, no part of the net earnings of
which inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit of any private
shareholder or individual.
(4) The term ``community-based organization'' means a public or
private nonprofit organization of demonstrated effectiveness that is
representative of a community or significant segments of a community
and provides educational or related services to individuals in the
community.
(5) The term ``novice applicant'' means any applicant for a grant
from the U.S. Department of Education that:
(a) Has never received a grant or subgrant under the program from
which it seeks funding;
(b) Has never been a member of a group application, submitted in
accordance with 34 CFR 75.127-75.129, that received a grant under the
program from which it seeks funding; and
(c) Has not had an active discretionary grant from the Federal
Government in the five years before the deadline date for applications
under the program. For the purposes of this requirement, a grant is
active until the end of the grant's project or funding period,
including any extensions of those periods that extend the grantee's
authority to obligate funds.
In the case of a group application submitted in accordance with 34
CFR 75.127-75.129, to qualify as a novice applicant a group includes
only parties that meet the requirements listed above.
Selection Criteria: The Assistant Secretary will use the following
selection criteria to evaluate applications under this competition. The
maximum score for all of these criteria is 100 points. The maximum
score for each criterion is indicated in parentheses.
(1) Need for project. (10 points)
In determining the need for the proposed project, the following
factors are considered:
(a) The magnitude of the need for the services to be provided or
the activities to be carried out by the proposed project. (10 points)
(2) Quality of the project design. (55 points)
In determining the quality of the design of the proposed project,
the following factors are considered:
(a) The extent to which the goals, objectives, and outcomes to be
achieved by the proposed project are clearly specified and measurable;
(5 points)
(b) The extent to which parents, teachers, community-based
organizations, and the local community have participated, or will
participate, in the design and implementation of the proposed mentoring
program; (5 points)
(c) The quality of the system that will be used to manage and
monitor mentor reference checks, including child and domestic abuse
record checks and criminal background checks; (15 points)
(d) The quality of the training that will be provided to mentors,
including follow-up and support of each match between mentor and child;
(10 points)
(e) The quality of the mechanism that will be used to match
children with mentors, based on the needs of the children, and ensure
that mentors will develop longstanding relationships with the children
they mentor; (5 points)
(f) The extent to which the proposed project will serve children
with the greatest need in the 4th and 8th grades, and continue to serve
children from the 9th grade through graduation from secondary school,
as needed; (5 points)
(g) The capability of the applicant to effectively implement its
mentoring program; (5 points)
(h) The resources that will be dedicated to providing children with
opportunities for job training or postsecondary education. (5 points)
(3) Quality of project personnel. (20 points)
In determining the quality of project personnel, the Secretary
considers:
(a) The extent to which the applicant encourages applications for
employment from persons who are members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color, national
origin, gender, age, or disability; (5 points)
(b) The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of key project personnel; (5 points)
(c) The quality of the plan to recruit mentors. (10 points)
(4) Quality of the project evaluation. (15 points)
In determining the quality of the evaluation, the following factors
are considered:
(a) The extent to which the methods of evaluation are thorough,
feasible, and appropriate to the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the
proposed project; (10 points)
(b) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
performance feedback and permit periodic assessment of progress toward
achieving intended outcomes. (5 points)
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: Under the Administrative Procedure
Act (5 U.S.C. 553), the Secretary generally offers interested parties
the opportunity to comment on proposed rules. Section 437(d)(1) of the
General Education Provisions Act, however, exempts from this
requirement rules that apply to the first competition under a new or
substantially revised program authority. This is the first competition
under the Mentoring Programs grant competition. These rules will apply
to this FY 2002 grant competition only.
For Applications and Other Information Contact: Copies of the
application for this competition are available from EDPubs at 1-877-
4EDPubs, and on the Internet at http:[chyph]//www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/
SDFS. For all other questions, please contact Bryan Williams, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 3E259,
Washington, DC 20202-6123. Telephone: (202) 260-2391. Email address:
bryan.williams@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-888-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document, or an
application package in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large
print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request to the contact
person listed at the beginning of this section. However, the Department
is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the standard forms
included in the application package.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal
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Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the
Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/
FedRegister.
To use PDF, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF,
call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) toll free at (888) 293-
6498; or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications
Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for
transmitting applications differ from those in the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy.
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A), the Secretary has determined
that proposed rulemaking is not required.
In FY 2002, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing to
expand its pilot project of electronic submission of applications to
include additional formula grant programs and additional discretionary
grant competitions. The Mentoring Program is one of the programs
included in the pilot project. If you are an applicant under this grant
competition, you may submit your application to us in either electronic
or paper format.
The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant
Application System (e-APPLICATION, formerly e-GAPS) portion of the
Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS). We request your
participation in this pilot project. We will continue to evaluate its
success and solicit suggestions for improvement.
If you participate in this e-APPLICATION pilot, please note the
following:
[sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
[sbull] You will not receive any additional point value or penalty
because you submit a grant application in electronic of paper format.
[sbull] You can submit all documents electronically, including the
Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information--Non-
Construction Programs, (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and
certifications.
[sbull] Within three working days of submitting your electronic
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal
Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following
these steps:
1. Print ED 424 from the e-APPLICATION system.
2. Make sure that the institution's Authorized Representative signs
this form.
3. Before faxing this form, submit your electronic application via
the e-APPLICATION system. You will receive an automatic
acknowledgement, which will include a PR/Award number (an identifying
number unique to your application).
4. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right corner of the ED
424.
5. Fax ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202) 260-1349.
[sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on all
other forms at a later date.
You may access the electronic grant application for Mentoring
Programs at http://e-grants.ed.gov.
We have included additional information on the e-APPLICATION pilot
project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic
Applications) in the application package.
If you want to apply for a grant and be considered for funding, you
must meet the deadline requirements listed above.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7140.
Dated: May 16, 2002.
Susan B. Neuman,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-13161 Filed 5-23-02; 8:45 am]
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