The Arkansas Department of Education announces the availability of funds for local schools, school districts and education service cooperatives to apply through a competitive grant process for Community Based Pilot Grants. These grants will be directed toward meeting the needs of at-risk students in order to improve their academic achievement and to improve their chances of success in public schools. Programs can be, but are not limited to, before-and-after school programs, parent centers, parenting classes, literacy and tutorial programs.
Programs can be funded for up to three years. First Year programs can apply for up to $25,700. Second year programs can apply for funding up to $20,000 and third year programs can apply for one-half of the funding received during the second year.
Guidelines for preparing grant applications as well as selection criteria are contained in the attached Request for Proposals. An original and four copies of the proposal must be received by 4:30 p.m. on June 9, 2000, in Room 403-A. Please take time to review the Rules and Regulations for this program. Access to the Rules and Regulations for the Community Based Pilot Grant program can be found at http://arkedu.state.ar.us/communitygrants.htm.
A Technical Assistance Workshop on preparing applications for the Community Based Pilot Grants will be conducted via Teleconference/Direct Satellite through the education service cooperatives (ESC) on Tuesday, May 9, 2000, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Attached is a listing of the participating education service cooperatives, their contact person and telephone number (NOTE: Great Rivers Education Service Cooperative WILL NOT be participating). Please contact the your local ESC to sign-up for the workshop. There is no registration fee or registration form. Contacting the ESC is solely to allow for planning for the number of people that will be attending. The workshop will consist of a general overview of the application, a walk through on filling out the Action Plan and the development of goals, objectives and activities. This will be an interactive workshop and approximately the last 45 minutes will be open for questions and answers from the participants. PLEASE BRING A COPY OF THE APPLICATION WITH YOU TO THE WORKSHOP. The education service cooperative will not be responsible for providing copies.
Please feel free to contact the program manager, Karen Ghidotti at 501-682-4379 or kghidotti@arkedu.k12.ar.us if you have any questions or need additional information.