Notice of Availability of Funds and Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA) for Mentoring, Educational, and Employment Strategies To Improve Academic, Social, and Career Pathway Outcomes, 27852-27863 [E8-10688]

Agencies

• Employment and Training Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27852-27863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-10688]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Notice of Availability of Funds and Solicitation for Grant 
Applications (SGA) for Mentoring, Educational, and Employment 
Strategies To Improve Academic, Social, and Career Pathway Outcomes

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor.
    Announcement Type: Notice of Solicitation for Grant Applications.
    Funding Opportunity Number: SGA/DFA PY 07-09.

Catalog Federal Assistance Number: 17.261.

SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration announces the 
availability of $49.5 million for grants to serve high schools that 
have been designated as persistently dangerous by State Educational 
Agencies for the 2007-2008 school year under section 9532 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The goal of these grants is to 
reduce violence within these schools through a combination of 
mentoring, educational, employment, case management, and violence 
prevention strategies. These grants will be awarded through a 
competitive process open both to school districts which include 
persistently dangerous high schools and to community-based 
organizations (CBOs) in partnership with these school districts. High 
schools which have been designated as persistently dangerous this 
school year are located in the school districts of Baltimore City, New 
York City, Berkshire Farms (New York), Salem-Keiser (Oregon), 
Philadelphia, and Puerto Rico. These schools are listed in Section 
VIIIA below. School districts and CBOs must submit a separate 
application for each high school that they propose serving, but may 
submit as many applications as they have eligible schools. Applications 
submitted by school districts must include plans to have one or more 
CBOs as sub-grantees/contractors to operate at a minimum the mentoring 
component. These proposed CBO sub-grantees/contractors do not need to 
be listed in the application, as the Department strongly encourages the 
use of competition in selecting sub-grantees and contractors either 
before or after grant award. Applications submitted by CBOs must have a 
school district identified as a partner, with a signed memorandum of 
understanding with the school district included in the application. To 
be eligible to apply for these grants as a CBO, organizations must be 
not-for-profit entities and can operate either nationally or locally.
    This solicitation provides background information and describes the 
application submission requirements, outlines the process that eligible 
entities must use to apply for funds covered by this solicitation, and 
outlines the evaluation criteria used as a basis for selecting the 
grantees.
    Key Dates: The closing date for receipt of applications under this 
announcement is June 11, 2008. Application and submission information 
is explained in detail in Part IV of this SGA.

ADDRESSES: Applications that do not meet the conditions set forth in 
this notice will not be considered. No exceptions to the submission 
requirements set forth in this notice will be granted. For detailed 
guidance, please refer to Section IV.C.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This solicitation consists of eight parts:
    Part I provides a description of this funding opportunity.
    Part II describes the size and nature of the anticipated awards.
    Part III describes eligibility information.
    Part IV provides information on the application and submission 
process.
    Part V describes the criteria against which applications will be 
reviewed and explains the proposal review process.
    Part VI provides award administration information.
    Part VII contains DOL agency contact information.
    Part VIII lists additional resources of interest to applicants and 
other information.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    The Employment and Training Administration announces the 
availability of $49.5 million for grants to serve high schools that 
have been designated as persistently dangerous by State Educational 
Agencies for the 2007-2008 school year under section 9532 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The goal of these grants is to 
reduce violence within these schools through a combination of 
mentoring, educational, employment, case management, and violence 
prevention strategies.
    The high schools that have identified this year as persistently 
dangerous have the following characteristics:
     These high schools are quite large--many of them have 
enrollments of over 1,200, and a couple have enrollments of over 2,000.
     In particular, these high schools tend to have very large 
numbers of ninth graders. Many have over 600 ninth graders, and some 
have over 700 ninth graders.
     The high schools lose great numbers of students between 
the 9th and 12th grades. Almost all of the schools lose over half of 
their 9th graders before they reach the 12th grade, and many lose over 
60 percent of their 9th graders before they reach the 12th grade.
     These schools serve a predominantly poor population, with 
many of the schools having 70 percent or more of their students 
eligible for a free or reduced lunch.

[[Page 27853]]

     Several of the schools are located in census tracts with a 
poverty rate of 20 percent or more.
     The persistently dangerous special education schools that 
are ungraded but that serve primarily students ages 14 and above also 
have between 52 percent and 68 percent of their students eligible for a 
free lunch.
    These statistics suggest that the problems of violence, crime, low 
educational achievement, poverty, and joblessness that characterize 
persistently dangerous schools and the neighborhoods they serve are all 
interrelated. These various problems can be overwhelming to both 
individual students and schools, making it very difficult to create a 
school climate that is safe and in which academic success is the norm. 
Research by the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns 
Hopkins University suggests that a fundamental problem of troubled high 
schools is that they have large numbers of incoming ninth graders not 
prepared academically for high school.\1\ A study by the Consortium on 
Chicago School Research indicates that ninth graders who fail courses 
are a diverse group, with some who fail almost all of their courses and 
need sustained interventions, while others fail only one or two courses 
and could be helped by the school moving towards Ninth Grade 
Academies.\2\ Finally, the Turnaround Challenge report by Mass Insight 
notes that schools in poor communities need to ``proactively address 
the challenges accompanying their students as they walk in the school 
house door: from something as basic as finding an impoverished child 
socks or a coat, to assisting where possible with transportation or 
health services, and attacking the significant cognitive, social, 
cultural, and psychological barriers to learning that many children of 
poverty tend to experience.'' \3\
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    \1\ Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters, ``The Graduation Rate 
Crisis We Know and What Can Be Done About It'', Education Week, July 
12, 2006, available at https://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/graduation-gap/
edweek/Crisis_Commentary.pdf.
    \2\ Melissa Roderick, Closing the Aspirations-Attainment Gap: 
Implications for High School Reform, MDRC, April 2006, available at 
https://www.mdrc.org/publications/427/full.pdf.
    \3\ The Turnarund Challenge, Mass Insight Educational Research 
Institute, 2007, available at https://www.massinsight.org/
resourcefiles/TheTurnaroundChallenge_2007.pdf.
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    The Department of Labor's intent is to provide sufficient funding 
through these grants to allow schools to reconfigure in ways that both 
significantly expand the level of services provided to students and 
enhance coordination of these services within the school and with the 
community. Consistent with the research described above, the Department 
expects that each grant will include three levels of interventions--(1) 
reforms that affect the whole school; (2) interventions aimed at 
particular target groups of at-risk youth, such as entering ninth 
graders and repeating ninth graders; and (3) intensive interventions 
for individual youth who present the greatest challenges relating to 
misconduct, truancy, and poor school performance. All three levels of 
interventions should be aimed at improving student attendance, 
behavior, effort, and course performance. Because persistently 
dangerous schools tend to have so many ninth graders, the Department 
sees that an emphasis of these grants will be improving services to 
entering and repeating ninth graders.
    The required components for each grant are listed below. In 
discussing the components we provide various examples of program 
models, but applicants are free to include in their proposed design 
program models other than those provided here. To design and carry out 
these components, each grant must be led by a Turnaround Team that 
includes the school principal, the principal's immediate supervisor in 
the school district, and the CBO sub-grantees. The Turnaround Team can 
also include outside educational and youth development experts and 
representatives of other partners such as the juvenile justice system, 
police and school security, foundations, parents, the private sector, 
and the local Workforce Investment Board. The Turnaround Team is 
responsible for guiding both the planning and the implementation of the 
initiative and is to continue this role throughout the term of the 
grant.
    The Department expects that in carrying out the various components 
listed below, grantees will foster connections with neighborhood 
leaders and institutions which serve youth as part of their missions, 
such as churches with youth programs, Settlement Houses, Boys and Girls 
Clubs, Girls Inc., YMCAs, and YWCAs. Representatives from such 
institutions serving the same neighborhood as the school should be 
included in the Turnaround Team. Ideally, churches and social service 
organizations in the neighborhoods served by the school could join 
together to form a community-wide net to serve at-risk youth and to 
prevent youth violence, as was done in Boston's 10 Point Coalition. See 
the description of this effort at https://www.jsonline.com/story/
index.aspx?id=212652).
    1. Mentoring. Each grant must include a mentoring 
component that integrates the other violence prevention, educational, 
employment, and case management components provided through the grant. 
The Department requires that a CBO experienced in providing social 
services in schools with large numbers of high-risk students or in 
operating mentoring programs will have the lead in this component of 
the program. This does not need to be the same CBO that is operating 
the case management component described below. Mentoring can be 
provided through volunteers recruited through a variety of ways, and 
may include one-on-one mentoring, group mentoring, and service-based 
mentoring. The Department does not expect that every student in the 
school will have a volunteer mentor, but that a sufficient proportion 
of students have a mentor to make a difference in the school 
environment. Points to consider in designing this portion of the 
project include:
     Proposed mentoring projects should seek to address each of 
three types of mentoring strategies: Personal development mentoring 
educates and supports youth during times of personal or social stress 
and provides guidance for decision making; educational or academic 
mentoring helps a student improve their overall academic achievement; 
and career mentoring helps the youth develop the necessary skills to 
enter or continue on a career path.
     The proposed mentoring strategies should include a period 
of mentoring and follow-up that is no less than 18 months in duration.
     While starting a volunteer mentoring component may sound 
easy, it is actually quite difficult to implement. Volunteers need to 
be recruited, screened, cleared through background checks, trained, 
correctly matched with youth, and provided ongoing guidance.
     Conducting thorough background checks will be necessary 
before assigning a mentor to a youth. Established mentoring 
organizations such as the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program and the 
National Mentoring Partnership may be helpful in sharing the procedures 
and data sets that are currently available for conducting background 
checks. Contact information for local Big Brother/Big Sister Programs 
can be obtained at https://www.bbbs.org.
     Information on starting mentorship programs is available 
at the MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership Web site at https://
www.mentoring.org/, including their guide Elements of Effective 
Practice at https://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_411.pdf and 
their tool kit

[[Page 27854]]

How To Build a Successful Mentoring Program Using the Elements of 
Effective Practice at https://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_
413.pdf.
     Faith and community-based organizations may be a good 
source for recruiting volunteer mentors for youth. For example, the 
Safer Foundation in Chicago has developed over the years partnerships 
with faith-based organizations to provide mentors for returning 
prisoners. See their Web site at https://www.saferfoundation.org/
viewpage.asp?id=349.
     Service-centered mentoring allows adults and youth to get 
to know each other while working together on community service 
projects. These can be both small individual projects and large group 
projects. For larger service-centered mentoring projects, local 
AmeriCorps and City Year programs may be able to set up such projects 
with AmeriCorps and City Year volunteers serving as mentors for 
students.
     Local corporations may also be a source for recruiting 
mentors for students. Programs can be set up in which corporation 
employees spend part of their work day at the school.
     Information on mentoring youth with disabilities can be 
found at the Partners for Youth with Disabilities Web site at https://
www.pyd.org/national-center/council-goals.htm.
     Applicants may also be able to learn lessons from the 
Amachi mentoring program, which has been developed by Public/Private 
Ventures to provide mentors for the children of prisoners. The 
program's infrastructure and expertise are provided by Big Brothers/Big 
Sisters of America, which oversees the screening, matching, and 
training of mentors, and provides mechanisms for monitoring and 
supporting the mentors. For more information on this program, see 
https://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/167_publication.pdf.
    2. Educational Strategies. This component can include 
school restructuring efforts and alternative learning strategies aimed 
at getting at the underlying causes of violence, high dropout rates, 
and low student achievement in the schools. School districts can choose 
from the options below or propose other strategies that are well 
thought-out and for which reasonable evidence exists to support their 
inclusion. There will be sufficient funds in each grant to allow 
implementing several educational strategies similar to those presented 
here:
     Breaking large schools into houses or career academies. 
Especially if used for upper level grades in conjunction with the Ninth 
Grade Academy and Twilight School options discussed below, breaking a 
large school into career academies can greatly decrease the chances 
that a student gets lost in the crowd.
     Ninth Grade Academies. Such an academy separates ninth 
graders into a section of their own in the school building, with their 
own assistant principal, teachers, and counselors.
     Twilight Schools. Twilight Schools operate as a school-
within-a school in the building with a schedule that runs from early 
afternoon to early evening. Students feel part of both the Twilight 
School and the larger school. The Department sees Twilight Schools 
started under these grants as being targeted during the first year on 
repeating ninth graders who earned few if any credits the previous 
year. Research indicates that repeating the ninth grade strongly 
predicts dropping out of school and that repeating ninth graders need 
intensive interventions or they will simply fail the ninth grade again. 
Twilight Schools started under these grants could then be expanded in 
subsequent years to include both a new set of repeating ninth graders 
and students who choose to stay in the Twilight School rather than 
moving back to the regular school. Like Ninth Grade Academies, Twilight 
Schools started under this grant would have their own section of the 
building, and their own assistant principal, teachers, and counselors.
     Credit Retrieval. A reason that many youth drop out of 
school is that they become hopelessly behind in credits. Credit 
retrieval or recovery classes allow students to make up courses that 
they failed using educational software under the direction of a teacher 
instead of repeating entire semesters of work. Credit retrieval can be 
useful to a range of students--helping older youth who are far behind 
in credits, keeping younger youth from falling too far behind their age 
cohort in credits, and helping older students who need only a few more 
credits to graduate.
     Block Scheduling. Block scheduling allows students to take 
four courses for 75 minutes a day each semester instead of seven 
courses for 50 minutes each. This allows students to focus more on a 
smaller set of courses, and for teachers to work with a much smaller 
set of students each semester. Block scheduling gives teachers a chance 
to work collaboratively in serving each student, and provides 
additional time for joint planning by teachers.
     Double and Triple Doses of Reading and Math. Key 
predictors of a student dropping out of school are failing ninth grade 
English or Algebra and having high truancy in the ninth grade. 
Providing entering and repeating ninth graders with double or triple 
doses of reading and math during the day can address these causes of 
youth eventually dropping out of school.
     Reduced Class Sizes in Algebra and Selected Other Courses. 
Reducing class sizes across the high school from say 27 to 22 may have 
a minimal impact on student performance, but strategically reducing 
class sizes in difficult subjects such as Algebra from 27 students to 
10 could result in a significant increase in performance.
     Summer Transition Programs for Entering Ninth Graders. 
These programs would include identifying and contacting in June the 
eighth graders who will be attending the high school in the fall, and 
then providing them with a summer transition program or summer camp to 
prepare them for high school. These summer programs could focus on 
anti-violent behavior, peer mediation, study skills, and reading and 
math remediation.
     Vouchers for outside tutoring and supportive services. 
Such vouchers would allow parents and students to choose among various 
local organizations to receive tutoring and supportive services aimed 
at helping the student succeed in school.
    The Department expects that these various educational interventions 
will be accompanied by extensive staff development efforts, which will 
include professional development time devoted to the teacher's academic 
content area, training on instructional methods, training on teachers 
collaborating across subject areas, and having teams of expert teachers 
work on an ongoing basis observing teachers and providing them guidance 
for improvement.
    Many of the educational interventions described here combined make 
up the Talent Development High School Model designed by the Center for 
Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University, and 
applicants may select to replicate this entire model. It is described 
in more detail at the Center's Web site at https://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/
tdhs/. The educational interventions described here are also 
consistent with the principles developed by Theodore Sizer in the 
Coalition for Essential Schools model, and applicants may select 
replicating that model. It is described in more detail at the Coalition 
for Essential School Web site at https://www.essentialschools.org/. The 
educational interventions described here are also consistent with the 
middle

[[Page 27855]]

school reforms recommended by the Carnegie Corporation in their Turning 
Points report, https://www.carnegie.org/sub/research/#adol. 
Applicants may also wish to consider in designing their projects the 
work of the Consortium on Chicago Public School Research and the 
Turnaround Challenge report by Mass Insight referenced earlier in this 
grant announcement.
    3. Employment Strategies. The employment component should 
emphasize internships for juniors and seniors in high-growth 
occupations and industries. These internships can occur during 
afternoons on school days or during the summer. Points to consider in 
designing this component include:
     To the extent that the school is broken down into career-
focused academies, this employment component should be tied to the 
themes of these academies. See MDRC's research on Career Academies at 
https://www.mdrc.org/project_29_1.html.
     These internships should be carefully designed so that 
students are doing useful work to earn their wages as opposed to job 
shadowing or sitting idly at their desks.
     Developing these internships will require linkages to 
major corporations in the city, including possibly corporations willing 
to adopt the school both to provide internships to the students and to 
have their employees serve as mentors to the students.
     Implementing this component will also require developing a 
partnership with the local workforce system to provide access both to 
the corporations represented on the Workforce Investment Board and the 
service providers funded by the local workforce system.
     The employment component can also include efforts to 
expose students to careers and to coordinate with industry-based youth 
organizations. See the Web sites of Skills USA (https://
www.skillsusa.org/) and Health Occupations Students of America (https://
www.hosa.org/natorg.html).
     The employment component should also include efforts to 
expand the career awareness of students and to make them aware of the 
educational requirements of various careers.
     Some grant funds may be used for wages for these after-
school and summer internships. Summer internship efforts should be 
coordinated where appropriate with summer jobs programs operated by the 
local Workforce Investment Board.
     In designing the employment component, grantees will need 
to do a scan of existing DOL-funded initiatives in the community, 
including the WIA formula youth program, WIRED, Beneficiary Choice 
projects, community-based job training projects, youth offender 
projects, and high-growth job training grants, to determine potential 
linkages.
    4. Efforts to Improve the School Environment and Student 
Behavior. This component can include conflict resolution classes, anti-
bullying efforts, student courts, peer mediation, anger management 
classes, crisis intervention strategies, increased involvement of 
parents, and training teachers in effective classroom management. This 
component should include both school-wide activities and efforts 
targeted towards the students who are causing the most discipline 
problems at the school. Resources for developing this component of the 
program include:
     Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide was produced by 
the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice of the American 
Institutes for Research and the National Association of School 
Psychologists under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of 
Education. This guide presents a comprehensive plan for preventing 
school violence. It is available at https://cecp.air.org/guide/aifr5_
01.pdf.
     The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program is a nationally 
recognized violence prevention program developed by Educators for 
Social Responsibility (ESR), a non-profit organization that offers 
comprehensive programming, staff development, and consultation to 
schools. ESR has also developed a Partners in Learning Program 
specifically for high schools that covers failing students, classroom 
discipline, school-wide discipline, positive peer culture, peer 
mediation, and countering bullying. More information is available at 
https://www.esrnational.org/index.php?location=high_school&l=hs.
    5. Case Management. This component will provide a team of 
full-time advocates for youth stationed at the school serving as case 
managers. The Department sees these case managers or advocates as 
assisting school counselors in addressing the behavioral, truancy, and 
academic problems of youth, and in linking students to available social 
services. The Department also sees these case managers or advocates 
getting to know the parents of youth and making home visits to the 
youth. The Department expects that a CBO experienced in providing 
social services in schools with large numbers of at-risk youth will 
have the lead in operating this component of the program. This can be 
the same CBO that will be operating the mentoring component or it can 
be a different CBO. Consistent with the mentoring component, the 
Department does not expect that every student in the school will be 
assigned to a case manager or advocate, but that a sufficient 
proportion of students will be served through this component to make a 
difference in the school climate.
    There are many models of in-school case management programs which 
grantees can use or build upon in developing their own program. Such 
models include:
     The Communities in Schools model emphasizes bringing to 
schools the social service and health resources available from the 
community. Site coordinators within schools identify the social service 
needs of individual students and find the appropriate community 
resources to address those needs, whether it be eyeglasses, tutoring, 
food, or a safe place to be. See https://www.cisnet.org/.
     The Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP), developed by OIC of 
America, focuses on advocates staying with the same small group of 
entering ninth graders throughout the students' four or sometimes five 
years of high school. Each QOP advocate is assigned to roughly 20 
entering ninth graders. QOP also includes academic remediation, life 
skills, and community service components. The QOP model has been 
evaluated through a random assignment study. The program did not 
produce impacts overall across the seven sites studied, but did have 
positive impacts in selected sites and with youth who were under age 14 
at enrollment. See https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/
QOPfinalimpacts.pdf.
     The Jobs for America's Graduates' Multi-Year Dropout 
Prevention Program has career specialists within schools working with 
groups of 35 to 45 students to keep the youth on track to graduation. 
The program starts working with youth in the ninth grade and continues 
through graduation and one-year of follow-up after graduation. See 
https://www.jag.org/model.htm.
     The Violence-Free Zone model developed by the Center for 
Neighborhood Enterprise uses mature young adults who are from the same 
neighborhoods as the students in the schools that they serve. The Youth 
Advisors serve as hall monitors, mentors, counselors, and role models 
for youth. See https://www.cneonline.org/pages/Violence-Free_Zone
     The Futures Program in Baltimore operated by the Mayor's 
Office of Employment Development provides advocates in schools to offer 
tutoring, incentives, cultural enrichment, and

[[Page 27856]]

work experience to youth. See https://www.oedworks.com/youthserv/
index.htm.
     The Partnership for Results program in the Auburn, New 
York school district uses counselors to conduct home visits and provide 
links to various social services to families of students with severe 
behavioral and truancy problems. See https://
www.partnershipforresults.org/.
     The College Bound Foundation model emphasizes assisting 
students to go on to college. The Foundation places College Access 
Program Specialists in Baltimore City's public high schools to help 
students and their parents learn about opportunities to attend college, 
and to make sure students take academic courses to prepare for college, 
take the PSAT and SAT tests on time, apply for college admission on 
time, and apply for available student aid. See https://
www.collegeboundfoundation.org/.

II. Award Information

A. Award Amount

    Grants to serve high schools with enrollments of 1,000 students or 
more will amount to $3,167,575 a year for each of two years. Grants to 
serve high schools with enrollments of less than 1,000 students, 
including ungraded special education schools that primarily serve 
students ages 14 and above, will amount to $1,781,761 a year for each 
of two years. The Department expects to award five grants to larger 
high schools and five grants to smaller high schools. Applicants should 
request in their proposals the entire $6,335,151 covering two years of 
operation for the larger high schools and the entire $3,563,523 
covering two years of operation for the smaller schools. These grants 
will be funded incrementally, with roughly 40 percent of the funds 
being provided in June of 2008 and the balance being provided in 
October 2008. Each grant may receive additional years of funding 
depending on the availability of such funds and satisfactory 
performance.

B. Period of Performance

    Grants will be awarded for an initial 38 month period of 
performance, which may be later extended with grant officer approval. 
This period of performance includes a planning period of up to 14 
months leading up to the start of the school year in September 2009, 
and an operations period of two years. Applicants should budget for two 
years of direct service delivery for each major component. Grantees do 
not need to use the entire 14-month planning period and can stagger the 
implementation of their major components. For example, grantees have 
the option of opening a 9th Grade Academy this fall and then 
implementing the other major components the following fall. In this 
case, grantees would still budget the 9th Grade Academy for two years 
of operation and the remaining components for two years of operation. 
All program components need to be started by the beginning of the 2009 
school year. If grantees start all of their components early, they will 
complete their two years of operation early before the end of the 38-
month period of performance. Grantees must provide separate budgets for 
planning and operations, and indicate the anticipated length of their 
planning period. Grantees should be judicious in their use of planning 
funds and careful to use them specifically for planning components 
associated with this grant.

III. Eligibility Information and Other Grant Specifications

A. Eligible Applicants

    Either school districts or CBOs can apply for these grants. 
Applications can only be submitted for projects to serve high schools 
that have been identified by the State Department of Education for the 
2007-2008 school year as persistently dangerous under section 9532 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This includes ungraded 
special education schools that primarily serve students ages 14 and 
above. High schools that have been identified as persistently dangerous 
this year are located in the school districts of Baltimore City, New 
York City, Berkshire Farms (New York), Salem-Keiser (Oregon), 
Philadelphia, and Puerto Rico. These high schools and their most 
recently available enrollment level are listed in Section VIIIA below. 
Schools that had been identified as persistently dangerous this school 
year, but that have had this designation removed because of successful 
appeals are not eligible for award. School districts may apply for 
persistently dangerous schools that are the subject of ongoing appeals 
regarding their persistently dangerous status, but the application 
should note that such an appeal is in process and the appeal process 
will need to be resolved prior to award.
    School districts applying will need to have one or more CBOs as 
sub-grantees/contractors to operate at a minimum the mentorship 
component. These proposed CBO sub-grantees/contractors do not need to 
be listed in the application, as the Department strongly encourages the 
use of competition in selecting sub-grantees and contractors either 
before or after grant award. CBOs applying will need to have the school 
district as a partner, with a memorandum of understanding signed by the 
school district included in the application. To be eligible to apply 
for these grants as a CBO, organizations must be not-for-profit 
entities and can operate either nationally or locally. Separate 
applications must be submitted for each high school to be served, but 
school districts and CBOs may submit as many applications as they have 
eligible schools.
    Because the Department intends that activities started with these 
grants will be sustained over time, school districts and CBOs must 
include in each application a statement by the school district that 
there are no plans currently in place to close the school that is the 
focus of the proposal.

    Note: DOL/ETA's acceptance of a proposal and award of Federal 
funds to sponsor any program do not provide a waiver of any grant 
requirements and/or procedures. OMB Circulars require that an 
entity's procurement procedures must ensure that all procurement 
transactions are conducted, as much as practical, to provide open 
and free competition. If a proposal identifies a specific entity to 
provide services, the DOL/ETA's award does not provide the 
justification or basis to sole source the procurement, i.e., avoid 
competition, unless the activity is regarded as the primary work of 
an official partner to the application.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching

    There are no cost-sharing or matching requirements for these 
grants.

C. Other Eligibility Requirements

    All students enrolled in the target high school are eligible for 
services under this grant, including youth who are no longer attending 
but still listed as enrolled.

D. Legal Rules Pertaining to Inherently Religious Activities by 
Organizations That Receive Federal Financial Assistance

    Direct Federal grants, sub-award funds, or contracts under this 
program shall not be used to support inherently religious activities 
such as religious instruction, worship, or proselytization. Therefore, 
organizations must take steps to separate, in time or location, their 
inherently religious activities from the services funded under this 
program. Neutral, secular criteria that neither favor nor disfavor 
religion must be employed in the selection of grant and sub-grant 
recipients. In addition, under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and 
DOL regulations implementing the Workforce Investment Act, a recipient

[[Page 27857]]

may not use direct Federal assistance to train a participant in 
religious activities, or employ participants to construct, operate, or 
maintain any part of a facility that is used or to be used for 
religious instruction or worship. See 29 CFR 37.6(f). Under WIA, ``no 
individual shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits 
of, subjected to discrimination under, or denied employment in the 
administration of or in connection with, any such program or activity 
because of race, color, religion, sex (except as otherwise permitted 
under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972), national origin, 
age, disability, or political affiliation or belief.'' Regulations 
pertaining to the Equal Treatment for Faith-Based Organizations, which 
includes the prohibition against Federal funding of inherently 
religious activities, can be found at See 29 CFR Part 2, Subpart D. 
Provision relating to the use of indirect support (such as vouchers) 
are at 29 CFR 2.33(c) and 20 CFR 667.266.
    A faith-based organization receiving federal funds retains its 
independence from Federal, State, and local governments, and may 
continue to carry out its mission, including the definition, practice, 
and expression of its religious beliefs. For example, a faith-based 
organization may use space in its facilities to provide secular 
programs or services funded with Federal funds without removing 
religious art, icons, scriptures, or other religious symbols. In 
addition, a faith-based organization that receives Federal funds 
retains its authority over its internal governance, and it may retain 
religious terms in its organization's name, select its board members on 
a religious basis, and include religious references in its 
organization's mission statements and other governing documents in 
accordance with all program requirements, statutes, and other 
applicable requirements governing the conduct of HHS funded activities.
    Faith-based and community organizations may reference the 
``Guidance to Faith-Based and Community Organizations on Partnering 
with the Federal Government'' at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/government/
fbci/guidance/.

IV. Application and Submission Information

 A. Address To Request Application Package

    This SGA contains all of the information and links to forms needed 
to apply for grant funding.

 B. Content and Form of Application Submission

    The proposal will consist of two separate and distinct parts--a 
cost proposal and a technical proposal. Applications that fail to 
adhere to the instructions in this section will be considered non-
responsive and will not be considered.
    Part I. The Cost Proposal. The Cost Proposal must include the 
following three items:
     The Standard Form (SF) 424, ``Application for Federal 
Assistance'' (available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/
sf424.pdf). The SF 424 must clearly identify the applicant and be 
signed by an individual with authority to enter into a grant agreement. 
Upon confirmation of an award, the individual signing the SF 424 on 
behalf of the applicant shall be considered the representative of the 
applicant.
     All applicants for Federal grant and funding opportunities 
are required to have a Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS) number. See Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Notice of Final Policy Issuance, 68 FR 
38402 (June 27, 2003). Applicants must supply their DUNS number on the 
SF 424. The DUNS number is a nine-digit identification number that 
uniquely identifies business entities. Obtaining a DUNS number is easy 
and there is no charge. To obtain a DUNS number, access this Web site: 
https://www.dunandbradstreet.com or call 1-866-705-5711.
     The SF 424A Budget Information Form (available at https://
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/sf424a.pdf). In preparing the Budget 
Information Form, the applicant must provide a detailed backup budget 
for both the planning and operations aspects of the project, with a 
narrative explanation in support of the request. The budget narrative 
should break down the budget and leveraged resources by project 
activity, should discuss cost-per-participant, and should discuss 
precisely how the administrative costs support the project goals. 
Administrative costs do not need to be identified separately from 
program costs on the SF 424A Budget Information Form.
    Please note that applicants who fail to provide a SF 424, SF 424A 
and/or a budget narrative will be removed from consideration prior to 
the technical review process. If the proposal calls for integrating WIA 
or other Federal funds or includes other leveraged resources, these 
funds should not be listed on the SF 424 or SF 424A Budget Information 
Form, but should be described in the budget narrative and in Part II of 
the proposal. The amount of Federal funding requested for the entire 
period of performance should be shown on the SF 424 and SF 424A Budget 
Information Form. Applicants are also encouraged, but not required, to 
submit OMB Survey N. 1890-0014: Survey on Ensuring Equal Opportunity 
for Applicants, which can be found at https://www.doleta.gov/sga/
forms.cfm.
    Part II. The Technical Proposal. The Technical Proposal will 
demonstrate the applicant's capability to plan and implement a project 
in accordance with the provisions of this solicitation. The guidelines 
for the content of the Technical Proposal are provided in Part V 
Section A of this SGA. The Technical Proposal is limited to twenty (20) 
double-spaced single-sided pages with 12 point text font and one-inch 
margins. Any pages submitted in excess of this 20 page limit will not 
be reviewed. In addition, the applicant must provide a one-page 
abstract of their proposal and a letter from the school superintendent 
committing to not displace state and local funds going to the high 
school with these grant funds and stating that there are no plans 
currently in place to close the high school. Also, CBOs applying for 
these grants must include evidence of not-for-profit status. These 
additional materials do not count against the 20-page limit for the 
Technical Proposal.
    Applicants submitting proposals in hard-copy must submit an 
original signed application (including the SF-424) and one (1) ``copy-
ready'' version free of bindings, staples or protruding tabs to ease in 
the reproduction of the proposal by DOL. Applicants submitting 
proposals in hard-copy are also requested, though not required, to 
provide an electronic copy of the proposal on CD-ROM.

C. Submission Date, Times, and Addresses

    The closing date for receipt of applications under this 
announcement is June 11, 2008. Applications must be received at the 
address below, or electronically received at the Web site below, no 
later than 5 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Saving Time). Applications sent by 
e-mail, telegram, or facsimile (fax) will not be accepted.
    Applications that do not meet the conditions set forth in this 
notice will not be honored. No exceptions to the mailing and delivery 
requirements set forth in this notice will be granted.
    Mailed applications must be addressed to the U.S. Department of 
Labor, Employment and Training

[[Page 27858]]

Administration, Division of Federal Assistance, Attention: James W. 
Stockton, Reference SGA/DFA PY 07-09, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Room N-4716, Washington, DC 20210. Applicants are advised that mail 
delivery in the Washington area may be delayed due to mail 
decontamination procedures. Hand-delivered proposals will be received 
at the above address. All overnight mail will be considered to be hand-
delivered and must be received at the designated place by the specified 
closing date and time.
    Applicants may apply online through Grants.gov (https://
www.grants.gov). Any application received after the deadline will not 
be accepted. It is strongly recommended that that before the applicant 
begins to write the proposal, applicants immediately review the 
Grants.gov Web site including all frequently asked questions, and 
initiate and complete ``Get Started'' registration steps at https://
www.grants.gov/GetStarted. These steps may take multiple days to 
complete, and this time should be factored into plans for electronic 
application submission in order to avoid facing unexpected delays that 
could result in rejection of an application as untimely. If submitted 
electronically through https://www.grants.gov, the application must be 
submitted as either .doc., .pdf., or .xlx files.
    Late Applications: Any application received after the exact date 
and time specified for receipt at the office designated in this notice 
will not be considered, unless it is received before awards are made, 
it was properly addressed, and it was: (a) Sent by U.S. Postal Service 
mail, postmarked not later than the fifth calendar day before the date 
specified for receipt of applications (e.g., an application required to 
be received by the 20th of the month must be postmarked by the 15th of 
that month) or (b) was sent by professional overnight delivery service 
or properly submitted and accepted by Grants.gov to the addressee not 
later than one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of 
applications. It is highly recommended that online submissions be 
completed one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of 
applications to ensure that the applicant still has the option to 
submit by overnight delivery service in the event of any electronic 
submission problems. Applicants take a significant risk by waiting to 
the last day to submit by Grants.gov. ``Post marked'' means a printed, 
stamped or otherwise placed impression (exclusive of a postage meter 
machine impression) that is readily identifiable, without further 
action, as having been supplied or affixed on the date of mailing by an 
employee of the U.S. Postal Service. Therefore, applicants should 
request the postal clerk to place a legible hand cancellation ``bull's 
eye'' postmark on both the receipt and the package. Failure to adhere 
to the above instructions will be a basis for a determination of non-
responsiveness. Evidence of timely submission by a professional 
overnight delivery service must be demonstrated by equally reliable 
evidence created by the delivery service provider indicating the time 
and place of receipt.
    Applications may be withdrawn by written notice or telegram 
(including mailgram) received at any time before an award is made. 
Applications may be withdrawn in person by the applicant or by an 
authorized representative thereof, if the representative's identity is 
made known and the representative signs a receipt for the proposal.

D. Intergovernmental Review

    This funding opportunity is not subject to Executive Order (EO) 
12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''

E. Funding Restrictions

    All proposal costs must be necessary and reasonable in accordance 
with Federal guidelines. Determinations of allowable costs will be made 
in accordance with the applicable Federal cost principles. Disallowed 
costs are those charges to a grant that the grantor agency or its 
representative determines not to be allowed in accordance with the 
applicable Federal Cost Principles or other conditions contained in the 
grant. Applicants will not be entitled to reimbursement of pre-award 
costs. Funds provided under these grants shall only be used for 
activities that are in addition to those that would otherwise be 
available in the local area in the absence of such funds. In accepting 
funds under this grant as either the grant recipient or sub-recipient, 
the school district agrees not to divert funds received through this 
grant to other purposes by reducing the annual budget the school would 
have received in the absence of the grant. The Department prohibits 
paying for security officers, police officers, and clinical 
psychologists with funds provided under this grant. Paying for food is 
only allowable in circumstances in which it is integral to a training 
activity. Grant funds may be used to pay wages to students for after-
school and summer internships as long as students are assigned real 
work at these internships, but grant funds cannot be used for paying 
stipends to youth. Grantees must submit an implementation plan and 
detailed budget for project officer review and approval prior to 
starting operations. If grantees are starting some components sooner 
than others, they can submit separate plans for the components as they 
are ready to start them.
    Indirect Costs. As specified in OMB Circulars on Cost Principles, 
indirect costs are those that have been incurred for common or joint 
objectives and cannot be readily identified with a particular cost 
objective. In order to utilize grant funds for indirect costs incurred, 
the applicant must obtain an Indirect Cost Rate Agreement with its 
Federal Cognizant Agency either before or shortly after the grant 
award. The Federal Cognizant Agency is generally determined based on 
the preponderance of Federal dollars received by the recipient.
    Administrative Costs. An entity that receives a grant to carry out 
a project or program may not use more than 10 percent of the amount of 
the grant to pay administrative costs associated with the program or 
project. Administrative costs could be both direct and indirect costs 
and are defined at 20 CFR 667.220. Administrative costs do not need to 
be identified separately from program costs on the SF 424A Budget 
Information Form. They should be discussed in the budget narrative and 
tracked through the grantee's accounting system. To claim any 
administrative costs that are also indirect costs, the applicant must 
obtain an Indirect Cost Rate Agreement from its Federal Cognizant 
Agency as specified above.

V. Application Review Information

 A. Evaluation Criteria

    This section identifies and describes the criteria that will be 
used to evaluate proposals submitted. These criteria and point values 
are:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Criterion                              Points
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Statement of Need...........................................       15
2. Analysis of the problems faced by the school and its               20
 students......................................................
3. Project design..............................................       45
4. The commitment of the applicant and the community to the           20
 project and the quality of proposed staff.....................
                                                                --------
    Total Possible Points......................................      100
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The rated components listed above make up the Technical Proposal 
(along with the additional requirements listed in section IV. B).
    1. Statement of Need (15 points)
     Provide the number of students in the school's ninth grade 
class (both

[[Page 27859]]

entering ninth graders and repeating ninth graders) in the fall of 2003 
and the number of students who graduated from the school in the spring 
of 2007. If the school includes only grades 10 through 12, provide the 
number of 10th graders in the fall of 2004 and the number of students 
who graduated from the school in the spring of 2007.
     Discuss the number and severity of behavioral incidents in 
the school during the past two school years.
     Discuss the extent of juvenile crime and youth gangs in 
the community served by the school. If the school draws students from 
the entire city, describe the extent of juvenile crime and youth gangs 
in the communities from which most students are drawn. Where possible, 
provide data on the level of juvenile crime and youth gang involvement 
in the community or communities served.
     Ungraded schools serving students with special needs 
should discuss the behavioral issues and academic challenges faced by 
their students instead of the three discussion points above.
    Proposals will be evaluated under this criterion based on:
     The percentage of students lost between the ninth grade 
class in the fall of 2003 and the graduating class in the spring of 
2007, or for schools that include only grades 10 through 12, the 
percentage of students lost between the tenth grade class in the fall 
2004 and the graduating class in the spring of 2007 (5 points).
     The number and severity of behavioral incidents per 
student in the school during the past two school years (5 points).
     The extent of the juvenile crime and youth gang problem in 
the community served by the school (5 points).
     Ungraded schools serving students with special needs will 
be evaluated based on the severity of the behavioral problems and 
academic challenges of the students that they serve, with a maximum 
total of 15 points for their answer.
    2. Analysis of the Problems Faced by the School and Its Students 
(20 points)
    If a school district is applying, this section should be prepared 
jointly by the school district and the principal and staff of the high 
school. If a CBO is applying, it should be prepared jointly by the 
school district, principal and staff of the high school, and the CBO. 
The section should present a discussion of the problems and challenges 
faced by the school and its students, and a discussion of why students 
drop out without graduating and of why students become involved in 
behavioral incidents at the school or in juvenile crime or youth gangs 
outside the school. This section should also provide evidence that the 
principal and staff of the school were involved in these discussions.
    Proposals will be evaluated under this criterion based on:
     The clarity of the discussion of the problems and 
challenges faced by the school and its students (10 points).
     Evidence that the school principal and staff were active 
participants in these discussions. Such evidence could include, for 
example, dates of meetings held (10 points).
3. Project Design (45 Points)
    We are asking you to describe your project design in two ways in 
this section--(1) in a summary form in the matrix below and (2) in a 
more detailed way in a narrative. Begin this section by filling out the 
matrix below by inserting the new activities to be funded under this 
grant that will be directed towards (1) the whole school; (2) 
particular target groups of at-risk youth, such as entering ninth 
graders and repeating ninth graders; and (3) individual youth who 
present the greatest challenges relating to misconduct, truancy, and 
poor school performance. Use the matrix to show how new activities will 
be introduced at all three of these levels to improve student 
attendance, behavior, effort, and course performance.
    Here are some examples. (1) If mentors will be provided to 
particular target groups of students and to individual students with 
the greatest challenges and if the mentors will attempt to improve 
student attendance, behavior, motivation, and course performance, then 
mentoring should be listed in all of the blocks relating to target 
groups and individual youth. (2) If tutoring and credit retrieval will 
be made available to all students, then both of these activities should 
be listed in the block for initiatives affecting the whole school to 
improve student course performance. (3) If conflict resolution skills 
will be taught to all students in the school, then it should be listed 
as an initiative affecting the whole school aimed at improving student 
behavior. (4) If new counselors are to be hired to conduct home visits 
to chronically truant students, it should be listed as an initiative 
aimed at students with greatest challenges to improve attendance. (5) 
If a Twilight School will be started for repeating ninth graders to 
improve their attendance, behavior, motivation, and course performance, 
it should be listed as an activity in all four blocks for targeted at-
risk groups. There can be one, two, three, or more activities listed in 
each block.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                         Improving student  Improving student  Improving student
                                      Improving student     behavior and        effort and           course
                                          attendance     reducing violence      motivation        performance
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initiatives Affecting Whole School
Initiatives Targeted at Specific At-
 Risk Groups (for example, all 9th
 graders, repeating 9th graders,
 juvenile offenders, and teen
 parents)
Intensive Interventions for
 Individual Students with Greatest
 Challenges
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition to completing the matrix, provide a narrative that 
describes your strategies in detail that includes the following:
     More complete information on each of the strategies 
identified in the matrix, including roles and responsibilities for 
identified project partners;
     Implementation plans to meet the required project 
components in Part I of the grant announcement:
    1. Turnaround Team: Discuss who will serve on this team, including 
community-based and faith-based organizations and groups. Discuss the 
roles and responsibilities of the Turnaround Team.
    2. Mentoring: Describe how the mentoring component will be carried 
out, including how mentors will be recruited, screened, and trained, 
the anticipated number of students who will receive mentors, and the 
number of

[[Page 27860]]

full-time staff to be hired for this component.
    3. Educational Strategies: Discuss the educational strategies that 
you will implement with grant funds. Provide details regarding how you 
will implement each strategy, including the number of full-time staff 
positions that will be dedicated to each new strategy and the expected 
number of students to be served each year by each strategy. Describe 
the level of staff development that will be provided in implementing 
these educational strategies. If vouchers for after-school tutoring or 
supportive services are proposed, describe how the vouchers will be 
implemented in a way consistent with federal Equal Treatment rules on 
indirect support of religious organizations.
    4. Employment Strategies: Discuss plans for developing internships 
for juniors and seniors during the school year or during the summer. 
Discuss ideas for possible places for these internships, and the number 
of students expected to be involved in the internships. Describe 
potential linkages with other DOL-funded formula and discretionary 
youth employment programs that currently exist in the neighborhood 
served by the school, and possible links with the local Workforce 
Investment Board and local One-Stop Centers.
    5. Improving the School Environment and Student Behavior: Discuss 
how you will provide students with conflict resolution and anger 
management skills, how you will in other ways promote violence 
reduction in the school, and the anticipated number of students to be 
served by this component.
    6. Case Management: Discuss plans for carrying out this component, 
including the number of case managers or advocates you expect to hire, 
how these case managers or advocates will interact with guidance 
counselors and staff, the expected number of students to be served each 
year in this component, and the anticipated case load size.
     Projected outcomes to be achieved. Indicate for each 
component the expected outcomes to be attained. For example, the 
expected outcomes of the mentoring component may be reducing truancy by 
5 percent, reducing behavioral incidents by 10 percent, and increasing 
the percentage of ninth graders promoted to the 10th grade by 10 
percent.
    Proposals will be evaluated under this criterion based on:
     The design for school-wide activities, including its 
potential for having a measurable impact on the school, the extent to 
which the applicant demonstrates that it has thought through how it 
will implement the various school-wide activities, and the extent to 
which it has considered possible links with other DOL grants and other 
neighborhood programs (15 points).
     The design for initiatives aimed at specific target 
groups, including its potential for having a measurable impact on the 
school and the extent to which the applicant demonstrates that it has 
thought through how it will implement the various target group 
activities (15 points).
     The design for initiatives aimed at students with the 
greatest challenges, including its potential for having a measurable 
impact on the school and the extent to which the applicant demonstrates 
that it has thought through how it will implement the various 
activities aimed at students with the greatest challenges (15 points).
    4. The Commitment of the Applicant and the Community to the Project 
and the Quality of Proposed Staff (20 points)
    If the school district is applying, this section should include:
     A clear statement indicating the school district's 
commitment to this project, including a commitment to making a good 
faith effort to sustain initiatives after federal funds cease using 
average daily attendance funds and other resources. This statement 
should be backed up by a letter of support from the school 
superintendent. This letter should acknowledge that ``in accepting 
funds under this grant as either the grant recipient or sub-recipient, 
the school district agrees not to divert funds received through this 
grant to other purposes by reducing the annual budget the school would 
have received in the absence of the grant'' and that no plans are 
currently in place to close the school.
     A description of the experience of key school district 
staff that will be involved in the project.
     A description of the requirements that will go into the 
grant announcement for selecting CBO sub-grantees/contractors. The 
Department strongly encourages the competitive selection of sub-
grantees and contractors either before or after grant award.
     A discussion of the community's potential commitment to 
the project, including a description of organizations that serve the 
same neighborhoods as the school that could be potential partners, 
including churches with youth programs, Settlement Houses, Boys and 
Girls Clubs, Girls Inc, YMCAs, and YWCAs, and how these organizati