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, 36761-36773 [E9-17560]

Agencies

• Employment and Training Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 141 (Friday, July 24, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36761-36773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-17560]


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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 08-14.
    Catalog Federal Assistance Number: 17.261.
SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the 
availability of $34 million for grants to serve high schools that have 
been designated as persistently dangerous by State Educational Agencies 
for the 2008-2009 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, education, 
employment, case management, and violence prevention strategies. These 
grants will be awarded to fund projects in schools not currently 
receiving a DOL grant for these purposes 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 and which are not currently 
receiving a Department of Labor (Department or DOL) grant under this 
initiative are located in the school districts of Baltimore City, 
Plainfield (New Jersey), New York City, Schenectady (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 (MOU) 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.

DATES: Key Dates: The closing date for receipt of applications under 
this announcement is September 22, 2009. Application and submission 
information is explained in detail in Part IV of this SGA.

ADDRESSES: Mailed applications must be addressed to the U.S. Department 
of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Division of Federal 
Assistance, Attention: B. Jai Johnson, Reference SGA/DFA PY 08-14, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N-4716, Washington, DC 20210. 
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 and other grant 
specifications
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

[[Page 36762]]

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 ETA announces the availability of $34 million for grants to 
serve high schools that are not currently receiving a DOL grant for 
these purposes and that have been designated as persistently dangerous 
by State Educational Agencies for the 2008-2009 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, education, employment, case management, and 
violence prevention strategies.
    The high schools that have identified this year as persistently 
dangerous have the following characteristics:
    [dec221] These high schools are quite large--many of them have 
enrollments of over 1,500.
    [dec221] In particular, these high schools tend to have 
disproportionate numbers of 9th graders. Many of these persistently 
dangerous schools have close to half of their students in the ninth 
grade. In contrast, high schools across the country typically have a 
much more equal number of students in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th 
grade classes.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] The high schools tend to have significant numbers of 
students with severe truancy problems, typically with slightly over 20 
percent of students missing 50 or more days of school each year.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] Several of the schools are located in census tracts with a 
poverty rate of 20 percent or more.
    [dec221] 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 Turnaround Challenge, Mass Insight Educational Research 
Institute, 2007, available at https://www.massinsight.org/resourcefiles/TheTurnaroundChallenge_2007.pdf.
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    The Department'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. The Department expects 
that in designing these components, grantees will select program models 
that have evidence of demonstrated effectiveness and that the selected 
program elements are consistent with the school's overall improvement 
plan.
    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 also 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 an adult volunteer mentoring 
component that integrates the other violence prevention, education, 
employment, and case management components provided through the grant. 
The Department requires that a CBO

[[Page 36763]]

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 in 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:
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] The proposed mentoring strategies should include a period 
of mentoring and follow-up that is no less than 18 months in duration.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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 How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Using the 
Elements of Effective Practice at https://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_413.pdf.
    [dec221] Characteristics of effective mentoring programs identified 
by experts in this field include taking the time to correctly match 
adults and youth based on common interests; training mentors about what 
to expect in the mentoring relationship; involving parents in the 
mentoring program; and providing ongoing technical support to mentors.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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. Education 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:
    [dec221] 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. Given the positive research 
results for career academies, the Department strongly recommends this 
as one of the strategies to be implemented.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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. The different hours better fit the needs of 
some youth and allow the schools to have an identity of their own 
somewhat separate from the larger high school. 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 failing 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.\4\ 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.
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    \4\ See 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, and Ruth 
Curran Neild and Robert Balfanz, Unfulfilled Promise: The Dimensions 
and Characteristics of Philadelphia's Dropout Crisis, 2000-2005, 
available at https://www.projectuturn.net/reports.html.
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    [dec221] 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 and other means under the 
direction of a teacher instead

[[Page 36764]]

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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] Summer Transition Programs for Entering Ninth Graders. 
These programs would include identifying and contacting in the spring 
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.
    [dec221] Outreach and Remediation for Eighth-Graders in Feeder 
Middle Schools. Outreach and remediation efforts may be conducted 
during the spring term for eighth-graders planning to attend the high 
school in the fall. Up to $300,000 of the grants to larger schools with 
1,000 or more students and up to $200,000 of the grants to smaller 
schools can be used for such programs in feeder middle schools. The 
hope is that such outreach efforts can lead to a higher percentage of 
entering ninth graders attending the Summer Transition Program.
    [dec221] 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. Grantees will need to 
demonstrate that any supportive services provided under these grants 
are coordinated with the supplemental educational services the district 
and school must offer to students as part of the No Child Left Behind 
requirements.
    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 for teachers 
collaborating across subject areas, and having teams of expert teachers 
work on an ongoing basis observing newer 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 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:
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] Implementing this component will require developing a 
partnership with the local workforce system to provide access both to 
the corporations represented on the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) 
and the service providers funded by the local workforce system.
    [dec221] The employment component can 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).
    [dec221] The employment component should include efforts to expand 
the career awareness of students and to make them aware of the 
educational requirements of various careers.
    [dec221] 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 WIB.
    [dec221] In designing the employment component, grantees will need 
to do a scan of existing DOL-funded initiatives in the community, 
including the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) formula youth program, 
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:
    [dec221] Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide was produced by 
the Center for Effective Collaboration and

[[Page 36765]]

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.
    [dec221] 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:
    [dec221] 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/.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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.
    [dec221] 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 work experience to 
youth. See https://www.oedworks.com/youthserv/index.htm.
    [dec221] 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/.
    [dec221] 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 $6.8 million. 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 $3.4 million. Applicants should request in their proposals 
the entire $6.8 million for the larger high schools and the entire $3.4 
million for the smaller schools so as to take full advantage of the 
resources available for turning around each school. 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 a 36-month period of performance, which 
may be extended with grant officer approval. This period of performance 
includes a planning period of up to 12 months leading up to the start 
of the school year in September 2010, and an operations period of two 
calendar years. Applicants should budget for two full school years of 
direct service delivery for each major component. All program 
components need to be started by the beginning of the 2010 school year. 
Grantees must provide separate budgets for planning and operations. 
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. Schools 
that are currently receiving DOL funds for this project are not 
eligible to receive additional funds under this solicitation. 
Applications can only be submitted for projects to serve high schools 
that have been identified by the State Department of Education for the 
2008-2009 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 and that are not currently receiving grants from the 
Department of Labor under this initiative are located in the school 
districts of Baltimore City,

[[Page 36766]]

Plainfield (New Jersey), New York City, Schenectady (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 are currently receiving funds from DOL 
through a grant awarded under this persistently dangerous schools 
initiative in June of 2008 are not eligible to apply under this new 
competition. 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 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. CBOs applying will need to have the school 
district as a partner, with an MOU 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.
    Since 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.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching

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

C. Other Grant Specifications

    1. 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.
    2. Veterans Priority. The Jobs for Veterans Act (Pub. L. 107-288) 
which provides priority of service to veterans and spouses of certain 
veterans for the receipt of employment, training, and placement 
services in any job training program directly funded, in whole or in 
part, by the Department of Labor. In circumstances where a grant 
recipient must choose between two equally qualified candidates for 
training, one of whom is a veteran, the Jobs for Veterans Act requires 
that grant recipients give the veteran priority of service by admitting 
him or her into the program. Please note that, to obtain priority of 
service, a veteran must meet the program's eligibility requirements. 
ETA Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 5-03 (September 
16, 2003) provides general guidance on the scope of the Job for 
Veterans Act and its effect on current employment and training 
programs. TEGL No. 5-03, along with additional guidance, is available 
at ``Jobs for Veterans Priority of Services'' Web site: https://www.doleta.gov/programs/vets.

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. Cost Proposal. The Cost Proposal must include the following 
three items:
    (a) The Standard Form (SF) 424, ``Application for Federal 
Assistance'' (available at https://www07.grants.gov/agencies/forms_repository_information.jsp and https://www.doleta.gov/sga/forms.cfm). 
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.
    (b) 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.
    (c) The SF 424A Budget Information Form (available at https://www07.grants.gov/agencies/forms_repository_information.jsp and https://www.doleta.gov/sga/forms.cfm). 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. 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 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

[[Page 36767]]

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, Time, and Address

    The closing date for receipt of applications under this 
announcement is September 22, 2009. 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 Administration, Division of Federal 
Assistance, Attention: B. Jai Johnson, Reference SGA/DFA PY 08-14, 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 applicants applying online 
for the first time via Grants.gov immediately initiate and complete the 
``Get Registered'' registration steps at https://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp. These steps may take multiple days or 
weeks to complete, and this time should be factored into plans for 
electronic application submission in order to avoid unexpected delays 
that could result in rejection of an application. If submitted 
electronically through Grants.gov, the application must be submitted as 
a .doc, .xls, or .pdf file.
    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, 
was properly addressed, and: (a) Was 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 submitted on Grants.gov to the addressee not later than one working 
day prior to the date specified for receipt of applications. An 
application submitted through Grants.gov will not be considered 
``received'' by the Department of Labor unless it was: Electronically 
submitted on Grants.gov prior to the deadline;'' validated by 
Grants.gov; and forwarded by Grants.gov to the Department of Labor. 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.
    ETA will host a Virtual Prospective Applicant Conference for this 
grant competition. Registration information for the Prospective 
Applicant Conference will be posted on ETA's Web site at https://www.doleta.gov and https://www.workforce3one.org. Please check these 
pages for updates periodically during the Solicitation.

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 Federal 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

[[Page 36768]]

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.

F. Salary and Bonus Limitations

    In compliance with Public Law 109-234 and Public Law 110-5, none of 
the funds appropriated in Public Law 109-149, Public Law 110-5,or prior 
Acts under the heading ``Employment and Training'' that are available 
for expenditure on or after June 15,2006, shall be used by a recipient 
or sub-recipient of such funds to pay the salary and bonuses of an 
individual, either as direct costs or indirect costs, at a rate in 
excess of Executive Level II, excepts as Law 109-149. This limitation 
shall not apply to vendors providing goods and services as defined in 
OMB Circular A-133. See Training and Employment Guidance Letter Number 
5-06 for further clarification: https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=2262.

G. 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 
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. 
Provisions 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 DOL funded activities.
    Faith and community-based organizations may also reference ETA 
Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 01-05 (July 6, 
2005), available at https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=2088. Faith-based and community organizations may learn 
about equal treatment and religion-related regulations through the 
DOL's new online training course at Workforce3one (https://www.workforce3one.org). The course can be found by typing the key 
works--equal treatment--in the search box on the upper right hand 
corner of the page. If you are previously registered on this site, you 
can find the course directly at https://www.workforce3one.org/public/shared/detail.cfm?id=5566&simple=false.
    ETA Intellectual Property Rights. The Federal Government reserves a 
paid-up, non exclusive and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish or 
otherwise use, and to authorize others to use for Federal purposes: (i) 
The copyright in all products developed under the grant, including a 
subgrant or contract under the grant or subgrant; and (ii) any rights 
of copyright to which the grantee, subgrantee or a contractor purchases 
ownership under an award (including but not limited to curricula, 
training models, technical assistance products, and any related 
materials). Such uses include, but are not limited to, the right to 
modify and distribute such products worldwide by any means, 
electronically or otherwise. Federal funds may not be used to pay any 
royalty or licensing fee associated with such copyrighted material, 
although they may be used to pay costs for obtaining a copy which is 
limited to the developer/seller costs of copying and shipping. If 
revenues are generated through selling products developed with grant 
funds, including intellectual property, theses revenues are program 
income. Program income is added to the grant and must be expended for 
allowable grant activities.
    Additional Requirements. Federal funds may not be used to pay any 
royalty or licensing fee associated with such copyrighted material, 
although they may be used to pay costs for obtaining a copy which is 
limited to the developer/seller costs of copying and shipping. If 
revenues are generated through selling products developed with grant 
funds, including intellectual property, these revenues are program 
income. Program income is added to the grant and must be expended for 
allowable grant activities.

H. Withdrawal of Application

    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.

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).

[[Page 36769]]

1. Statement of Need (15 Points)
     Provide the number of students in the school's ninth grade 
class (both entering ninth graders and repeating ninth graders) in the 
fall of 2004 and the number of students who graduated from the school 
in the spring of 2008. If the school includes only grades 10 through 
12, provide the number of 10th graders in the fall of 2005 and the 
number of students who graduated from the school in the spring of 2008.
     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 2004 and the graduating class in the spring of 
2008, or for schools that include only grades 10 through 12, the 
percentage of students lost between the tenth grade class in the fall 
2005 and the graduating class in the spring of 2008 (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 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