Title 45: Public Welfare
PART 2522—AMERICORPS PARTICIPANTS, PROGRAMS, AND APPLICANTS
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Subpart D—Selection of AmeriCorps Programs
§ 2522.400 What process does the Corporation use to select new grantees?
The Corporation uses a multi-stage process, which may include review by panels of experts, Corporation staff review, and approval by the Chief Executive Officer or the Board of Directors, or their designee.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.410 What is the role of the Corporation's Board of Directors in the selection process?
The Board of Directors has general authority to determine the selection process, including priorities and selection criteria, and has authority to make grant decisions. The Board may delegate these functions to the Chief Executive Officer.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.415 How does the grant selection process work?
The selection process includes:
(a) Determining whether your proposal complies with the application requirements, such as deadlines and eligibility requirements;
(b) Applying the basic selection criteria to assess the quality of your proposal;
(c) Applying any applicable priorities or preferences, as stated in these regulations and in the applicable Notice of Funding Availability; and
(d) Ensuring innovation and geographic, demographic, and programmatic diversity across the Corporation's national AmeriCorps portfolio.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.420 What basic criteria does the Corporation use in making funding decisions?
In evaluating your application for funding, the Corporation will assess:
(a) Your program design;
(b) Your organizational capability; and
(c) Your program's cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522. 425 What does the Corporation consider in assessing Program Design?
In determining the quality of your proposal's program design, the Corporation considers your rationale and approach for the proposed program, member outputs and outcomes, and community outputs and outcomes.
(a) Rationale and approach. In evaluating your rationale and approach, the Corporation considers the following criteria:
(1) Whether your proposal describes and adequately documents a compelling need within the target community, including a description of how you identified the need;
(2) Whether your proposal includes well-designed activities that address the compelling need, with ambitious performance measures, and a plan or system for continuous program self-assessment and improvement;
(3) Whether your proposal describes well-defined roles for participants that are aligned with the identified needs and that lead to measurable outputs and outcomes; and
(4) The extent to which your proposed program or project:
(i) Effectively involves the target community in planning and implementation;
(ii) Builds on (without duplicating), or reflects collaboration with, other national and community service programs supported by the Corporation; and
(iii) Is designed to be replicated.
(b) Member outputs and outcomes. In evaluating how your proposal addresses member outputs and outcomes, the Corporation considers the extent to which your proposal or program:
(1) Includes effective and feasible plans for, or evidence of, recruiting, managing, and rewarding diverse members, including those from the target community, and demonstrating member satisfaction;
(2) If you are a current grantee, has succeeded in meeting reasonable member enrollment and retention targets in prior grant periods, as determined by the Corporation;
(3) Includes effective and feasible plans for, or evidence of, developing, training, and supervising members;
(4) Demonstrates well-designed training or service activities that promote and sustain post-service, an ethic of service and civic responsibility, including structured opportunities for members to reflect on and learn from their service; and
(5) If you are a current grantee, has met well-defined, performance measures regarding AmeriCorps members, including any applicable national performance measures, and including outputs and outcomes.
(c) Community outputs and outcomes. In evaluating whether your proposal adequately addresses community outputs and outcomes, the Corporation considers the extent to which your proposal or program:
(1) Is successful in meeting targeted, compelling community needs, or if you are a current grantee, the extent to which your program has met its well-defined, community-based performance measures, including any applicable national performance measures, and including outputs and outcomes, in previous grant cycles, and is continually expanding and increasing its reach and impact in the community;
(2) Has an impact in the community that is sustainable beyond the presence of Federal support (For example, if one of your projects is to revitalize a local park, you would meet this criterion by showing that after you have completed your revitalization project, the community will continue its upkeep on its own);
(3) Generates and supports volunteers to expand the reach of your program in the community; and
(4) Enhances capacity-building of other organizations and institutions important to the community, such as schools, homeland security organizations, neighborhood watch organizations, civic associations, and community organizations, including faith-based organizations.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.430 How does the Corporation assess my organizational capability?
(a) In evaluating your organizational capability, the Corporation considers the following:
(1) The extent to which your organization has a sound structure including:
(i) The ability to provide sound programmatic and fiscal oversight;
(ii) Well-defined roles for your board of directors, administrators, and staff;
(iii) A well-designed plan or systems for organizational (as opposed to program) self-assessment and continuous improvement; and
(iv) The ability to provide or secure effective technical assistance.
(2) Whether your organization has a sound record of accomplishment as an organization, including the extent to which you:
(i) Generate and support diverse volunteers who increase your organization's capacity;
(ii) Demonstrate leadership within the organization and the community served; and
(iii) If you are an existing grantee, you have secured the matching resources as reflected in your prior grant awards;
(3) The extent to which you are securing community support that recurs, expands in scope, or increases in amount, and is more diverse, as evidenced by—
(i) Collaborations that increase the quality and reach of service and include well-defined roles for faith-based and other community organizations;
(ii) Local financial and in-kind contributions; and
(iii) Supporters who represent a wide range of community stakeholders.
(b) In applying the criteria in paragraph (a) of this section to each proposal, the Corporation may take into account the following circumstances of individual organizations:
(1) The age of your organization and its rate of growth; and
(2) Whether your organization serves a resource-poor community, such as a rural or remote community, a community with a high poverty rate, or a community with a scarcity of philanthropic and corporate resources.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.435 How does the Corporation evaluate the cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy of my program?
(a) In evaluating the cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy of your proposed program, the Corporation considers the following:
(1) Whether your program is cost-effective based on:
(i) Your program's proposed Corporation cost per MSY, as defined in §2522.485; and
(ii) Other indicators of cost-effectiveness, such as:
(A) The extent to which your program demonstrates diverse non-Federal resources for program implementation and sustainability;
(B) If you are a current grantee, the extent to which you are increasing your share of costs to meet or exceed program goals; or
(C) If you are a current grantee, the extent to which you are proposing deeper impact or broader reach without a commensurate increase in Federal costs; and
(2) Whether your budget is adequate to support your program design.
(b) In applying the cost-effectiveness criteria in paragraph (a) of this section, the Corporation will take into account the following circumstances of individual programs:
(1) Program age, or the extent to which your program brings on new sites;
(2) Whether your program or project is located in a resource-poor community, such as a rural or remote community, a community with a high poverty rate, or a community with a scarcity of corporate or philanthropic resources;
(3) Whether your program or project is located in a high-cost, economically distressed community, measured by applying appropriate Federal and State data; and
(4) Whether the reasonable and necessary costs of your program or project are higher because they are associated with engaging or serving difficult-to-reach populations, or achieving greater program impact as evidenced through performance measures and program evaluation.
(c) The indicators in paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii)(B) of this section do not apply to Education Award Program applicants.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]
§ 2522.440 What weight does the Corporation give to each category of the basic criteria?
In evaluating applications, the Corporation assigns the following weights for each category:
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Category Percentage------------------------------------------------------------------------Program design............................................. 50Organizational capability.................................. 25Cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy..................... 25------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.445 What weights does the Corporation give to the subcategories under Program Design?
The Corporation gives the following weights to the subcategories under Program Design:
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ Program design sub-category Percentage------------------------------------------------------------------------Rationale and approach..................................... 10Member outputs and outcomes................................ 20Community outputs and outcomes............................. 20------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.448 What weights does the Corporation give to the subcategories under Cost Effectiveness and Budget Adequacy?
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cost-effectiveness and budget adequacy sub-category Percentage------------------------------------------------------------------------Cost-effectiveness......................................... 15Adequacy of budget......................................... 10------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.450 What types of programs or program models may receive special consideration in the selection process?
Following the scoring of proposals under §2522.440 of this part, the Corporation will seek to ensure that its portfolio of approved programs includes a meaningful representation of proposals that address one or more of the following priorities:
(a) Program models: (1) Programs operated by community organizations, including faith-based organizations, or programs that support the efforts of community organizations, including faith-based organizations, to solve local problems;
(2) Lower-cost professional corps programs, as defined in paragraph (a)(3) of §2522.110 of this chapter.
(b) Program activities: (1) Programs that serve or involve children and youth, including mentoring of disadvantaged youth and children of prisoners;
(2) Programs that address educational needs, including those that carry out literacy and tutoring activities generally, and those that focus on reading for children in the third grade or younger;
(3) Programs that focus on homeland security activities that support and promote public safety, public health, and preparedness for any emergency, natural or man-made (this includes programs that help to plan, equip, train, and practice the response capabilities of many different response units ready to mobilize without warning for any emergency);
(4) Programs that address issues relating to the environment;
(5) Programs that support independent living for seniors or individuals with disabilities;
(6) Programs that increase service and service-learning on higher education campuses in partnership with their surrounding communities;
(7) Programs that foster opportunities for Americans born in the post-World War II baby boom to serve and volunteer in their communities; and
(8) Programs that involve community-development by finding and using local resources, and the capacities, skills, and assets of lower-income people and their community, to rejuvenate their local economy, strengthen public and private investments in the community, and help rebuild civil society.
(c) Programs supporting distressed communities: Programs or projects that will be conducted in:
(1) A community designated as an empowerment zone or redevelopment area, targeted for special economic incentives, or otherwise identifiable as having high concentrations of low-income people;
(2) An area that is environmentally distressed, as demonstrated by Federal and State data;
(3) An area adversely affected by Federal actions related to managing Federal lands that result in significant regional job losses and economic dislocation;
(4) An area adversely affected by reductions in defense spending or the closure or realignment of military installation;
(5) An area that has an unemployment rate greater than the national average unemployment for the most recent 12 months for which State or Federal data are available;
(6) A rural community, as demonstrated by Federal and State data; or
(7) A severely economically distressed community, as demonstrated by Federal and State data.
(d) Other programs: Programs that meet any additional priorities as the Corporation determines and disseminates in advance of the selection process.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.455 How do I find out about additional priorities governing the selection process?
The Corporation posts discretionary funding opportunities addressing the Corporation's selection preferences and additional requirements on our website at www.nationalservice.gov and at www.grants.gov in advance of grant competitions
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522. 460 To what extent may the Corporation or a State commission consider priorities other than those stated in these regulations or the Notice of Funding Availability?
(a) The Corporation may give special consideration to a national service program submitted by a State commission that does not meet one of the Corporation's priorities if the State commission adequately explains why the State is not able to carry out a program that meets one of the Corporation's priorities, and why the program meets one of the State's priorities.
(b) A State may apply priorities different than those of the Corporation in selecting its formula programs.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.465 What information must a State commission submit on the relative strengths of applicants for State competitive funding?
(a) If you are a State commission applying for State competitive funding, you must prioritize the proposals you submit in rank order based on their relative quality and according to the following table:
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you submit this number of state Then you must rank this competitive proposals to the corporation number of proposals------------------------------------------------------------------------1 to 12................................... At least top 5.13 to 24.................................. At least top 10.25 or more................................ At least top 15.------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(b) While the rankings you provide will not be determinative in the grant selection process, and the Corporation will not be bound by them, we will consider them in our selection process.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.470 What other factors or information may the Corporation consider in making final funding decisions?
(a) The Corporation will seek to ensure that our portfolio of AmeriCorps programs is programmatically, demographically, and geographically diverse and includes innovative programs, and projects in rural, high poverty, and economically distressed areas.
(b) In applying the selection criteria under §§2522.420 through 2522.435, the Corporation may, with respect to a particular proposal, also consider one or more of the following for purposes of clarifying or verifying information in a proposal, including conducting due diligence to ensure an applicant's ability to manage Federal funds:
(1) For an applicant that has previously received a Corporation grant, any information or records the applicant submitted to the Corporation, or that the Corporation has in its system of records, in connection with its previous grant (e.g. progress reports, site visit reports, financial status reports, audits, HHS Account Payment Data Reports, Federal Cash Transaction Reports, timeliness of past reporting, etc.);
(2) Program evaluations;
(3) Member-related information from the Corporation's systems;
(4) Other Corporation internal information, including information from the Office of Inspector General, administrative standards for State commissions, and reports on program training and technical assistance;
(5) IRS Tax Form 990;
(6) An applicant organization's annual report;
(7) Information relating to the applicant's financial management from Corporation records;
(8) Member satisfaction indicators;
(9) Publicly available information including:
(i) Socio-economic and demographic data, such as poverty rate, unemployment rate, labor force participation, and median household income;
(ii) Information on where an applicant and its activities fall on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's urban-rural continuum (Beale codes);
(iii) Information on the nonprofit and philanthropic community, such as charitable giving per capita;
(iv) Information from an applicant organization's website; and
(v) U.S. Department of Education data on Federal Work Study and Community Service; and
(10) Other information, following notice in the relevant Notice of Funding Availability, of the specific information and the Corporation's intention to be able to consider that information in the review process.
(c) Before approving a program grant to a State commission, the Corporation will consider a State commission's capacity to manage and monitor grants.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522. 475 To what extent must I use the Corporation's selection criteria and priorities when selecting formula programs or operating sites?
You must ensure that the selection criteria you use include the following criteria:
(a) The quality of the national service program proposed to be carried out directly by the applicant or supported by a grant from the applicant.
(b) The innovative aspects of the national service program, and the feasibility of replicating the program.
(c) The sustainability of the national service program.
(d) The quality of the leadership of the national service program, the past performance of the program, and the extent to which the program builds on existing programs.
(e) The extent to which participants of the national service program are recruited from among residents of the communities in which projects are to be conducted, and the extent to which participants and community residents are involved in the design, leadership, and operation of the program.
(f) The extent to which projects would be conducted in one of the areas listed in §2522.450(c)(1) through (5) of this subpart.
(g) In the case of applicants other than States, the extent to which the application is consistent with the application of the State in which the projects would be conducted.
(h) Such other criteria as the Corporation considers to be appropriate, following appropriate notice.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.480 Can a State's application for formula funds be rejected?
Yes. Formula funds are not an entitlement.
(a) Notification. If the Corporation rejects an application submitted by a State Commission under part 2550 of this chapter for funds described in §2521.30 of this chapter, the Corporation will promptly notify the State Commission of the reasons for the rejection of the application.
(b) Revision. The Corporation will provide a State Commission notified under paragraph (a) of this section with a reasonable opportunity to revise and resubmit the application. At the request of the State Commission, the Corporation will provide technical assistance to the State Commission as part of the resubmission process. The Corporation will promptly reconsider an application resubmitted under this paragraph.
(c) Redistribution. The amount of any State's allotment under §2521.30(a) of this chapter for a fiscal year that the Corporation determines will not be provided for that fiscal year will be available for redistribution by the Corporation to the States, Territories and Indian Tribes with approved AmeriCorps applications as the Corporation deems appropriate.
[59 FR 13796, Mar. 23, 1994. Redesignated at 70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005] § 2522.485 How do I calculate my program's budgeted Corporation cost per member service year (MSY)?
If you are an AmeriCorps national and community service program, you calculate your Corporation cost per MSY by dividing the Corporation's share of budgeted grant costs by the number of member service years you are awarded in your grant. You do not include child-care or the cost of the education award a member may earn through serving with your program.
[70 FR 39603, July 8, 2005]
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