Notice of Availability of Funds to Foster an Increase in AmeriCorps Members Involved in Teaching and Teacher Education

Background

The Corporation is a federal government corporation that encourages Americans of all ages and backgrounds to engage in community-based service to meet the nation's educational, public safety, environmental and other human needs. In doing so, the Corporation fosters civic responsibility, strengthens the ties that bind us together as a people, and provides educational opportunity for those who make a substantial commitment to service. Each year, the Corporation supports approximately 40,000 AmeriCorps members who perform substantial service in communities across the country. Since its inception in 1993, the Corporation has devoted a substantial part of its activities to helping to meet the needs of children and youth. Last year at the Presidents' Summit on America's Future in Philadelphia, President Clinton, former Presidents Bush, Carter, and Ford, Mrs. Nancy Reagan, and General Colin Powell, with the endorsement of many governors, mayors, and leaders of the independent sector, declared: ``Our obligation, direct and unmistakable, is to assure that all young Americans have: • Caring adults in their lives, as parents, mentors, tutors, coaches; • Safe places with structured activities in which to learn and grow; • A healthy start and healthy future; • An effective education that equips them with marketable skills; and • An opportunity to give back to their communities through their own service. These five goals are now the five fundamental resources sought by America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth, the organization pursuing the goals of the Presidents' Summit. The Corporation seeks to promote the use of AmeriCorps members, and the principles of service-learning, in achieving goals four and five. The National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended, specifically encourages the involvement of teachers, and those studying to become teachers, in AmeriCorps national service. Through this Notice, the Corporation seeks to strengthen that involvement. Under subtitle H, the Corporation may support innovative and model activities, including those undertaken by programs funded under AmeriCorps*State/National and Learn and Serve America and including those that promote service-learning. 42 U.S.C. 12653. Through this Notice, the Corporation announces its intention to provide assistance under subtitle H to organizations currently enrolling AmeriCorps members in programs supported under AmeriCorps*State/National and Learn and Serve America, with funds earmarked for planning and technical assistance activities to develop more effective connections between AmeriCorps and teachers, teacher training, and teacher education. The activities supported under this Notice must incorporate service- learning principles, as defined below. This Notice builds upon the Corporation's literacy activities under the America Reads Challenge, and is intended to enable national service to help meet teacher shortages in certain areas of the country and in certain subjects.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations that have an existing grant or agreement with the Corporation to enroll AmeriCorps members in a program that includes teachers, teacher training, or teacher education. Given the limited scope of eligible applicants, the Corporation expects fewer than ten applications.

Purpose of Assistance

This assistance will support planning and technical assistance activities to develop more effective connections between AmeriCorps and teachers, teacher training, and teacher education, with the goal of increasing the number of AmeriCorps members involved in teaching in areas of need as defined by local communities; teacher education; and teacher training. The Corporation intends that the activities supported under this Notice will result in an increase in requests to expand and/ or modify existing national service programs to include new teaching- related initiatives and in applications for Corporation assistance from teaching-related programs. Assistance may not be used to support an activity that is both conducted by a national service program and is already supported by Corporation assistance.

The planning and technical assistance activities must incorporate service-learning. Service-learning means a method under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education or community service program, and with the community; that helps foster civic responsibility; and that is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled; and provides structured time for the students or the participants to reflect on the service experience. The grantee is expected to coordinate with institutions of higher education, local education agencies, state education agencies, national service programs, and others to achieve the objectives of the grant. Eligible applicants have considerable freedom to identify the specific activities under its grant proposal. The most important consideration is that the planning and technical assistance activities promote an expansion in the number of AmeriCorps members serving as teachers and or involved in teacher training and education programs. The following are examples of specific tasks that the grant may support: • Organizing efforts by institutions of higher education to review their existing programs and determine ways in which national service programs may support objectives related to providing teachers at the elementary and secondary levels. • Developing and distributing materials to leaders in the fields of service and education explaining the opportunities to strengthen relationships between national service and teacher education. • Conducting outreach to Superintendents of Schools to explain how AmeriCorps national service might be useful in meeting school districts' needs for highly qualified and trained teachers who are knowledgeable about service-learning. • Establishing a network of higher education institutions, such as faith-based institutions, agreeing to use national service resources to help provide teachers and strengthen teacher training and education. The Corporation has a particular interest in proposals that would foster an increase in the number of AmeriCorps members involved in teaching-related activities through the AmeriCorps Education Award Program. The AmeriCorps Education Awards Program provides education awards to national, state and local community service programs that can support most or all of the costs associated with using AmeriCorps members with funding sources other than the Corporation. The program is intended to: (1) Expand opportunities for individuals to serve as AmeriCorps members and receive educational benefits; (2) broaden the network of national service programs and strategies; and (3) increase the number of communities using AmeriCorps members to help meet their education, public safety, environmental, and other human needs. The assistance provided under this Notice must also promote the Corporation's Learn and Serve America program. A key purpose of the Learn and Serve America grant program is to build an ethic of service among students by making service an integral part of their education and life experiences. School-based, community-based, and higher education programs integrate community service with academic curriculum or with other learning opportunities. In doing so, these programs enable students to place their studies into context, improve their academic performance, develop a strong sense of civic responsibility, and help meet educational, public safety, environmental, and health and other human needs in their communities. For more information on the programs supported by the Corporation, see the Corporation's 1999 Guide to Programs and Grants, available on our website at www.nationalservice.org, or contact the Corporation representative listed above.

Contents of the Proposal

Eligible organizations must submit a proposal with the following information: 1. Background concerning the applicant's current national service programs. 2. A designation of the organizations that the applicant will work with to achieve the goals of this notice. 3. A description of the proposed objectives and activities, including an indication as to how these specific planning and technical assistance activities will lead to an increase in the number of AmeriCorps members involved in teaching, teacher training, and teacher education. The proposal must also differentiate between the proposed objectives and activities and those of its currently-funded national service program. 4. An estimated budget for the program, consistent with the description below. The application may not exceed 20 pages in length. Narrative must be in double-space typeface. More detailed instructions concerning the contents of the application are contained in the application package.

Budget and Finances

The grant may support reasonable and necessary costs typically associated with a program of this type. This grant will not pay for any activities of an existing national service program already supported by Corporation funds. The applicant may request any amount necessary to carry out the purpose of the grant, but in no circumstances can the amount requested, or awarded, exceed $100,000. The grantee assumes full financial responsibility for the program. In addition to the negotiated grant amount, the Corporation will provide support at meetings and/or conferences conducted under the grant in order to assure that all involved have an accurate understanding of national service programs. The Corporation will also promote the availability of education awards on a national basis. The Corporation anticipates that the grant(s) made under this announcement will not be renewable.

Selection Criteria

The Corporation anticipates supporting one or two grants under this Notice. In awarding these grants, the Corporation will consider: program design (60%), including the likelihood of achieving the proposed objectives; organizational capacity (25%); and budget/cost effectiveness (15%). The Corporation will make all final decisions concerning awards and may require revisions to the original grant proposal in order to achieve the objectives under this Notice.

Dated: October 15, 1998. Kenneth L. Klothen, General Counsel, Corporation for National and Community Service. [FR Doc. 98-28135 Filed 10-20-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6050-28-U