Grant Selection and Performance Task Force

June 8, 2016

 

Grant Selection and Performance Task Force Minutes 6-8-16

Present: Ed Barrett, Rob Liscord, Nicole Pellenz, David Wihry, Joe Young

Absent: Kevin Bois, Laura Hudson

Staff: Michael Ashmore

Guests: Steve Niles, Jen Craven

Minutes:

Meeting convened at 10:02am

  1. Formula Unexpended Funds estimates and Cost/MSY limitations

Members reviewed the formula allocation chart provided by CNCS last month and pertinent sections of the guidance document issued with the funding announcement. 

Maine is scheduled to receive $654,426 in formula funds, an increase of $54,426 over recent years.  The increase in combination with unexpended grant funds in the formula pool allow for the Commission to fund both grant expansion requests and anticipated planning grants.  Of not is the limitation noted in the guidance that Maine must stay below a maximum of $13,730 aggregate cost per MSY across all CNCS AmeriCorps grants.

MA shared a chart of current funded grants and anticipated continuation costs showing the aggregate cost per MSY for the Commission is $12,826.  If the additional formula allocation is included with the predicted expansion request from a formula grantee, the cost per MSY drops to $12,774.  The difference between the maximum allowed and the predicted rate allows for MCCS to entertain the issuance of multiple planning grants up to a total of $135,000.  While this amount is unlikely to be recovered as unexpended funds, the calculation does demonstrate that planning grants, which automatically increase overall cost per MSY because they have cost but no associated members, are fundable this year.

  1. Application of funds to planning grants and expansion requests

The members also discussed the notation in the guidance that all of the formula allocation must be claimed by subgrantees approved by the Commission in the eGrants system by the submission date of June 24th 2016.  The Multilingual Leadership Corps (MLC) has requested an expansion up to the amount of their original grant request ($260,000).  The program was funded in the first year of the current grant cycle at $210,761 because of their overall score and the availability of funds.  MLC was the only formula grantee eligible for expansion because they are the only applicant with 100% enrollment at this time.

The expansion request includes an additional 3.93 MSY funded by an additional $50,902.

MA noted that the planning grants will not be available in the eGrants system until after the due date and the MLC request is $ 3524 below the expansion allocation total.  Members considered the two available options: 10 to leave the subgrantee requests below the total allocation and forgo that potion of the allocated funds, or 2) offer the funds to a subgrantee and claim the entire amount.

Members discussed and opted for the second. Goodwill was deemed the appropriate program and the guests were asked to briefly share how they might utilize the additional portion if it was made available.  Steve Niles, Program Manager at GINNE offered that the funds would be used to support a small expansion of MSY either with a stipended half time or a couple of ed award only minimum time members.  Task Force members moved to  have MLC revise their expansion request to include the additional available allocation.

  1. Discussion of continuation recommendations from reviewers and formulation of recommendations for the Commission

AmeriCorps State Formula Continuation Applications were reviewed by a group of Task Force members who convened by phone for a consensus call on Monday June, 6th in executive session.  During this meeting draft recommendations for continuation funding and associated conditions were formulated.  The members present reviewed the recommendation summaries for Medical Care Development (AmeriCorps Somerset County), Goodwill Industries of NNE (Multilingual Leadership Corps) and RSU 14 (SySTEM REAL AmeriCorps).

Members affirmed the base plan and expansion request for Goodwill with the stipulation that the their request be adjusted to utilize the available additional funds and that their narratives reflect these changes.

Members also affirmed Medical Care Development’s request but set conditions related to the their overall enrollment rate and discussed plans for possibly reducing their funding if significant improvements are not made by January of 2017.

Finally, members discussed the RSU 14 application and approved it with similar conditions regarding enrollment targets.  In addition the Task Force identified a series of concerns related to proposed site expansion for the program in light of a number of changes to the REAL School and its reorganization.  The Task Force established that its approval is pertinent to the current program “footprint” and that expansion to new remote sites is contingent on meeting with the Task Force in the coming weeks so that the applicant can provide additional clarification and rationale for the expansion.  The site issue does not alter the total amount approved for continuation nor the total number of members, merely the question of the final placement sites for a small portion of the total.

Meeting adjourned at 9:57am