[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40823-40826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-19874]


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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

Proposed Changes to AmeriCorps State, National, and Tribes and 
Territories Application Guidelines for the Program Year 1997 Grant 
Cycle

AGENCY: Corporation for National and Community Service.

ACTION: Request for comment on proposed changes in policy and 
guidelines for AmeriCorps State, National, and Tribes and Territories 
applications.

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SUMMARY: The Corporation for National and Community Service is 
proposing changes to and inviting comments on its application 
guidelines for AmeriCorps programs: AmeriCorps State and National 
programs; and AmeriCorps Tribes and Territories. The proposed changes 
were developed in response to recommendations from programs and 
experience over the last two years. The changes were also developed to 
reduce the federal cost of AmeriCorps programs to meet specific 
benchmarks over the next three years. A broad range of areas is covered 
by the proposed changes, including the following: the timeline for 
distribution of guidelines and submission of applications; new targets 
and caps on program costs per Member; revised priorities for service 
activities in the areas of education, public safety, the environment, 
and other human needs; and criteria for evaluating the quality of 
program applications. The Corporation invites all interested parties to 
submit written comments on the issues discussed in this notice. 
Comments received will be given careful consideration in the 
development of final Program Year 1997 policies and grant application 
guidelines.

DATES: Only written comments will be considered. Comments must be 
submitted no later than October 7, 1996. Faxes will not be accepted.


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ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Deborah Jospin, Acting 
General Counsel, Corporation for National Service, 1201 New York 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20525.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Heinaru, Deputy Director, 
AmeriCorps State/National, at (202) 606-5000, ext. 302 or (202) 565-
2799 (T.D.D.). For visually impaired individuals, this information will 
be made available in alternative format upon request.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Applications

    The Corporation invites comments on its guidelines as set forth in 
the 1995 AmeriCorps State and National Direct Program Application 
Guidelines and the 1996 AmeriCorps Renewal Application Guidelines. 
Copies of these applications are available through the individual State 
Commissions and the Corporation for those who wish to review them and 
provide feed back to the Corporation. For copies of the guidelines, 
contact Rosa Harrison at (202) 606-5000, ext. 433.

I. Specific Program Requirements and Guidelines

    A. Renewals, Re-competition, and New Applications--State 
Commissions will have the option to allow programs in their first or 
second year of operation with Corporation funds to renew their grants. 
AmeriCorps National and AmeriCorps Tribes and Territories grantees in 
their first or second year of operation with Corporation funds may also 
submit renewal applications to the Corporation. All Corporation-funded 
programs in their third year of operation, including those funded 
through the State Commissions, must re-compete with other new 
applicants as new programs. States will have latitude in the type of 
program outreach they choose to conduct. The National and Community 
Service Act of 1990, as amended (the Act), is due to be reauthorized 
next year. Changes could be made in appropriations or reauthorization 
language that affect 1997 applications. Potential applicants will be 
apprised of any changes.
    B. Continuing Grants--Programs have suggested that they could more 
easily raise funds if they receive multi-year grants which indicate 
anticipated levels of support in the outyears. To accommodate the needs 
of our programs, the Corporation's initial grant award agreement with 
all newly-competed programs will include estimated levels of support 
for the second and third years and indicate that the grant may continue 
for three years, if annual review determines that the program meets 
quality standards and if funds are available. The process of approving 
the second and third year awards will be similar to the current renewal 
process and will be conducted separately from any new competition. 
States will have the option of making continuing grants for up to three 
years. When the Act is reauthorized by Congress, all programs, 
regardless of a continuing grant award, must meet any new requirements 
established under the reauthorization.
    C. Planning Grants--The Corporation will not support any planning 
grants. States, however, have the option to support small planning 
grants under their formula allotment.
    D. Summer Programs--The Corporation encourages applicants to 
consider operating summer programs as an adjunct to their regular full-
time or part-time schedule. The application guidelines will specify how 
those programs will meet part-time requirements.
    E. State Coordination with National Direct Applications--One of the 
criteria for evaluating the State Commission in its application for 
Administrative funds will be the extent to which the Commission 
provides support for the National Direct operating sites in the State. 
The National Direct Application instructions will ask the Parent 
Organizations to describe how they worked with the State Commissions in 
selecting operating sites in the specific States. The National Directs 
will be evaluated on that process during the peer and staff reviews. 
They will also be encouraged, but not required, to include support 
letters from the State Commissions in their applications.
    F. Preferences--``Preference'' means that the Corporation, as 
authorized by the Act, has designated certain types of national service 
programs for priority consideration. During the staff selection 
process, a program that addresses the following issues may be given a 
preference over other programs that do not.
    1. Issue Area Specialization--The four national issue areas 
established by law are education, public safety, environment, and other 
human needs. The Corporation will continue to encourage programs to 
develop issue area specialization instead of trying to meet all of the 
Corporation's issue areas. The Corporation recognizes that certain 
programs (e.g., volunteer generator models or programs operating in 
rural areas) may not be able to focus on single issues to the extent 
that others can. However, program experience to date indicates that it 
is difficult to demonstrate impact on communities when programs try to 
meet many needs all at once.
    2. Localities--The Corporation will give a preference to applicants 
who propose to sponsor AmeriCorps service activities in areas 
officially designated as Empowerment Zones or Enterprise Communities by 
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and/or the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture. The Corporation will also give preference to 
areas affected by military downsizing.
    G. New Priority: Children and Youth, Especially Education--The four 
national issue areas established by law remain the same: education, 
public safety, environment, and other human needs. In 1997, the new 
priority will be children and youth, especially in education. While 
this priority supersedes the 1994 and 1995 priorities, the focus on 
children and youth can fit within any of the four issue areas and need 
not be the sole focus of the program. A program will be considered to 
meet the priority if it plans to recruit and coordinate youth 
volunteers to assist in projects that may be in any of the four issue 
areas. The Corporation does expect to fund high quality programs that 
do not fall into the priority category.
    H. Capacity Building--While the Corporation will continue to 
require that all AmeriCorps Members perform direct service, they may 
also engage in activities we call ``capacity building''--such as 
developing community partnerships, coordinating activities of other 
Members, and creating new programs. Programs should not, however, focus 
AmeriCorps Members' service hours solely on capacity building 
activities.
    I. Leveraging Volunteers--The Corporation encourages all programs 
to place a greater emphasis on involving other community members as 
volunteers to assist them in service activities. In keeping with the 
Corporation's new priority on children and youth, programs are 
especially encouraged to find ways to involve children and youth in 
service as volunteers. This does not mean, however, that a program's 
sole purpose must be to recruit and supervise volunteers.
    J. Program Focus and Service Ethic--The Corporation believes that 
it is important for all programs to impart the service ethic to their 
Members. Accordingly, the Corporation will not fund any programs whose 
major purpose is job training rather than service.

[[Page 40825]]

    K. Living Allowance--The Corporation encourages programs to offer 
living allowances that are not more than the average annual subsistence 
allowance provided to VISTAs. (For 1996, the figure was $7,945 per 
year.)
    L. Corporation Cost Per Member--The Corporation is committed to 
reducing its overall average cost per AmeriCorps Member over the coming 
three years. In order to do so, State Commissions, National Direct, and 
Tribes and Territories applicants must also reduce the amount of 
Corporation funds per Member they are requesting from the Corporation. 
The Corporation wants to give the States and National Direct applicants 
as much flexibility as possible to allow for different program models. 
Therefore, we have set an average per State and National Direct 
applicant of $11,750. Individual programs within the State or operating 
sites under the National Direct applicant may propose costs per Member 
that are higher or lower than this figure as long as the average cost 
meets the target. In addition, no individual program or National Direct 
operating site may propose a Corporation share that exceeds $14,500 per 
Member. The average cost per Member should decrease each year. While 
specific targets have not been set, the average proposed Corporation 
cost is anticipated to be $11,300 for 1998-1999 and $10,800 for 1999-
2000.

II. Timelines

    The Corporation is recommending the following timeline for 
submission of applications from States:
    A. Corporation application guidelines will be disseminated by 
December 1, 1996.
    B. States review all their programs and decide which to put forward 
in the competitive pool and which to support with their formula funds. 
States submit the State narrative and competitive program applications 
to the Corporation by April 15, 1997.
    C. The Corporation makes decisions on the State competitive 
programs and notifies States by June 20, 1997.
    D. States have the option to make changes to their formula package 
based on the Corporation's decisions and submit their formula packages 
for approval to the Corporation by June 30, 1997.
    The Corporation is recommending the following timeline for 
submission of applications from AmeriCorps National applicants:
    A. Application guidelines will be available by December 1, 1996.
    B. AmeriCorps National applications are submitted to the 
Corporation by March 15, 1997.
    The Corporation is recommending the following timeline for 
submission of applications from AmeriCorps Tribes and Territories 
applicants:
    A. Application guidelines will be available by December 1, 1996.
    B. AmeriCorps Tribes and Territories applications are submitted to 
the Corporation by March 28, 1997.

III. Application Evaluation and Selection for New Programs

    The Corporation is looking for high-quality programs that are 
innovative, have the potential to be replicated in other areas, and can 
be sustained with State and local support when Corporation support 
ends. Applications will be reviewed by outside experts and then by 
Corporation staff.
    The review by outside experts (peer review) serves as the first 
stage in the AmeriCorps State, National, and Tribes and Territories 
review and selection processes for new applications. The peer review is 
a basic evaluation of a program's quality, which is determined based on 
the following criteria:

1. Impact and Program Design--65%
    a. Getting Things Done (25%)
    b. Strengthening Communities (10%)
    c. Developing Members (10%)
    d. Evaluation and Continuous Improvement (20%)

2. Other Quality Indicators--35%
    a. Organizational Capacity (20%)
    b. Cost-effectiveness and Sustainability (15%)

    Evaluation and Continuous Improvement has been given greater weight 
as a selection criteria to emphasize its importance as a demonstration 
of impact and a way to ensure program quality. The role of the State 
Commission and Parent Organization (in National Direct) is important in 
monitoring quality. To that end, the Corporation is considering setting 
guidelines related to how difficult a program is to monitor. Programs 
that are inherently difficult to monitor would be at a disadvantage 
unless they can persuasively demonstrate that they have developed ways 
to overcome that problem. Examples of programs that may be inherently 
difficult to monitor include:
     Individual placements that are spread out geographically;
     Programs attempting to address many issue areas at once; 
and
     Programs with vague objectives.
    Some programs have found innovative ways to maintain high quality 
despite the difficulties. Examples include:
     Aggressive recruiting leading to greater selectivity of 
Members;
     Enrolling more experienced, more mature Members;
     Strong orientation, training, and other regular means of 
on-going communication;
     Narrowing the range of tasks performed so as to make long-
distance monitoring easier; and
     Strong host sites.
    Corporation staff will also analyze the quality of the proposal and 
review the proposal taking into consideration the preferences and 
priorities described previously, as well as the following:
    1. Geographic diversity--The Corporation will ensure that the 
programs funded are geographically diverse and include projects in 
urban and rural areas.
    2. Diversity--The Corporation seeks a broadly-diverse participant 
pool of AmeriCorps Members that includes a representation of young 
adults; a proportionate ratio of individuals who have not attended 
college and those with college-education experience; approximately 
equal numbers of men and women; individuals with physical and cognitive 
disabilities; individuals of all races and ethnicities; and diverse 
economic backgrounds. The Corporation anticipates funding a range of 
program types with various approaches to addressing community needs and 
that will yield the desired participant pool.

IV. Application Evaluation and Selection for Renewal Programs

    Renewal applications are not required to be evaluated by peer 
reviewers. Program staff and consultants will evaluate renewal 
applications using quarterly reports, site visit reports, the renewal 
applications, the State Commission narrative and information from the 
Management Information System (MIS) system (MIS information could 
include retention rates and diversity of AmeriCorps Members, impact 
data, etc.). Evaluation of renewal applications will be based on 
progress to date (50%) and year two/three plans (50%).

V. State-Funded Program Review Processes

    A. Commission Role and Responsibilities.--As in 1996, each State 
Commission will be responsible for conducting a complete review of its 
program applications and preparing recommendations to the Corporation 
for programs to fund from its formula allotment and under the 
competitive pool. It is up to each State Commission to design its 
review processes and decide how to use the State

[[Page 40826]]

Commissioners--as long as all conflict of interest requirements are 
followed and the process meets Corporation standards as described in 
the State administrative application guidelines. Commissioners can 
participate in the review and recommendation processes and as the 
decision-makers after staff have prepared their recommendations.
    B. Renewal Applications.--States have the option to renew programs 
that have completed only one or two years of operation under funding 
from the Corporation. Those that have received three years of funding 
from the Corporation must apply as new programs. The process for 
evaluating the program's progress and plans for the upcoming year has 
not change from that followed in 1996 and described above in section 
IV.
    C. New Applications--Each state must develop a process that uses 
groups of experts to evaluate the comparable quality of all the 
applications received. The experts can either be outsiders to the 
Commission or members of the staff and board or a combination of these 
individuals. Each state must use the minimum criteria issued by the 
Corporation to evaluate the quality of the applications as described in 
Section III, but may add other criteria determined by the State.
    Once comparable quality has been established, the results of that 
review are analyzed by the commission and recommendations submitted to 
the commission board for decisions. During this process, the commission 
may bring into the selection process additional factors that the state 
Commission Board and staff have approved and previously published in 
the state's application guidelines. Examples of such factors are:
     Geographic diversity
     Program model diversity
     Member diversity
     Preferences and priorities
     Diversity among priorities and issue areas
    D. Corporation Review of Competitive Applications--As mandated by 
the Act, the Corporation is responsible for making decisions concerning 
competitive programs. Therefore, it must conduct a complete quality 
review of the AmeriCorps State Competitive program applications 
submitted by the states. The Corporation will convene panels of outside 
experts to evaluate the quality of these applications. Staff will 
analyze the panel results, then make recommendations for funding, 
taking into consideration other preferences and priorities published in 
the application guidelines or mandated by statute. The Corporation will 
consider factors such as:
     Capacity of the state commission to monitor and oversee 
programs
     Geographic diversity across the country
     Program model diversity
     Member diversity
     Diversity among priorities and issue areas
    The capacity of State Commissions will be evaluated according to 
the criteria published in the Guidelines for State Administrative Fund 
Applications.

VI. AmeriCorps National and AmeriCorps Tribes and Territories Review 
Process

    The National Direct applications will come directly to the 
Corporation and the Corporation will conduct both a peer review (using 
outside experts to determine comparable quality using criteria listed 
above) and a staff analysis and recommendation process identical to the 
process describe above for the States.

    Dated: July 31, 1996.
Deborah Jospin,
Acting General Counsel, Corporation for National and Community Service.
[FR Doc. 96-19874 Filed 8-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6050-28-P-M