[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 203 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56151-56152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28135]


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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE


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

AGENCY: Corporation for National and Community Service.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds to foster an increase in the 
number of AmeriCorps national service participants involved in teaching 
and teacher education.

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SUMMARY: The Corporation for National and Community Service (the 
Corporation) will use approximately $100,000 to award one or two grants 
to organizations that currently operate a national service program 
enrolling AmeriCorps members, for the purpose of increasing the 
connections between AmeriCorps national service and teachers.

DATES: All proposals must be submitted by November 16, 1998. The 
Corporation anticipates announcing its selections under this 
announcement no later than December 1, 1998. The project period is 
negotiable, but is anticipated to end no later than December 31, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Proposals must be submitted to the Corporation at the 
following address: Corporation for National and Community Service, 
Attn: Gary Kowalczyk, 1201 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20525. 
This notice may be requested in an alternative format for the visually 
impaired.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or to obtain 
an application, contact the Corporation for National and Community 
Service, Jeffrey Gale at (202) 606-5000, ext. 280.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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.

[[Page 56152]]

    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