After the announcement of the Department of Education’s 2022 Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) Grant Competition, the Coalition for Community Schools team sprang into action to advance our advocacy efforts as well as provide direct assistance to our networks to help increase the number of schools applying for the grant.
The Senate has approved $150 million for FSCS (100% over FY22), but we need to continue to work to close the gap between the Senate and the House which has approved $468 million + $10 million for integrated student supports. To do this, we’ve been working with NEA, AFT, and LPI, sending a letter to the Senate and House Leadership, and arranging Hill meetings focused on garnering support from Republican members. Through our combined efforts, we expect an anticipated decision on the budget the October.
On the state policy side, we are currently tracking 34 introduced CS bills including:
- 7 Amendments to Current Statute
- 5 Appropriations
- 1 Authorizing Implementation
- 12 Establishing a Grant Program
- 5 Referencing CS as Allowable Use
- 2 CS Resolutions
- 2 Other
The total funding allocated (requested) from these bills is $2.4 billion, with 5 bills passed for a total of $1,250,000 allocated for FSCS.
To assist schools and districts with their Full Service Community Schools grant application processes, the Coalition hosted a “Ready, Set, Apply!” webinar series, for which over 2,300 people registered. We also provided recordings and resources from those sessions, which were access by 12,600 people. In addition, our team offered coaching sessions to anyone who needed additional assistance. Through these sessions, we provided TA to 24 community-based organizations, 30 schools or districts, and 8 universities or colleges.
We are pleased to have been able to provide meaningful support to so many people working hard to bring Community Schools to their students, and have received some great feedback:
“Thank you for the work you invested in the FSCS webinars. I will share that while still feeling trepidatious, I feel better because of the series. It’s been a while since I have put together a major Federal proposal. The series has rekindled and ignited! Thanks again for accompanying so many of us on this journey.”
”Prepared me to discuss with staff as well as knowing what to expect”
“I am always energized by the Community Schools work and having a chance to hear from others is motivating me to push for a FSCS in my new community (Northwestern Washington; CIS country!)”
“I will utilize today’s information to begin laying the outline for our grant process. We have already been talking about this internally for some time but today helped in the organization of thoughts.”
“Very helpful as we think about our draft application, in advance of the grant release– thank you so much!”
“I will use what I learned to submit the proposal”
“Thank you kindly for providing this series, it is super helpful to those who come from the communities that we serve in to know that we can access funding to further our visions for safe, clean, and supportive community”
“The webinar helped us think about how we will form partnerships with LEAs – I think that is our first step.”
“This webinar helped me come up with some great ways to incorporate what we’re already doing and our schools are already doing data collection wise into our evaluation plan.”
“Really helpful as a way of conceptualizing our approach to the evaluation component and how that links with our broader vision for the grant.”
“Helpful in our approach to budgeting– great specific tactics and advice from the panelists.”
”This is an incredible opportunity & the children in my community need tremendous help especially with the pandemic interruption.”