Corporation for National and Community Service: RSVP Competition

The mission of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. Established in 1971 and now one of the largest senior volunteer programs in the nation, RSVP engages people age 55 and older in a diverse range of volunteer activities. RSVP volunteers tutor children, renovate homes, teach English to immigrants, assist victims of natural disasters, provide independent living services, recruit and manage other volunteers, and serve in their communities in many other ways. Senior Corps RSVP volunteers choose how, where, and how often they want to serve, with commitments ranging from a few hours to a maximum of 40 hours per week. While serving, RSVP volunteers improve their own lives by staying active and civically engaged.

CNCS has the following Focus Areas:

• Disaster Services: Grants will help individuals and communities prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disasters and increase community resiliency. Activities may include assisting in disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and/or mitigation.
• Economic Opportunity: Grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to the improved economic well-being and security of individuals who are economically disadvantaged. Activities may include providing housing-related assistance for economically disadvantaged people, including homeless individuals.
• Education: Grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to improved educational outcomes for people who are economically disadvantaged, especially children, and for children with special and/or exceptional needs. Activities may include providing support and/or facilitating access to services and resources that contribute to school readiness; providing support that improves academic performance; and providing support that improves academic engagement.
• Environmental Stewardship: Grants will provide services that contribute to increased energy and water efficiency, renewable energy use, or improved at-risk ecosystems. Grant activities will support increasing citizen behavioral change leading to increased efficiency, renewable energy use, and ecosystem improvements particularly for economically disadvantaged households and communities. Activities may include improving at-risk acres (land and/or water) in national, state, city or county parks, or other public or tribal lands.
• Healthy Futures: Grants will assist with meeting health needs within communities including: access to care, aging in place, and childhood obesity. Activities may include supporting the ability of adults who are homebound or older adults and individuals with disabilities to live independently and assisting individuals with access to food resources.
• Veterans and Military Families: Grants will positively impact the quality of life of veterans and improve military family strength. Activities may include supporting veterans, veterans’ family members, military service members, and military service members’ families.
• Capacity Building: In addition to the Focus Areas described above, grants will also provide support for volunteer capacity building activities provided by national service participants. These activities are indirect services that enable CNCS-supported organizations to recruit and manage community volunteers.

RSVP grant applications must:

• Propose to serve the entire geographic service area associated with the funding opportunities (see funding opportunity for details)
• Applicants may apply for more than one funding opportunity; however, each opportunity applied for requires a separate application
• Support the minimum number of volunteers listed for the opportunity (see funding opportunity for details)
• Include a budget proposal that utilizes exactly the amount of federal funding associated with the funding opportunity as listed in the funding opportunity
• Meet the National Performance Measure requirements and other criteria established in the funding opportunity
• Minimize, to the extent possible, disruptions to the current volunteers associated with any incumbent RSVP project

Amount: Approximately $21,000,000 is available to make awards ranging from $40,000-$470,000.

Applicants are required to partially match funds through through local, non-federal contributions (cash and/or in-kind). The required local contribution in Year 1 of the grant is at least 10 percent of the total project budget. The required portion is at least 20 percent in Year 2 and at least 30 percent in Year 3 and subsequent years, if the grant is renewed beyond three years.

Eligibility: Indian tribes, institutions of higher education, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and states. In addition to Indian tribes, tribal organizations that are controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by Indian tribes are also eligible to apply.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=318878

Note: Applicants are strongly encouraged to send a Notice of Intent to Apply by Friday, August 30, 2019.

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