New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism: 2015-2016 AmeriCorps Formula Grant Competition

The State of New Mexico, acting by and through its Department of Workforce Solutions on behalf of the New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism (NMCCV), is funding AmeriCorps programs designed to engage AmeriCorps members in service to meet critical community needs in New Mexico. Funding will be awarded for operating grants to support successful AmeriCorps programs and planning grants to support the design of new AmeriCorps programs in targeted issue areas.

The Corporation of National and Community Service (CNCS) has the following focus areas:

• Disaster Services: Grant activities will provide support to increase the preparedness of individuals for disasters, improve individuals’ readiness to respond, help individuals recover from disasters, and/or help individuals mitigate disasters. Grantees also have the ability to respond to national disasters under CNCS cooperative agreements and FEMA mission assignments.
• 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 economically disadvantaged people; help economically disadvantaged people, including youth identified in My Brother’s Keeper (see Notice Glossary in RFP), to have improved access to services that enhance financial literacy; transition into or remain in safe, healthy, affordable housing; and/or have improved employability leading to increased success in becoming employed.
• Education: Grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that contribute to improved educational outcomes for economically disadvantaged children; improved school readiness for economically disadvantaged young children; improved educational and behavioral outcomes of students in low-achieving elementary, middle, and high schools; and/or support economically disadvantaged students prepare for success in post-secondary educational institutions.
• Environmental Stewardship: Grants will provide support for increased individual behavioral change leading to increased energy efficiency, renewable energy use, and ecosystem improvements particularly for economically disadvantaged households and communities. Grant activities will decrease energy and water consumption; improve at-risk ecosystems; increase behavioral changes that lead directly to decreased energy and water consumption or improved at-risk ecosystems; and/or increase green training opportunities that may lead to decreased energy and water consumption or improved at-risk ecosystems.
• Healthy Futures: Grants will provide support for activities that will improve access to primary and preventative health care for communities served by CNCS-supported programs; increase seniors’ ability to remain in their own homes with the same or improved quality of life for as long as possible; and/or increase physical activity and improve nutrition in youth with the purpose of reducing childhood obesity.
• Veterans and Military Families: Grants will positively impact the quality of life of veterans and improve military family strength; increase the number of veterans, military service members, and their families served by CNCS-supported programs; and/or increase the number of veterans and military family members engaged in service through CNCS-supported programs.

NMCCV is placing priority on funding applications that address the following areas:

• To provide funding for successful, compliant programs that are demonstrating significant impact in supporting service programs that engage a significant number of participants age 55 or older
• To grow AmeriCorps in New Mexico by providing access to AmeriCorps members for small organizations and rural communities through intermediary programs

For operational and planning grants, in accordance with CNCS, NMCCV also seeks to prioritize the investment of national service resources in New Mexico in the following issue areas; see the Notice Glossary in the RFP for definitions:

• Disaster Services: Improving community resiliency through disaster preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation
• Economic Opportunity: Increasing economic opportunities for communities, specifically opportunity youth, both as the population served and as AmeriCorps members
• Education: Improving student academic performance including STEM
• Environment: 21st Century Service Corps
• Veterans and Military Families: Positively impacting the quality of life of veterans and improving military family strength
• Governor and Mayor Initiative
• Programming that supports My Brother’s Keeper
• Multi-focused intermediaries that demonstrate measurable impact and primarily serve communities with limited resources and organizational infrastructure, i.e. rural and other underserved communities

Planning grant applicants must propose an action plan to design a high quality program and community partnerships in one or more of these priority areas.

Award: NMCCV plans on issuing $105,000 in Planning grants. Planning grant awards are a maximum of $35,000. This funding will support the time and effort to design a high quality program and develop a full grant application for submission in fall 2015 to compete at the national level for an AmeriCorps State Competitive operating grant. Grants typically cover a one-year period.

The maximum award for new, continuation, and re-competing applicants is based on the CNCS maximum cost per Member Service Year (MSY) of $13,730 for cost reimbursement grants and $13,430 for fixed amount grants.

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:

• Fixed Amount Grants and Education Award Program Grants: There is no specific match requirement for fixed amount grants but NMCCV does not provide all the funds necessary to operate the program. Organizations must raise the additional revenue required to operate the program. New planning grant applicants are not eligible to apply for fixed amount grants.
• Cost Reimbursement Grants: A first-time successful applicant is required to match at 24 percent for the first three-year funding period. Starting with year four, the match requirement gradually increases every year to 50 percent by year 10.

Eligibility: Public or private nonprofit organizations, including faith- based and other community organizations; institutions of higher education; government entities within states or territories (e.g. cities, counties); labor organizations; partnerships and consortia; and Indian Tribes.

Link: http://www.dws.state.nm.us/nmccv/FundingOpportunities/CurrentOpportunities

Note: The Acknowledgement of Receipt Request for Proposal form is required to be eligible for this procurement and is due on May 15, 2015. An optional pre-proposal conference will be held on May 15, 2015.

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