Corporation for National and Community Service: AmeriCorps State and National Indian Tribes Planning Grant Competitions

A. What is the purpose of AmeriCorps Planning Grants?
The purpose of planning grants is to support the development of AmeriCorps programs that will engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based interventions to solve community problems. Planning grant recipients are expected to be better prepared to compete for an AmeriCorps program grant in the following grant cycle. Planning grants may not be used to support AmeriCorps members.

An AmeriCorps member is an individual who is enrolled in an approved national service position and engages in community service. Members may receive a living allowance and other benefits while serving. Upon successful completion of their service members receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award from the National Service Trust.

The purpose of CNCS is to maximize the power of service and volunteering to improve lives in communities across the country. In the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, Congress directed CNCS to focus national service in areas where service can make a major impact, including education, energy conservation, health, economic opportunity for economically vulnerable individuals, increasing service by and for veterans, and providing disaster services.

CNCS is carrying out Congress�s intent by targeting AmeriCorps funding in these six focus areas. In accordance with the Act, through this Notice and its other activities, CNCS seeks to:
� Direct the power of national service to solve a common set of challenges.
� Expand opportunities for all Americans to serve.
� Build the enduring capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to effectively use service and volunteering to solve community problems.
� Embrace innovative solutions that work.

Brief descriptions of the six Focus Areas follow.

Disaster Services:
Grants will help individuals and communities prepare, respond, recover, and mitigate disasters and increase community resiliency. Grant activities will:
� increase the preparedness of individuals,
� increase individuals� readiness to respond,
� help individuals recover from disasters, and
� help individuals mitigate disasters.

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. Grant activities will help economically disadvantaged people to:
� have improved access to services and benefits aimed at contributing to their enhanced financial literacy,
� transition into or remain in safe, healthy, affordable housing, and
� 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 people, especially children. CNCS is particularly interested in program designs that support youth engagement and service-learning as strategies to achieve high educational outcomes. Grant activities will improve:
� school readiness for economically disadvantaged young children,
� educational and behavioral outcomes of students in low-achieving elementary, middle, and high schools, and
� the preparation for and prospects of success in post-secondary education institutions for economically disadvantaged students.

Environmental Stewardship:
Grants will provide direct services that contribute to increased energy and water efficiency, renewable energy use, or improving at-risk ecosystems, and support increased citizen behavioral change leading to increased efficiency, renewable energy use, and ecosystem improvements particularly for economically disadvantaged households and economically disadvantaged 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 improve at-risk ecosystems, and
� increase green training opportunities that may lead to decreased energy and water consumption or improve at-risk ecosystems.

Healthy Futures:
Grants will meet health needs within communities including access to care, aging in place, and addressing childhood obesity. Grant activities will:
� increase seniors� ability to remain in their own homes with the same or improved quality of life for as long as possible,
� increase physical activity and improve nutrition in youth with the purpose of reducing childhood obesity, and
� improve access to primary and preventive health care for communities served by CNCS-supported programs (access to health care).

Veterans and Military Families:
Grants will positively impact the quality of life of veterans and improve military family strength. Grant activities will increase:
� the number of veterans and military service members and their families served by CNCS-supported programs, and
� the number of veterans and military family members engaged in service provision through CNCS-supported programs.

Brief description of Capacity Building follows.

Capacity Building:
In addition to the six Focus Areas described above, grants also will provide support for capacity building activities provided by national service participants. As a general rule, CNCS considers capacity building activities to be indirect services that enable CNCS-supported organizations to provide more, better and sustained direct services. Capacity building activities cannot be solely intended to support the administration or operations of the organization. Examples of capacity building activities include:
� Recruiting and/or managing community volunteers
� Implementing effective volunteer management practices
� Completing community assessments that identify goals and recommendations
� Developing new systems and business processes (technology, performance management, training, etc.) or enhancing existing systems and business processes

Encore Programs
Congress set a goal that 10 percent of AmeriCorps funding should support encore service programs. CNCS seeks to meet that 10 percent target in this competition and encourages programs that plan to engage a significant number of participants age 55 or older to apply.

B. What are the 2012 AmeriCorps planning grant funding priorities?
In the 2012 planning grant competition CNCS expects to invest a significant amount of available funding to programs working in the six Focus Areas of Disaster Services, Education, Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Futures, Opportunity, and Veterans and Military Families.

In particular, CNCS seeks to target its grantmaking in the Education and Disaster Services Focus Areas for greater impact and increase its investment in the Veterans and Military Families Focus Area. To meet these goals, CNCS will give priority consideration to the following, in descending order of preference:

� Tier 1: Applicants proposing to address outcomes identified in the Education, Veterans and Military Families, and Disaster Services Priority Measures.
� Tier 2: Applicants proposing to address outcomes identified in the Economic Opportunity, Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Futures and Capacity Building Priority Measures.
� Tier 3: Applicants proposing to address outcomes identified in the Pilot Measures.
� Tier 4: Applicants proposing other outcomes in the Focus Areas.
� Tier 5: Applicants proposing outcomes that don�t fall within the Focus Areas.

A list of Priority and Pilot Outcomes can be found in Section VIII. below.

Applicants proposing programs that receive priority consideration are not guaranteed funding. CNCS will pursue a balanced portfolio across the Focus Areas, and other considerations outlined below in Section V. B. Furthermore, applicants must demonstrate significant program focus, design and impact to receive priority consideration.