DRS Updates

About DRS Updates
Foundations for Families started this blog in 2011 to provide support for those agencies on the Designation Renewal Systems (DRS) list, and to give you up to date information and analysis about DRS.
DRS Updates provides timely information and context for those agencies in DRS, at risk of being in DRS, or those wishing to compete for the service areas.
Status of DRS Grant Competitions and Resources for Applicants
This fall, there has been a lot of activity related to DRS on grants.gov. Currently, there are grant competitions that are about to close, newly opened competitions, and other grants that are forecasted but have not yet posted. Below is a breakdown of what we know about the status of DRS competitions. We also highlight a few new resources made available by the Office of Head Start (OHS).
Additional DRS NOFO Forecasted – More to Come?
This week, there was new activity on grants.gov as an additional DRS grant opportunity was forecasted. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), however, is on a different timeline than the 30 active NOFOs that were published in October. Here’s what you need to know.
Changes Coming to Grants.gov
Later this month, October 28-31, Grants.gov will be down for maintenance. We are highlighting this outage for two reasons. First, it falls during the DRS application period. Second, following maintenance, Grants.gov will be different. A blog post from Grants.gov describes the planned update as resulting in a “new look and feel” and with a “more intuitive and responsive user experience.”
30 DRS NOFOs Posted and Applications Due December 14
On October 12, 2023, 30 Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) for Designation Renewal System (DRS) grant opportunities posted on grants.gov. Grant applications are due December 14, 2023. In addition to accessing NOFOs on grants.gov, they are downloadable from the Office of Head Start (OHS) NOFO Locator. As of the publishing of this blog post, one Head Start/Early Head Start NOFO and two Early Head Start Expansion and Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) NOFOs remain forecasted,...
Timelines Updated for Many DRS NOFOs and New Grants Forecasted
Over the last day, there has been activity on grants.gov related to forecasted DRS grants. Here’s what you need to know about the timeline and opportunities. Timeline: Some – but not all – DRS grant forecasts have been updated to a new timeline. The new timeline is an estimated NOFO posting date of October 11, 2023, and a due date of December 14, 2023. This is an approximately 9-week turnaround. Additional NOFOs Forecasted: Four additional NOFOs were forecasted, listed below. The service areas...
Grant writing exceeded our expectations.
We also developed internal capacity through the modeling and coaching provided by Foundations for Families. We have an excellent DRS application. Foundations for Families removed the anxiety from the process, using a strengths-based approach. This helped us focus on the positive components of our program.
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