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.
Create Efficiencies with Internal Grant Writing Expertise
The next round of DRS is right around the corner, with grants competitions forecasted for September 2021. If your program plans to compete for funding through DRS, you may be determining roles and responsibilities for grant writing and submission of your agency’s proposal.
For agencies that don’t have a clear grant writing process, you might need an external grant writer to facilitate the grant writing process from drafting to application submission. Foundations for Families offers this service, comprehensive grant writing.
DRS Round 10 Grant Competitions Forecasted for September 2021
The tenth round of Designation Renewal System (DRS) grant opportunities are now forecasted on grants.gov. The estimated posting date for Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) is September 8, 2021. Applications are estimated to be due on November 8, 2021.
Explore What Makes DRS Unique and How Your Program Can Prepare
If trends of past DRS competitions hold true, the next round of DRS will likely open for competition this fall. There are not any DRS grants forecasted yet, but you can keep your eye on Grants.gov for updates, and we’ll post any news here. Is your Head Start/Early Head Start program competing in DRS for the first time? You might have some questions about what to expect or how to get ready. You might be more familiar with compiling a baseline or continuation application. While there are...
Competing in DRS in 2021? Here’s What You Might Expect
If your program is expecting to compete in DRS this year, you may feel some uncertainty about what that will look like. When will applications be due? What will the requirements be? How can we prepare? These are a few of the common questions we hear from programs anticipating a DRS competition.
DRS Quarterly Status Update (#4 of 4)
In this fourth of four 2020 quarterly status updates, we reflect on the current status of DRS and look ahead to what may be on the horizon for DRS in 2021. DRS Round 9 applications due January 5. The ninth round of DRS competitions opened in late October, and applications are due January 5. This is the first time we’ve seen DRS competitions extend through the holiday season. And, some grantees that expected to compete were impacted by changes to DRS competition criteria and did not have to...
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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