Welcome to Washington! We hope you are enjoying the conference, connecting with old friends and getting a lot out of the sessions.
If you are here because of DRS, we are sorry about that and know that being on the list is not great. As the FOA hasn’t yet dropped, this is an ideal time to get ready. You can save yourself and your staff a lot of stress by preparing for the FOA and confirming or refining your program design and delivery plan right now.
We want to help!
In Round 1, we worked with a current grantee that was writing to keep its current Head Start and Early Head Start programs; a delegate agency interested in becoming the grantee for the portion of the program that it was already serving; a newly formed coalition of agencies and a school system that wanted to replace the current grantee in a large metropolitan city, and a small non-profit delegate in New York City that needed a relevant community assessment to drive its proposal to become a grantee. All of these applications were successful with our help.
In Round 2, we worked with two current Head Start and Early Head Start grantees that responded to the birth to five FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement) format with innovative program designs. We worked with another new community coalition that included several non-profit agencies, and a major metropolitan school district proposing to provide birth to five services in a major US city and select surrounding neighborhoods in an innovative way. All of these applications were successful with our help.
In Round 3, we worked with a large educational service district interested in becoming the new grantee for the existing Early Head Start, Head Start and Migrant/Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) program in their service area. We wrote two proposals: birth to five and MSHS. We wrote a birth to five application for a current Head Start and Early Head Start agency operating a program that spans a large city and several very rural counties. Applicants had 60 days to write their applications in Round 3, compared to the 90 days allowed in Rounds 1 and 2. These awards have not yet been issued.
As I write this, the DRS Round 4 funding opportunity has not been released to the ACF grants forecaster or grants.gov. According to federal staff at January’s NHSA meeting, they should be posted to the forecaster, “shortly”. Yesterday, we heard that they would be released “soon”. We assume that the DRS Round 4 applications will, largely, follow the format of the DRS Rounds 2 and 3 birth to five funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) and the Round 3 timeline with just 60 days between release and due date.
The good news is that everyday between now and the day they are released is a gift because you have time to reflect, consider changes, and prepare.
If you would like to talk about ways we can help you, please call us at 703-599-4329 or email me at [email protected].
Thank you.
Contact Us
If you are in Round 4 DRS and need help with your grant application, or if you are a delegate or otherwise qualified agency considering your options, please be in touch with Foundations of Families.
We have successfully worked with agencies in every round of recompetition to write winning grants, design competitive programs, confirm prudent budgets, and plan for a manageable start-up period. Contact Amy Augenblick, Executive Director at (703) 599-4329 703-599-4329 or [email protected] to learn about how we can help.