San Mateo County Safe Routes to School Coordinator, Daina Lujan, provides an orientation to the 2013-2014 Call for Projects and facilitates the development of collaboration norms.
2. Agenda
• Call for Grant Applications
– 25 Minutes
• Collaboration
– 30 Minutes
• IWTSD Debrief and Event Planning
– 35 Minutes
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3. Call For Grant Applications
• Timeline
• Key Changes
– Funding
– Approvable Expenditures
– Competitive Award
– Accepting an Award
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4. Timeline
March 15, 2013
Proposals Due
March 29 – April 5, 2013
Review Proposals
April 12, 2013
Regarding
Applicants Notified
Awards
April 17, 2013
June 13, 2013
www.smcoe.k1
2.ca.us
Award Letters Mailed
Second Call for Additional
Projects (if funds remain after
awarding grants; awarded on a
first come, first served basis)
Final Notification to all
Applicants regarding Award
Status
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8. Accepting an Award
• Formal Notification
• Grant Requirements
– Attend Program Orientation and Committee
Meetings
– Activity and Budget Reports
– Student Travel and Parent Survey Data
– One County-wide Event
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10. Collaborating
• Group Norms
– Write down three things that either:
• What you bring to a partnership, or
• You value in a partner, or
• A combination of the options
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11. Collaborating
• Partners
– Partner’s Name
– District or Agency
– Why they got involved with Safe Routes
– Their primary mode of transportation for
traveling to school when they were a child
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12. IWTSD and Event Planning
• Review Highlights
• Share
– What you Did
– Things to Try
– How to Prepare
• Note
– Asks
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14. Important Dates
2012-2013 Meetings
April 4 at 10 am
February 11, 2013: Earth Day Workshop at 10 am and 4 pm
February 13, 2013: Golden Sneaker Contest Workshop at
10 am
March 12, 2013: Bike Day Workshop at 10 am and 4 pm
June 30, 2013: All Cycle I SR2S funds must be expended
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15. Feedback
• What information was most useful to you?
• Please share your thoughts on the partnered
activities.
• Note the best days/times for future meetings.
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Time: 1 MinuteIntent: To provide an orientation to the Safe Routes to School ProgramAudience: Parents, caregivers, school volunteersAdditional Resources Additional “Why SR2S?” materials can be downloaded from www.smcoe.k12.ca.us/sr2s under Resources. Permission slips and volunteer sign up forms can be downloaded from www.smcoe.k12.ca.us/sr2s under Key Forms. Material to cover with this slide:Welcome, Introductions
Time: 1 MinuteIntent: To highlight what I will cover regarding the new applicationMaterial to cover with this slide:Today, I purposefully kept the agenda very slim because I want to make sure that you all have more than a moment to do some event planning for your next Safe Routes Event
Time: 1 MinuteIntent: To highlight the call for grant applicationsResources: ApplicationMaterial to cover with this slide: For people who had the opportunity to take a peek at the new application, you may have noticed a few changes. The most pertinent of the changes I will be covering today.For your reference, a copy of the application has been included in your packet. As I cover the key changes, you may want to reference your application. Before I jump into the application, it looks more detailed, but at the heart, it asks for the same things as before-need/issues, a plan for addressing the needs and issues, and a plan for the budget.
Time: 2 minutesIntent: To provide an overview the new grant cycleMaterial to cover with this slide:March 15, 2013 Proposal DueMarch 29 – April 5, 2013 Review ProposalsApril 12, 2013 Applicants Notified Regarding Awards (e-mail)April 17, 2013 Award Letters Mailed Second Call for Additional Projects (if funds remain after awarding grants; awarded on a first come, first served basis)June 13, 2013 Final Notification to all Applicants regarding Award Status
Time: 5 minutesIntent: To provide an explanation of the environmental benefits of Safe Routes to School.Resources: Vendor ListMaterial to cover with this slide:As with many things, there is greater interest than the funds can support. To continue providing support the large number of schools presently participating and open up the possibility to support schools and districts that have expressed interest in getting involved, we have decreased award amounts to $10,000 per site with a maximum award of $100,000 per district. We anticipate retaining this level of funding through the next three year cycle.We will be fronting the money to grant award recipients in thirds. This will mean that activity reports will need more detail and we’ll need budget reports from business offices, but it will allow schools and districts greater flexibility in selecting where to get materials and will have far more control in overseeing how well vendors carry out work as specified in contracts.To help decide how to allocate the budget, a vendor list has been included. We will assign engineering firms to prevent the federal dollars from being concentrated with one firm, but education firms and where to get resources will be decided by schools and districts. This is a list of vendors that we used in the past.If it turns out that there are more qualified applicants than funds available, then we are reserving the right to partially fund projects. In the event that we partially fund a grant project, we will contact the recipients and ask if they still want the grant and what changes they would like to make to the project in light of the funding change.
Time:3 minutesIntent: To provide the audience with an understand of why the program is important and who benefits from participationResources: Approvable/Not Approvable Lists, Page 4 of 5 of applicationMaterial to cover with this slide:New things that can apply for. Can apply for both infrastructure and non-infrastructure, but must submit separate applications for different project types, so if applying for infrastructure and non infrastructure, need to submit two applications). Several small capital infrastructure projects can be combined if they are related.Can also add clerical if desired for business office to develop and print budget reports, create purchase orders, etc.If you are submitting multiple applications, the total cannot exceed $10,000 per school or $100,000 per district. Individual schools can apply, but need the approval of the superintendent.
Time: 3 MinutesIntent: To provide an explanation how applications will be evaluated.Resources: Evaluation CriteriaMaterial to cover with this slide: A copy of the evaluation criteria is in your packet. A snippet of the handout is featured on the slide.Projects will be judged on issues and challenges, the experience with project implementation, the implementation plan and the sustainability of the plan, and the budget. The most weight is placed on past issues and challenges, the effectiveness of the plan, and the sustainability of the plan. All applications will be ranked and scored.
Time: 3 MinutesIntent: To provide an explanation of how grantees will be notifiedMaterial to cover with this slide:The first round of notifications will be sent out via e-mail on April 12 and a formal letter will be mailed to the recipient on April 17. The letter will confirm that the grantee wants the funds and is committing to implementing the project. The grantee can at this time decline to accept the money and indicate this in writing. If this is the case, the funds will be awarded to the the “runners-up.”We anticipate that this process of confirming who wants funds will take a few weeks, so final notifications about who was not awarded a grant will not go out until June 13.
Time: 5 MinutesIntent: To answer questionsMaterial to cover with this slide:
Time:12 MinutesIntent: To establish a collaboration agreementMaterial to cover with this slide:In the interest of developing a sustainable program, I would like to encourage more collaboration between coordinators. Being a coordinator, like teaching can be isolating unless who have others to bounce ideas off of. While, I want to support everyone as they develop their programs and will continue to assume a variety of roles from bike rodeo station leader to leading volunteer trainings, putting me in the position of clearing house for everything one, isn’t very trusting on my part, and two, can spread me so thin that I’m not able to support everyone as well as I should or could be.But before I just throw everyone together, I think it’s important that we share some agreements about how to work together because group work and collaboration all sound great until you’re the poor kid doing a project for a whole group or you’re working with someone who asks all kinds of personal questions that you’re not comfortable answering.So, we’re going to jot these three things down and then share with neighbors. I’ll walk around and listen in to start gathering ideas. After five minutes of conversation, I’ll share what I recorded and people can add and modify the list as appropriate.So, in the next 2 minutes, write down these three things. When you’re done writing, start chatting with your table.TO DO: Make notes and chart
Time: 15 MinutesIntent: Opportunity to practice normsMaterial to cover with this slide: Get into partnersThe assigned seating was purposeful to put you into groups of two and threes. I grouped people based on the Safe Routes challenges they are working with and/or the demographic of student they are serving. My thinking was that this would provide a common ground for conversations, but I’m open to feedback and if you’d like me to reconsider the grouping structure, let me know on the feedback form.So, over the next 5 minutes, you’ll have a conversation with your partner and get their name, where they work, why they are involved with Safe Routes, and how they traveled to school when they were younger. After five minutes of conversation, you’ll introduce each other.5 minutes partner share10 Minutes to share out
Time: 20 minutesIntent: To provide people with the opportunity to digest IWTSD and consider other possibilitiesResources: IWTSD Summary and Planning SheetMaterial to cover with this slide:At the back of your packet, you’ll find two resources to help with the next part of this meetingA summary of IWTSD as provided by coordinators A note sheet that may be of help with taking notes as you share what you did, things you like to try and have a conversation about what steps you need to take to make your plans happenOn the horizon, Earth Day: April 22 and Bike to School Day (which can include promoting walking-the focus is green transportation) on May 8Also note-Asks…what can the County Office of Ed do to support your next eventsAfter 15 minutes of meeting time, we’ll reconvene and one rep from each group will share out.
Time: 5 minutesIntent: To provide an opportunity for partners to meet, chat and begin planningMaterial to cover with this slide: