2024 California Regional Environmental Education Grant Initiative
The California Department of Education is launching the 2024 CREEC Grant Program to support environmental education initiatives in California. Grant recipients will work with educators to enhance students' environmental literacy through a statewide network.
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2024 California Regional Environmental Education Community Grant Request for Applications Application Webinar January 11, 2024 CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Housekeeping Webinar participants have been placed on mute. Place questions in the chat and we will pause for Questions/Answers at the end of the webinar. The PowerPoint slides will be made available on the California Department of Education (CDE) 2024 California Regional Environmental Education Community Grant (CREEC Grant) Request for Applications (RFA) web page. 2
Introductions Shannon Gordon, Education Programs Consultant, Professional Learning Support and Monitoring Office, Professional Learning Support Division Mindi Parsons, Education Administrator, Professional Learning Support and Monitoring Office, Professional Learning Support Division 3
Request for Applications Web Page Refer to the 2024 CREEC Grant RFA web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r12/ee24rfa.asp for the most up-to-date information and timeline. 4
Goals of the Grant Program (1) The CREEC Network Grant applicants will propose to provide services to a specific CREEC Hub in California (CREEC North, CREEC Central, or CREEC South). These three CREEC Hubs are based on the CREEC Network Regions listed on the CDE CREEC Network web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/creecnetwork.asp. The CDE will fund up to three grants to carry out activities from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2027. Each Lead County Office of Education (COE) will receive $120,000 each year of the grant cycle and will be contingent upon state funding and project performance. 5
Goals of the Grant Program (2) Awardees will provide services to educators in regions of California to help connect them to local environmentally focused resources, initiatives, education programs and sites with the goal of increasing students' environmental literacy levels. Awardees will collaborate to support a statewide network known as the CREEC Network. 6
Goals of the Grant Program (3) Grant activities will: Assist educators with integrating academic content and environmental literacy (including outdoor learning) into lessons with students in grades kindergarten through twelve. Provide services to educators in regions of California to help connect them to local environmentally focused resources, initiatives, education programs and sites with the goal of increasing students' environmental literacy levels. 7
Goals of the Grant Program (4) Grant activities will provide services to target audiences in each CREEC Hub. Target audiences will be made up of formal educators and community-based partner educators (CBP educators). Target audiences will include at least 50 percent formal educators. For the purposes of this grant, a formal educator is a teacher, paraprofessional, teacher on special assignment, principal, or other staff employed by a local educational agency (LEA) as defined by California Education Code Section 60603 or Institute of Higher Education (IHE), and a CBP educator is an educator employed by other entities such as a nonprofit organization, local municipality, state agency, or federal education program. 8
Timeline (1) Activity RFA Release Notice of Intent to Apply * Application Workshop Webinar Application due to the CDE Intent to Award posted Last day for Appeals to be received by CDE Final Awards posted Date December 14, 2023 January 9, 2024, by 5 p.m. January 11, 2024 February 13, 2024, by 3 p.m. April 12, 2024 April 29, 2024 May 10, 2024 Program Start Date July 1, 2024 * Note: A Notice of Intent to Apply was not required. COEs can still submit an application if they did not submit a letter of intent. 9
Timeline (2) Timeline is subject to change. Refer to the 2024 CREEC Grant RFA web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r12/ee24rfa.asp for the most up-to-date information and timeline. 10
Eligibility (1) Only a COE is eligible to apply as the Lead COE and serve as the fiscal agent. The proposed project partnership should be a consortium made up of partners contributing services to implement project tasks and activities. If more than one COE is applying, a single COE must be identified as the Lead COE and Fiscal Agent. 11
Eligibility (2) Partners may be LEAs and non-LEAs. Examples of non-LEAs include but are not limited to: IHEs, non-profit organizations, and local government entities. 12
Lead County Office of Education Responsibilities (1) The Lead COE may choose to distribute grant funds to partners; no single partner, other than the Lead COE, will benefit from more than 30 percent of the total grant award. The Lead COE will ensure the performance of any services provided by partners is high quality and consistent with the requirements of this RFA. 13
Lead County Office of Education Responsibilities (2) The Lead COE will ensure that any instructional materials used in this grant are available as open accessible educational resources and will help educators implement current California State Board of Education (SBE)-adopted content standards and frameworks (state standards and frameworks), and the Environmental Principals and Concepts (EP&Cs). The Lead COE will coordinate with their partners and ensure required services are provided to target audiences in each CREEC Region of their CREEC Hub. Required services and activities are described in the RFA and highlighted in subsequent slides. 14
Required Activities (1) The application must propose to have COE staff provide the following services: Work together as a grant team to maintain a list of educators by county, CREEC Region and CREEC Hub for the purposes of inviting appropriate participants to the CREEC Network activities and identifying county and regional leaders. Host and facilitate at least two annual CREEC Hub meetings. These meetings will build capacity of educators in the CREEC Hub and include professional learning activities. 15
Required Activities (2) The application must propose to have COE staff provide the following services: Host and facilitate at least one annual meeting with each CREEC Region within the Hub. These meetings will build capacity of educators in each CREEC Region and include professional learning activities. Work with the CDE to collaborate with other grantees to host and facilitate an annual CREEC Network Statewide Meeting. Ensure formal educators employed by a formal education agency in the region will serve as CREEC Contacts (at least one CREEC Contact listed on each CREEC Region web page). 16
Required Activities (3) The application must propose to have COE staff provide the following services: Submit edits and enter new posts into the CREEC Network website portal for each CREEC Region web page that is in their CREEC Hub to ensure each CREEC Region web page is maintained with current regional information. 17
Required Activities (4) The application must propose to have staff provide the following services: Professional learning activities in conjunction with the previously mentioned required meetings. All professional learning activities will help educators implement current state standards and frameworks and the EP&Cs. 18
Required Activities (5) Per page 4 of the RFA document, an application must propose to have staff provide the following services to each CREEC Region in their CREEC Hub: a. Provide opportunities for the target audience to learn about a variety of lesson materials available that are aligned with current state standards and frameworks, and not promote one supplementary curriculum material over others. b. Assist the target audience with learning about the variety of lesson resources and tools available including but not limited to online maps and real time data so they can insert the resources and tools into their own lessons with students. 19
Required Activities (6) c. Allow CBP educators and formal educators from outdoor education programs operated in partnership with LEAs the opportunity to share their expertise in teaching students in outdoor settings with formal educators. d. Assist formal educators with utilizing school grounds, nearby parks and field trip sites in lessons with students that are aligned with current state standards and frameworks as well as the students classroom lessons. e. Assist the target audience with developing lessons for students that are aligned with current state standards and frameworks as well as the students classroom lessons. 20
Delivery of Services Due to the amount of available funds and large area of each CREEC Hub, all meetings, events, and workshops will need to use online resources and include virtual or hybrid delivery strategies for including virtual participants. 21
Application Procedures Application components and submission procedures are described in section B. Application Submission of the RFA document. Applicants must follow the formatting requirements described in the RFA document. An application must include all of the files listed on the next slide. 22
Application Components 1. A Project Description 2. A Project Staff Table 3. A Project Plan 4. A Proposed Budget Spreadsheet 5. Letters of Commitment and Letters of Support 6. An Application Signature Form 23
Project Description Applications must include a description of the proposed project using the template provided in Appendix 1 of the RFA document. Appendix 1 provides prompts the applicant should address to create a project description. Appendix 1 also illustrates the acceptable format for the project description. 24
Project Staff Table The application must include an uploaded file that is titled Project Staff and includes a table. The RFA document describes the information that must be contained in the project staff table and provides a sample table illustrating the acceptable format. The sample Project Staff table is on page 12 of the RFA document. 25
Project Plan The application must include an uploaded file that is titled Project Plan and includes a table. The RFA document describes the information that must be contained in the project plan table and provides a sample table illustrating the acceptable format. The sample Project Plan table is on page 13 of the RFA document. 26
Budget Spreadsheet Applicants must download a blank copy of the Proposed Budget Spreadsheet from the CREEC Network Grant Program web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r12/ee24rfa.asp. A complete budget will show three years of expenses and provide details in the Budget Narrative tab that explain each cost associated with implementing the proposed activities. 27
Budget Language in the Request for Applications An independent evaluator will not be required as stated on page 14. Please check the CREEC RFA web page frequently. An Errata regarding the independent evaluation of the program may be posted after the webinar. The Budget does not need to include costs for an independent evaluator. 28
Application Submission The complete application, including all required components, must be uploaded to a folder in Box.com. A link to the folder in box.com will be provided to the email address for the Lead COE in advance of the application due date. An email address for the Lead COE must be provided in a Letter of Intent or email message submitted to PLSMO@cde.ca.gov in advance of the application due date. The application must be uploaded by the date listed in the timeline on the CREEC Network Grant Program web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r12/ee24rfa.asp. 29
Review Process Only complete applications uploaded to the folder in box.com will be eligible for consideration and scoring. A panel of reviewers selected for their expertise will read, review, and score each eligible application using the Appendix 2 Application Evaluation Rubric provided in the RFA document. Applicants are encouraged to use the Appendix 2 Application Evaluation Rubric when developing their application. 30
Rubric (1) The Rubric is divided into four sections (A D). Section A awards points for the number of COE partners in the project partnership. Three points will be awarded if the proposed partnership includes three California COEs. Five points if the proposed partnership includes more than three California COEs. 31
Rubric (2) Section B evaluates the proposed project staff responsibilities and the project staffs experience implementing activities similar to the required activities described in the RFA document. The Lead COE and partners should highlight all prior experience participating in the CREEC Network and their experience hosting CREEC Network meetings and professional learning workshops. 32
Rubric (3) Section C evaluates the proposed project activities. Multi-day in-person events without virtual participation opportunities will not be considered cost effective events that consider educators time. Reviewers will be looking for evidence the project partnership plans to implement all of the services and activities described in the RFA document. 33
Rubric (4) Section D evaluates the proposed budget. The budget should include calculations showing how total expenditure amounts for each budget category were developed. Acceptable costs that should be in the proposed budget are described on page 7 and page 14 in the RFA document. 34
Questions? Place all questions in the chat. 35
After Todays Webinar If you have questions, please submit questions to PLSMO@cde.ca.gov. 36
Professional Learning Support and Monitoring Office For additional information about the 2024 CREEC Grant RFA, contact: Program Questions: Shannon Gordon, Education Programs Consultant Fiscal Questions: Alice Ng, Associate Governmental Program Analyst Email: PLSMO@cde.ca.gov 37
