2011 QRIS-PROGRAM QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GRANT
QUESTIONS and ANSWERS #3
For anticipated release on March 23, 2011
QRIS Required Training
1. I am a little confused on where to access the RFP. Is this something that our Club can apply for?
Response: The RFP and related information may be found at: www.wheelock.edu/t4q. All programs in EEC’s mixed delivery system are eligible to participate in this round of QRIS Program Quality Improvement Grants; the mixed delivery system includes center-based programs, Head Start, independent and system-affiliated family child care providers, public and private school preschool programs, and out-of-school time programs.
Lead Agencies
2. What is meant by a Lead Agency? Can any agency act as a Lead for other programs?
Response: For the purposes of the QRIS Program Quality Improvement Grant Request for Proposal, “Lead Agency,” in addition to Public School Districts and Family Child Care Systems, is intended to refer to an established public or private corporate entity with demonstrated experience providing administration and management of grants for more than one child care program which the entity owns or is affiliated with. An agency cannot act as a Lead Agency for other programs unless it is an entity which owns child care programs or it is an entity with which other child care programs have affiliated.
3. School District> will be applying for the QRIS grant funding and the district will apply on behalf of up to ten schools in the district. Does the <our> district need to submit up to 10 standard financial forms that will need to be completed for this RFP or will one suffice for all ten different schools as they are all the same forms?
Response: For each grant the school district applies, a complete and separate application must be submitted that includes original signatures on all required documents. Photocopied or electronic signatures are not acceptable for documents required to be mailed as part of this grant application, including the Commonwealth Terms & Conditions form, W-9 with DUNS number, Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing, and Executive Order 504 Certification. Applications that do not meet this requirement will not be considered for funding.
4. I operate a FCC System with over 50 FCC Educators contracted with our agency, 20 of whom may be interested in participating in the grant process. As a FCC System, does this mean that the RFP is requiring all 20 FCC Educators to attend the training, as well as 1 staff person from the FCC System? Or do we send 2 staff persons, one representing the Educators and one representing the agency?
Response: Each FCC program must send a person to the trainings if it intends to apply for this grant opportunity. If you are applying on behalf of 20 programs or educators, someone from each site must attend the training. Attendance at these sessions is mandatory for all programs/educators requesting funding. Programs/educators that do not directly participate in the trainings will not be eligible to apply for funding. Participation by a representative from a Lead Agency may not be substituted for direct participation by the program/educator in these required trainings.
5. I wonder if my agency, <agency name>, can be a lead agency and apply for QRIS for programs that are affiliated with us and have worked and are working with us through CPC, and now CFCE and EPS? This includes independent family child care providers and small centers who do not have the capacity to apply on their own. Collaboratives can usually apply for all funding for which ESA's (public school systems) are eligible.
Response: No, your agency would not qualify to apply as a Lead Agency under the definition provided in response to Question #2 above.
6. I am representing a lead agency which intends to submit for up to 20 programs. I would like to attend the required training. Can I do this as a representative for all of the programs or must an individual from each program attend?
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #1, #2, #3 and #4 in the first QRIS Questions and Answers document released on February 17th (hereinafter referred to as the “February 17th Q&A”).
7. I am checking on the training requirement for the grant. We are a large agency with School Age, Early Learning (Center-based) and Family Child Care. Does one person from each program option need to attend the training, or one person from the agency?
Response: No, one person from each program option is no longer required to attend the training. This represents a modification from the original requirement. At least one person from each site applying must attend the training. However we strongly recommend that one person from each program type attend the training.
8. I am the Director of Programs at <XXX>. We have several child care centers, school age programs and Family Child Care programs that would like to apply for this grant. I understand that no more than 20 programs/providers can apply for a maximum of $100,000. My question is regarding the training: If we have 20 programs/providers applying, do all of the directors/providers need to attend the 2 day training? Or is it sufficient to have the one or two people from the agency who can share the information with the other directors?
Response: Please see response to Question #7, above.
9. Do we send 1 representative from each of the programs and 1 person from each family child care educator interested or as a Family Child Care System can the Lead Agency be the representative for the family educators? I know of one educator that will not be able to attend both QRIS trainings due to being out of the country. Will there be other trainings?
Response: Yes, each program/educator must attend both 8-hour training sessions. Please refer to the responses to Questions #1, #2, and #3 in the February 17th Q&A. Additional trainings have been planned. Contact directly for more information.
10. In regards to the two day T4Q QRIS training, I am wondering if a Program Administrator is able to attend as the program/educator requesting grant funding for one of his/her sites. For example, if a program administrator oversees and works with the educators at 5 licensed School Age programs, can the program administrator represent one of his/her sites at the training?
Response: Yes, each program/educator must attend both 8-hour training sessions. Please refer to the responses to Questions #4 and #8 in the February 17th Q&A.
11. Are individual Family Child Care Educators required to attend QRIS training if our System is sending a representative?
Response: Yes, each program/educator must attend both 8-hour training sessions. Please refer to Questions 1, 2, and 3 on the 1st Questions and Answers document released Feb 17.
12. I have a question about the Mandatory QRIS grant training, I registered to attend as the admin/staff educator representing all of the <XXX>, which encompasses 9 different programs both center based and after school. There was not a place on the registration form to sign up for all of the programs unless I registered nine different times to state each QRIS ID number and the type of program as well as enrollment numbers, so instead, what I did was register once under the one center based program the largest which can be termed lead agency if I need to when I apply for the grant. Last time around we did not fund the lead agency but did refer to the main program as the lead agency. I hope that this was correct.
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #7 and #12 in the February 17th Q&A.
13. Do individual FCC educators contracting with us need to attend the training if someone from our FCC System attends?
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #1-#3 in the February 17th Q&A.
14. We have 14 sites within our program and we are planning to apply for
each of them. We have two managers that over see 7 of these sites each,
can they attend the trainings on behalf of their 7 seven sites?
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #1-# 4 in the February 17th Q&A.
15. I plan on applying for the QRIS RFR, and submitted my Intent to bid. I am the Program Manager who will be responsible for 4 applications for separate sites. While registering for the T4Q training I could only place one of my programs numbers when registering. Will my attendance at this training cover the attendance requirement for the 4 applications? In the Intent to Bid, I did reflect a Lead Agency that would apply for 4 programs. Representing the Lead Agency, please inform me if I meet the requirement to submit for all sites.
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #7 and #15 in the February 17th Q&A.
16. I have just submitted <XXX>’s intent to bid as a lead agency applying for 20 educators. Do I also need to submit a separate intent to bid on behalf of each of the 20 educators under my umbrella?
Response: Please refer to the response to Question #23 in the February 17th Q&A.
17. If our agency decides not to apply for our FCC system providers, can the
system provider still apply independently?
Response: Please refer to the response to Question #21 in the February 17th Q&A.
18. Last year, <XXX> participated in the QRIS pilot program, applied and received funding to support the purchase of QRIS resources. We applied as the Lead Agency and had 10 programs under our application. In reviewing the Intent to apply, we are interested in knowing whetherwe submit only 1 intent to apply as the Lead Agency, or do we have each program( total of 9 this year)complete the intent to bid separately. If so, do they check Individual Program or Lead Agency?
Response: Please refer to the response to Question #23 in the February 17th Q&A.
19. My question is if our providers are going for the QRIS grant through our system, do they do the intent to bid and self assessment on their own?
Response: Please refer to the response to Question #23 in the February 17th Q&A.
20. If a CCR&R is currently a lead agency for EEC grants, can weapply as a lead agencyon behalf of family child care and center programs with this funding?
Response: Please see the response to Question #2, above. If you need further guidance, please contact EEC.
21. <XXX> administers a Head Start, After School, and Child Development/Infant Toddler Program. <XXX> is the “lead agency” for each of these programs. Does that mean that <XXX> submits a “Lead Agency Grant” and not an “Individual Program Grant”? If <XXX> does submit a “Lead Agency Grant” then each of the aforementioned programs will have an individualized component within the Lead grant?
Response: Please refer to the responses to Questions #21 and #22 in the February 17th Q&A.
Site and Type Specific
22. Our agency operates an out-of-school program in the same building as our group childcare program in <XXX>. Under the new license standards the 2 programs were combined into a single EEC License with 1 program number.When we originally participated in the QRIS pilot, the programs had not yet combined and still have separate licenses and program numbers and we submitted separate applications for the QRIS Pilot. Should we now submit one application in the QRIS Manager and a single RFP?
Response: No, you should not submit just one application. Grants will be site specific (not classroom specific) based on the program types provided in the QRIS Standards, which include:
1. Center/School Based Programs;
2. Family Child Care Programs; and
3. After School and Out-of-School Time Programs.
Each program type that falls within the same site should fill out an application and will be considered as an individual application; specifically, if an After School and Out-of-School Time Program is located at the same site as a Center/School Based Program, each program type should fill out a separate application and will be considered for funding separately.
23. <XXX>’s Child Development Center has 2 licenses (not merged yet); 1 as center based and other as limited school aged, can <XXX> apply for 2 separate grants of $10,000 each for each license that the Child Development Center Program holds?
Response: Yes. Please see the response to Question #22, above.
Required Trainings – Who should attend?
24. QRIS grant applicants are required to attend the T4Q Training. We are a FCC System that is applying on behalf of our contracted FCC Educators. Are we considered to be the “program applying for grant funding, or is each individual FCC Educator considered the “program applying”? We do expect to send a staff representative from the agency, but we are wondering if we must instruct all Educators to attend, as well.
Response: Each of the contracted educators must send one representative to the required trainings if they intend to apply for this grant opportunity. Participation by a representative from a Lead Agency may not be substituted for direct participation by the program/educator in these required trainings. Each program/educator requesting grant funding must participate in both of the required trainings; due to space limitations only one representative from each program/educator may attend and it must be the same person for both training sessions. One representative from the Lead Agency may also attend the training and it must be the same person for both training sessions.