OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION
NOTICE OF FUNDING AVAILABILITY (NOFA)
FISCAL YEAR 2018
Improving School Climate/Safe School Certification Grant
Announcement Date: December 1, 2017
Pre-Application Period: December 1-December 15, 2017
Request for Applications (RFA) Release Date: December 18, 2017
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) – Division of Health and Wellness, is soliciting applications for the Improving School Climate in DC (ISC-DC) Grant pursuant to the National Institute for Justice’s Improving School Safety in the District of Columbia: Evaluating the Safe School Certification Program.The purpose of this grant is to support schools’ efforts to complete the remaining components of the Safe School Certification Process and implement evidence based programs that meet the requirements of “evidence of promise” as defined by the U.S. Department of Education.
Eligibility:OSSE will accept applications only from the participating Local Educational Agencies and Public Charter Schools with eligible campuses included in the ISC-DCproject. OSSE will make this grant available through a competitive process. Only those participating schools are eligible to apply once they have successfully passed Checkpoint 1 of the Safe School Certification framework, as determined by the external Certification Advisor Board. In order to complete Checkpoint 1, schools must submit a workbook detailing if and how they have accomplished the set benchmarks of the Safe School Certification rubric.
Pre-Application Question Period: To ensure an equal opportunity for all applicants, OSSE requests that applicants submit questions regarding the Improving School Climate grant electronically to DeMarcus Jenkins, fromDecember 1 to December 15, 2017at 4:30 p.m. Questions submitted after this deadline date will not receive responses. Responses to questions will be published on the OSSE webpage on December 21,2017.
Award Period: The grant period begins upon date of award notification and ends on September 30 of the following year.
Available Funding for Award: The total funding available for this award period is $480,000. Eligible schoolsmay apply for an award amount of up to $15,000 each.
An external review panelwill be convened to review, score, and rank each application. The review panel will be composed of neutral, qualified, professional individuals selected for their expertise, knowledge or related experiences.The application will be scored against a rubric and application will have multiple reviewers to ensure accurate scoring. Upon completion of its review, the panel shall make recommendations for awards based on the scoring rubric.
For additional information regarding this grant competition, please contact:
DeMarcus Jenkins
Education Research Analyst
Division of Health and Wellness
Office of the State Superintendent of Education
(202) 322-1399 (c)
The RFA and application will be released December 18, 2017 at 12pm through OSSE’s Enterprise Grants Management System. The online system and training videos may be accessed by visiting
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