2012–2013

Veteran Leader Corps

Request for Proposal (Phase 2)

Deadline: December 7, 2012

On behalf Points of Light and the Community Blueprint Advisory Group, I invite you to apply to serve as a host site for the Veteran Leader Corps.The Veteran Leader Corps is a new AmeriCorps program to help recent conflict veterans reintegrate into communities, gain workforce skills and find jobs. In October 2012, the founding class of 30 Points of Light Volunteer Leader Corps (POLVLC) members started their service in veteran serving organizations in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and the Metro Washington DC area. Points of Light seeks high quality placements for an additional 45 POLVLC members to serve 11 month terms starting in March 2013. Together, these two classes of POLVLC members will help 8,000 veterans gain workforce skills and volunteer opportunities for 16,000 veterans in their communities.

The Points of Light Veterans Leader Corpssupports the Community Blueprint. The Community Blueprint brings together community leaders, individuals, government agencies and nonprofits to bring collaborative, integrated solutions to addressing the most common challenges facing veterans and military families, from unemployment to education to behavioral health, housing, and reintegration. The Community Blueprint is the only national, scalable approach developed by a coalition of over 55 veteran and military-serving organizations nonprofits and government agencies focused on serving our nation’s military men and women and their families. The Veteran Leader Corps are the “boots on the ground” in communities across the country implementing real solutions that engage and lift up veterans.

Points of Light responsibilities include:

  • Manage payroll and benefits for POLVLC members, including providing most of the funding for the program.
  • Support host sites with program implementation and technical assistance as needed with work readiness or civic engagement elements of the program.
  • Manage national partnerships with funders and federal agencies, including reporting to Congress on the program’s impact.
  • Cover costs of over $11,000 per AmeriCorps member

Host site responsibilities include:

  • Provide high quality service opportunities and supervision to POLVLC members.
  • Lead local collaborations with other veteran serving organizations.
  • Financial contribution of at least $3,000 to Points of Light to cover AmeriCorps members stipend, health insurance, FICA and workers Compensation as well as supervision and other basic support costs.
  • Provide data collection and reporting on the program.

Applicants are encouraged to apply with partners to ensure both the workforce development and volunteer generation elements of the program will be successful. I encourage you to contact us if you need assistance with securing these partnerships. Please contact Tray Deadwyler for clarification or more information.

Thank you very much for your commitment to helping veterans reintegrate and contribute to your community.

Sincerely,

Mike Monroe

Vice President, Points of Light, Military Initiatives

TIMELINE

TIMELINE
Veteran Leader Corps Technical Assistance Calls
November 7at 3:00pm ET
November 14at 3:00pm ET
November 16th at 3:00pm ET / Conference Call Number: 1-888-619-1583
Passcode: 709275
Host Site Applications Final Due Date / December 7, 2012
Selection Announcements / December 19, 2012
Host Site Call / December 21, 2012
Recruitment Begins / January 3. 2013
AmeriCorps Member Start Date / March 25, 2013

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

The National office will not accept applications that are submitted via facsimile or submissions that arrive after the deadlines as outlined below.

  • Proposals should be submitted through email as a Word Document, with the application cover pages including signature sent as a signed PDF.
  • Please submit the following for a complete packet:
  • Application
  • Signature page
  • Performance measures
  • Position Description for each Corps Member position requested
  • Host Site/ Service Site job descriptions of all direct supervisors that indicate member supervision responsibilities
  • Copies of MOU/ agreements/ commitment letters from service sites in which the members will serve the majority of their term (if applicable)
  • Copy of the payroll schedule for operating site issuing living allowances and member benefits
  • Please send your proposal to by 8 pm Eastern Time on December 7, 2012

1

2012–2013

Veteran Leader Corps

Request for Proposal (Phase 2)

Deadline: December 7, 2012

NOTE: For further programmatic explanation and definitions please see page 17 of this document.

APPLICATION COVER SHEET

Organization Name / Address (City, State, Zip Code)
Contact Person / Contact Title
Contact Phone / Contact Email

Application Eligibility Requirements

Please check to acknowledge you have confirmed the status of these criteria:

If organization is a HandsOn Network Affiliate, they are in good standing (current on dues and associated membership standards based on associated legacy organization standards) with the National Office at the time of the application AND can remain a member is good standing for the length of this grant award. This includes being up to date with all payments for HandsOn Connect.

Note: It is not a requirement to be a HandsOn Network affiliate to participate in this program.

Organization has reviewed and will adhere to the Award Recipient Expectations & Requirements section.

Organizationis an independent 501(c)(3); Has a fiscal agent partnership with 501(c)(3) or is a program internal to another 501(c)(3) or local, county, state government or institution of higher education

Organization is not debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, excluded or disqualified under the nonprocurement common rule, or otherwise declared ineligible from receiving federal contracts, subcontracts, assistance and/or benefits (

I understand that all proposed POLVLC member positions must contribute to the program’s performance measures and must conform to AmeriCorps regulations. Note:The number of member slots is not guaranteed and is contingent upon the approval of applications reviewed by Points of Light staff. Additionally, all subgrantee resource allocations are subject to resource availability and grant award from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Printed Name of CEO/Executive Director / Signature of CEO/Executive Director and Date

Corps Member Request

Points of Light will provide the AmeriCorps Members’ living allowance, manage enrolling members in healthcare coverage that meets Corporation for National and Community standards and will pay the appropriate FICA taxes. Host Sites are required to provide a share of these member support costs.

Please refer to the table below to identify the cost share per member. Host Sites will be invoiced for these costs on a quarterly basis.

# Members
1 / Living Allowance
$12,100 / Member Healthcare
$1,980 / FICA Taxes
$925.65 / Total
$15,005.65
Points of Light Cost Share / # Members
1 / $10,100 / $990 / $772.65 / Cost Share per Member
$11,862.65
Host Site Cost Share / # Members
1 / $2,000 / $990 / $153 / Cost Share per Member
$3,143

Number of Corps Members requested: ______

Program Timeline: March25, 2013 - January 31, 2014

Complete National Service History

Year Hosted / Program Type (VISTA, National Direct, State) / Position Title and Focus / Number of Members / Sponsoring Organization (HON, CNCS, Other(provide name)) / Recruitment and Retention Rates
Example: 2012 / AmeriCorps VISTA / Community Blueprint Project Development / 1 / HandsOn Jacksonville / 100%
Summary of Accomplishments (National Service)
If you indicated above that your organization has hosted AmeriCorps programming, please provide a brief summary of accomplishments.
SECTION A: Rationale and Approach

Note: Section A and C of the application can be no more than 10 pages in length, single-spaced with a minimum of 11 pt font. Please try to keep your responses concise and direct.

  1. ORGANIZATION (One page limit – single spaced)
  • Please provide a brief description of your organization, including its mission and purpose, target population, membership, programs, etc. (i.e. your “boilerplate”).
  • Summarize your organization’s existing scope of programs and services.
  • Describe how your organization currently uses volunteers to accomplish its work.
  • Describe your organization’s experience in both servingVeterans and engaging Veterans in service.
  1. COMMUNITY NEED (One page limit – single spaced)

Several factors will be considered in evaluating the unmet needs of a community and the applicant’s ability to respond to that need. Where possible, please providedata, including the number of veterans living in the community and the proportion of veterans that are under or unemployed compared to the unemployment rate overall in the community. In addition, we consider the presence or absenceof resources and services to support veterans’ employment to be critical to assess unmet community need.

Note: Include data specific to veterans as well as the community at large in your geographic service area and include citations for all applicable data and statistics.

a)Describe the specific, localveteran employment and other needs your project(s) will impact and how you will address these needsthrough the engagement of AmeriCorps Members.

b)Describe the targetedveteran community that your AmeriCorps members will serve and engage. Please be specific in clarifying your definition of community (e.g. geographic boundaries; neighborhood; or identity-centered community, etc.)

c)Describe the extent to which employment resources and services are available to veterans in your community. In addition, describe the extent to which veterans are aware of and leveraging employment resourcesand services in the community.

d)Please describe the need for engaging veterans in service in your local community as well as the need for engaging others in service to veterans.

  1. Strategies (Four page limit – single spaced)

Please describe how you will employ each of the following key strategies, including details about specific AmeriCorps member activities within each area:

Strategy 1:Administer workforce readiness tools to assess veterans’ aptitude and expertise for the civilian workforce; determine qualifications for designated workforce opportunities; provide workforce readiness skill development programs resulting in certification of necessary skill sets and match veterans with participating businesses to secure employment.

a) Provide a description of activities to address Strategy 1:

Strategy 2: Provide opportunities for Veterans to participate in as well as lead volunteer efforts that address critical community needs, especially the needs of other veterans.

b) Provide a description of activities to address Strategy 2:

Strategy 3: Develop veteran-serving volunteer projects that focus particularly on job readiness. This could include but is not limited to workforce mentoring by a successfully employed or self-employed veteran and/or a professional for the participating veteran that includes coaching and support both before and during employment. Additional veteran-serving volunteer projects should be guided by the critical issue areas defined within the Blueprint (Education, health, reintegration, family strength, financial, legal, and housing).

e)Provide a description of activities to address Strategy 3:

f)Describe how these efforts will help your organization and community serve more veterans.

g)Describe how you will engage veterans as volunteers.

h)Describe how you will engage community volunteers (to include military families) to serve alongside veterans.

i)Describe how you will engage your team of AmeriCorps members to work together to successfully implement each of the proposed strategies.

j)Describe how will these activities differ from those of staff?Note: CNCS prohibits AmeriCorps members displacing staff positions at a host site.

k)PARTNERSHIP(One page limit single spaced)

To be eligible for sub-grants in this program, community organizations must apply for AmeriCorps members as a “collaborative”. At least two organizations, including at least one veteran serving organization, must be involved and must demonstrate the willingness to work together to increase veteran employment and community engagement inside their community. They must submit a letter of support ensuring that you have the support of other organizations for this work. It is not a requirement that all sites in this collaborative host AmeriCorps members although Points of Light highly encourages such a situation. The intent for this requirement is to encourage you to begin conversations around partnerships and/or to solidify a current partnership that exists in your community in order to optimize this federal and private investment and better meet the needs of veterans.

a)Describe to what extent employment resources and services to support veterans and families of those active service are coordinated within the community. If there is an intentional plan for organizations currently serving veterans, provide a description of this plan addressing how these organizations intend tocollaborate to leverage existing resources and create a "network of employment services" to support veterans.

b)Describe partners you will engage locally, including details on the role of specific partnersto accomplish each of the fourprogram components listed below.

  • Member Recruitment
  • Member and Volunteer Training
  • Volunteer Engagement(Veterans, Military Families, and Community volunteers)
  • Project Development

c)How will your program build on (without duplicating), or reflect collaboration with, other national and community service programs supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the State Commission in your area (e.g. AmeriCorps or Senior Corps)?

  1. MEMBER SUPPORT- Recruitment, Training and Supervision (Two page limit – single spaced)

RECRUITMENT

To improve our approach to recruitment and selection of members for this program we intend to recruit veterans and members of military families to fill 50% of our AmeriCorps member assignments.

a)Please describe your recruitment strategy for filling all awarded slots. Describe specific tactics for recruiting veterans and members of military families, specifically describing what portion of the total slots requested you intend to fill with veterans and members of military families.

MEMBER TRAINING

All Veteran Leader Corps Host Sites will be required to provide ongoing member development opportunities and training to their AmeriCorps members. Host sites are required to provide:

  • On-site orientation to the host site and partner organizations,and community resources
  • Ongoing position specific training
  • Program evaluation training for data collection, veteran participant records management, and reporting in compliance with Points of Light requirements
  • Member development and support for their goals after AmeriCorps service
  • Support for members to attend Points of Light National Service Member Conference
  • Support for members to attend Points of Light and National Service provided webinars, conference calls and other training opportunities.

Describe your plan to provide orientation, position specific training, we well as ongoing training to your members. Please include specific topics to be reviewed.

MEMBER SUPERVISION

a)Please outline your plans for member supervision, including identified staff members who will act as supervisors. If day-to-day activities will be supervised by staff at another service site, please indicate the operation site role in support and supervision. (Please include copies of supervisors’ job descriptions and MOU with service site with application submission if applicable.)

b)Explain your plan for regular member meetings to monitor performance goals, compliance and morale.

c)What member support will you offer to ensure that your members complete their term of service? Include a description of how you will assess member satisfaction throughout the service term, and a description of how you will recognize Corps Members for their accomplishments and service.

SECTION B: Position Description

I.POSITION DESCRIPTIONS

a)Please attach a copy of the full member position descriptions to this application that clearly defines the member role and responsibilities, supervision, schedule, etc.

b) Below is the abbreviated position description template for the My AmeriCorps Portal. Please complete this abbreviated position description in the manner you prefer it to be posted in the national recruitment system.

POSITION DESCRIPTION TEMPLATE
Program Name
Position Title
Host Site Contact Name
Contact Number
Contact Address
Contact Email
Education Level
Language
Age Requirement / 18
Give a brief (2 line) description of the program (200 characters or less)
Enter a brief program description (2000 characters or less)
Member Activities (1000 characters or less)
Vulnerable populations served
SECTION C: Performance Measures
  1. ALL APPLICANTS - PERFORMANCE MEASURES (One page limit – single spaced)

Points of Light will provide tools and guidelines for collection and assessment of data to monitor program implementation and performance. At minimum, host sites will be responsible to document veteran engagement in service projects, leadership and volunteer leadership training, mentoring opportunities and detailed data on veterans participation in job readiness services including the number of days/hours and descriptions of job readiness services completed by each veteran engaged.

In addition, host sites will be required to collect data that documents the number of veterans and military families that are beneficiaries of services provided through veteran and community volunteer projects as well as descriptions of the types of benefits received. Furthermore, host sites and members must facilitate administering surveys to program participants to measure outcomes associated with job readiness and community engagement. Each host site is responsible for meeting established performance measures by compiling with outlined procedures designated by the Points of Light evaluation team. Please note: Performance measures may be subject to slight modification prior to final selection.

OVERALL NATIONAL PROGRAMMATIC OUTPUTS

Note: This is the overall programmatic goals for all 75 AmeriCorps members.

a.)Total Number of Veterans (unique) to be engaged as volunteers or Volunteer Leaders: 16,000

b.)Total Number of Veterans (unique) to receive job readiness support: 8,000

OVERALL PROGRAMMATIC OUTCOMES

a.)80% of Veterans servings as Volunteer Leaders or participating in service projects indicate feeling more engaged and more connected to their communities.

b.)80% of Veterans receiving job readiness assistance demonstrate an increase in job readiness.