FY2022: Coordinated Relief for School Health — COVID Supplement (CRSH COVID)

Fund Code: 651

Purpose:

The purpose of this federally funded competitive grant is to support participating districts to employ CDC recommended COVID-19 prevention strategies and to provide COVID relief to meet the needs of their communities. This one-year funding opportunity is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) 1801 Healthy Schools Supplement.

This supplemental funding will support grantees to leverage existing funding for CDC mitigation strategies and use the racial justice lens employed by the Department of Public Health's (DPH) COVID Community Impact Survey (CCIS) and other formal family engagement frameworks to engage identified priority populations in determining which CDC mitigation strategies to fund to advance health equity and academic achievement in the Vaccine Equity Communities (VEC) newly identified by the CCIS.

Priorities:

The main priority for this grant is to support grantees to implement new or leverage existing COVID-19 mitigation strategies and activities to produce measurable success. Priority strategies include:

• providing social, emotional, and mental health programs, curricula, and interventions for students, teachers, and staff;
• improving vaccine confidence across the school community utilizing the CDC's 'Vaccinate with Confidence' (Strategy) : (1) build trust in the vaccine, the vaccinator, and the health system; (2) empower healthcare personnel; and (3) engage communities and individuals, or locally developed strategies to prioritize multilingual and/or culturally responsive COVID-19 outreach and prevention strategies to VEC communities; and
• implementing CDC School-Based Guidance for COVID-19 Mitigation strategies, including COVID-19 testing and vaccination via mobile vaccine clinics to improve testing and vaccine rates.

Competitive priority will be given to applicants that are:

• leveraging existing COVID-19 Relief funding from existing Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and/or Department of Public Health (DPH) coordinated school health and/or student and family support grants and programs;
• leveraging existing linkages to community-based organizations to select which DPH-funded Vaccine Equity Initiatives and priority populations to center in COVID-19 Relief efforts.
• leveraging previously existing action and assessment plans that include implementation of one or more of the following formal family engagement strategies (within a "SMART" timebound action plan) by the end of school year 2022 (SY2022):
  • Participating in a Family Institute for School Success cohort
  • Using the Family School Community Partnership Fundamentals
  • Implementing strategies within the Strengthening Partnerships: A Framework for Prenatal through Young Adulthood Family Engagement in Massachusetts ; and/or other comparably formal strategies to engage youth and families from priority populations in CDC-mitigation strategy selection, adaptation or implementation; program planning and design; and/or monitoring and evaluation.
  • Providing a Family Engagement/ Synergy Specialist onsite.
• school districts identified or with schools identified as requiring broad/ comprehensive or targeted/focused support (in 2019), or as chronically underperforming by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education;
• serving higher percentages of English Learners, students with disabilities, and students who are Economically Disadvantaged; and/or
• receiving DPH School Based Health Centers (SBHC) Program Support, or DPH SBHC Funding or other source of support to integrate Community Health Workers for chronic disease prevention in schools.

Please see the Additional Information section below for required activities and available supports and resources.

Eligibility:

Eligible applicants include:

• Public school districts that are participating in the Healthy Schools Program (HSP) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022: Brockton, Fitchburg, Holyoke, and Salem.

• Public school districts (including charter schools) located in 'Vaccine Equity Communities' (VEC): Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lawrence, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Methuen, New Bedford, Randolph, Revere, Springfield, and Worcester.

• Any of the following entities that are partnering with or directly serving eligible district applicants from Healthy Schools Programs and/or Vaccine Equity Communities listed above: Educational collaboratives; Tribal Education Agencies; and DPH- funded Tribal/Indigenous Peoples Serving Organizations/Entities (T/IPSO).

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 93.981

Funding:

A total of approximately $300,000 is available in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. This is one-time funding.

Each eligible district may apply for up to $40,000 to support district and school-based grant activities.

DESE reserves the right to alter the award to each funded district.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Funds may be used for teacher stipends, consultants, substitutes, materials and other necessary expenditures to support districts and schools to implement the identified grant priorities and required activities (below), including consultants to help facilitate district- and school-level implementation.

Applicants are encouraged, if applicable, to coordinate activities funded under this grant with other COVID-19 activities to ensure alignment and reduce duplication of effort.

Applicants are encouraged to allocate at least 20% of budget to successful monitoring and evaluating of CDC mitigation strategies, chosen with the input of school health communities, informed by implementation of Strengthening Partnerships: Prenatal to Young Adult Family Engagement Framework and/or other formal family engagement or racial justice/moving upstream/diversity, equity and inclusion focused efforts.

Applicants are encouraged to consider allocating funds to ensure all staff interested in attending professional development on YMHFA can attend. Similarly, those interested in accessing available training and TA on formal family engagement strategies, including but not limited to using the Strengthening Partnerships (Family Engagement Framework) and/or funding a part-time Family Engagement/Synergy Specialist (if one does not currently exist) may add funding towards implementation support available from Healthy Schools Program technical assistance vendor, Pinnacle Partnerships, upon award.)

Project Duration:

Upon approval* – 06/29/2022

Please note: This is a one-time award to supplement existing coordinated school health and COVID-19 Relief funding.

*Awards will likely be made around mid-November.

Program Unit:

Office of Student and Family Support

Contact:

Lenore Maniaci

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6321

Date Due:

Friday, November 19, 2021

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m.

Required Forms:

• Part I — General — Program Unit Signature Page — (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants)

• Part II — Budget

• Part III — Required Program Information

• Grant Assurances — (Complete with initials and signature of superintendent, grant team leads, and business official/grants management contact, as applicable)

Additional Information:

Required Activities: Provide contact information for at least 2 grant team leads, including a district coordinator, school liaison and business official/grants management contact, as applicable, to maintain communication with the Department, manage grant funding and meet reporting requirements to be determined by the CDC.

Questions and Answers: The Department will hold a Question and Answers (Q and A) Sessions via online webinar currently scheduled for November 9^th at 8am and 3:30pm to provide an overview of the RFP and timeline, etc. and answer questions. Please use the Q and A Online Registration Form to submit questions and register. During the Q and A session, the Department will review the Request for Proposals, competitive eligibility criteria, grant budget and timeline, additional resources provided to support grantees in submitting applications, and share answers to applicants' previously submitted questions previously emailed by November 3^rd at 3pm, 2021 to achievement@mass.gov with the subject line "SHARE CRSH COVID grant question". Due to the competitive nature of this grant, questions and responses will be shared during the session(s) so that all potential applicants have the opportunity to hear the information.

Additional Encouraged Activities and Available Resources:

• Accessing the Vaccine Equity Initiative. Applicants who are not already participating in community and/or municipality based components of the Vaccine Equity Initiative may request support to link to relevant community-based partners to enhance collaborative capacity to increase awareness and acceptance of the vaccine, access to vaccination locations, and vaccine administration rates in the 20 priority cities.
• Resources for Application Planning and Prioritization. Prior to submission, applicants are encouraged to review any/all of the following to inform priorities and guide the implementation of culturally responsive strategies that support coordinated school health and wellness for COVID Relief:
  • COVID Community Impact Survey (Pre-analysis or Full Report) . Particularly useful accompanying resources include:
    • CCIS Introduction webinar: guidance on how to read the findings with a racial justice lens, to turn the data into action;
    • COVID-19 CCIS Overview of Findings and Q& A : at a glance population-based highlights designed to help communities prioritize COVID relief efforts in collaboration with community partners to effectively deploy resources and prioritize policy actions; and
    • COVID-19 CCIS pre-analysis framework : a deeper dive into the racial justice lens utilized in conducting the CCIS; which could help inform how coordinated school health programs can integrate a racial equity lens into their proposed programs.
  • CDC School-Based Guidance for COVID-19 Mitigation
  • Vaccinate with Confidence Strategy
  • Vaccine Equity Initiatives
  • Strengthening Partnerships: A Framework for Prenatal through Young Adulthood Family Engagement in Massachusetts
• Anticipated Professional Development (PD), Training and Technical Assistance. Upon award, DESE and DPH anticipate providing an overview of the CCIS findings to help successful grantees continue to tailor interventions and link to supportive community-based partners. Additional PD, training and TA opportunities for those districts selected for funding will likely also be made available to all Massachusetts school districts to help diverse members of the school health community access opportunities supporting social emotional learning, health, and safety . Offerings will be publicized once confirmed.
• Districts may complete a Technical Assistance Request Form to access DESE and DPH staff, as well as funded TA/PD providers who can be available to facilitate statewide and/or district meetings. This may include opportunities to support structuring coordinated school health plans for COVID relief to address the social determinants of health identified by DPH's COVID Community Impact Survey (CCIS), which was conducted to better understand and spotlight the most pressing concerns of BIPOC residents, young parents, people experiencing homelessness, intimate partner violence, discrimination, LGBTQ+ youth, and other priority populations in VEC across the Commonwealth.
• Ongoing access to resources will be provided to support youth with chronic health conditions, youth living with disabilities and youth with special health care needs, and others locally identified as priority populations due to having limited access to:
  • Consistent and appropriate management of chronic health conditions
  • Quality, healthy out-of-school time programs
  • Social, emotional, and mental health services
  • Vaccination education
  • Testing education
• Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training, and/or training of trainers, will be available to all funded grantees. Each funded grantee will have the opportunity to schedule at least one DESE-provided training for up to 30 participants.
• See also: DESE's Healthy Schools Program Website: Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child - Student and Family Support (SFS)
• DESE Newsletters Containing Related Free Resources and Program Updates
  • Sign up for a variety of DESE newsletters, including:
    • Commissioner's Weekly Update
    • The Holistic Supports and Enrichment: Strengthening Social and Emotional Competencies, Health and Safety Newsletter
  • DESE Comprehensive School Mental Health System Updates (Contact achievement@mass.gov to subscribe)
  • SWITCH Newsletter: "What's Up with Wellness"
  • School Health Institute for Leadership Development (SHIELD) trainings

Submission Instructions:

Please submit all required documents electronically to achievement@mass.gov with the subject line "Coordinated Relief for School Health — COVID Supplement Grant".

All signature pages (Part I and Grant Assurances) should be signed, scanned, and emailed as PDF documents. All other documents should be submitted in their original Word/Excel formats.

Awarded Recipients: Upon award, recipients will be required to enter the approved budget and Part I in EdGrants. Once selected, recipients will be contacted with further instructions on the process.

Last Updated: October 13, 2021