In the 2023-2024 school year, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (Department's/DESE's) shared an educational vision with school leaders and educators that called for all students to have learning experiences where they are known and valued; that are relevant, real world and interactive; and that include individualized supports so that they can excel at grade level and beyond. Additionally, the Department's Power of Presence initiative has prioritized the work of schools, families, and communities to facilitate the attendance of students. To support attainment of the educational vision and student attendance goals, the Department's Office of Student and Family Support will issue a 2nd competitive opportunity for this Promoting Safe and Healthy Learning Environments: Elevating Student Voice and Well-Being grant.
The purpose of this grant is to support districts/schools in elevating student voice in order to strengthen safe, supportive and healthy learning environments, Preschool through 12th Grade. There are multiple ways in which students' voices can be engaged in the work of schools. This competitive grant opportunity will provide resources to support districts to implement one of six evidence-based opportunities: 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) high school internship; Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Academic Integration through Service-Learning; comprehensive health and physical education; youth and teen mental health first aid; supporting newcomer students and students experiencing homelessness; and youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a lever to implement student voice.
The Department aims to support districts and schools to engage with students and elevate their voices, and help build the capacity of administrators and educators to more effectively engage with students in ways that are developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive and anti-racist. The opportunities noted above are levers to help schools address a number of different areas of work including but not limited to: promoting equitable, inclusive, safe and supportive learning environments; addressing chronic absenteeism; and closing persistent achievement and opportunity gaps.
This competitive grant focuses on 6 priority areas/options (as listed above). More information on each can be found in the Additional Information section (below) and within each GEM$ grant application, along with a description of the opportunity and how this grant can be used to support the applicant in elevating student voice through its implementation.
Competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.
Massachusetts public school districts and charter public schools that meet at least one of the following criteria:
*For the purposes of this grant program, a district's LEA Need Index equals the sum of the district's 2024 percent of high needs students, out-of-school suspension rate, and chronic absenteeism rate [missing 20 percent of days] for 2024.
**The eligibility list will be updated, as needed, to include districts that reported serving at least 100 newcomer students in October 2024 once that data is available.
Collaboratives are eligible to apply on behalf of one or more eligible school districts.
Applicants may apply for funding for one or more of the options outlined in the Key Requirements documents in the Additional Information section. In the case of districts applying for funding to implement one or more of the options, the Department reserves the right to determine whether to fully fund, partially fund or not fund each request based on the application submission.
Applicants that received funding under Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Fund Code (FC) 0127-0644 may only apply for options for which they have not already received funding under that grant.
Federal CFDA: 84.424 Federal CFDA: 84.287 Federal CFDA: 93.092 State Line Item: 4513-1005
Grant awards are contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act.
Federal grant funds must adhere to:
Approximately $3 million is available.
Maximum amounts for which applicants may apply for each grant option are outlined in the option-specific Key Requirements documents found in the Additional Information section below.
This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.
The Department reserves the right to adjust the total funding allocated to each option based on application submissions.
Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.
The funds may be used to support the development and implementation of the selected student voice opportunity or opportunities.
Additional information section below includes details related to budget and fund use for each opportunity listed above. Generally, fund use can include coordinator time, travel, costs associated with professional development, substitutes, stipends, supplies and materials.
Upon Approval* – 6/30/2026*
* Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.
*The project duration for grantees awarded PREP funding under Option B — Comprehensive Health and Physical Education is through June 30, 2025.
Office of Student and Family Support
Kristen McKinnon and Donna Traynham
Friday, January 24th by 5:00 p.m.
Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP.
All responses must be submitted through proper steps and received by the due date/time listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.
All required forms and information must be submitted directly into DESE's Grants for Education Management System (GEM$) system. See Submission Instructions below for details.
The following will be required to be submitted or uploaded directly into GEM$:
As part of the application, districts must consult with eligible private schools in their community and complete the Private Schools Consultation form (also found in the Related Documents Section of the grant in GEM$). Additional resources can be found at DESE's Private School Equitable Services under ESSA webpage.
This Application Planning Template contains the questions asked in the Program Narrative. While it may be used as a planning and organizing tool, responses to all Program Narrative questions must be submitted through GEM$ in order to be reviewed.
This grant comes with it a number of required networking and professional development opportunities, including: a.) a kick-off professional development on student voice in early Spring 2025; b.) a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) experience in Spring 2025; c.) a Student Voice Summit in the Spring of 2026.
Districts should include participation of the grant team and travel costs for these opportunities.
Questions and Information Webinars: Due to the competitive nature of this grant program, all questions about the Funding Opportunity documents and process will be addressed during Grant Information Webinars (register) and will be posted to this Q&A document.
The FY25 FC0128 Promoting Safe and Healthy Learning Environments: Elevating Student Voice and Well-Being will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.
Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)
New organizations that do not have an established LEA with DESE skip to Step 3.
Step 1: Establish and assign proper roles before the grant due date/time. Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off.
All roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.
Step 2: Submit the grant through all LEA steps in GEM$. There are three LEA steps a competitive grant must be submitted through by the due date and time to be considered for funding:
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted once the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP. Please plan accordingly.
The Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved Step allows for the organization lead to review and approve the grant application. Removing the requirement for the Part I Standard Contract Form, this step signifies Superintendent /Chief Executive sign off. Any grant budget changes requiring signature, will re-execute this step when amended signifying the organization lead is approving these changes.
Step 3: (If applicable) New organizations request temporary organization access. New organizations are entities that have not been established as an LEA in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization established in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the grant due date for temporary organization access.
Temporary Access will need to be created by DESE before you can then assign the proper roles and submit the grant as outlined in Steps 1 and 2.
Failure to provide DESE with GEM$ Temp Organization Access Request at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.
Last Updated: December 19, 2024
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Voice: (781) 338-3000 TTY: (800) 439-2370
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