2018 Terms and Conditions for

Community Conversations Research Grant Competition

Effective October 1, 2018 

These Corporation for National & Community Services (CNCS) Grant Program Specific 

Terms and Conditions and the General Terms and Conditions are binding on the recipient. 

Table of Contents 

I. Statutory Authority 2

II. Community Conversations Research Grant Competition 

Specific Terms and Conditions

2

A. Definitions 2

B. Roles and Responsibilities of the Recipient 3

C. Roles and Responsibilities of CNCS 5

D. Notification of Budget, Staff and Management Changes 6

E. Reporting Requirements 7

F. Cooperative Agreement Period and Incremental Funding 9

G. Breaches of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 9
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I. STATUTORY AUTHORITY

This award is authorized by and subject to Subtitle H – Investment for Quality and Innovation, 

Part III – National Service and Civic Engagement Research Competitions Pilot Program, 

Section 198K (Funds) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended by the 

Serve America Act (the “NCSA”), 42 U.S.C. §12653(d) and by the Federal Grant and 

Cooperative Agreement Act (FGCAA), 31 U.S.C. §§6301-6308. Other authorities are outlined 

in the General Terms and Conditions. 

II. COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS RESEARCH GRANT COMPETITION 

SPECIFIC TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

A. DEFINITIONS- For this Cooperative Agreement the following definitions apply: 

1. Application means all information and materials (including all assurances and 

certifications, the proposed budget as approved by CNCS, or any information 

incorporated by reference) submitted by the Awardee in CNCS’s eGrants system in 

response to the Notice of Federal Funds Availability, including any amendments or 

modifications to the information and materials made in response to any CNCS request 

for clarification. Copies of the assurances and certifications agreed to in the eGrants 

system are included for reference as appendices to these Terms and Conditions. 

2. Awardee means the direct recipient of this Cooperative Agreement. 

3. Communities include a group of people including residents, local stakeholders, 

organizations or other institutions that are working collectively, share a common 

concern, or identity. 

4. Civic engagement is defined as a cluster of individual efforts and activities oriented 

toward making “a difference in the civic life of ... communities and developing the 

combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It 

means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and nonpolitical processes” and through informal or formal networks. 

5. Civic infrastructure is defined as the “invisible structures and processes through which 

the social contract is written and rewritten in communities,” “the formal and informal 

processes and networks through which communities make decisions and solve 

problems”, or “the network that exists among local groups such as community 

development corporations (CDCs), foundations, other nonprofits, local governments, 

public housing authorities, businesses, and voluntary associations”. 
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6. Civic health is defined as the way that communities are organized to define and address 

public problems. 

7. A field research site is a local community or communities identified as the location(s) 

where the research will take place and where community residents and stakeholders will 

be recruited and trained as community researchers (i.e., co-researchers). 

8. National service is defined as a structured opportunity for individuals to serve their 

communities for an extended period of time through volunteering with or without a 

stipend. CNCS is the largest supporter of national service, though other avenues for 

national service exist and this competition is not exclusive to opportunities funded by 

CNCS. 

9. Participatory research is a broad term to denote approaches that focus on collaborative 

knowledge production and co-learning, social change, capacity building, and 

strengthening communities. Knowledge is produced jointly, between social researchers 

and a group of people or “community,” for the goal of addressing communities’ concerns 

with practical solutions. With participatory research, “the process of conducting research 

is as important as the research outcome” and there is mutual benefit for all partners. 

Participants are actively engaged in the entire research and action process and gain skills 

and knowledge that can bring about individual or collective change. 

10. Social capital can be understood as the “shared norms or values that promote social 

cooperation, instantiated in actual social relationships” or as the facilitating agent for 

social cohesion and civic engagement. 

11. Volunteering is unpaid, noncompulsory work, specifically, time one gives without pay 

to activities performed either through organizations such as schools, nonprofits, 

churches; civic, or political organizations (e.g., formal); or directly for others outside 

one’s own household (e.g., informal). 

B. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE RECIPIENT 

1. General

The Awardee must perform the activities supported by this Cooperative Agreement in 

compliance with the statutes, regulations and administrative authorities cited or referred 

to in these Terms and Conditions, in conformance with its approved Application 

(including the approved budget), and consistent with any approvals or directions 

provided by CNCS in the course of carrying out the Cooperative Agreement. The 

Awardee is legally accountable to CNCS for the use of award funds and is bound by the 
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provisions of the award. 

2. National Service Criminal History Check Requirements 

CNCS has determined that the National Service Criminal History Check Requirements 

as set forth under the General Terms and Conditions, paragraph 3. E., are not applicable 

to this Research grant competition and that awardees need not fulfill that requirement to 

be in compliance with the responsibilities under this Cooperative Agreement.

3. Affiliation with CNCS and with the Community Conversations Research Grant 

Competition 

a. Sharing Award Products. Awardees will make their products available to others in 

 the field. 

b. Acknowledgement of Support. All publications, conference presentations, posters, or 

 other dissemination activities related to the project funded by the Community 

 Conversations research grant competition must explicitly state that the project is 

 funded by CNCS. 

c. The awardee is responsible for assuring that the following acknowledgement and 

 disclaimer appears in any external report or publication of material based upon work 

supported by this award: 

“This material is based upon work funded by the Office of Research and Evaluation 

 at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) under Grant No. 

 ____ through the Community Conversations research grant competition. Opinions 

 or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not 

 necessarily reflect the official position of, or a position that is endorsed by, CNCS.” 

d. Some of the 2018 awardees are also receiving funding from NCCC and/or VISTA. 

 An Awardee with more than one type of a funding stream will also acknowledge 

 the CNCS program that has contributed funds. 

 “This material is based upon work funded by the Office of Research and Evaluation 

and _______ (reference the particular program here) at the Corporation for 

National and Community Service (CNCS) under Grant No. ____ through the 

Community Conversations research grant competition. Opinions or points of view 

expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect 

the official position of, or a position that is endorsed by, CNCS.” 

 If you are unclear about whether you are receiving funding from another CNCS 

program, please ask your Program Officer. 
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e. The Awardee will include the appropriate CNCS logo(s) on documents and 

presentation materials.

f. The Awardee may not use or display the CNCS name or logo in connection with any 

activity prohibited in these provisions, or if the activity is not funded by this grant or 

is not prohibited in these provisions, the Awardee may not use or display the CNCS 

name or logo unless they have received written permission to do so from the CNCS 

Office of External Affairs. 

C. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF CNCS 

Performance under this Cooperative Agreement is subject to the general oversight and 

monitoring of CNCS. Additional substantial involvement of CNCS will include: 

a. Research Plans 

Reviewing and approving the Awardee’s work plan and final research plan for carrying out 

the research project. 

b. Convening of Awardees

Convening awardees to discuss projects and share feedback with one another. These 

convenings may include awardees attending and presenting at the CNCS Research Summit, 

Grantee meetings, CNCS program convenings, webinars, etc. The convenings may also 

include CNCS staff and external experts identified by CNCS and the awardees. 

c. Access to CNCS data and Program Staff 

i. Facilitating access to CNCS data sources that are publicly available and 

reasonable to obtain as well as facilitating restricted use data with additional data 

sharing agreements. 

ii. Facilitating access to CNCS program staff relevant to the awardees’ research 

projects, in a manner that is reasonable and not overly-burdensome on CNCS staff. 

iii. CNCS is under no obligation to provide access to data or staff if such access 

is not feasible or deemed overly costly by CNCS. 

d. Dissemination of Research Project Results 

i. CNCS may decide to disseminate the results of awardee research projects, 

either in a report produced by awardees, or material produced by CNCS based on the 

report. 
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ii. CNCS will provide feedback for final product.

D. NOTIFICATION OF BUDGET, STAFF AND MANAGEMENT CHANGES

1) Within 5 business days, the Awardee must notify CNCS of any change in the 

staffing of any key position included (in whole or in part) as a cost in the award budget. 

This requirement applies regardless of whether the position is included in the federal or 

matching cost portions of the budget. The Awardee must also notify CNCS of any changes 

in any positions which are not included in the approved budget, but which involve 

leadership oversight of the activity under this award. The Awardee must also notify CNCS 

of any change in the senior leadership of the Awardee.

2) The recipient must first obtain the prior written approval of the Program Office 

before changes in the scope, objectives or goals of the program, whether or not they involve 

budgetary changes.

3) The recipient must obtain the prior written approval of CNCS’s Office of Grants 

Management before deviating from the approved budget in any of the following ways:

A. Specific Costs Requiring Prior Approval before Incurrence under the uniform 

administrative requirement, cost principles, and audit requirements for Federal 

awards at 2 CFR Parts 200 and 2205. Certain cost items in 2 CFR Parts 200 and 

2205 require approval of the award agency for the cost to be incurred as allowable. 

Please ensure you consult the regulations prior to incurring costs to ensure 

allowability.

B. Purchases of Equipment over $5,000 using award funds, unless specified in the 

approved application and budget.

C. Unless the CNCS award is $50,000 or less, changes to cumulative and/or aggregate 

budget line items that amount to 10 percent or more of the total budget must be 

approved in writing in advance by CNCS. Recipients may transfer funds among 

approved direct cost categories when the cumulative amount of such transfers does 

not exceed 10 percent of the total budget.

4) CNCS Grants Officers are the only officials who have the authority to alter or 

change the terms and conditions of the award. Grants Officers will execute written 

amendments, and recipients should not assume approvals have been granted unless 

documentation from the Grants Office has been received. Programmatic changes 

also require final approval of CNCS’ Office of Grants Management after written 

recommendation for approval is received from the Program Office.
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E. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Recipient Reports and Deliverables for 2018 and 2019 

a. Each awardee will deliver to the CNCS Program officer a revised research workplan 

for Year 1 by November 15, 2018. The workplan will set forth the process including 

activities and timeline, to be used to fulfill the grant requirements. The workplan 

will be updated each quarter (see section f below for due dates) and provided to the 

Program Officer.

b. In Year 1, each awardee shall participate in phone meetings with other awardees as 

requested and with staff from the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) on a 

regular schedule to be determined to discuss the workplan, research projects, paper 

presentations, and publications.

c. In Year 1, each awardee shall work with ORE to prepare documents which can lead 

to papers and other materials. 

d. Each awardee shall submit at least a report in Year 1. This report shall constitute the 

research design, the findings, and action plans from Year 1. The first draft of this 

report (that will be labeled as a semiannual report in eGrants) is due July 31, 2019. It 

will include the work done between October 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. This first 

draft will be reviewed by CNCS staff within 45 days. The final version of this report 

(that will be labeled as a second semiannual report in eGrants) will be due October 

30, 2019. It will include all of the work done to date through September 30, 2019. 

This report will address any comments offered by CNCS in the review of the draft 

report.

e. In addition to the report(s), it is expected that the Awardee will submit material that 

could be publically shared such as relevant datasets, instruments, interview 

questions, etc. Please see “Section B.3.” in this document that specifies how grantees 

should share grant products and acknowledge CNCS support in publications and 

other material. 

f. Given the evolving nature of participatory research, awardees will also send a one to 

three page progress report with their revised workplan (noting any changes) to their 

Program Officer on a quarterly basis. 

Due Date Reporting Period Covered 

January 31 Start of the Award through December 31
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April 30 January 1 through March 31

July 31 April 1 through June 30 (report outlined in section d. above) 

October 31 July 1 through September 30 (final report outlined in second d. 

above) 

g. If available and applicable, the Awardee understands and agrees that in subsequent 

continuation years of the grant, there will be reporting requirements that will be 

similar to, but may not match exactly, the reporting requirements set forth in 

paragraphs E. An Awardee receiving a continuation grant in Year 2 agrees to 

comply with the current reporting requirements.

h. Financial Reports

The Awardee must submit semi-annual cumulative Federal Financial Reports (FFR), 

summarizing expenditures during the reporting period. These reports will be submitted 

timely through the appropriate electronic system. At the discretion of CNCS, the FFR 

deadlines are as follows:

Due Date Reporting Period Covered

Year 1 of Cooperative Agreement

April 30 Start of Award through March 31

October 31 April 1 through September 30

Years 2-3 of Cooperative Agreement

April 30 October 1 through March 31

October 31 April 1 through September 30

All Awardees must also submit an FFR - Cash Transactions Report on a quarterly basis to 

the Department of Health and Human Services Payment Management System per the 

Electronic Funds Transfer Agreement.

i. Requests for Extensions of Reporting Deadlines

Requests for extensions of reporting deadlines will be granted when 1) the report cannot be 

furnished in a timely manner for reasons legitimately beyond the control of the Awardee; 

and 2) CNCS receives a written request explaining the need for an extension before the due 

date of the report. Extensions of deadlines for financial reports may only be granted by the 

Office of Grants Management, and extensions of deadlines for Progress Reports may only 

be granted by the Office of Research & Evaluation or another office deemed appropriate by 

CNCS.
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j. Final Financial Report

An Awardee completing the final year of its Cooperative Agreement must submit, in lieu of 

the last semi-annual financial report, a final financial report, this report is due no later than 

90 days after the end of the Cooperative Agreement.

F. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PERIOD AND INCREMENTAL FUNDING

For the purpose of National Service and Civic Engagement Cooperative Agreements, a 

project period is the complete length of time an Awardee is funded to complete approved 

activities under the agreement. A project period may contain one or more budget periods. A 

budget period is a specific interval of time for which Federal funds are being provided to 

fund an Awardee's approved activities and budget.

Unless otherwise specified, the Awardee’s Cooperative Agreement covers a two (2) fiscal 

year project period, contingent upon the availability of funding and compliance by the 

awardee with the Cooperative Agreement. Additional funding is contingent upon 

satisfactory performance as determined by CNCS and the availability of funds. The project 

period and the budget period are noted in the Notice of Grant Award.

G. BREACHES OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII)

All recipients need to be prepared for potential breaches of Personally Identified 

Information, PII. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines PII as any 

information about an individual, including, but not limited to, education, financial 

transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and information which 

can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social 

security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric records, etc.,

including any other personal information which is linked or linkable to an individual. All 

recipients must ensure they have procedures in place to prepare for and respond to breaches 

of PII, and notify the federal awarding agency in the event of a breach.

If your CNCS grant-funded program or project creates, collects, uses, processes, stores, 

maintains, disseminates, discloses or disposes of PII within the scope of that Federal grant 

award, or uses or operates a Federal information system, you must establish procedures to 

prepare for and respond to a potential breach of PII, including notice of a breach of PII to 

CNCS. Grantees experiencing a breach should notify CNCS’ Office of Information 

Technology, your CNCS Program Officer, and CNCS’ Office of Inspector General..