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Learning Systems International

ACS Mobilizing a Generation

Thursday, December 16, 2021

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14:54:21 [Music]

15:02:53 >> Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's webinar. Before we 

begin, I'm going to go over a few housekeeping tips.

15:02:53 The audio for this event is broadcasting by phone and online. The event 

is lecture only, the microphones are muted to reduce background noise.

15:02:53 To adjust the audio through your computer, go to the bottom left of the 

screen, click the small area next to audio settings and select the speaker.

15:02:56 Some of viewers get better audio when streaming, while others get 

better by phone. If you have difficulties, you may want to try different connection 

method. There several Zoom features we will use.

15:03:14 At the top of the screen click the View Options button and select Exit 

Full Screen to display the Chat panel.

15:03:14 Use the Chat panel to receive links and resource information or to 

share an idea and respond to session activities.

15:03:15 Be sure to select everyone from the drop-down menu when using Chat.

15:03:24 You can use the Raise Hand feature if you have a technical issue and 

need assistance. The support team will contact you individually, via Chat.

15:03:35 You can select the Q&A panel to ask any questions you have during the 

event. You can select the Closed Captioning icon for live captioning in English.

15:03:43 If you would like to view captioning in Spanish, you can select the 

Streamtext link that I just posted to the Chat.

15:03:50 We are going to record this event, so I will start that and turn it over to 

our presenters.

15:04:04 >> Recording in progress.

15:04:06 >> Thank you for joining us for the first of two webinars on the Foster 

Grandparent and Senior Companion Program in action – mobilizing a generation.

15:04:19 Hello everyone and thank you for learning with us today. My name is 

Debra Truchon, and it's always a pleasure to host webinars like this.

15:04:27 Today am joined by my colleagues Emily Flanagan, you will see her in 

the Q&A box answering questions.
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15:04:41 You will see them in the Q&A pod again, so please make sure to submit 

any questions you have into the Q&A pod.

15:04:54 So we can see your questions and either respond in writing or at the 

end. Answer the questions you may have. In the event we are not able to get to 

all of the questions, we muted the Q&A pod.

15:05:07 We also use the Q&A pod questions to help us update our FAQs. 

Again, use the Q&A pod.

15:05:28 This opportunity is for the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent 

Senior Companion Replacement Opportunity.

15:05:28 It is an opportunity available right now and I get excited about these 

opportunities because it's a great time to expand services, as well as meet the 

needs of our community.

15:05:43 It's a replacement opportunity, so it's addressing communities that have 

had either a Foster Grandparent program or a Senior Companion.

15:05:45 We are looking to provide a service in the community so we can 

reestablish the volunteer opportunities.

15:06:06 I do want to manage expectations and say it is my goal to get to all the 

questions you may have, but also know we have an hour to get through the 

content.

15:06:18 One caveat about questions, because this is a competitive opportunity, 

there are questions I cannot answer. If your question is specific or requires a lot 

of context or discussion, we cannot address that today.

15:06:29 We want to make sure everyone gets all the information they need. In 

that case, you can send your questions to the email address.

15:06:29 It is 2022fgpscpreplacement@cncs.gov.

15:06:36 Thank you to our LSI host for putting that in the chat box.

15:06:53 There is another question that none of us can answer today because of 

the type of opportunity it is.

15:06:53 We cannot provide individual coaching or advice.
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15:07:09 This is a competitive process. We want to get great applications and we 

want to make sure it is fair to everyone involved.

15:07:09 I cannot tell you what to put in the application, and I cannot tell you 

whether to start your program this way or that way.

15:07:24 That is all up to you as you complete your application. But I can help 

you with the requirements and tools available, but it is up to you to put together 

your best application for this process.

15:07:38 This is one of two webinars for this particular topic. It's also one of six 

that are available for this opportunity.

15:07:45 All recordings will be posted on the Opportunity of Funding page at 

least a week out from the recordings.

15:08:06 This is because we have a great staff online that are typing out, Closed 

Captioning in English as well as Spanish, so they need time to prepare what they 

hear me saying as well as what you hear on the screen so it is as helpful as 

possible for those that need Closed Captioning for English and Spanish.

15:08:11 We need at least a week. Sometimes it may take a little bit longer. A 

week is a good timeframe.

15:08:17 You will find that on the Opportunity of Funding page. It is also linked in 

the Chat.

15:08:38 We have some questions we will do a poll to find out who is on the line, 

what you know about the program.

15:08:45 Let's put up the first poll. Has your organization received a federal grant 

before, including one or more AmeriCorps programs like AmeriCorps Seniors 

program?

15:08:55 Go ahead and put your answers in.

15:09:17 I think we have the majority. Majority of you have said yes. That is great 

to hear. You have experience with that. We hope we can answer the questions 

for those and the not sure.

15:09:17 I am glad you guys are here.
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15:09:23 Let's move onto the next one. How well do you know AmeriCorps 

Seniors?

15:09:37 I'm brand-new to all of this, I'm familiar with how works, but not a 

grantee or a current grantee?

15:09:37 ?

15:09:58 Let's share the answers. Quite a few of you are current grantees. Great, 

this will be familiar information. Some are familiar, but not yet a grantee. Good to 

know. And a couple of you are brand-new.

15:10:12 How would you describe the primary field of your organization?

15:10:18 Are you aging, volunteerism, community development, faith-based, 

higher education, state, county, municipal or other government, or something 

else?

15:10:43 Okay. Quite a few are aging. Volunteerism, a sprinkle in faith-based, 

federal or state, and something else. Great..

15:10:47 We have two more to go. How did you hear about us?

15:10:59 Some of you are a current grantee, maybe you heard it from an 

American AmeriCorps employee.

15:10:59 Maybe an email from a partner.

15:11:15 And other. Okay. Good to see how communication is getting out there.

15:11:24 And then the last one. Have you attended any of the other webinars?

15:11:24 Yes, no, or not sure.

15:11:32 Maybe not sure because there is a lot going on as it gets closer to the 

holidays.

15:11:49 This is good to know that quite a few of you have not attended any 

other webinars.

15:12:02 I do highly recommend them. We have posted a couple webinars on the 

funding opportunity page. How to submit an application in eGrants, an overview 

of all the programs. For those of you that are new, I highly recommend you go to 

those recordings.
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15:12:19 Thank you. Here is our agenda for today. Before we dive into the heart 

of it, we will go over some basics of the opportunity.

15:12:33 We will be talking about community impact, how to leverage volunteers 

to make a difference. We are going to give you a little bit of a refresher to go over

the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Program and how they work.

15:12:53 And then we will start to get into practical applications. We will look at 

focus areas and funding priorities. Two different things that are very important to 

master for your application.

15:13:00 We will look at sponsors and stations, two key terms and how those 

kinds of organizations can come together for a great impact.

15:13:08 And then we will look at some examples of AmeriCorps Seniors in 

specific Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programming. Let's start 

with the basics.

15:13:28 AmeriCorps Seniors are currently accepting applications for the 

AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent and Senior Grandparent Replacement 

opportunity.

15:13:30 You can go into our system and begin your application or submit your 

application between now and February 3.

15:13:40 No later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time February 3, no later than 5:00 PM 

Eastern Time.

15:13:53 Please make sure to review the Appendix A for the opportunities 

available for the Foster Grandparent or Senior Companion.

15:13:58 Those are the only available opportunities for these two opportunities.

15:14:13 On the screen I have taken a screenshot of our country and colorcoded it by state.

15:14:13 In blue you will see states in which there are opportunities for Foster 

Grandparent program.

15:14:20 And purple you will see opportunity for AmeriCorps Seniors Senior 

Companion program.

15:14:20 There is no overlap for these programs.
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15:14:24 Is clearly indicated by a blue or purple.

15:14:40 These opportunities are listed on a table called Appendix A. It is an 

appendix to the funding to the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

15:14:48 It is an appendix to that. It shows you all of the open funding

opportunities.

15:14:57 We will talk later in the hour about how to propose what you and your 

organization would like to serve.

15:15:08 Just know that Appendix A is an important document. Again, it is 

associated with the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Always start with that Notice 

and review the list of opportunities within the appendix.

15:15:42 One of the main resources you will use, many of your first questions are 

likely along the lines of what you are seeing on the screen now.

15:15:42 How long is the award?

15:15:42 What is review process?

15:15:42 Are any match funds required? What information should I include in my 

application? What kind of project is AmeriCorps Seniors hoping to fund?

15:15:51 The vast majority of these questions are answered in a document called 

the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

15:15:56 This is a gateway to this opportunity. Read it, read it again and again, 

make notes. It is your guide to all of these primary questions.

15:16:22 It is remapped to the opportunity and it has all the information you need.

It will either be available in this document or linked in the document in the Notice 

of Funding Opportunity.

15:16:22 This is where you should start. Read it, know it upside down,

backwards, and forwards.

15:16:25 It is a very critical document.

15:16:36 On the screen we show where you will see it. There are two separate 

notices, one for the Foster Grandparent and one for the Senior Companion.

15:16:44 If you are applying to both, make sure you read both, but if you are 

applying to one, read that particular document.
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15:17:02 Here are some resources to get you through the application process. In 

addition to the NOFO or Notice, there are other resources that you will find to be 

important and helpful.

15:17:17 The most important is the Appendix A. It is a list of the available 

opportunities.

15:17:17 You must apply to an area listed on Appendix A.

15:17:33 There are further instructions in the Notice on how to list your 

application.

15:17:39 We have Appendix B, which explains our National Performance 

Measures in depth. We offer a specific webinar on this topic that goes more indepth on the National Performance Measures.

15:17:50 We will cover how to enter your information for performance measures 

a little bit today and we will also review that in the how to submit your application 

in eGrants.

15:17:53 I recommend you go to the webinar that will be posted by next week.

15:18:03 Appendix C is a helpful document to review when learning all the terms 

and definitions used by AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors.

15:18:11 If you are in a form and are looking up something, that is a great place 

to refer back to.

15:18:20 There is also the grant application instructions. It is a step-by-step guide 

to navigating our electronic grants management system.

15:18:34 It also includes a work plan development worksheet as an appendix, 

which is helpful when you are developing your work plan and your performance 

measures.

15:18:46 I highly recommend you refer to that. Also with any instructions is a 

checklist of your budget. I highly recommend you go to that appendix.

15:19:02 You can find this in the grant application instructions.

15:19:02 Finally, we have a list of frequently asked that we update throughout the 

process based on what you and others send into our email box.
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15:19:25 All of these resources are available on the AmeriCorps funding 

opportunity homepage. If you don't get the information you need today and it's 

not in one of those resources, you can use that additional email box, 2022FGP

SCPReplacement@cns.gov.

15:19:29 It's also in the chat box.

15:19:41 As we move forward, we will go over getting to know the senior Foster 

Grandparent program.

15:19:43 And Senior Companion Program.

15:20:55 >> It looks like there may be an issue with the Zoom servers. I will 

keep trying to start recording.

15:21:12 >> Okay. Can someone submit a question and see if the Q&A box is 

working.

15:21:33 Okay. It is working. Thank you, you guys are awesome.

15:21:40 >> Recording in progress. 

15:21:45 >> If you have a questions so - it looks like it just started working 

again.

15:22:02 >> Let's move forward. We will go over the Foster Grandparent 

program. We also refer to that as FGP.

15:22:13 You may hear me switch between the two. It is the AmeriCorps Seniors 

Foster Grandparent program.

15:22:21 This program engages older Americans as role models and mentors to 

help children was special and exceptional needs.

15:22:27 It is all about building support one-on-one relationships between young 

people in need and older Americans.

15:22:43 It also has an exclusive purpose of engaging older Americans in service 

at or near the poverty level.

15:22:47 Anyone can be a volunteer, but older Americans who are within 200% 

poverty line, may receive a small stipend to defray the cost of service.

15:22:54 This is to make sure they get an opportunity to serve that cannot be 

limited due to those circumstances.
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15:23:31 It is very similar to the Senior Companion Program, also referred to as 

SCP, which provides assistance and friendship to adults who have difficulty with 

daily living tasks, such as shopping or paying bills, helping them remain 

independent in their homes.

15:23:40 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in SCP do things like help with daily 

chores, drive to doctors appointments. They could provide information to older 

Americans to help them do things like avoid elder abuse or fraud in the home.

15:23:51 Really serving to make independence a reality.

15:23:51 Again, some of the volunteers may receive a small stipend for their

service.

15:23:58 The stipend is three dollars an hour. That is a mandate, it has to be 

three dollars an hour.

15:24:09 Now that you have gotten a picture in mind, let's get a little more 

technical. We are now going to spend some time working to specific terms.

15:24:23 There are two key terms that you need to know to really understand 

how AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion work.

15:24:37 The first is a sponsor which we use synonymous to a grantee.

15:24:37 An organization that receives AmeriCorps Seniors Funding and is 

legally responsible for the grant funds.

15:24:50 If you submitted an application to this competition, you will need 

someone to sign that to say yes, I officially accept responsibility for everything I 

am seeing in the organization that has that authority, that is the sponsor they are 

legally responsible.

15:25:05 Then there is another set of organization, if you will, called Station-the 

community partner where AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in FGP or SCP serve.

15:25:22 Again, volunteer stations are where AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in 

the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Program serve.

15:25:23 They can be nonprofit organizations, proprietary healthcare facilities, or 

public agencies.
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15:25:53 Maybe a YMCA or a library. Some organizations may choose to 

operate like a volunteer matchmaker, recruiting a diverse group of volunteers, 

placing them at a wide variety of stations.

15:25:53 Others may choose to focus on a couple specific stations. For example, 

an organization that provides educational programs might choose to focus its 

efforts and its volunteers on education within specific schools that serve as 

stations.

15:26:10 Your sponsor organization can also serve as an AmeriCorps Seniors 

volunteers station. You can have volunteers serving your own program if you are 

the organization applying for funds.

15:26:10 The relationship between sponsors and stations is formalized in a 

memoranda of understanding.

15:26:23 AmeriCorps Seniors sponsors formally work with volunteer stations 

under a signed MOU and your project would assign AmeriCorps Seniors 

volunteers to that particular volunteer station.

15:26:56 What that really means is you have the grantee or the sponsor that is 

receiving the funds you have got stations out there in the community, the grantee 

provides the management of the grant and the volunteers and the station 

provides on-site supervision and management and also some performance data 

back to the grantee.

15:27:05 So that they can answer back to us and AmeriCorps, that is all 

formalized in the memorandum of understanding.

15:27:32 Again, so us here at AmeriCorps, the Agency, and AmeriCorps Seniors, 

we provide funds to that sponsoring organization, the grantee that then becomes 

legally responsible for managing the grant, they go out and recruit volunteers in 

the community and they place them at community stations.

15:28:02 I really like this image. Now that you know more about the AmeriCorps 

Seniors Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Program, you have probably 

already realized some of the benefits that AmeriCorps Seniors could bring to 

your organization if you are awarded a grant through this competition.
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15:28:02 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers can be used to build the capacity of 

your organization through their service.

15:28:27 Your organization would become part of the larger AmeriCorps Seniors 

and National Service network. Your AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent or 

Senior Companion project would strengthen other organizations in your 

community and throughout the service area.

15:28:32 Finally, your award would demonstrate that your application was strong 

enough to be awarded through a somewhat competitive grant process.

15:28:45 These are federal programs. What that means is that the funds come 

with a basket of rules and regulations.

15:28:51 This is not meant to be an in-depth description of all the rules and 

regulations.

15:29:00 This is just meant to indicate some things you are going to need to 

familiarize yourself with if you are interested in applying for these programs.

15:29:19 I will go over these briefly, but I really need to stress that these are not 

meant to be all-inclusive. If you want to learn more, come back to our webinars 

later where we will talk about them more in-depth, and we will also point you to 

more resources for you to look at.

15:29:25 Some of the trainings may have already happened, so I recommend 

you watch the recordings, as well.

15:29:40 For each program has a specific kind of assignment in mind and those 

are one-on-one supportive relationships.

15:30:01 As an example, it means a Foster Grandparent volunteer should be 

working with one or two or three specific children in need of some kind of special 

support and generally not doing a broad-based teacher aide activity.

15:30:04 Cleaning up a classroom or that kind of thing. Again, it's a one-to-one 

relationship with the children, not a teacher aide.

15:30:14 That is not what AmeriCorps Seniors volunteer will be doing.

15:30:19 All volunteers need to go through the specific criminal history check. 

There is more information in the NOFO.
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15:30:23 Just keep in mind so you can include it within your budget.

15:30:31 Again, the Criminal History Check cost is required, so please review 

that in the Notice. There are minimum and maximum amounts of service weekly 

or hourly.

15:30:38 That is also listed within the Notice. It is between 5 to 40 hours.

15:30:53 Or it could be 260 to 2080 for annual.

15:30:54 All grantees must measure their performance according to a certain set 

of performance measures you can find in Appendix B.

15:31:08 That is Appendix B to the Notice. And you can attend next week's 

session. You can find that on the Funding of Opportunity page.

15:31:38 Because these programs come with a stipend for volunteers, you have 

to manage the stipend expenditures carefully over the course of the year, and 

you have to provide a certain amount of preservice orientation or training.

15:31:38 Finally, this might be familiar to those of you who have federal grants, 

but you must use the funds in a way that is reasonable, allowable, allocable, and 

necessary.

15:31:49 You want to reference the 2 CFR 200, the Code of Federal Regulations 

for more details.

15:32:18 There is also a match associated with these grants. In terms of rules 

and regulations, this is not all the homework you will need to do, but it is a 

general reminder that says before you apply to the program, you want to read 

through all the regulations and make sure it makes sense with you and aligns 

with your vision.

15:32:31 We think they have a tremendous power to affect communities. We also 

want to make sure people go into this with eyes wide open and make sure it 

meets your vision.

15:33:04 There is a match requirement. Which is 10%. An example is if for only 

apply for $260,000 required nonfederal share would be taking that amount that 

they are requesting divided by .09 and that gives them minus the $260,000.
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15:33:08 Their match requirement also referred to as required nonfederal share 

would be $28,889.

15:33:20 The match requirement is 10%. I highly recommend going to the Notice 

and reviewing the match section.

15:33:48 The project period for grants for this opportunity is for three years. 

AmeriCorps generally funds one year of the three year award at first. 

Organizations are then eligible for continuation funding for years two and three, 

as long as they demonstrate satisfactory performance.

15:34:05 That indicates the grant is on track to achieve the proposed 

performance measures at the end of the year three.

15:34:12 Demonstrates the capacity to manage the grant, are in compliance with 

grant requirements. This includes terms and conditions of the grant, requirement 

for biannual reporting of performance measures and securing the required 

nonfederal share of the budget.

15:34:26 And the availability of congressional appropriations. After three years, 

the grants may be renewed, it's a noncompetitive process pending appropriation 

and satisfactory performance.

15:35:01 If awarded for the fiscal year of 2022, that would be the initial year. That 

would lead to the continuation process from Year 2 to Year 3. That is a 

continuation award, depending on how you demonstrate.

15:35:17 Spending your money properly, so you start with the initial year and 

then continuation, Year 2 and Year 3 becomes a continuation.

15:35:23 Clicking forward against the renewal process. It is a noncompetitive 

application.

15:35:43 And that you will have the two continuation Year 2, Year 3, and again 

2028 would be --.

15:36:04 AmeriCorps Seniors Serve- Share is a page in which you can share 

with volunteers, but also learn more from a volunteer perspective about 

AmeriCorps seniors programs.
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15:36:11 I highly recommend that you visit that page or if you are applying for the 

Senior Companion, check out that page as well.

15:36:27 Also on the AmeriCorps website we have the grantee and sponsor 

page. That is a one-stop shop for any grantees.

15:36:31 That is a public page where we post information like criminal history 

checks, how to complete your report, each program has their own page, as well.

15:36:40 You can select either Foster Grandparent, Senior Companion or any 

other program we have and review the documents.

15:36:46 We have handbooks, how to do your performance measure and things 

like that.

15:36:51 These are great places to start to learn more about the programs.

15:37:04 We also have a report on National Service in your state. It provides 

state-by-state information.

15:37:10 You can choose a state that you are applying for and view the full report 

of the services that are happening in that area.

15:37:22 The ECFR.gov website has all the regulations, particularly as they 

relate to the Foster Grandparent.

15:37:35 That is CFR 2552.

15:37:43 Or for Senior Companion 45 CFR 2551.

15:37:54 And Foster Grandparent.

15:37:58 I will put that in the Chat because I don't think that was clear.

15:38:11 There you go. Those boxes are helpful when you want to dive in deeper 

and learn about the program.

15:38:11 Let's do a quick poll.

15:38:28 Which of these reasons for applying for AmeriCorps Seniors FGP/SCP 

grant is more important to you?

15:38:40 Furthering my organization's mission, helping older Americans, 

leveraging the power of volunteers, building our capacity, joining Education 

network organizations, strengthening other public and nonprofit agencies, or 

demonstrating competitive programming.
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15:39:36 Let's go to the next one. If I am awarded and AmeriCorps Seniors SCP 

grant, I am likely to have volunteers primarily serve in programs managed by 

sponsor, or primarily place volunteers in service opportunities and organizations.

15:39:38 Have roughly an equal mix of the two options, not sure.

15:39:57 It looks like we have quite a bit sponsor.

15:40:10 Having the volunteer-couple people wanting to share, and a couple 

people wanting to do a mix. That is awesome.

15:40:24 What to do next. Let's talk about how you can get started with your 

application.

15:40:36 Will go through a quick checklist. The first thing is to find the 

geographical service area you are interested in serving on Appendix A.

15:40:42 Both the country as well as the actual Appendix A.

15:40:51 You will look at Appendix A and think about the capacity of your 

organization and what you feel is feasible for service.

15:40:55 You will also think about the VSY's.

15:41:04 What is unique about this particular opportunity is that you can design 

your own program.

15:41:12 You are proposing to us what you want to serve within the confines of 

our rules and regulations.

15:41:29 Let's talk about what a VSY's. A VSY is a Volunteer Service Year.

15:41:31 It is a way to count volunteer hours, particularly stipended volunteer 

hours.

15:41:52 One VSY is equal to 1044 stipended hours. There are 1044 hours in a 

VSY, Volunteer Service Year.

15:41:58 That number comes from an estimate of what a volunteer would serve if 

they served 20 hours per week, every week of the year, for 52.2 weeks.

15:41:58 Let's do a simple example.

15:42:13 So using the formula of 52.2 weeks at 20 hours per week, one VSY 

would equal 1044.

15:42:18 10 VSI's equals how many hours?
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15:42:21 In the Chat can you tell me how many hours it would be.

15:42:34 I'd like to see at least two answers in the Chat.

15:42:52 There is the first one. Does anyone want to challenge this answer?

15:43:13 That is correct. Thank you. The answer is 10,440. Just multiply 

1044×10. Thank you so much.

15:43:34 So you can take a look at Appendix A and all of the open counties in 

your state and you get to propose what you will serve.

15:43:44 Applicants must propose to serve one or more open geographic areas 

in their application. For example, if you were in a fictional state of Verona, you 

propose to serve Montague County.

15:43:47 Or you proposed to serve Montague and Capulet counties.

15:44:10 You get to propose the funding amount that would best allow you to 

meet the needs of your respective Geographic Service areas.

15:44:14 Regardless of the funding request, all applicants are required to follow 

the calculation of one VSY for every $6500 in their funding request.

15:44:21 You will see that one for every $6500.

15:44:31 You will hear me talk about this $6500 and what that means for 

performance measures in sessions later.

15:44:34 As well as how to submit your application.

15:44:39 That is just $6500 per Volunteer Service Year.

15:44:52 I know some people like to start from total federal funding, they want to 

request and then trickle down to total VSY's.

15:45:03 I like to think in the opposite manner. Back to our proposed Geographic 

Service area of Montague and Capulet counties.

15:45:09 Let's say, I think in order to meet our community needs, I'm going to 

need 40 VSY's.

15:45:26 40 VSY multiplied by the $6500 gives us the maximum amount we can 

request, which is $260,000.

15:46:01 So what do you do next? We talked about determining your Geographic 

Service area using Appendix A and the VSY's.
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15:46:01 Next, you want to review the Notice of Funding Opportunity in depth, 

your blueprint to the competition.

15:46:01 Again, this will help you understand what AmeriCorps Seniors is looking 

for in this opportunity.

15:46:15 What makes a good application. The evaluation criteria, these are the 

same things that AmeriCorps, the agency will use to evaluate your applications, 

that is what you should be using.

15:46:15 That is not all you should pay attention to and the Notice of Funding 

Opportunity, of course.

15:46:19 You should read it through. But know it is an incredible important 

document.

15:46:32 When you are actually putting your application together, we recommend 

using a word processing program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

15:46:32 Your application has to be submitted in something called eGrants.

15:46:45 You can find more information in the NOFO. It is an online tool and it is 

a little clunky for drafting.

15:46:50 It is not meant for drafting in this wordprocessing document.

15:46:54 That's why we recommend you use Word so you can edit and review 

your information.

15:47:08 That includes your performance measures. As you'll see when you start 

to look at the application, we request performance evaluation in a work plan.

15:47:17 It's kind of like a table for those of you familiar with a logical framework, 

it's based on that model.

15:47:36 We have a template that you can use, you can cut and paste from the 

grant application and then cut and paste them into the eGrants system.

15:47:40 Speaking of eGrants, our electronic grants management software, you 

need to create an account for eGrants. Make sure you do that.

15:47:55 Your authorized representative, the individual legally authorized to bind 

your organization in an agreement-very often it will be the Executive Director or 

someone at that level will need to actually certify the application.
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15:48:02 Instructions for this can be found within the grant application 

instructions.

15:48:17 There are a couple administrative steps you will need to take, such as 

registering in SAM and request a DUNS number, if you don't have one already.

15:48:17 They are easy to miss and you don't want to wait until the last minute to 

get that done.

15:48:27 Not terribly labor-intensive, but important, nonetheless.

15:48:27 That brings us to the last recommendation, please plan to submit your 

application early.

15:48:35 We recommend at least 10 days in advance. If that is not realistic, just 

do what you can.

15:48:46 You do not want to submit your application on February 3, right at 4:45.

15:48:54 You can run into an issue with the system and make you late and not 

eligible for the opportunity.

15:49:04 We do have a hotline for help if you run into any technical glitches. You 

will need to do these things, like check your word count, fill out budget 

information, performance measures, all of these things can take time.

15:49:21 You want to go ahead and be ahead of the game and submit your 

application early.

15:49:21 I really can't stress enough, you don't want to be in eGrants at 4:59 EST 

on February 3 and trying to submit your application.

15:49:37 Do it early!. I would like to show you a video that highlights our 

AmeriCorps Seniors program, including the Foster Grandparent program in 

Montana.

15:53:15 >> Video playing.

15:53:31 >> Awesome, we love you and on that uplifting note, that shows the 

real impact of our volunteers in their community.

15:53:50 Now we show what webinars are still to come. We will repeat this 

webinar on January 6. And then we also have the National Performance 

Measure on January 19.
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15:53:56 If you have not attended those or you have a question, we recommend 

that you attend those webinars.

15:54:06 We have introduction to AmeriCorps programs, the Tour of the Notice, 

as well as submitting your application.

15:54:15 Once I have the recordings from the earlier weeks webinar, that will be 

posted on the website.

15:54:20 Best Practices in Budget Development is already posted.

15:54:41 We hope you can access those. Moving into questions. We do have 

polls, but if you have any questions, please feel free to put them in the Q&A box.

15:54:54 The first question we have is, how helpful did you find this webinar? 

Very helpful, somewhat helpful, not helpful.

15:54:58 The second, how likely are you to apply for a grant in this competition?

15:54:58 Very likely, likely, not likely.

15:55:30 Don't forget to put any questions you may have. I see that someone 

said they were somewhat helpful.

15:55:30 If you have questions, please feel free to put them in the Chat.

15:55:36 I'm sorry, not the Chat, the Q&A box.

15:56:25 Okay. If we don't have any questions, we do not want to hold anyone up 

from anything else.

15:56:28 We can end this early. Even if it's just a couple minutes, thank you so 

much for attending and your interest in these programs.

15:56:36 We really value them.

15:56:43 We really hope to see your applications come in. Thank you so much 

for attending today.

15:56:55 There's a question. Are the locations requesting more than once a 

year?

15:57:10 For the replacement opportunity, we only open up this opportunity 

based on areas that have relinquishment.

15:57:17 Particularly for the Foster Grandparent Companion program.
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15:57:24 Every year, if we have any programs that close, then we will open up an 

opportunity like this one.

15:57:40 Hopefully, it's not the same areas that we posted today.

15:58:04 I hope I answered your question.

15:58:22 Thank you all again. If you have any questions please email and review 

the webinars that are already posted.

15:58:30 If you want to come back in January and hear my lovely voice again, 

you are more welcome to do that.

15:58:35 Happy holidays, stay healthy, we very much appreciate you.

15:58:42 >> Recording stopped.

15:58:42 >> [End of webinar].