FNL Mentoring RFA FAQ's

6/12/09


1. What is the total dollar allocation for each county that is awarded a mentoring grant?
   
   
   • $33,500
   
   
2. Is there a difference in funding for the 3 program options?



• No, as long as the contracted 960 hours are met. If less than 960 mentoring hours are reported at the end of the grant cycle/year the payment to the county will be pro-rated in proportion to the hours completed.


3. The Mentoring RFA talks about utilizing a pre and post survey to measure the effectiveness of my program, is this something that I need to develop on my own or do we have a template?
   
   
   
   • At this time there is not a pre or post survey readily available at this time, but Butte County has developed some excellent evaluation tools that will be shared at our Mentoring Retreat in August, and you can contact YLI and utilize our Technical Assistance System to help you develop effective evaluation tools for your program.


4. Is this a brand new funding cycle, or is this just a Request for Continued Funding?



• This is a new, 3 year funding cycle; therefore this is an open bid process. Any and all counties that achieve Member in Good Standingstatus may apply for this grant.

6/16/09


5. Is the Needs Assessment necessary for this application?
   
   
   • Yes, the Needs Assessment must be completed and submitted with your FNLM Application. We attached a template and an example to the RFA
   
   
6. It is my understanding that this report (CSSA) no longer exists as it was terminated when No Child Left Behind was required. Is there flexibility here to gather similar information another way?
   
   
   • The California Healthy Kids Survey is another tool that can be used to gather the required information.
   
   
7. Who is eligible to apply? Does the applicant have to be the county or can a community based organization that is a Member in Good Standing apply directly?



• We can accept an application directly from the community based program that operates FNL in your county. The application requires a signature and letter from your county drug administrator acknowledging and supporting your application.

6/24/2009


8. In Attachment 1, the indirect rate is discussed and there are two options we have to select from the lesser of:



• The rate determined by using the restricted indirect cost rate formula or 8%


9. In Attachment 1, the question is, are we using our Indirect rate or is this the Partnership’s rate?



• Based on 34 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 76.563-76.569: the indirect cost rate is the lesser of the following two options:
  
  
  • The rate determined by using the restricted indirect cost rate formula or 8%
    
    
    • For example: California Department of Education (CDE) approved the FY2009-10 indirect rate for San Diego CDE is 9.49%. As you can see 8% is lesser than the approved rate. Please use 8% as the indirect rate for your budget proposal.



10. At the bottom of Attachment G, our Assistant Superintendent is authorized to sign the proposal…as has been the case in the past. Are we required to have the County Drug and Alcohol Program Administrator sign as well?



• We do want the AOD Administrator to support the application, so a letter and sign off is required for the application.  The contract will continue to be directly with SDCOE.


11. In regards to the formatting of the Needs Assessment in Attachment H, are we required to follow the same 12pt. font one inch margin, and double spacing as outlined on page 10 under 3.1.1. What restrictions, if any exist for tables and charts?



• Yes, the formatting should be the same and there are no restrictions for tables and charts.



• Also, the attachment pages are in addition to the RFA's 10 pages.

07/01/09


12. We are interested in adapting the FNL model by replacing Project Alert with an alternate curriculum.  We have had very good experiences at our non-fnl mentoring sites with this curriculum.  Would you consider this acceptable?



• The FNLM model at this point in time includes Project Alert as an evidence based component, helping us meet the requirements for SDFSC.  We welcome the addition of other components which could be used during the less structured times of FNLM.  An application that did not include the successful implementation of Project Alert would not be following the FNLM model and thus not responding to the RFA.



• In the FNLM application it is ok to go beyond the FNLM model and the applications will be scored on their clarity in meeting the model.  So meeting the model and doing more is cetainly acceptable and provides an enhanced experience for the youth.