NAVIGATING THE
GRANT APPLICATION
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21ST CENTURY COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS FEDERAL
GRANT PROGRAM
Authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (20 U.S.C. 7171-7176), the 21st
Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) program is designed to establish or
expand community learning centers that provide students with academic enrichment
opportunities along with activities designed to complement the students’ regular
academic program.
21st CCLC programs must also offer families of students served opportunities for active
and meaningful engagement in their children’s education. Proposed programs must
serve students who attend high-poverty and low performing schools. Funds are
distributed on a competitive basis giving consideration to applications that include
schools in need of improvement.
For purposes of the grant a site will be defined using the school site listing posted on the
Oklahoma State Department of Education website at http://www.ok.gov/sde/state-
school-directory.
In order to eliminate duplication of services:
Applicants must specify the county, district, and site code where the students
participating in the program attend school.
Applicants are limited to serve students from two sites.
Each site must meet the eligibility requirements – Title 1 school-wide.
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BEFORE YOU START THE APPLICATION
The 21st CCLC grant is designed to build partnerships and engage community members
in your program. Successful applicants take the time prior to beginning the application
process to:
Establish an Advisory Committee and engage the members in the development
of the program.
Seek out community partners and outline roles and responsibilities.
Assess community needs.
Engage your fiscal staff in budget development.
Carefully review the grant guidance.
Visit a current 21st CCLC grantee program.
THE 21ST CCLC APPLICATION MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE
To gain access to the application:
Step 1 – All applicants must complete the Letter of Intent located on the How to
Apply page on our website.
Step 2 – Community-based (non-school) applicants must request credentials to
access the online Grants Management System.
Step 3 – Once these have been reviewed and approved, you will receive permission
from the 21st CCLC office to proceed to the application.
School District Applicants will access the application through the Single Sign-On System
at https://sdeweb01.sde.ok.gov/SSO2/Signin.aspx
Non District Applicants will access the application through the Grants Management
System website at https://egrantsweb.sde.ok.gov/OSDEGMSWebv02/logon.aspx
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CREATING AN APPLICATION
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To expand and contract sections, click the carrots next to the applications. To create
the application scroll down to the bottom of the GMS Access Select page.
Click here to
access the
application
Click on the carrots to expand and
contract the sections.
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Click on the carrot to
expand the section.
Click “Create Site” to
create your application.
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Welcome to your
application! Click “Yes.”
Fill in the name of your district,
organization, or afterschool program
and then click “Create New Project.”
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Once in the grant application, here are some imporrtantl points to keep in mind to
eliminate errors or being logged out of the system:
Do not use the “Back” button on the browser. Use only the menu of links in the
top right corner.
Give the system time to process after each click. Clicking too much can slow it
down or freeze the system.
DO NOT double click anything.
There are “Save” and “Spell Check” buttons at the bottom of each page. You
should spell check and save each page before moving on, and on long pages,
save as soon as you have filled in each answer.
The GMS is set up similar to a binder with tabs. The tabs across the top are the first level.
Some have more tabs beneath them. Make sure to work your way across the bottom
row of tabs before clicking on the next one across the top.
Use this menu to navigate. Using
the back button on your browser
could kick you out of the system.
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The Program Rubric tab is intended for applicants to see the scoring criteria peer
reviewers will use to score your application. You can review this, but it is not part of the
application to be completed.
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For non-district grant applicants, the Authorized Representative is the person who has
legal authority to bind the organization to the parameters outlined in the grant
application. Typically the Executive Director, CEO, etc.
Applicants working with a grant writer MUST disclose this here. Failure to click this box
may cause the application to be disqualified. When working with a grant writer, it is
IMPERATIVE that the Legal Authorized Representative or Superintendent know the
details of the grant application. The organization or district will be bound to these
expectations if awarded. It is highly encourage that the Authorized Representative also
thoroughly read the grant prior to submitting to make sure all the information is correct,
and the application is unique and true to the district’s or organization’s plans.
Applicants MUST disclose use
of a grant writer here!
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
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Collaboration is a federal requirement of this grant.
An active Advisory Committee structure should be in place throughout planning
through to the end of the 3-5 year duration of the grant.
Partners and the Advisory Board should have a substantive role in design,
delivery, and resources.
The Advisory Committee should be involved in the management, oversight, and
evaluation of the program throughout the 3-5 year duration of the grant.
All applicants MUST have a primary partner. For school districts, this should be a
community organization, and for non-district applicants this should be a school.
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The information on this page will be used in monitoring for the next five years, if
awarded. Please be SURE it is all correct, realistic, and that staff and administration are
able to achieve these levels by the second year.
These numbers, projections, and demographics should be targeting specific students
and their families who are most in NEED of the services.
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Please be sure to write the abstract carefully. This will be available on the OSDE website,
if awarded. Be sure to pay attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation, and to
keep the description short and straight to the point.
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The Advisory Committee should have been actively engaged in assessing the
community needs and helping to guide and create your 21st Century Community
Learning Center program design over the course of the past year. Here is where
evidence of meetings, activities, and their role(s) should be documented.
Be sure to print and upload the Advisory Committee Roster form provided here.
You can find the Advisory
Committee Roster form here.
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The Partnership Information List and School Collaboration Signature forms can also be
found here. Please print, have them filled out and signed, and upload them back into
the application.
School- or district-based grantees, will need only the Partnership Information List.
Community-based applicants, will need only the School Collaboration Signature.
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THE APPLICATION NARRATIVE
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There are several sections to be completed in the Program Design Narrative. Be sure to
complete all tabs on the bottom before moving on to the Resource Management
Narrative tab.
To see all the text of long answers, click and drag the three lines in the bottom right
corner of the text box and pull it down. This will resize the box so you can see the entire
answer.
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THE BUDGET
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The budget should reflect all aspects of the proposed program. Nothing should be in
the budget that wasn’t already mentioned specifically in the Application Narrative.
For specific allowable expenditures, please review the OSDE 21st CCLC Grant Guidance
thoroughly.
The use of simple formulas are highly encouraged so peer reviewers can easily see
exactly how funds will be used.
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Totals in the Budget Worksheet Summary will automatically be filled in.
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THE ASSURANCES
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The Assurances MUST be read and signed by the Superintendent or Authorized
Representative.
We encourage the Superintendent or Authorized Representative to print a couple
copies of each of the Assurance pages to keep and periodically review for themselves,
as well as Program Directors, Coordinators, and Fiscal Officers.
Each page of Assurances has a box at the top the Superintendent or Authorized
Representative must click, acknowledging they have read all the Assurances and
agree to them.
The checkboxes will automatically
fill in as Assurances have been
checked on each page.
Make sure the date is entered.
Click “Legal Entity Agrees.”
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ACCESSING YOUR SAVED APPLICATION
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If you don’t see anything but you
know you started (and saved) an
application, click on the carrot.
Then click open on the
application you named.
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PRINTING THE APPLICATION
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The very last tab is especially for printing the application, including your answers.
Clicking in the box will expand the selection providing a list of all of the main tabs in the
application. The selections in blue will expand to show the other sections within that
one.
Click here
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Clicking once will deselect the section and expand it. Click again on each specific item
to print.
Deselect any sections not needed.
Then click “Request Print.” The application will not immediately be ready to print but will
show up under “Requested Print Jobs.”
All print requests are processed on the hour and will be waiting under the section
“Completed Print Jobs.” They will be available for 7 days, after which, it will be
removed.
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SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION
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Make sure all tabs and questions have been answered.
Clicking on “Consistency Check” will search the application for any questions left blank.
After running the Consistency Check, a “Submit” button will appear, and you will be
ready to submit your application.
If you click “Lock Application,” then no other authorized users will be able to edit or
print the application. The Superintendent or Authorized Representative must go back in
and click “Unlock Application.”
This is a common issue at the moment of submission, especially when submitting close
to the deadline. It is highly encouraged that the Superintendent or Authorized
Representative be available when the district or organization is ready to submit the
application.
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PEER REVIEW PROCESS
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All applications are evaluated and rated through a peer review system based on the
rubric illustrated in the grant application.
The reviewers will have knowledge of out-of-school time programs and strategies that
improve the success of at-risk students.
Award selection will be based on merit, quality of information, and meeting the criteria
for the 21st CCLC grant application guidelines.
Grant guidance and all the information provided in this tutorial is also available on
our website at http://ok.gov/sde/21cclc.
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