General Questions
If you have a question not covered by this document, please submit a help desk request in NOVA or email Perkinssupport@cccco.edu
1. What support will the Chancellor’s Office be offering the new Regional Consortia (RC) Teams? Who will be the primary contact?
The Chancellor Office will support RC Teams by providing technical support and professional development in partnership with the regions. The RC Teams are also encouraged to leverage each other’s expertise in the regions, as well as expertise of the Centers of Excellence (COE), colleges’ workforce development programs and Technical Assistance Providers (TAPs). Award recipients’ primary point of contact will be the program monitor assigned to the region.
2. Are there any new data collection tools in development to address community and contract ed services?
The Chancellor’s Office currently primarily uses NOVA, and the MIS system for data collection, with student and program data displayed collectively via LaunchBoard dashboards. These data collection and reporting tools allow grantees to report on the activities, data and evaluate outcomes. Future data collection tools may be developed to include community and contract education with the goal of moving towards integration of data as much as possible.
3. Will the Chancellor’s office want to see all Key Talent and Regional Consortia programs hosted at the same college district?
The key talent grants will end on December 31, 2021. The purpose of the Regional Collaboration and Coordinator RFA is to encourage regions to re-envision and redesign structures that support the colleges and the region in delivering local and regional outcomes stated in the RFA. There is no one size fits all model and regions are encourage to discuss and identify the most efficient and effective structure, including cost efficiency, in delivering and supporting regional activities and outcomes.
4. Will Team members need to be identified by name or only title of position?
The Chancellor’s Office will be reviewing readiness of the RC Team in launching in January 2022 with close to full functionality and capacity. Names and titles provided in the RFA, as well as percentage of effort provided in the budget narrative is an indication of readiness of the applicant’s proposed RC Team.
5. Being that the Regional Collaboration and Coordination RFA grant is competitive, are letters of support required?
As stated within RFA on page 20, the specified letters of support from the region’s colleges are required for application evaluation and will be considered in the determination of an award. If applicants are unable to obtain a college’s letter of support in the region, an explanation must be provided in the proposal. Applicants will not be disqualified for missing letters of support from colleges even though the goal is 100% as long as an explanation is provided.
6. What does the Chancellor’s Office plan to do to ensure that these Regional Collaboration & Coordination plans include Public Sector careers (in particular Teacher Preparation Programs)?
The Chancellor’s Office utilizes a regional approach to workforce and economic development in recognition that the State is large, diverse and regional economies are very different. Regions are encouraged to determine employment needs and growth sectors within their region, which may include careers in the public sector and prioritize strategies accordingly. Regions are also encouraged to ensure their regional plans (Strong Workforce, Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA), Adult Education, etc.) are reflective of significant, growing, and emerging job/occupational sectors, which may include the public sector, as part of their planning and prioritization process for program investments as regions deem appropriate.
7. How is work-based learning being defined?
Please refer to the Jobs for the Future (JFF) Work-based Learning Framework for more information.
8. The industry sectors are required but not scored. Should the applicant focus on industry sectors?
Applicants are encouraged to refer to their regional plans and any other available regional data or evidence that identifies skills gaps and needs for the applicant’s regions. Applicant should also address and incorporate the 21st century digital skills and literacy, as well as the key occupational sectors within the five economies as best as they can referenced in the RFA.
9. Is it required to address the five economies as stated in the RFA?
The five economies listed in the RFA is intended to provide a framework and reference to inform regions in the fast-changing landscape of jobs and occupational sectors accelerated by the pandemic, automation and digitization of jobs. Applicants should consider and address how their region plan to adapt and evolve programs, offerings, and work with employers in mapping of job skills and competencies to programs, and building of career pathways that will prepare students for the changing work environment, and digitization of jobs requiring new skills and competencies to be successful. Applicants should include a clear and concise strategy to meet the region’s workforce and economic development needs based on the significant shifts that is occurring in industry to assist the State with jobs recovery with equity.
10. Which regional plans are required to be submitted with the application?
Applicants are required to submit the most recent CLNA plan for their region, as well the most recent regional SWP plans submitted for FY 20-21. Applicant’s proposed activities should align with the region’s CLNA and SWP regional plans as well as outcomes. Please note that Regional Teams will be expected to assist the region in developing an updated CLNA by February 2022 for Perkins IC funds, that is integrated with the SWP regional plans.
11. Can a grantee sub-contract an alternate Project director within the region outside of the host college?
It is up to the host to staff dedicated personnel on the RC Team to manage and deliver the required activities for the RFA, in a manner that achieves required deliverables and outcomes. Please note that regardless of how an applicant structures and staffs the RC Team, accountability of the personnel structure and reporting lines must be clearly stated in the application.
12. How many grants will the Chancellor's Office award?
The Chancellor’s office intends to make one award per region.
Application Process
13. Who is on the application review team?
The application review team will include a cross section of Chancellor’s Office staff, and State workforce experts.
14. Are the applicant presentations on September 8, 2021 open to the public?
Applicant presentation is the second part of the application and it is not open to public. Application presentations will be held via zoom. Applicants should be prepared to provide a 30-minute overview of the application (PowerPoints are acceptable) by the key members of the RC Team the key elements of their submission.
15. Will the host college also be responsible for managing the K14 TAP and K12 PCs contracts and work in the region in addition to the K12 SWP application, review, award and contracting process?
Yes, the RC Team will also be responsible for managing the current K12 SWP funds and contracts within each region under the current arrangement.
16. In the RFA, the five economies are designated as target areas for the application and the NOVA platform requests for three industry sectors with an option to add additional ones. Please clarify.
Please see the response in question 9 above.
The five economies listed in the RFA is a framework from a study conducted by Burning Glass to call attention to focus on current occupational sectors, skills and competencies needs of employers and how they have and are projected to evolve over the next few years. Applicants may wish to address how the five economies apply within their regional economy and the shifts in programs that will be need to meet employment needs and economic growth in their region. Applicants are encouraged to provide a clear and concise strategy to meet of the region’s workforce and economic development changing needs.
17. Recognizing that the Board of Governors of the CA Community Colleges requires that this grant is competitive, should the CEO’s in a region engage in a preliminary screening/interview process and choose one specific college to submit an application, or can any college submit an application?
No. As a competitive grant the Chancellor's Office encourages all interested qualified applicants to submit their proposal according to the terms found in the request for application guidelines. In this case, any CA Community College may apply.
Funding Questions
18. What is the maximum indirect costs for the host college?
No more than 4% of the total grant award can be allocated as indirect costs. The following is an example of indirect calculation.
Total grant amount = $200,000 divided by 1.04 = $192,308 operations budget (rounded). 4% indirect amount = $200,000 less $192,308 operations budget = $7,692.
19. Please provide additional details as to what types of sub-grants might be allowed?
Any Sub-grants should support delivery of project activities and outcomes, and should be under the direct management and oversight of the RC Team. Any sub-grantee must be subject to the all the terms and conditions of the RFA. Applicants must provide details on the nature of the activities and deliverables to be conducted in respect to the RFA requirements, and ensure that all activities are allowable and permissive.
20. Is there no longer a 5% admin in the Regional SWP funding?
The SWP regional funds is managed under a separate set of requirements and conditions that currently applies. The RC Team will have oversight of the Regional SWP funds, which includes 5% for admin and fiscal fees.
21. Can ETP funds be consider as cash match?
ETP funds may not be used as a cash match for this RFA. Regional and local SWP funds, Adult Education, and other local or federal funds (not Perkins) may be used as match.
22. What are the match requirements for this grant?
Please see page 13 of the RFA for specific match requirements and examples.
Fiscal year. Applicants are to develop an 18 month budget in two parts: 1) one budget covering six months (50% of the annual) for the period January 3, 2022 through June 30, 2022, and 2) one budget for FY 22-23 for July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. Subsequent annual funding amounts will be provided as scheduled periods after award. All grant funding is subject to federal and state budget authorization and funding.
Reporting Requirements
24. Would the RC Team be required to develop reporting systems for gathering performance and outcomes data from colleges or would there be a statewide system into which colleges could directly report this information?
Grant performance and outcomes data will be reported via the NOVA system. Recipients may wish to determine how they wish to design any necessary data collection process necessary for ease of reporting purposes, but are not required to develop any data reporting system.
25. Contract Education may provide training to individuals who are not technically college students, but rather "trainees". Can this type of training be considered if it increases employment outcomes?
Any individual served by a community college regardless what program they participate in should be considered a student. Our system currently has limited options in capturing all students that walk through our colleges’ door and served regardless of how they are enrolled at the colleges. All student outcomes are important and should be capture for reporting purposes.
Additional FAQs
Regional Collaboration and Coordination Grant FAQ (PDF)
