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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