TEXSHEP Communications

April 9, 2007

Dear TEXSHEP Subgrantees,

On April 6, 2007, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Management Team met to determine

  1. actual amounts for which subgrantees may apply for the 2007-08 TEXSHEP grant, and
  2. the extended, initial deadline for 2007-08 continuation applications, which was set for May 24, 2007.

After looking at available funds, the team determined there is enough funding to award all subgrantees an amount that is 96% of the amount received in the initial NOGA—the one that included the 10% reduction. PLEASE NOTE: If you were a mentor in the 2006-07 school year, you will have to deduct the $1,000 mentoring stipend from the total amount of the grant, then compute your 96% total from that amount, since mentoring officially is a one-year activity. You are encouraged to continue your mentoring relationship; however, expenses for this activity will have to come from your regular grant award or other sources. Sample calculations are shown at the end of this communication; additionally, Region 10 will send you an official notification regarding your award amount, and THEO will use that amount when negotiating your continuation application.

2008 Spring Training Costs

The management team is considering several options for the 2008 spring training session. For planning purposes, please use $250 as the registration fee for the event and compute travel costs for the conference being held in either Austin or Dallas, whichever would be more expensive for you. This is just a placeholder and is subject to slight changes pending final decisions about the training.

Background Information

For some of you, even a slight cut such as this poses challenges. This was a difficult decision for the management team, but given the amount of funds available, it was the best possible funding scenario.

For many years, our program's funding increased while others were significantly reduced or eliminated altogether. Those increases came to an abrupt halt a couple of years ago, and in fact, because of Katrina, we were cut 1% along with all other Federal programs. Congress level-funded the program for the 2007-08 school year and most likely will do the same for the 2008-09 year as well.

Region 10 was able to fund the first year of the TEXSHEP program at the levels it did because there was a significant amount of unspent funds left over from previous years. At the time the management team made the first-year awards, it decided to use as much of the unspent funds as possible, leaving a small cushion for the second year. Because Federal funds have a life of only 27 months, Region 10 could not leave a certain portion of funds on the table for the 2006-07 year or they would expire and be of no use to anyone. So, by using the funding available from previous years and adding it to the state's 2006-07 grant award, Region 10 was able to fund 43 projects in 2006-07. The large cushion we all enjoyed last year has shrunk a bit, so we will have to tighten our belts during the 2007-08 school year. It is likely that a similar scenario could happen again in the third year of the grant unless Congress suddenly decides to increase funding levels.

Making funding determinations unfortunately is not an exact science, and with a finite amount of funding available and final expenditure reports not due for seven months (leaving it up to us to guess how much will be returned), it is not possible to guarantee the same amount of funding in each year of the three-year grant cycle. In fact, it is quite common in discretionary (competitive) Federal programs for grant awards to decline in each subsequent year of a multi-year grant and for subgrantees to supplement their grant from other sources. If you are not already doing so, I strongly urge each of you to begin to cultivate some additional sources of funding to help you extend the reach of your TEXSHEP grant. THEO staff members stand ready to assist you in developing a plan to seek additional funding if you so desire; please contact your consultant if you are interested in pursuing this offer.

AWARD CALCULATION EXAMPLES

For non-mentors:

If you initially applied for $100,000, your first NOGA was reduced by 10%, or $10,000, making your award $90,000. To calculate your 2007-08 award, simply multiply $90,000 by 0.96, which totals $86,400.

calculation for non-mentors

For mentors:

If you initially applied for $100,000, your first NOGA was reduced by 10%, or $10,000, making your award $90,000. ÝMentors received a flat $1,000 to supplement their mentoring costs, so your total NOGA was for $91,000. To calculate your 2007-08 award, subtract the $1,000 mentoring stipend from your total NOGA, leaving $90,000 and multiply the $90,000 by 0.96 for a total of $86,400.

calculation for mentors

Should you have any questions regarding this communication, please contact me at 512-475-8765 or email me.

Best wishes for a great spring and summer!

Barbara

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