Federal COVID-19 Relief FAQ

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is making $195.6 million General Fund and $10 million Federal Funds available to fund participating school districts for academic summer school. 

There are three available grants for summer academic support:

• School Child Care Grants – K-5 Level
• Summer Enrichment Program Grants – K-8 Level
• Summer Academic Support Grants – High School Level

For more information, visit this ODE page.  

The Oregon Community Foundation plans to award, through State funding,  $40 million for school-aged children to participate in community-based learning, enrichment, and recreation programs offered through non-profits and public agencies across the state during summer 2021. OFC seek proposals from summer learning programs that serve K-12 children and youth for summer 2021 programming. 

Grants are intended to ensure that youth and families have access to summer learning and/or enrichment programs. Grants Grants will cover general operating costs of programs, including but not limited to: 

• Hiring and/or compensating staff or contractors to conduct outreach to families, coordinate and plan programs, and provide summer learning opportunities for K-12 youth.
• Materials, resources, curricula, equipment, food and basic needs, transportation costs, stipends, scholarships, incentives, and other items to successfully support providing summer learning opportunities.
• Costs associated with expanding summer program offerings to reach and include more students/families, including additional space, materials, resources, transportation, and staffing.
• Materials, equipment, PPE, trainings, and other items necessary to meet OHA guidelines to ensure staff, participants, and families’ safety needs are met.
• Hiring staff or contracting with experts to ensure program(s) are able to meet evolving OHA guidelines to ensure the safety of participants, families, and staff. 

For more information, click here.

One-time grants ranging $15,000 to $200,000 will be awarded to eligible organizations. Applicants must have offered similar programming to youth for at least one prior summer and commit to monitoring and continuing to meet OHA and Ready Schools, Safe Learners (for school-based programs) guidelines.

Eligible organizations include:

• Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations
• Tribal governments
• Public agencies including libraries and parks and recreation departments
• Churches, schools, colleges located in Oregon that provide community-based programming.

Examples of eligible summer program focus areas include but are not limited to:

• Arts
• Environmental education
• STEM/STEAM
• Literacy, 
• Mentoring & service learning
• Sports/recreation
• Summer academics
• Workforce development
• Museum education

A PDF of the application to review can be found here and a PDF of the full RFP here. Visit MyOCF to start the application process.

If your program is also serving 0-5 kids, you may be eligible for funding for early childhood support. You can learn more here.

Completed applications will be accepted, reviewed, and awarded on a rolling basis throughout the spring to ensure programs have funds in hand to begin planning and implementation. OCF will seek the advice of a community based advisory committee throughout the granting process to ensure that the program is meeting community priorities.

Total Money reserved from the ESSER Fund for Oregon – $1,121,029,000

The ESSER funds are awarded to SEAs based on their based on their relative shares of grants awarded under Title I-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), for the most recent fiscal year (2020).

• Estimated Grant total: $1,121,029,000
• State Share of Available Funds: 0.92%
• Estimated Minimum Reservation to Address Learning Loss: $56,051,000
• Estimated Minimum Reservation for Summer Enrichment: $11,210,000
• Estimated Minimum Reservation for Afterschool Programs: $11,210,000
• Estimated Maximum Reservation for Other State Activities: $28,026, 000
•  Estimated Minimum Funding for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs): $1,008,926,000
• Estimated Minimum Reservation of LEA Funds to Address Learning Loss: $201,785,000
  
• Estimated Maximum Reservation for State Administration: $5,605,000

The funds from the EANS Program will be allocated by the SEA to provide services or assistance to non-public schools that “enroll a significant percentage of low-income students and are most impacted” by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The services or assistance that could be provided to address educational disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic included, for example, personal protection equipment, educational technology, and reimbursement for the expense of certain services or assistance that the non-public school incurred after the date of the national emergency declaration related to the coronavirus.

• Estimated Grant total: $25,161,000
• State Share of Available Funds: 0.91%

Funds appropriated under the HEERF would be divided among four programs:

• direct grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs): public and private nonprofit IHEs and postsecondary vocational institutions;
• direct grants to IHEs: proprietary IHEs; 
• programs for minority serving institutions (MSIs); and
• the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). 

Funds available for the HEERF under the Senate substitute would be allocated through the four programs listed above as follows: 

• 91% as direct grants to public and private nonprofit IHEs and postsecondary vocational institutions; 
• 1% as direct grants to proprietary IHEs;
• 7.5% through MSI programs authorized under Title III-A, Title III-B, Title V-A, and Title VII-A-4 of the Higher Education Act (HEA);7 and
• 0.5% through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) authorized under HEA Title VII-B. 

This allocation of funds mostly follows the allocation of HEERF funds under the CRRSAA, with the following two exceptions:

• The reservation of funds for direct grants to public and private nonprofit IHEs and postsecondary vocational institutions would be increased from 89% to 91%; and 
• The reservation of funds for direct grants to proprietary IHEs would be decreased from 3% to 1%. 

• Estimated Grant total: $401,412,00
• State Share of Available Funds: 1.01%