Important Dates and Resources:

• The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) was released Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, at 12 p.m. in the DC Register. View here.
• The Request for Applications (RFA) was released on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at 12 p.m. Please visit the District Grants Clearinghouse to access the full RFA.
• The pre-application meeting will be held on Nov. 13, 2024 at 11 a.m. To attend the pre-application meeting, please register here. A link will be sent after registration. A recording of the information session will be available no later than Nov. 15 as an attachment to this webpage.
• Pre-application questions are due by 3 p.m. EST on Nov. 20, 2024. Send all questions to [email protected] with the subject line, RFA Question: WCEW Grant. Answers to submitted questions will be made available by Dec. 4, 2024 as an attachment to this webpage.
• The deadline for application submission is 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 18, 2024.
• The grant period is anticipated from Jan. 27 to Sept. 30, 2025.
• Week of Nov. 18 Announcement: The character limit for all questions (except for the technical assistance plan) under the Program Abstract and Program Plan sections of the FY25 Whole Child and Educator Wellness Grant application has been increased from 1000 to 3000 characters. This update will take effect on Nov. 20, 2024. This update gives applicants additional space to respond to each question that requires a written response under these sections of the application. This update does not change anything else within the application. Applicants must still submit their application by Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. to be considered for an award.

Grant Background: The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), Division of Health and Wellness (HW) is soliciting applications for the Whole Child and Educator Wellness (WCEW) grant. The purpose of the WCEW grant is to:

1. Build the capacity of early childhood education (ECE) facilities and public and public charter schools in the District of Columbia to adopt and strategically implement policies, processes, and practices that integrate health and wellness into the facility or school to support student and staff success.
2. Leverage the capacity of technical assistance (TA) providers to convene ECE/schools and community-based organizations (CBOs) in the identification and implementation of evidence-based and best practices to create and sustain healthy learning environments based in whole child and whole educator approaches.
3. Cultivate a consortium of experts to elevate trends and opportunities, and to create and enhance existing OSSE materials, TA guides and resources to help improve healthy ECE and school programming across the District.

CBOs will deliver capacity building services to facilities and schools using a TA model focused on one of the following Priority Areas:

• Priority Area #1: Health education, physical education (PE), and physical activity;
• Priority Area #2: Environmental education, garden-based education, and farm to ECE or school programs; and
• Priority Area #3: Educator wellness.

As such, the WCEW grant supports high-quality program implementation with a focus on coordinating policy, process, and practice to improve health and learning, aligned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria: OSSE HW will accept applications from CBOs that can demonstrate expertise and success working with DC ECE facilities and/or public and public charter schools to build capacity through the provision of TA in one or more of these following areas: physical activity, PE, health education, environmental education, garden-based education, farm to ECE or school programs, or educator wellness. CBO eligibility, expertise, and success working with ECE facilities and/or schools will be evaluated in the review process. CBOs that are unable to demonstrate their capacity to deliver a TA model are ineligible for funding.

CBOs will partner with a minimum of five DC ECE facilities and/or public and public charter schools. CBOs must include in their application letters of commitment from each ECE facility and/or school that the CBO plans to use as partners.

Length of Award: This grant period is through Sept. 30, 2025.

Available Funding for Award:

• The total funding available for the WCEW program is $900,000. The funding available for Priority Area #1 and Priority Area #2 is $400,000 and the funding available for Priority Area #3 is $500,000.
• Awarded grantees are expected to receive between $50,000 to $150,000 for the grant period.
• OSSE anticipates awarding funds to six to nine applicants, per funding availability.

Please see the RFA for more details.

Resources

• FY25 Whole Child and Educator Wellness Logic Model Template
• FY25 Whole Child and Educator Wellness Grant Pre-Application Conference

For more information regarding this competition, please contact:

Kimberly Thompson
Program Specialist
Division of Health & Wellness
[email protected]