welcome to the applicant webinar for the native hawaiian library services grant
program my name is anthony smith associate
deputy director within the office of library services
in this webinar i'll be providing information about the native hawaiian
library services grant program i'll review
eligibility go over the application process
the different application components and also offer you a few tips and
suggestions our goal is to help make the application
process as easy as possible while helping to ensure that all application
requirements are met
the native hawaiian library services grants are competitive awards for up to
two years and up to 150 000 cost share is not required
the anticipated period of performance for these awards is september 1st
2022 through august 31st
2024 to be eligible for this program you must
be a non-profit organization that primarily serves and represents
native hawaiians as the term is defined in title 20 of
the u.s code the term native hawaiian refers to an
individual who is a citizen of the united states and a descendant of the
aboriginal people who before 1778 occupied and exercised sovereignty in
the area that now comprises the state of hawaii
if you are an ineligible institution we encourage you to partner with an
eligible institution on a project while you cannot be the lead applicant
you may be able to apply through a partnership with an
eligible institution and receive funding to support activities in that manner
please also note that a grantee with an active native hawaiian library services
grant may not apply for another native hawaiian library services grant that
would have an overlapping period of performance with the active grant
the native hawaiian library services grants have three main goals with the
objectives that correspond to each goal the first goal
and objectives correspond to the digital services project category
on the program information form and they are to
improve digital services to support needs for education
workforce development economic and business development health
information critical thinking skills and digital literacy skills
objective 1.1 supports the establishment and refinement of digital infrastructure
platforms and technology objective 1.2 supports preservation and
access to information and resources through
digitization the second goal and objectives correspond to the
uh educational programming project category on the program information form
and they are to improve educational programs related to specific topics and
content areas of interest to library patrons and community-based users
objective 2.1 supports the identification of the needs
and interests of learners 2.2 supports the development and
implementation of classes events teaching tools resources and other
educational services and 2.3 supports the evaluative
assessment of library-based approaches to teaching and facilitation
the third goal and objectives correspond to the preservation and revitalization
project category on the program information form
and they are to enhance the preservation and revitalization of native hawaiian
culture and language objective 3.1 supports the development
of efficient strategic partnerships within across and outside native
hawaiian communities 3.2 supports the preservation of content
of unique and specific value to native hawaiian communities
and 3.3 supports the sharing of content within and or beyond
native hawaiian communities
you can find the notice of funding opportunity on our website
make sure to read the note folk carefully
and follow all of the links
pages six and seven of the notice of funding opportunity
includes a table that lists all the application components
what kind of format they need to be submitted as and which file name to use
when you're submitting your application package
use this list as a checklist for all the documents you will need to submit
by april 1st you want to make sure your application
is complete so that it's not rejected simply because
you missed or forgot a document
now this will give you a sense of the timeline and how the process works
grant proposals go through peer review reviewers will read your proposals and
evaluate them to make sure you have responded
to the notice of funding opportunity and that your proposal
project has potential for success we will present the reviewer comments
and scores to the imls director who will then make funding decisions
based on the reviewers evaluations and the overall goals of the program and of
the agency announcements will be made in
august for a september 1st start date
now to get a better idea about how to align your project with the three
categories you can use our awarded grant search
starting on the imls homepage click on the grants
at the top of the page and then click on search awarded grants
from here you can search native american hawaiian library services
under program and select fy21 under the fiscal
year and then hit submit if you click on an application log
number you'll you'll find a short description for each one
and under the description there is a pdf document that you can download which is
the proposal narrative schedule of completion and digital product form
if any uh existed for that particular project
okay so now i'm going to review the questions that you should address in
your proposal
as part of the imls supplementary information form you will include an
abstract here are some key questions to address
in the abstract you want to identify the lead applicant
and if applicable any collaborators describe the need
describe the problem or challenge your project will address
and how it will was identified
list the high level activities you will carry out and identify the associated
time frame identify who or what will benefit from
your project specify your project's intended results
and describe how you will measure your performance in achieving your intended
results
if your proposed project is selected for funding
your abstract may be published online as such it must not include any
sensitive or confidential information
your application narrative should have three main sections a project
justification project work plan and project results
in your project justification tell the reviewers
which program goal and associate objectives of the native hawaiian
library services grants program will your project address
what need problem or challenge will your project address
and how was it identified describe how you have used demographic
information economic circumstances condition
assessments and other relevant data from reliable sources to define the need
problem or challenge and develop the scope for the project
who is the target group for your project and how have they been involved in the
planning a target group refers to those who will
be most immediately and positively affected by your project
be specific by identifying particular age groups
community members with particular needs and or other types of target audiences
identify the number of individuals in the target group or in each
target group if you identify more than one
who are the ultimate beneficiaries for this project
beneficiaries refers to those who are likely to be aided in the long term by
your project they may or may not be the same
as your target group identify the number of individuals who
will benefit from your project in the long term
if reliable and defensible accounts are possible
otherwise describe the characteristics of the beneficiaries you expect to be
served eventually by your project
now your your project work plan section should address
the following questions what specific activities will you carry
out and in what sequence what are the risks to the project and
how will you mitigate them who will plan implement and manage your
project what time financial personnel and other
resources will you need to carry out the activities
identify any partner and or collaborator organizations that
will contribute to your project and describe their roles
how and with who will you share your work's general findings lessons learned
what data will you collect how often and from what sources
in order to measure your performance in terms of effectiveness
quality and timeliness i'll discuss more about this
in just a minute
does your project include any digital content resources assets software
or data sets if so be sure to create a digital
products form now examples of the digital product
include any data visualizations that are informing the project work
online materials such as web pages about the project
digital content products or or images
now for your project results section uh it should include the following
information what are your project's intended results
and how will they address the need problem or challenge you have identified
in the project justification how will the knowledge skills behaviors
capabilities and and attitudes of the intended
audience change as a result of your project
what tangible products will result from your project
how will you sustain the benefits of your project
how will you continue to support the project its results and or new models
that are created beyond the grant period for example will
there be ongoing institutional and or community support
of project activities or products
do you have a demonstrated buy-in from potential stakeholders
what are your plans for sustaining any digitized collections software
and supporting documentation information systems and and any other
technology tools
the native hawaiian library services grant program will use the following
three performance measurements as a basis for understanding the level of
performance by the grant program as a whole
and by each award supported through it
for effectiveness are the activities being supported by
the program to
improving digital services improving educational programs
and or enhancing the preservation and revitalization of native american
cultures and languages for quality is the program meeting user
requirements and expectations and for timeliness is each activity
being completed on time and as
captioning not proposed
to use the fillable chart length in the nofo
so now let's talk about key components of your application package
make sure to include the application components listed in the nofo and
included here on this slide conditionally required documents uh
include your proof of private non-profit status
your federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement
if you if you plan to include indirect cost in your budget
and the digital products plan if you are proposing to generate
digital content resources assets or software
again these are all conditionally required documents depending upon your
situation
you'll need to include an imls budget form and budget justification following
the standard budget categories listed on this slide
the budget justification explain the purpose
and cost breakdown for each expense listed in
the imls budget form your budget should include three
thousand dollars for imls directed travel
for each year of the budget and cost share is not required for this
program
you may submit a reasonable number of supporting documents that supplement
your narrative and support the project description
supporting documents should help imls staff and reviewers envision your
project in greater detail but they should not be used to introduce
new topics nor to continue answers to the narrative questions
give each document a clear descriptive title at the top of the first page
you can choose to include any of the supporting documents listed here on this
slide
make sure to submit a complete application with all required documents
don't forget all key personnel listed must have resumes
check the list of conditionally required documents for example
the digital products plan or proof of private nonprofit status
another conditionally required application component is the federally
negotiated indirect cost rate agreement if you have one remember that indirect
cost rate at the time of the award stands until the end of the award
cost rate agreement must extend through september 2022.
and then supporting documents might include
needs assessment letters of support planner
reports okay so now we'll we'll provide a few tips to help you with the
application process
first off please register early there are three places where you must
register your organization or to be able to submit a proposal
duns sam
and grants.gov you must be registered in san which is
the system for award management it's important to keep in mind
is that your sam registration is good for for just one year and must be
renewed it takes time to process the renewal so
we recommend checking your status early on
if it's not your job to track your sam registration
uh become friends with the person at your organization whose job it is to do
so and make sure this is in place
well in advance of the application deadline
grants.gov is the portal through which you will file your application
allow several weeks for the registration process here and even if you know you're
registered make sure you know who is authorized for your institution and make
sure they know their password staff change people retire and passwords
get misplaced in fact if you don't know for absolutely
sure that this is all in place now i strongly recommend checking on it as
soon as we get done here today again if it's not something you want to
be trying to accomplish anywhere close to the application deadline it's just
too much
so here are a few application tips based on our experience
get some feedback and revise revise your narrative
ask two or three people who are not involved in the grant to read the
proposal and provide feedback on ideas structure and grammar and spelling
consider their feedback and revise accordingly
proofread final verd the final version uh carefully
you spell check the spell check feature and then coordinate with your
administration to submit all your application components through
grants.gov before the deadline before the deadline
start today organizing what you need to apply and understanding who in your
organization can help confirm done sam and grants.gov registrations
remember to save all your documents as pdf files
grants.gov cannot convert them for you upload application files to grants.gov
prior to the deadline and i would encourage setting a date
prior to the deadline in case something unforeseen comes up
requiring more time newsgrants.gov workspace it's a it's a
great way to organize the work of the application progress in one work
environment and with any of your work partners who have
a role to play in the application prep and submission
and be sure to double check the uploaded files against the table of application
components in the notice of funding opportunity
that is your checklist to ensure that your applications
is completed
and then finally for questions about eligibility
your your narrative and project activities
the digital products plan or your budget including including
allowability of cost please don't hesitate to reach out to me
directly for questions about application
requirements and deadlines our two
wonderful outstanding program specialists
are available to help maeve kudrell and sheena afoqua
thank you for listening and we look forward to receiving your application
and as always best wishes from imls
you