Narrative: c.

The Colorado Department of Education Office of Adult Education Initiatives (AEI) will use the same competition process for section 225 (Programs for Corrections Education and Other Institutionalized Individuals) as will be used for section 231 for all eligible providers. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Office of Adult Education Initiatives (AEI) will ensure direct and equitable access to grants and contracts and will use the same grant or contract process for all eligible providers in the state. All applicants follow a detailed request for proposal, and each proposal is evaluated by a team of trained evaluators and AEI staff.

AEI will establish a work group of core partners and Combined State Plan partners to develop a communications/outreach plan to announce, inform, and provide technical assistance to eligible providers across Colorado. Written proposals will be solicited through a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) which provides application procedures and forms to be completed by applicant organizations. RFP information will continue to be provided throughout the year to all persons on the AEI provider email distribution list and to others with an interest in adult education and family literacy. The announcement will also be placed on the CDE web site, communicated through the official CDE newsletter, and in the public notices sections of the state’s largest newspapers.

The entire RFP and related documents will be posted each year on the CDE web site in a format that allows local providers to download and print them. Efforts will be made to solicit proposals from each of the ten federally designated workforce development areas to ensure adult education and family literacy services for Coloradans in each local area.

CDE will use the considerations specified in section 231(e) of WIOA to fund eligible providers by incorporating each of the considerations into the narrative portion of the application. Each applicant will be required to provide narrative detail to demonstrate how the applicant will meet each consideration. Finally, CDE will attach a point-based scoring rubric weighting each of the considerations.

Further, CDE will use no more than 20 percent of the 82.5 percent of the state grant that must be allotted to local programs for activities under Section 225. Colorado adult education and family literacy sub-grant recipients use funds, as allowable, to provide educational programs for criminal offenders in correctional institutions and other institutionalized individuals. Further, eligible providers will be asked to document collaborative efforts with talent development system partner programs in the local workforce development area, including but not limited to postsecondary training and education, vocational rehabilitation, and/or workforce in order to establish career pathways for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. As part of the competition rating criteria, specific consideration will be given to programs serving individuals who are likely to leave the correctional institution within five years of participation in the program. Local activities include adult basic education, workplace adult education and literacy activities, family literacy activities, and/or English language acquisition.