WIOA State Plan Common Elements

The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is the responsible agency for distributing Title II funding. The Adult and Prison Education Resources Workgroup within the DDOE provides oversight to the grantees receiving Title II allocations. Title II Adult Education and Family Literacy funding will be used to provide services throughout the three counties of the state: New Castle, Kent and Sussex. Each county’s allocation will be based on the county’s need for services as reflected in high school completion data from the American Community Survey and the Delaware State Data Bureau. Providers currently receiving funding through a “Continuing Grant Application” issued in spring 2016 will receive funding to provide services as required in the Workforce Investment Act until June 30, 2016. DDOE will monitor each provider’s performance and financial reports and provide technical assistance as required. DDOE will administer a competitive application process to determine providers of AEFLA services in the three counties starting July 1, 2017. Funding will be available on multiple year cycles for a minimum of four years. In addition, all providers will submit annual continuing grant applications focused on program improvement. All providers will adhere to the same funding cycles. The RFP process will be implemented as follows: • February/March 2017 o The DDOE will publish a four year AEFLA Request for Proposal aligned with Delaware’s WIOA State Plan o The DDOE will provide technical assistance to those entities applying for funding • April/May 2017 o The proposals will be reviewed and providers will be determined. • May 2017 o Successful applicants will be notified. • July 2017 o Providers will begin grant cycle.

The same Request for Proposal process will be issued for all applicants. Eligible applicants will include but not be limited to: (1) local educational agencies; (2) community based organizations; (3) faith based organizations; (4) volunteer literacy organizations; (5) institutions of higher education; (6) public or private nonprofit organizations; (7) libraries; (8) public housing authorities; (9) a nonprofit institution not previously described; (10) consortiums or coalitions of agencies, organizations, libraries, institutions; or (11) an employer and entity previous described. Public announcements of the RFP including submission dates will be published to the DDOE and the state’s Office of Management and Budget Bid Solicitation websites. All applications will be reviewed for compliance with the 13 considerations of WIOA Title II and commitment to following all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding the provision of educational services within Delaware. The DDOE Finance Office will serve as an independent third party reviewing applications for responsiveness and completeness within the RFP’s timeframes. The Finance Office will forward only applications that meet the RFP requirements to the Adult and Prison Education Resources for evaluation. As one of the requirements of the application, all respondents will have to include evidence of demonstrated effectiveness in providing the types of services they are offering. Evidence should provide confidence that the respondent has successfully provided similar services to similar target populations as outlined in the RFP. Evidence should incorporate empirical and subjective data and can include performance data from previous projects, external evaluation studies, participant and stakeholder surveys, impact evaluations, and return on investment reports.