Breakfast After the Bell Grant Program

The Illinois Breakfast After the Bell Grant Program is administered by the Illinois State Board of Education. The program is a state-funded competitive grant established for fiscal year 2025, with $300,000 appropriated and available for awards. The program supports implementation of Breakfast After the Bell service models in schools to make school breakfast more accessible to students and increase participation in the School Breakfast Program. ISBE identifies positive relationships between adequate child nutrition and physical, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as school attendance and readiness to learn. The Illinois Breakfast After the Bell Grant Program is identified as new in fiscal year 2025 and operates under the Childhood Hunger Relief Act. ISBE may award up to $7,000 per eligible school site for nonrecurring expenses incurred in initiating a Breakfast After the Bell Program. Allowable costs include acquisition of equipment, staff training for new capacities, outreach to publicize new or expanded school breakfast programs, minor alterations needed to accommodate new equipment, computer point-of-service systems for food service, and vehicles used to transport food to schools. The grant uses an unrestricted indirect cost rate. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The grant period begins no sooner than December 1, 2024, and extends from the execution date of the grant through June 30, 2025. Eligible entities are school districts, charter schools, Regional Offices of Education, and Intermediate Service Centers. An applicant also must be an approved School Food Authority that currently participates in the National School Lunch Program. A School Food Authority may apply for one or multiple schools under its authority, but each school application is scored as a separate project. Every public school in which 70 percent or more of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in October of the preceding year is required to operate a Breakfast After the Bell Program under the Childhood Hunger Relief Act, while schools below that threshold may choose to operate such a program. Applicants must complete applicable Illinois Grant Accountability and Transparency Act prequalification requirements and meet System for Award Management registration requirements. Successful applicants also must complete specified fiscal, organizational, and programmatic risk assessments before grant awards can be executed. A complete proposal consists of the Uniform Application for State Grant Assistance, Applicant Eligibility and Project Summary, a School Application for Breakfast After the Bell Grant Program for each school requesting funding, the State Budget Summary and Payment Schedule, and the Budget Summary Breakdown. Required signatures must be included. The budget must use the prescribed form, and district budgets must be signed by the district superintendent; other applicants must obtain the signature of the authorized official. The Budget Summary Breakdown must describe anticipated expenditures in relation to the State Budget Summary and Payment Schedule line items and include subcontract information when applicable. Proposals were required to be scanned into PDF with supporting documents and signatures and submitted through the ISBE Attachment Manager, selecting Emily Durbin as the receiver, or emailed to edurbin@isbe.net. The entity name, RCDT number, and grant program name were to be included in the submission message or subject line. Applications are evaluated competitively on need, capacity, and quality, with each school application evaluated as a separate project. A committee of at least three evaluators independently scores each proposal, and individual scores are averaged. The base evaluation provides up to 30 points: five points for describing the eligible school site's Breakfast After the Bell program and stakeholder engagement; five points for a project budget covering nonrecurring implementation expenses; five points for identifying public or private resources supporting implementation and sustainability; five points for commitment to operate the program for at least three school years; five points for describing the service model and how it will reach more students; and five points for a sustainability plan. Up to 120 additional priority points are available based on fiscal year 2024 free and reduced-price meal eligibility data, including points related to the percentage of eligible students and whether the school meets statutory thresholds for required breakfast programs. Awards are allocated from the highest-scoring project downward until available funds are exhausted. Ties are resolved first by the higher free and reduced-price meal eligibility percentage and then by higher student enrollment. The application deadline was 4 p.m. on November 14, 2024, and late proposals were not accepted. Successful applicants were anticipated to receive a Notice of Award by email approximately 90 days after the application deadline. The award letter itself did not authorize performance or expenditures, and expenditures incurred before programmatic approval were at the applicant's own risk. Grantees are required to submit expenditure reports at least quarterly through the Expenditure Reporting System in IWAS and programmatic reporting annually through IWAS, unless more frequent reporting applies. At minimum, grantees are expected to meet the target level of performance for at least one Program Accessibility performance measure, with project activities on track for completion during the grant period. The solicitation does not state that the opportunity recurs annually or on another regular schedule. Technical assistance and information regarding the funding opportunity are available from Emily Durbin at edurbin@isbe.net or 217-782-2491. First-time applicants without an RCDT code are directed to contact the agency contact to obtain one before submitting an application. ISBE stated that changes to the NOFO/RFP would be posted on its Funding Opportunities webpage prior to November 8, 2024, and applicants were advised to check for changes before submitting.

Address every scored element directly: describe stakeholder engagement and need; provide a clear budget limited to nonrecurring initiation expenses; identify resources supporting implementation and sustainability; demonstrate district and school commitment to operate Breakfast After the Bell for at least three school years; explain the service model and how it will reach more students; provide a plan to sustain operations for at least three school years. Free and reduced-price meal eligibility also drives priority points.