After School Programs - Non-School Districts Grant

The Illinois State Board of Education is offering the After School Programs - Non-School Districts grant to support eligible entities that are not school districts or Local Education Agencies in establishing after-school programs. The program is administered in accordance with 23 Ill. Admin. Code 268. Its stated purpose is to provide opportunities that support and improve students' academic achievement and promote positive behaviors. The program also emphasizes enrichment activities delivered in safe and healthy environments and recognizes that after-school programming can strengthen public, private, and philanthropic partnerships, provide more durable support services for students facing significant challenges, support working families, and positively affect the quality of communities. Eligible applicants are entities that are not school districts or Local Education Agencies. The source specifically identifies Regional Offices of Education, Intermediate Service Centers, community-based organizations, including faith-based organizations, and Indian tribes or tribal organizations as examples of eligible entities. Every applicant must propose to serve a student population that is at least 90 percent low-income. Applicants can satisfy this requirement by serving only schools in which at least 90 percent of students are low-income, using FY 2026 Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Data, or by assuring that at least 90 percent of the particular students to be served from participating schools are low-income when a school's overall low-income percentage is below 90 percent. For the second low-income eligibility method, applicants must explain how they will determine student eligibility without violating state or federal student privacy laws. Students meeting the income requirements of the School Breakfast and Lunch Program Act or another income-based public benefit program, as well as homeless children and youth as defined under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, are classified as low-income for program eligibility purposes. Schools and districts may not disclose the names of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. These requirements make the proposed student population and the applicant's method for documenting low-income eligibility central eligibility considerations. An Intent to Apply was a mandatory prerequisite for access to the application through IWAS. ISBE is no longer accepting Intent to Apply submissions. The Intent to Apply had to be completed before an applicant could submit a proposal in response to the NOFO, and all applicants, including entities that previously received an After School Programs - Non-LEA Grant, were required to complete one. Submission of the Intent to Apply did not obligate an entity to submit a proposal and did not guarantee either eligibility or an award. Applicants were still required to satisfy all eligibility requirements and submit a compliant proposal. Proposals were required to be submitted through ISBE's IWAS System no later than 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 6, 2026. Proposals received after that date and time were not accepted. The technology FAQ states that access to the RFP was granted to eligible entities through their IWAS administrative accounts and that the entity's IWAS administrator must approve an application that displays as pending district approval and submit it to ISBE. Applicants experiencing administrator or administrative-account access issues are directed to the ISBE Helpdesk at 217-558-3600. The FAQ also advises applicants to type directly into application narrative and goal text boxes rather than copy and paste from Word, to avoid special characters, and to save work regularly while monitoring the IWAS timer. The technology FAQ provides additional budget instructions concerning indirect costs. Indirect costs were not loaded into the RFP applications. Applicants were instructed to place the indirect cost expense on the Budget Detail page as a placeholder in the Expenditure Description and Itemization field, using function code 2900 and object code 100. The FAQ explains that the Indirect Cost Calculation page does not transfer the entered amount to the Budget Detail page while the indirect cost rate has not been loaded. If an applicant is awarded funding, the budget can subsequently be updated through an amendment after the indirect cost information is loaded. The FAQ also explains that no entities had yet been awarded at the time of publication, so negative allotment-remaining amounts appearing in the application were expected and would be corrected through an amendment if an award was made. The supplied materials do not state an award range, total program funding, number of awards, performance period, award notification date, matching requirement, or recurring future application schedule.

Type directly into IWAS text boxes rather than copying and pasting from Word; avoid special characters; save work as you go and monitor the IWAS timer; ensure the entity IWAS administrator approves and submits the application; place indirect costs on the Budget Detail page as a placeholder using function code 2900 and object code 100 pending amendment after award.