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Frequently Asked Questions about NFIA’s Parent Corps Request for Proposals

If you have a question about the Parent Corps application process and don't see an answer on this page, please e-mail us at nfia@nationalfamilies.org. Check this page frequently as we will be updating it continuously with new questions and answers.

-Could you say more about which organizations can apply?
-On Page 7 of the Parent Corps RFA, the organizational chart makes no reference to the Parent Corps state coordinator. Is there a change in our original understanding of that position?
-Who covers liability insurance for the Parent Corps employees and volunteers and when does it become effective?
-In the state of Connecticut there is the Family Education Rights and Protection Act (FERPA) 20 USC Section 123 2G which states that schools cannot give information about students without parental consent, i.e., school directories. School districts have their own confidentiality policies. If the information is not made available to us because of this law, how will that affect our application and/or what impact will it have in your selection process?
-Please clarify the statement (page 8, paragraph 1) that requires working parent volunteers to work up to 12 hours per week and non-working parent volunteers to work up to 40 or more hours a week. It is our understanding that these positions are non-paid (voluntary).
-Is drug data necessary for the control-group schools?
-Please clarify the term "self-funded."
-When do benefits/health insurance begin for parent leaders and other paid PC employees?
-If we apply for PC and we receive funds, the people hired become employees of NFIA. If we raise additional funds from our state, then do those people become NFIA employees or ours at our pay scale?
-If we don't apply for PC and we raise our own money and hire our own people, can we then contract with NFIA for our people to receive the 5 days trainings and work under the PC umbrella, but not "actually be part of PC" ?
-If we do not receive money from NFIA for PC, but we have raised our own money and our people attend your trainings, does PC still come into our state and try to raise funds?
-Who will provide supervision and guidance to the two Parent Leaders that will be employed by NFIA?
-Will funds be provided for their office space, equipment, materials, supplies, transportation?
- What are the proposed dates for the 5-day Parent Corps Basic Training?
-There appears to be a conflicting requirement on page 13 of the Parent Corps RFA in the paragraph titled “Letters from School Principals.” On the one hand, the RFA requires letters from the principals of each proposed school. On the other, the RFA’s Appendix D must be signed and submitted with our application. Who signs Appendix D?
- The Instructions for Applicants (page 14 of RFA), require a narrative no longer than 15 pages using 1 side per page, numbered pages, and 12 point Times Roman with 1 inch margins. Should the pages be double-spaced?
-We have had terrible weather here in the Northeast which has slowed everything down. All of our principals have promised to give us letters to submit with our application, but we are worried that another weather delay in mail service might prevent us from receiving all letters by the time we must submit our application.
- Why is there no budget to complete? Does the absence of a budget mean that, for example, space (for state coordinator position when funded) and services provided by the state partner would be done on an in-kind basis?
-Would this in-kind basis continue to be the case although NFIA might be successful in raising funds from the various states?
-Who is RTI International?
-It was mentioned in a previous answer that “Technical Assistance” during the application process would be provided by NFIA. What is meant by TA?
-We understand NFIA will work with its partner states to raise funds for the Parent Corps. Is the Partner state organization able to keep its funding sources autonomous?
-If we raise funds together, do any of those funds stay in our organization or do all funds go to NFIA?
-In terms of funding for the Parent Leaders, when does the funding begin and what is the duration?
-In terms of funding for the Local Coordinators, is this the same?
-Who approves/interviews applications for State Coordinators, Local Coordinators, and Parent Leaders?
-Can you please provide more description for what is meant by "cooperate with RTI's implementation and impact evaluation efforts"? Please be specific.
-What are the proposed dates for the 5-day training?
-What kind of research modality is planned? What is the length of telephone surveys? What kind of survey questions are planned? Principals/school systems want much more detail about the evaluation plan - please help!
-What assurances can you provide to schools - that names of schools, parents, and students will not be identified in evaluation reports or in any other way?
-How can I type in the forms (Appendices C, D, E) of the Parent Corps application on the computer? I don't have a typewriter - will I have to handwrite? These are PDF files and they don't allow me access to type directly on them. Can you send as Word documents?

Could you say more about which organizations can apply?

National Families in Action is seeking state partner organizations that have either emerged from the first parent movement or have been created more recently by parents who want to help other parents prevent alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use among children. As mentioned in the RFA, these organizations must be 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is drug prevention, whose primary target is parents, and who work with parents throughout their state to mobilize them into drug prevention. They must be parent-formed and parent-directed, that is, parents must run the organization for other parents.

On Page 7 of the Parent Corps RFA, the organizational chart makes no reference to the Parent Corps state coordinator. Is there a change in our original understanding of that position?

Because the Congressional appropriation for the Parent Corps was spread over three years, there is not enough funding in this grant to provide salaries for state coordinators. However, National Families in Action has made the commitment to try to raise additional funds in each state to hire and pay the salary of 1) a state coordinator who will work out of NFIA’s state partner’s office, 2) two additional parent leaders, and 3) one local coordinator. This is why NFIA is asking each candidate organization to help identify and lead NFIA to funding sources within its state.

Who covers liability insurance for the Parent Corps employees and volunteers and when does it become effective?

These responsibilities are NFIA’s. All NFIA employees including Parent Corps employees are covered by NFIA’s general liability policy. We are in the process of confirming that Parent Corps volunteers registered with NFIA will also be covered. The registration process is explained in NFIA’s Parent Corps Basic Training.

In the state of Connecticut there is the Family Education Rights and Protection Act (FERPA) 20 USC Section 123 2G which states that schools cannot give information about students without parental consent, i.e., school directories. School districts have their own confidentiality policies. If the information is not made available to us because of this law, how will that affect our application and/or what impact will it have in your selection process?

NFIA will provide technical assistance to each applicant who requests help to work through such problems. For example, you might request, and submit with your application, a letter from the principal of each school you propose in which the principal agrees to notify the school’s parents that the Parent Corps might come to their school and asks for their consent to release the school directory to RTI International for evaluation purposes. It is very important to obtain access to the school directory, because the evaluators need it to survey parents and children by phone.

Please clarify the statement (page 8, paragraph 1) that requires working parent volunteers to work up to 12 hours per week and non-working parent volunteers to work up to 40 or more hours a week. It is our understanding that these positions are non-paid (voluntary).

There is no requirement that volunteers must work a given number of hours. NFIA estimates that, once mobilized by a parent leader, some parent volunteers may work up to those numbers of hours as they form parent drug-prevention groups to protect the children in their school communities.

Is drug data necessary for the control schools?

Yes, if it exists and applicants can obtain it. If survey data is not available, descriptive data that paints a picture of the drug problem in the school community will suffice.

Please clarify the term "self-funded."

Under the requirements of this grant, NFIA will start the Parent Corps in 10 states with a state partner organization and two full-time salaried parent leaders in each of those 10 states.

We anticipate that more parents -- in the other 40 states as well as in the 10 start-up states -- may want to become volunteer parent leaders in anticipation of being able to receive salaries later as additional funds become available. No one can become a parent leader in the Parent Corps, salaried or unsalaried, without first receiving the Parent Corps Basic Training, a five-day event which NFIA will offer once a quarter, or more often, in Atlanta.

Interested parents may raise funds to finance their costs (transportation, accommodations, meals, and training fees and materials) to travel to Atlanta for the 5-day Parent Corps Basic Training. Once trained, these parents will be certified as Parent Corps parent leaders. Because they raised the funds themselves, they will be “self-funded” parent leaders in the Parent Corps.

Some parents may not only raise funds to become trained and but also raise funds to pay their salaries for two years of service, seeking sponsorships from local businesses, faith institutions, or civic associations to support their work in the Parent Corps. These parents will also be “self-funded” parent leaders in the Parent Corps.

In both cases, NFIA will help interested parents with suggestions about how to locate and approach potential funders with such requests.

Finally, this grant will pay for partial scholarships to attend NFIA’s quarterly Parent Corps Basic Trainings on a first-come, first-served basis. Watch NFIA’s Drug Abuse Update (at http://www.nationalfamilies.org) for the announcement of NFIA’s quarterly Parent Corps Basic Training schedule.

When do benefits/health insurance begin for parent leaders and other paid PC employees?

Employer share of taxes, employee tax withholdings, and general liability insurance coverage begin when NFIA hires an employee. Under NFIA’s plan, employees are eligible for health insurance benefits 30 days later. Employees may extend health insurance coverage to eligible family members at their own expense via payroll deduction.

If we apply for PC and we receive funds, the people hired become employees of NFIA. If we raise additional funds from our state, then do those people become NFIA employees or ours at our pay scale?

First, NFIA's State partners will not receive any funds from this grant.

What they will receive is:

1) Two Parent Leaders to begin the Parent Corps in their state in 2 of the 6 schools they propose in their application

2) The 5-day Parent Corps Basic Training in Atlanta with all expenses paid for those 2 Parent Leaders and the state partner's CEO or designee (such as the person who will serve as Parent Corps State coordinator once NFIA is able to raise the necessary funds)

3) An HHS region wide 1-day workshop conducted in the partner's state in partnership with NFIA at NFIA's expense

4) The opportunity to join NFIA and RTI International to demonstrate whether empowering parents in a given school community to prevent drug abuse among children actually reduces drug use among that school's students

5) The opportunity to work in partnership with NFIA to build the Parent Corps into a nationwide prevention entity similar to the Peace Corps. NFIA's additional commitment to each of its state partners is to raise funds to cover the cost of a) a state coordinator whom NFIA will employ to work out of the partner's state office b) an annual budget for the state office c) 2 additional Parent Leaders, for a total of 4 Parent Leaders.

Second, NFIA is not asking state partners to raise funds. Instead, we are asking state partners to lead us to funding sources within their state so that we can raise funds to expand the Parent Corps there. All additional Parent Leaders will be NFIA employees paid at the same scale across the United States, that is, at full time salaries of $25,000 plus 25% benefits. Think about the Peace Corps, which is the model for the Parent Corps. Basic training for the Peace Corps is universal, as are salaries/stipends for Peace Corps volunteers.

If we don't apply for PC and we raise our own money and hire our own people, can we then contract with NFIA for our people to receive the 5 days trainings and work under the PC umbrella, but not "actually be part of PC" ?

No. The advantage of partnering with NFIA to build the Parent Corps in your state comes from partnering with a national organization that guarantees potential funders nationwide fiscal responsibility and program fidelity. Again, think of the Peace Corps. Our 27 years experience in the drug prevention field, and more importantly in the nonprofit world, teach us that potential funders are more likely to provide funds for a national program to a single organization that both coordinates and manages the program in partnership with state partners. Just like the Peace Corps, the Parent Corps is not an umbrella organization, but rather a single program.

If we do not receive money from NFIA for PC, but we have raised our own money and our people attend your trainings, does PC still come into our state and try to raise funds?

Yes. See the answer above for the reason why. Our goal for the program is to help our state partners expand the Parent Corps in their states and free them to concentrate on getting the job done, rather than having to devote time to fundraising, accounting, and other management responsibilities that can be consolidated. State partners will be free to continue to raise funds to support other projects that fulfill their missions, but NFIA is asking for partners to help it create, manage, and expand the Parent Corps in their states.

Who will provide supervision and guidance to the two Parent Leaders that will be employed by NFIA?

NFIA will provide this directly through its Parent Corps National Coordinator, in partnership with each of its state partners. Once salaries for state coordinators are raised, state coordinators will help NFIA provide supervision and guidance to all parent Leaders in their state. At that point, Parent Leaders will report to NFIA's national coordinator through their state coordinator.

Will funds be provided for their office space, equipment, materials, supplies, transportation?

No. We do not anticipate that Parent Leaders will need office space to do their work. They will work out of their homes on flexible time, working 40 hours a week but not necessarily during traditional 9 to 5 schedules. Their job is to recruit, educate, and motivate parents to form drug prevention groups. Because 60 percent of today's parents are in the workplace, parent leaders will need to work with parents when and where they can find them. With our state partners' help, as we are able to raise additional funds for the Parent Corps, we will be able to provide allowances to meet Parent Leaders' needs.

Q. What are the proposed dates for the 5-day Parent Corps Basic Training?

A. First week of May 2004 for Phase 1 states; first week of December 2004 for Phase 2 states. In addition, NFIA will offer a training once a quarter for parents who want to be trained and certified as volunteer Parent Leaders and learn how to raise funds to cover their salaries and benefits. That schedule will be posted on National Families in Action’s website soon.

Q. There appears to be a conflicting requirement on page 13 of the Parent Corps RFA in the paragraph titled “Letters from School Principals.” On the one hand, the RFA requires letters from the principals of each proposed school. On the other, the RFA’s Appendix D must be signed and submitted with our application. Who signs Appendix D?

A. Letters from school principals must be signed by each principal. Appendix D must be signed by the person authorized to speak for the applicant organization.

Q. The Instructions for Applicants (page 14 of RFA), require a narrative no longer than 15 pages using 1 side per page, numbered pages, and 12 point Times Roman with 1 inch margins. Should the pages be double-spaced?

A. Yes.

Q. We have had terrible weather here in the Northeast which has slowed everything down. All of our principals have promised to give us letters to submit with our application, but we are worried that another weather delay in mail service might prevent us from receiving all letters by the time we must submit our application.

A. If weather prevents you from receiving a promised letter from a principal in time to submit your application, place a sheet of colored paper (to flag it) on top of your proposal that states:
1. the name of the principal and school who will be supplying a late letter
2. the date you expect to receive it
3. the date you will fax the letter to NFIA (with a hard copy to follow) so that NFIA can fax it on to proposal reviewers. (Fax it to 404-248-1312.)
NFIA must receive it within a few days after the February 19th deadline, because reviewers have a very short period of time to review proposals.

Q. Why is there no budget to complete? Does the absence of a budget mean that, for example, space (for state coordinator position when funded) and services provided by the state partner would be done on an in-kind basis?

A. To start with, yes. That is why NFIA will employ and manage the Parent Leaders in each state. We will not ask our state partners to do things they cannot do for lack of funds. Parent Leaders will work from their homes and will not require office space. They will be co-managed by NFIA and the state partner.

Q. Would this in-kind basis continue to be the case although NFIA might be successful in raising funds from the various states?

A. No. NFIA’s commitment is to raise funds in partnership with each state partner for the following costs: 1) salary and benefits for a state coordinator trained and employed by NFIA but working in the state partner’s office, 2) a budget for the state partner organization to cover expenses associated with helping NFIA grow the Parent Corps in the state, and 3) two additional paid Parent Leaders (for a total of 4).

Please remember that it takes time to build and grow a national effort like the Parent Corps. The Peace Corps, which is the model for the Parent Corps, started with 30 volunteers who were sent to 1 country. Like the Peace Corps, the Parent Corps will start small and grow slowly, but steadily. The advantage we all have is the opportunity to evaluate the Parent Corps from the beginning to be able to show whether this approach is an effective way to reduce drug use among children and adolescents.

Q. Who is RTI International?

A. Research Triangle Institute, International, located in the research triangle of North Carolina. Among other things, RTI has the contract from SAMHSA to conduct the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (formerly known as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse). You can learn more about RTI at its website: http://www.rti.org/index.cfm.

Q. It was mentioned in a previous answer that “Technical Assistance” during the application process would be provided by NFIA. What is meant by TA?

A. NFIA provides technical assistance to all applicants who request it by answering their questions and posting both applicants’ questions and NFIA’s answers on NFIA’s website to share with all applicants.

Q. We understand NFIA will work with its partner states to raise funds for the Parent Corps. Is the Partner state organization able to keep its funding sources autonomous?

A. Yes. NFIA has no desire to take funding away from its state partner organizations. The goal is to increase, not decrease funding. We believe the Parent Corps provides a unique opportunity that will make it easier to raise funds from new and different sources in each partner state.

Q. If we raise funds together, do any of those funds stay in our organization or do all funds go to NFIA?

All funds raised together for the Parent Corps will go to NFIA. Ninety percent of those funds will be restricted for expenditure to expand the Parent Corps in the state from which they are raised. Ten percent will be kept by NFIA to cover administrative costs. “Expand the Parent Corps” means, in the following order of priority, 1) salary and benefits for the Parent Corps State Coordinator to work out of the state partner’s office, 2) an operating budget for the state partner, and 3) additional Parent Leaders.

Q. In terms of funding for the Parent Leaders, when does the funding begin and what is the duration?

A. NFIA’s grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service will fund 2 Parent Leaders in each of 5 Phase One states from May 1, 2004 through September 30, 2006 and 2 Parent Leaders in each of 5 Phase Two states from December 1, 2004 through September 30, 2006.

Q. In terms of funding for the Local Coordinators, is this the same?

A. No. There are no funds available in this grant for Local Coordinators.

Q. Who approves/interviews applications for State Coordinators, Local Coordinators, and Parent Leaders?

A. State partner organizations will recruit candidates for Parent Leaders from the schools selected for implementation of the program. NFIA will travel to each state partner’s organization to co-interview those candidates. Our goal is to work together with our state partners to select the best candidates for the job. NFIA will hire and employ the Parent Leaders and our state partners will help us co-manage them.

Q. Can you please provide more description for what is meant by "cooperate with RTI's implementation and impact evaluation efforts"? Please be specific.

A. RTI will conduct two kinds of evaluation of the Parent Corps in the first ten states.

The impact evaluation will seek to measure any reductions in alcohol, tobacco, or drug use by adolescents as the result of the Parent Corps and its efforts to prevent substance abuse among young people. RTI will conduct 15-minute telephone interviews with parents and their children who attend target schools, both before the Parent Corps begins and after it ends. Parents and children in both control-groups schools and experimental-group (Parent Corps) schools will be interviewed.

The implementation evaluation will involve all associated with the Parent Corps who will be asked to fill out a written survey answering questions about how they implemented the Parent Corps in their schools.

"Cooperate" means that RTI and National Families in Action expect our partners to help ensure that these surveys - telephone and written - are completed.

Q. What are the proposed dates for the 5-day training?

A. Phase 1 states will be trained the first week of May 2004. Phase 2 states will be trained the first week of December 2004.

Q. What kind of research modality is planned? What is the length of telephone surveys? What kind of survey questions are planned? Principals/school systems want much more detail about the evaluation plan - please help!

A. Once RTI has obtained mandated clearance from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget of their proposed survey instruments, RTI will be happy to share these instruments with principals to ease their concerns.

Q. What assurances can you provide to schools - that names of schools, parents, and students will not be identified in evaluation reports or in any other way?

A. Neither RTI nor National Families in Action plans to reveal the names of any school, parent, or child taking part in the evaluation.

Q. How can I type in the forms (Appendices C, D, E) of the Parent Corps application on the computer? I don't have a typewriter - will I have to handwrite? These are PDF files and they don't allow me access to type directly on them. Can you send as Word documents?

A. You have two choices: 1. Print the forms in the appendices and handwrite the data into the appropriate boxes of the printed forms. 2. Make a table in Word that duplicates the table in the PDF document and enter your data in the Word table.

Sorry, but we are not able to distribute documents as Word files.