State Farm Florida Service-Learning and Home Safety Initiative

Request for Proposals (RFP)

 

 

A. Introduction

 

State Farm Insurance and the State Farm Companies Foundation have awarded funds to Florida to

support student advocacy and information campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of

building codes and disaster preparation. Florida schools, from kindergarten through higher

education, can receive funds to have students learn about these issues and educate their peers,

parents, and the public about them.

 

State Farm is America’s largest corporate supporter of service learning. Through State Farm’s

efforts, thousands of students have learned about and engaged in service-learning projects. The

State of Florida has supported service learning for 15 years, providing funds, training, technical

assistance, and oversight of more than 2,500 projects involving a total of 500,000 students.

 

In a new and groundbreaking initiative—and in the wake of Florida’s being struck by four

hurricanes in 2004—State Farm Insurance, the State Farm Companies Foundation, and Florida have

partnered to promote, encourage, and establish student service-learning projects that focus on the

following areas:

 

•

 

Raising awareness about building codes: rules, regulations, differences within and among

communities, limitations, retrofitting/remodeling, going “Code Plus” (i.e., going beyond

minimum requirements), and/or

•

 

Home disaster preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery.

 

See the following sections for complete information on this program, which will be administered by

the Florida Alliance for Student Service (a part of Florida State University’s Center for Civic

Education and Service). State Farm funds will be issued through the Florida Education Foundation.

 

Note: Funds will be awarded in two rounds of application, to allow for some projects to begin at

the start of the 2005-06 school year. Applicants may apply in either round; those funded in the first

round will have more time to conduct and complete activities.

 

B. Program Basics

 

Program Title

State Farm Florida Service-Learning and Home Safety Initiative

Funding Source

 

State Farm Insurance and the State Farm Companies Foundation, via

the Florida Education Foundation

Funding Purpose

 

Engage students in service learning—school and/or community

service activities that apply academic curricula and education

standards—to raise public awareness about building codes and home

disaster preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Type of Award

 

Competitive

Total Funding

•

  

$110,000 available for 2005-06 school year and summer, 2006.

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Amount

 

•

  

Individual schools may apply for up to $7,500; most awards will

be in the $3,000-$5,000 range.

•

 

20-30 awards are anticipated.

Target Population

 

Students from kindergarten-college

Eligible Applicants

 

1.

 

Public (including charter) schools (grades K-12) applying through

their school districts or school district consortia

2.

 

Institutions of higher education (public and private).

Funding Method

The Florida Education Foundation will issue awards to selected sites.

Application Due

Dates

 

Round One proposals are due July 22, 2005.

Round Two proposals are due September 22, 2005.

Proposals must be received by 5:30 p.m. e.d.t. on the due dates.

Project Period

For Round One proposals: approx. August 15, 2005-July 31, 2006

For Round Two proposals: approx. October 13, 2005-July 31, 2006

Contact Person

 

Joe Follman, Florida Alliance for Student Service

Phone: 850-488-9661, SunCom: 278-9661, Fax: 850-922-2928

E-mail: jfollman@admin.fsu.edu; web site www.fsu.edu/~flserve

 

C. Narrative Component/Requirements

 

State Farm Insurance, the State Farm Companies Foundation, and the Florida Alliance for Student

Service support school-based student service learning to enhance academic performance and meet

community needs. This program has the capacity to improve academic performance, promote civic

engagement and career exploration while raising public awareness about building codes and

reducing the vulnerability of homes and communities to disasters such as hurricanes, floods,

tornados, and wildfires.

 

Awards are also designed to improve student attendance and graduation rates, promote career

exploration, increase civic participation, expand school/community partnerships, and build

infrastructure for sustained service learning. Only one award will be issued per school, but that

award can support multiple projects. Awards are for one year, with a possibility to reapply for

renewal funding in 2006 if funds are available.

 

Projects funded under this program will engage students in curriculum-based service learning, or

build infrastructure for such efforts. In service-learning projects, students practice/apply skills,

knowledge, and behaviors they need to learn through service to others in their school or community.

Projects must address education standards and be tied to one or more actual courses and the

participating students’ course grades. Activities can occur during the school day, or after school.

Summer course-based programs are also eligible.

 

Effective projects include the elements of preparation, action, demonstration, reflection, youth

empowerment, collaboration, and recognition. Before writing and submitting a proposal under this

program, applicants need to understand the elements of service learning and integrate them into

proposed activities. See Attachment 5 for detail on the elements of service learning.

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Successful applicants use service learning as a strategy to reach specific academic and behavioral

goals for students. Such goals could include raising student academic performance, increasing

FCAT scores in specific areas, improving attendance, reducing conflict, fostering career

exploration, enhancing school/community collaboration, or as a prevention and intervention

strategy for at-risk students.

 

Activities should directly address identified needs for those serving and served, and apply needed

skills and behaviors. For example, having 10

th

graders who test poorly in reading compose and

produce brochures about building code requirements and strategies for disaster mitigation can help

educate both the students and the homeowners who receive the brochures.

 

Examples of activities that could be funded under this initiative include the following:

 

•

 

Creation of products that teach homeowners, builders, and others about building codes and

disaster preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery (brochures, videos, tip sheets, models of

disaster-resistant homes, disaster preparation kits, etc.)

•

 

Direct assistance to homeowners and communities (home inspections, hazard removal, disaster

retrofits with items donated from business partners, collection/assembly/dissemination of

emergency supplies, activities by youth community emergency response teams—CERTs, etc.)

•

 

Education/Advocacy programs to raise awareness about building codes and disasters (public

presentations, lessons to younger peers, presentations to parents, disaster preparation fairs,

letters to the editor, media campaigns, creation of web sites, public service announcements on

radio and TV, in-school TV productions, etc.)

•

 

Teaching through performance (plays, skits, poems, songs, raps, public art, etc.)

 

There are many free or low-cost resources, curricula, and model programs available. Organizations

and programs that provide such materials include the following:

 

•

 

State Farm Insurance—http://www.statefarm.com/consumer/disaster.htm

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FLASH (Florida Alliance for Safe Homes)—www.flash.org

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Volunteer Florida—http://www.volunteerflorida.org/publications/pubsmain.cfm

•

 

Federal Emergency Management Agency—www.fema.gov, including the FEMA for Kids

page—http://www.fema.gov/kids/

•

 

International Code Council—http://www.iccsafe.org/safety/pdf/SafetyFirst.pdf

•

 

Florida Department of Community Affairs, Florida Building Commission—

http://www.floridabuilding.org/

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Institute for Business and Home Safety—http://www.ibhs.org/

 

Funds can support the purchase of curricula or educational materials focused on project goals, as

well as lesson planning and curriculum development. K-12 proposals should address Florida’s

Sunshine State or other education standards—see http://www.fsu.edu/~flserve/sl/standards.html for

many examples.

 

Effective projects include opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned through

teaching others—peers, younger students, or the community—about their efforts. Projects should

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be at least a semester in duration, and students need to conduct an average minimum of 20 service

hours each semester. Time spent on elements of course- and curriculum-based service learning—

project preparation, action, demonstration, and reflection (celebrations excepted) may be counted as

service hours.

 

Student dissemination activities expand service learning, promote the project, and help others

interested in similar efforts.

 

D. Applicant Instructions and Scoring Criteria

 

1. Needs to be Addressed—15% of Score

Describe the primary academic and/or behavioral need of students to be addressed, as well

as the needs of people or community to be served, and provide back-up data on needs.

2. Activities, Elements, and Timeline—25%

 

1.

 

Detail planned activities and how they will incorporate the elements of service learning and

be integrated with curricula, standards, and course-based assessments.

2.

 

Describe student roles, including plans for students to disseminate/market service-learning

efforts.

3.

 

Provide a clear and realistic project timeline, in the narrative or as an attachment.

3. Partnerships and Match—15%

 

1.

 

Describe the key planned partnership(s) to help with project design and implementation, and

tell how partners will contribute to project success. Attach letters from primary partners that

confirm partner roles and contributions.

2.

 

Describe the minimum required 33% cash and/or in-kind match being provided directly to

the project. Cash match is defined as funds contributed to the project. In-kind match is

services, goods, or materials. Cash match is valued more highly than in-kind match.

4. Evaluation—20%

1.

 

Identify a quantitative academic or behavioral objective for the project that can be

averaged/aggregated across the students serving, and describe how it will be

measured/assessed. Examples include improvement in grades/in the course(s) involved, pre-

and post-GPA or test scores, skill mastery, or meeting of standards.

2.

 

Identify a clear project service objective for the people, sites, needs, or organization(s)

served by the project, and describe how this objective will be measured/assessed. Effective

projects have students measure (or help measure) impacts of their service through surveys,

interviews, focus groups, observations, and reports.

5. Proposal Data Form—10%

(Attachment 3) Respond to all applicable items.

6. Proposal Budget Narrative—15%

Budget Narrative Form (Attachment 2). In the boxes provided, provide a detailed, clear, and

accurate breakdown and calculation by category of the resources needed for the project. In

addition, provide justification and explanation for major requests (salary, materials,

transportation, etc.—either within the boxes or on a separate sheet).

 

E. Fiscal Requirements

 

Awards are designed to support service learning and build the infrastructure to initiate, improve,

expand, and sustain such activities. Allowable expenditures may support activities related to the

elements of service learning.

 

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