Submitted by: Jamie McFaul, Grants Officer
Major projects completed:
- AmeriCorps Program Director teleconference about program updates VM staff began mandatory calls that were held on the 23rd and 30th of April to check-in with Program Directors and to guide them through the rapidly changing FAQ’s sent out by CNCS
- Attended and participated in the Department of Education standing meeting, every other Wednesday
- Daily MCCS Staff Meetings due to the building being cleaned, all staff was teleworking
- Attended and participated in multiple ASC COVID-19 Network calls (3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th)
- Virtually attended the FEMA A-DRT (AmeriCorps-Disaster Response Team) teleconference with CNCS Disaster Specialist, Katrina French
- Grants Task Force panel work for formula continuations and one new application
- Continued and ongoing review and approval of periodic expense reports, position descriptions, aggregate finance reports, slot changes, submitted budgets, Grantee Progress Reports, and processing of reimbursement requests for all programs
- Communications to CNCS regarding eGrants application issues for Seeds of Hope, the issue took weeks to finally resolve, the application has been submitted successfully
- Coordination with Communications Officer to create a Virtual Recruitment Fair for all AmeriCorps programs currently recruiting
- Sent out un-expended funds request forms to all 11 AmeriCorps programs
- Compiled the assessment reports and all other necessary documentation for the Grants Task Force for continuations AmeriCorps Formula programs: Colby College, Mid-coast Conservancy, Trekkers, KVCAP, Main Street Skowhegan, Game Loft and Seeds of Hope
- Virtual meeting held with the Program Director from Maine Conservation Corps and her Supervisor to discuss their program operations and potential for their members to participate in a Covid-19 related response within the State
Issues to be aware of:
- Responded to two call CNCS’s OIG with recent repeated emails and phone calls (4/16 & 4/23) for information about all of Axiom’s finance records and member time in the past 2 weeks. The OIG began investigating Axiom (National Digital Equity Center) early last April, the program ended in October 2019
- MSAD 70 is being closed out, we are still waiting on time-sheet clarification on the tracking of the members hours, will update upon complete close-out
- CNCS has been still been updating their FAQ’s a few times a week and have been since the onset of this pandemic around March 15th. We are providing our grantees guidance through this process so they can to keep their members engaged and informed
Major focus of effort for the next month:
- Preparing and submitting the Federal Financial Reports for 18AFHME001 (Formula Programs) and 18ACHME001 (Competitive Programs), to CNCS, deadline is now May 31st
- Holding the Virtual Recruitment Fair for our AmeriCorps programs, to be held May 26, 2020 from 1-4 pm