Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Grant

Grants to South Carolina community-based organizations, local education agencies and school districts, Tribal organizations, and other private and public entities to support community learning centers. Applicants must complete required registrations prior to applying.

The purpose of the 21st CCLC program is to provide funds for communities to establish or expand activities in community learning centers that

1. Provide opportunities for academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students, particularly students who attend low-performing schools, to meet the challenging state academic standards;
2. Offer students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities, such as youth development activities; service learning, nutrition and health education; drug and violence prevention programs; counseling programs; arts, music, physical fitness, and wellness programs; technology education programs; financial literacy programs; environmental literacy programs; mathematics, science, career, and technology programs; internship or apprenticeship programs; and other ties to an in-demand industry sector or occupation for high school students that are designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program of participating students; and
3. Offer families of students served by such centers opportunities for active and meaningful engagement in their children’s education, including opportunities for literacy and related educational development.

The SCDE has established five competitive priorities for this funding cycle.

• Priority 1: South Carolina Priority Schools: Applications that propose to serve students who attend one of the SC Priority Schools. See https://ed.sc.gov/districts-schools/school-improvement/school-improvement-programs/state-priority-schools/.
• Priority 2: ESSA Targeted Services Priority: Applications that:   
• Will serve students, and the families of those students, who primarily attend schools that are implementing comprehensive support and improvement activities (CSI) or targeted support and improvement activities (TSI).
• Will enroll students who may be at risk for academic failure, dropping out of school, involvement in criminal or delinquent activities, or who lack strong positive role models.
• Priority 3: Expanding Services Priority: Applications that demonstrate that the activities proposed are not accessible to students who would be served or would expand accessibility to high-quality services that may be available in the community.
• Priority 4: 15 Hours per Week Operations: Applications that propose a program that will operate a minimum of 15 hours per week, Monday through Friday.
• Priority 5: Increasing Geographic Equity: Applications that propose to serve an eligible school or schools in a South Carolina public school district/LEA that is not being served with a 21st CCLC subgrant in 2020–21 (see list on page ix in the RFP in Supporting Documents below).