Louisiana is strengthening the design of its 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant competition to expand access to high-quality out-of-school-time programs and better align with state priorities.
The Opportunity
Louisiana is preparing a 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) grant competition and seeks to ensure the request for applications (RFA) reflects current state priorities, encourages geographic balance, and supports high-quality program design that will meet Louisiana’s specific goals for out-of-school-time learning. The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has an opportunity to strengthen alignment across the grant competition, monitoring expectations, and potential flexibilities afforded through a consolidated waiver. Intentional design that incorporates external perspectives will optimize access and alignment between stated priorities and implementation expectations.
The Support
The Southwest Comprehensive Center is partnering with LDOE to strengthen the design of the 21st CCLC grant competition through targeted analysis and strategic advising. This support includes synthesizing national 21st CCLC RFA approaches, facilitating planning conversations to clarify priorities and tradeoffs, reviewing and refining draft RFA language, and providing feedback on monitoring tools to ensure coherence between application expectations and oversight. The work is designed to support timely decisionmaking while grounding revisions in evidence and best practices.
Desired Outcomes
As a result of this work, LDOE will release a 21st CCLC RFA that clearly reflects state priorities, supports high-need communities, and aligns application requirements with monitoring expectations. Ultimately, the competition will better position LDOE to fund programs that are fair, equal, strategic, and well aligned with Louisiana’s goals for out-of-school-time learning.