The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is excited to announce that $2 million dollars of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding will support additional summer learning and enrichment programming for PreK – grade 12 students this summer. This follows the recent award of $2.1 million to 63 school administrative units (SAUs) to support summer enrichment programming through the Title I Summer Reallocation Grant.
The ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding can provide broad support for summer learning and enrichment programs. SAUs should consider a variety of options for summer learning and enrichment programming such as an SAU run program and/or partnerships with non-profit or community organizations to address students’ academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs through a combination of activities. SAUs should maximize enrollment in summer learning and enrichment programs, with a particular focus on underserved students and students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while addressing the needs of students of all ages. Evidence-based summer learning and enrichment programs are further described in Volume 2 of the U.S. Department of Education’s COVID-19 Handbook available at: https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf.
The application for the ARP ESSER summer learning and enrichment programming competitive grant is now OPEN within the GRANTS4ME platform.
The ARP Summer Learning and Enrichment Application will utilize the Title I Summer Reallocation Grant template. Please navigate to the Grants4ME platform 2023 dropdown menu – titled “Title I Summer Reallocation Grant”.
- As with any application on Grants4ME, be sure to click “Draft Started” to begin completing the application.
- Within the needs, goals, and outcome section of the application, please describe how the summer learning and enrichment programming will prevent, prepare for and/or respond to COVID-19.
- In addition, please ensure that the SAUs business manager and superintendent have enough time to review and approve the application in order to meet the deadline.
The application deadline is May 19, 2023, at 5 PM EST. If you have any questions about the ARP ESSER Summer Learning and Enrichment Programming grant opportunity, please reach out to mary.herman@maine.gov or renee.a.reilly@maine.gov.
View the list of SAUs already awarded funded here.