1. (a) The following entities are eligible to apply for a three-year Positive Youth Development Grant:

   1. (1) A public school district;
   2. (2) A youth development program licensed by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education pursuant to its Minimum Licensing Requirements for Out-of-School Time Programs, 20 CAR pt. 477;
   3. (3) A youth development program exempt from licensing pursuant to the division’s Minimum Licensing Requirements for Out-of-School Time Programs, 20 CAR pt. 477; or

   4. (4) An applicant that partners with a:

      1. (A) Public school district;
      2. (B) Licensed youth development program; or
      3. (C) License-exempt youth development program.

2. (b) An entity may apply for a Positive Youth Development Grant by submitting to the department, no later than March 1:

   1. (1) A completed application form identifying:

      1. (A) The legal name and tax or corporate status of the applicant entity;
      2. (B) Appropriate contact information;
      3. (C) The total grant award amount sought;
      4. (D) The number and location of sites at which programs will be offered;
      5. (E) A program description, including without limitation proposed curriculum and schedules;
      6. (F) Staffing and instructor qualifications;
      7. (G) The eligibility criteria to be used by the program to identify and admit eligible children and youth, to include without limitation a schedule of the fees, if any, to be charged to children who do not meet the income criteria of 6 CAR § 4-105(a); and
      8. (H) The outcome measures proposed to be utilized to evaluate the success of the program, including a description of how the evaluation data will be obtained and processed;
   2. (2) Documentation of the program’s compliance with or exemption from the division’s Minimum Licensing Requirements for Out-of-School Time Programs, 20 CAR pt. 477;

   3. (3)

      1. (A) Documentation of strong community engagement and collaboration between schools, public institutions, private agencies, business, faith-based, and other community-based organizations working together to utilize the unique skills and resources to create a community learning environment.
      2. (B) Examples of engagement and collaboration include without limitation the:

3. (i) Sharing of in-kind space, staff, equipment, supplies, or other resources;

   1. (ii) Provision of matching funds; and

      1. (iii) Use of binding memorandums of understanding;
   2. (4) Budget or financial documentation demonstrating the applicant’s ability or inability to provide matching funds of cash or appropriate in-kind services in the ratio of twenty-to-eighty (20:80); and

   3. (5) A statement of assurance signed by an authorized representative guaranteeing the entity’s compliance with:

      1. (A) State and federal law;
      2. (B) This part; and

      3. (C) The division’s Minimum Licensing Requirements for Out-of-School Time Programs, 20 CAR pt. 477.

         1. (c) The division may waive the required matching funds if:

   4. (1) The applicant operates or will operate the program within the geographic boundaries of an Arkansas public school district that contains at least one (1) school classified by the department as being:

      1. (A) In school improvement pursuant to Arkansas Code § 6-15-425 [repealed]; or
      2. (B) A Needs Improvement (Focus) or Needs Improvement (Priority) school under department rules adopted pursuant to regulatory flexibility from the provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq., granted by the United States Department of Education; and

   5. (2) The division determines that the applicant is unable to provide the matching funds, after exhausting all potential funding sources.

      1. (d)

   6. (1) Preference will be given to applications that:

      1. (A) Are developed collaboratively by:

         1. (i) Public and nonpublic schools; and
         2. (ii) Private community-based programs;
      2. (B) Contain accountability systems and measurable outcomes under guidelines to be developed by the department in consultation with the division;
      3. (C) Detail funds received from all public sources for existing programs, the types of existing programs, and the types of students served by existing programs; and
      4. (D) Increase access to comprehensive positive youth development programs during the school year and summer.
   7. (2) The department may also give preference to applications that include participation in Better Beginnings, the quality rating improvement system in Arkansas.

4. (e) Preference may also be given to applications that propose to operate in communities with the greatest need for programs, as measured by:

   1. (1) The percentage of children and youth living in poverty within the boundaries of the public school district in which the program will operate; and
   2. (2) The availability of existing after-school or summer programs within the community.
5. (f) The department, in collaboration with the division, will evaluate each application and notify each applicant no later than May 1, whether or not it deems the application to be qualified.

6. (g)

   1. (1) Qualification of an application does not guarantee funding to an applicant.
   2. (2) Funding will be governed by the distribution criteria set forth in this part.

7. (h) A program is not required to be affiliated with a public school district to be eligible to receive funding under this part.

   1. (i) All applications submitted by sectarian or sectarian-affiliated programs will be reviewed to ensure that approval of funding will not result in a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules contained an endnote as follows: "Source: Ark. Code Ann. § 6-5-904(a)-(c) and 6-5-905(b) & (d)."