Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

State Director Letter

Date: 7/21/2017

Dear Applicant: I am pleased to release the FY2019-FY2022 Multi-Year Open and Competitive Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for Adult Education. With these RFPs, Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS) forges new ground rooted in an ACLS Theory of Action that redirects energy and resources on behalf of over one million Massachusetts residents who lack a high school diploma or need to learn English to succeed in the workforce. Three main characteristics of this energy and resource shift are:

Accountability for outcomes in place of process measures (inputs)
Flexibility in policies that permit programs to develop innovative programming in which students can achieve desired outcomes
Funding based on students served to incentivize flexibility in developing a program design

The Massachusetts adult education system serves as an on-ramp to the workforce development system, enabling individuals not yet ready to participate in that system with opportunities to advance students to a career pathways and employment in jobs that pay family-sustaining wages and opportunities that would be otherwise out of their reach. The RFPs released in July 2017 provide access to the following separate grant programs with over $30 million in funding:

Community Adult Learning Centers and Adult Education in Correctional Institutions
Adult Education Primary Instruction by Volunteers
Adult Education Distance Learning Instructional Hubs

These RFPs present opportunities to usher in a new era of innovation and prosperity for your students and your communities. I invite you to take advantage of them. Sincerely, Jolanta Conway
Adult Education State Director

Last Updated: August 1, 2017