Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2026: McKinney Vento Homeless Education and 21st Century Community Learning Centers — Family Engagement / Playful Learning Enhancement Grant

Fund Codes: 310E/645E

Purpose:

The purpose of this federal targeted grant is to provide funding for districts to:

  1. Strengthen, enhance, and sustain effective and innovative family engagement strategies to improve students' attendance, academic engagement, social emotional well-being, and sense of belonging by developing family-school partnerships through the Family Institute for Student Success (FISS) model; and/or

  2. Support the Department's vision for deeper learning by building the collective capacity of districts, schools, and organizations to embed and sustain principles of playful learning into 21st CCLC out of school time programming for students in grades K–3.

Priorities:

For applicants for FISS:

  • Develop and implement culturally and linguistically responsive family engagement practices.
  • Build staff capacity and create sustainable family engagement systems at the district and program level.
  • Utilize the FISS curriculum to support improvements in attendance, literacy, social and emotional learning (SEL), and engagement practices.

For applicants for Playful Learning units:

  • Provide participating educators, schools, and programs the opportunity to enhance and expand current practices and/or try new approaches to learning in which students are actively collaborating and engaging in playful learning that is coherently aligned to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
  • Contribute to the 21st CCLC Learning Library through the development of playful learning units aligned to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

Priority will be given to:

  • Districts and schools in the strategic transformation region.
  • Districts or programs that have Family Engagement Coordinators.
  • Districts that have not previously implemented FISS
Eligibility:

The following are eligible to apply:

  • For participation in FISS:
    • FY2026 FC 0310 McKinney Vento Homeless Education Category B — Family and Community Engagement grantees
    • FY2026 Massachusetts 21st CCLC FC 0645 and/or FC 0646 grantees

    Districts that have previously or are currently implementing FISS in one school may apply to implement the program in another school within the district.

  • For developing Playful Learning units:
    • FY2026 Massachusetts 21st CCLC FC 0645 and/or FC 0646 grantees that attended the Playful Learning track at the 2026 Winter Institute
Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 84.196
Federal CFDA 84.287C

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

  • UGG (2 CFR 200)
  • EDGAR As Applicable
  • EDGAR General Fiscal Administration 34 CFR Part 76

The receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Funding:

  • For FISS implementation planning*: Approximately $150,000 is available. Eligible applicants may apply for up to a total of $20,000.

    *Districts/programs/organizations received this grant will develop a FISS implementation plan for school year 2027.

  • For developing playful learning units: Approximately $100,000 is available. Eligible applicants may apply for up to a total of $8,000/site

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Funds must be used solely to support the priorities of this grant. Use of funds must comply with federal requirements under McKinney-Vento (FC 0310) and/or 21st Century Community Learning Centers (FC 0645/FC 0646), as applicable. These funds may not be used to supplant existing costs, which would otherwise be funded (in the absence of these grant funds) from other sources.

For planning and implementation of FISS, funds may be used to:

  • Provide stipends for FISS facilitators and recruiters, and 21st CCLC staff supporting FISS delivery and coordination.
  • Develop multilingual outreach and communication, including translation, interpretation, and culturally responsive recruitment materials.
  • Develop an implementation plan for family workshops and FISS modules aligned to early literacy, attendance, SEL, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) enrichment, and student agency skills.
  • Develop evaluation, data collection, and family participation monitoring to support continuous improvement and outcome tracking.
  • Develop FISS program materials and supplies needed for facilitation, family learning activities, and home-school partnership tools.
  • Develop and coordinate strategies to reduce barriers to school attendance and engagement for students experiencing homelessness students and students participating in 21st CCLC programs.
  • In collaboration with the DESE-selected professional development vendor, provide and engage in professional development and ongoing coaching for district staff to develop a plan and ensure the successful implementation, and long-term sustainability of FISS.

For developing playful learning units, funds may be used to support stipends for educators to develop and implement playful learning, participate in trainings, team planning time, curriculum development, supplies and materials.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval* – 9/30/2026

Pending appropriation and the meeting of grant requirements, awarded grantees may be eligible for a targeted grant in FY27.

*Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.

Program Unit:

Student and Family Support

Contact:

Karyl Resnick , 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program Coordinator
Shirley Fan-Chan , Homeless Education State Coordinator

Phone Number:

(781) 338-3515/(781)-338-6310

Date Due:

Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.*

*Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

To be considered submitted, this grant must be moved through the LEA Fiscal Representative Approved step in GEM$.

Required Forms:

All required program information and forms will be submitted in DESE's new Grants for Education Management System (GEM$). See Submission Instructions for details.

Additional Information:

Questions and Answers — DESE will host an Information/Q&A for interested applicants on Thursday February 5, 2026, from 11:00 AM–12:00 PM. Please register to receive a zoom link .

GEM$ Submission Instructions:

The FY26 FC 310E-645E McKinney Vento Homeless Education and 21st Century Community Learning Centers - Family Engagement /Playful Learning Enhancement grant must be submitted in GEM$. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms.

The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: February 26, 2026

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