The Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) is seeking grant application reviewers for the Collaborative Urban and Greater Minnesota Educators of Color (CUGMEC) Grant program, formerly known as the Collaborative Urban Educators (CUE) Grant. This program provides funding to colleges and universities with PELSB-approved teacher preparation programs to increase the number of teachers who are of color or who are American Indian and will meet the requirements for a Tier 3 license under section 122A.183.

Our first grant cycle is approaching, and we are expecting at least 13 proposals based on the intent to submit forms PELSB received from colleges and universities across Minnesota.

All grantees selected in the upcoming cycle will receive one-year grants funded in the 2020 fiscal year during September 15, 2019 to June 30, 2020. PELSB will hold an additional grant selection process next year, and funds unobligated from the 2020 fiscal year will be available in the next year.

PELSB will have $1,066,030 for this year's grants. The CUGMEC Request for Proposals is available on the PELSB website with more information about the program.

Each reviewer will be asked to evaluate 3-5 proposals. You will receive an evaluation form for each proposal with pre-determined criteria. We ask you to score the proposals and provide anonymous, written feedback for the applicants. Then, all reviewers and PELSB staff will meet for a half day to discuss proposals/scores and make funding decisions. The proposed timeline for considering CUGMEC Grant applications is:

• July 15, 2019 - PELSB published the CUGMEC Request for Proposals
• July 30, 2019 - Informational Session for Interested CUGMEC Applicants
• August 1, 2019 - Intent to Submit Forms Due
• August 21, 2019 - CUGMEC Grant Proposals Due
• By August 26, 2019 - PELSB Assigns Proposals to Reviewers
• TBD (Early-Mid September) - In-person Meeting Date

PELSB may also potentially provide travel reimbursements and stipends for reviewers.

Please contact Yelena Bailey by email at [email protected] if you are interested in participating this year. Please also share the call for reviewers with other community members, professionals, students, and organizations who may be interested in participating!