Question and Answers and Technical Assistance Sessions: Illinois Welcoming Center (25-444-80-1493-01)

  • Technical Assistance Sessions

    1. TA session for One-Stop Welcoming Center Direct Service model Recording
    2. TA session for Capacity Building, Training, and Technical Assistance Recording

  • Question and Answer

    1. Question: Does the $800 maximum cost per unduplicated client include the crisis client direct assistance line item?
      • Answer: No, 5% of the total budget amount is allowed for the client crisis funds.
    2. Question: Which Preliminary Materials must be sent with the Letter of Intent?
      • Answer: No other preliminary materials are necessary.
    3. Question: Is there a specific format, narrative question, or submission file type that is required of the Letter of Intent?
      • Answer: No, there is no specific format or template.
    4. Question: For the Emergency Assistance portion of the grant budget, will this 5% be a portion of the total 100% budget proposed, or will this be an additional 5% we can receive on top of our proposed budget for emergency / direct client assistance?
      • Answer: The 5% for the emergency assistance will be a portion of the total budget, not an additional 5%.
    5. Question: Will there be consideration of agencies with multiple sites under funding amount maximum?
      • Answer: No
    6. Question: Can an agency with multiple site location submit separate NOFO applications?
      • Answer: No
    7. Question: Is the "Number of clients provided with an external referral" a duplicated count (one client can be counted more than once) so that it is different from "Total number of unduplicated clients served under referral services?"
      • Answer: Yes
    8. Question: If a case management issue takes 4 sessions, would we create 4 assistances so that each session is counted individually?
      • Answer: For each service session a client receives, a separate assistance would be created.
    9. Question: Is there a limit to the number of sites an organization can propose in one response?
      • Answer: No
    10. Question: Does Appendix 10 (Statement of Priority) count towards the 25-page count?
      • Answer: No
    11. Question: Does the Budget count towards the page count?
      • Answer: No
    12. Question: Do we need to submit a separate Budget Narrative?
      • Answer: No, there is a narrative section for each line item within the budget.
    13. Question: Does the maximum amount allowed of $900 apply to a 1-month rent or hotel stay?
      • Answer: It applies to one month rent.
    14. Question: Is a security deposit an eligible expense? If yes, is it bundled into the $900?
      • Answer: Yes, it is eligible and would be included in the $900.
    15. Question: Will we be able to include shelter-based case managers in the FY25 IWC budget?
      • Answer: No, shelter-based services are not to be included in the IWC budget.
    16. Question: What is the difference between annual projected number of unduplicated clients/ households and total number of individuals who benefitted from IWC services?
      • Answer: The total number of individuals who benefitted from IWC services will be calculated from a required household size question in Charity Tracker for FY25.
    17. Question: Does the one-page summary AND all of the bullet points have to fit on one page or are the bullet points able to be on a different page?
      • Answer: The bullet points can be on a different page.
    18. Question: Can you provide more information on the $900 limit for crisis assistance housing?
      • Answer: The details for crisis assistance funds are in the Direct Services Program Narrative under Section 6 for the budget. The maximum amount for housing assistance is $900.
    19. Question: What exactly does training our staff in Workforce Development look like? Do you mean that we would train our staff how to assist clients with job applications and opportunities, or that our staff would need to train clients about specific upskilling?
      • Answer: The agency would provide training to the other Illinois Welcoming Centers so they could increase their capacity in providing those services to clients.
    20. Question: For Performance Measures under Capacity Building, can we opt to provide only some of the measures, or must we agree to do all of them? Are the pre-implementation and post implementation surveys for our staff?
      • Answer: All measures are required. The surveys are for the IWC agencies that will receive the training.
    21. Question: Is IDHS developing specific training materials and templates for the Capacity Building grant?
      • Answer: Selected agencies are required to develop materials for the trainings they will facilitate. IDHS will provide programmatic guidance for agencies selected under the Capacity Building component.
    22. Question: Under Research and Evaluation, are there details about how many and how often we should survey clients and what a program evaluation survey will look like?
      • Answer: Selected agencies will develop materials/surveys for their capacity building services. IDHS will provide programmatic guidance to the agencies selected under the Capacity Building component.
    23. Question: Previously IWC has covered community health workers' salaries and contractors' (Mental Health experts) expenses. How can this funding be included in the budget?
      • Answer: It may be appropriate to include this staff in the IWC budget if it reflects the scope of services provided accordingly.
    24. Question: Does the annual projected unduplicated clients/ households include both the unduplicated case management count and the total number of unduplicated clients who received a referral service without case management?
      • Answer: The annual projected number of unduplicated clients/households will be the total of all 3: case management, crisis, and referral unduplicated clients.
    25. Question: For the Community Alliance point listed within the Executive Summary, is acknowledging that a schedule and list of attendees for Community alliance meetings will be maintained a sufficient response? Or are we to project the stakeholders who may attend meetings and project specific dates of those meetings in FY25?
      • Answer: A projected schedule and list of attendees is to be provided. The attendee list can be general, not specific to each meeting.
    26. Question: Within the NOFO section on Funding Restrictions - Indirect Costs, what does it mean that "approved indirect cost rates must be approved"? Do agencies with a federal or state approved NICRA need additional approval?
      • Answer: No, there is no additional approval required.
    27. Question: Can you clarify the responses to questions - in #1 it appears that the 5% crisis client direct assistance would be above the $800 maximum cost per unduplicated client - but then in #4 it says that it is not an additional 5%.
      • Answer: The client crisis assistance amount is not tied to the $800 maximum cost per unduplicated client. It is 5% of the total budget, not an additional 5%.
    28. Question: Regarding the budget submission - does it need to be submitted into the CSA at time of submitting application with PDF version of the budget or after we receive notice of the state award?
      • Answer: The budget needs to be submitted into CSA and as a PDF at the time of application.