02.17.2022 – MDE grant

I have been getting a lot of emails about when the state grant recipients will be announced. I received this from Ashley Arras at the MDE

Thank you for your patience as we work through the kinks of reviewing applications within the new system. A huge thank you to the program providers that have worked with us to verify the team numbers, types, and statuses. The Ed Tech team is now completing the program office review portion of the application process. After that is finished, we send the applications recommended to be funded and not funded for review by leadership and the state superintendent. After the state superintendent signs off on the packet then we can go in and mark applications as funded or not, and work with SAMS to initiate payments. In the old process our colleague was able to upload a spreadsheet, but due to system changes and the need for increased oversight of the application process, we need to change the status of each application manually. Thank you for your patience as we learn how to refine the process for subsequent years! We will let you know once our program office review is complete.

I hope this gives you a bit of insight into the delays.

All the best,
Gail Alpert
248-425-4148
Gail@firstinmichigan.org