Stronger Connections Grant (SCG)

Office Hours

On the 4th Thursday of the month from 3:30-4:30 p.m., the Stronger Connections Grant Team hosts Office Hours where announcements and opportunities are shared and LEA questions about the grant are answered. To receive the invite, please reach out to Stronger_Connections@cde.state.co.us. For information about previous office hours, please visit the SCG Office Hours Folder.

 

Post-Award Revisions (PAR)

• PAR Submission Form (Final PAR for performance period 10/1/2024-6/30/2025 due by June 30, 2025)

NEW! Updated Financial and Implementation Timeline

After receiving updated guidance from the United States Department of Education (ED) and feedback from SCG recipients, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is updating the Annual Financial Report (AFR) reporting timeline to better align with school districts’ internal accounting systems. SCG recipient contacts will receive an updated budget through email in late spring 2025 that reflects these new reporting dates.

ED has canceled the Annual Performance Report (APR), which previously required that all LEAs that received SCG funds must complete the APR. The APR is being replaced with a Final Performance Report (FPR) which will be collected at the end of the grant life cycle. A majority of the FPR data elements are collected in the SCG AFR. However, we will continue to send the annual surveys to confirm the accuracy of activity categories in the yearly budgets.

CDE will continue to collect and use the data submitted to date for program evaluation purposes. Therefore, if LEAs have the information ready to submit, please still do so.

The new reporting timeline is reflected below:

*No longer required.

NEW! Additionally, implementation data from the Fidelity of Implementation (FOI) Toolkit is due by June 30, 2025, for the performance period from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. Please submit data to the FOI Google Form. The reporting timeline for FOI data is below:

Stronger Connections Grantees will be required to submit data from two sources:

1. The first is the Annual Financial Report (AFR) which is included as part of the Excel budget template submitted and approved for funding. The AFR will be submitted to CDE via the online Grant Report Submission form.
2. The second is LEA self-scored data regarding implementation from each rubric included in the Fidelity of Implementation (FOI) Toolkit. Implementation data will be collected three times during the performance period of the grant and once during the Tydings period (from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026).​

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• Allowable Uses Planning Tool
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• USDE Frequently Asked Questions
• Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates

Round 1

Round 2

*"High-Need" LEA

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), signed into law in June 2022, authorized $1 billion for states to pursue safer communities and healthier outcomes for students through activities that are allowable under Title IV, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Specifically, funds were awarded to State Educational Agencies (SEAs) to support safe and healthy students, by allocating 95% of the state’s allocation to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in a manner consistent with the SEA’s established competitive process and to design and implement a statewide support using 4% of the state’s allocation (1% is reserved at the SEA for administration of the competitive grants).  

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) received a total allocation of $9,356,572 for a three-year performance period, ending on September 30, 2025. The amount reserved for state-level activities is $374,262.88 (4%) for the three-year period. The BSCA bill includes a requirement for SEAs to distribute funds on a competitive basis to “high-need” LEAs to implement allowable Title IV, Part A activities aligned with the Safe and Healthy Students program purpose.

In defining “high-need” local education agency (LEA), the United States Department of Education (ED) asked states to consider a focus on LEAs with high rates of poverty and with one or more of the following characteristics: 

1. High student-to-mental health professional ratios; 
2. High rates of chronic absenteeism, exclusionary discipline, referrals to the juvenile justice system, bullying/harassment, community and school violence, or substance abuse; or 
3. Where students recently experienced a natural disaster or traumatic event. 

The definition of a “high-need” LEA in Colorado, developed in consultation with stakeholders and with public input, is based on quartile rankings for three criteria:

1. the percentage of students eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), 
2. the student-to-mental health professional ratio, and 
3. the rate of chronic absenteeism, for public school districts within the state. 

Points were assigned to each criteria using the ranges in the table below, and a total composite score was calculated for each LEA, including the Charter School Institute, the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, and any BOCES that serve their own schools. LEAs with at least 10 total points are considered “high-need” LEAs and are automatically eligible to apply for the Stronger Connections Grant. “High-need” LEAs will be notified directly. 

An LEA that does not meet the definition of a "high-need" LEA is not automatically eligible to apply, however, based on CDE’s process, the LEA will still have the option to apply.

Under this alternative option, the LEA will be required to present their own data to demonstrate an identified need that aligns with the intent of the Stronger Connections Grant.

An LEA that receives a grant under the program shall use the monies to fund activities that are reasonable, necessary, and allowable under section 4108 of the ESEA to provide students with safer and healthier learning environments.

Examples of allowable services or activities include:

• Drug and violence prevention activities that are evidence-based
• School-based mental health services
• Comprehensive health education programs
• Integrating health and safety practices into school or athletic programs
• Nutritional education and physical education activities
• Implementation of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports
• Bullying and harassment prevention
• Activities that improve instructional practices for developing relationship-building skills
• Prevention of teen and dating violence, stalking, domestic abuse, and sexual violence and harassment
• Mentoring and school counseling
• Establishing or improving school dropout and reentry programs
• Suicide prevention
• Crisis management and conflict resolution techniques
• School-based violence prevention strategies
• Reducing exclusionary disciplinary practices
• Establishing partnerships within the community to provide resources and support for schools
• Strengthening relationships between schools and communities
• High-quality training for school personnel in effective practices related to any of the above

Note: Funds may not  be used for food, school construction, or to provide any person with a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.  A “dangerous weapon” as defined in section 930(g)(2) of title 18 of the United States Code is a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocketknife with a blade of less than 2 1/2 inches in length.

• Send comments and questions via email to: Stronger_Connections@cde.state.co.us

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Updated June 11, 2025