PCCD has numerous advisory committees which provide advice and guidance to the Commission and the School Safety and Security Committee in regards to the release of grant funding.  Some of the PCCD advisory committees and boards were created by statute, while others were created by the Commission to assist meeting the duties required under PCCD’s governing act. 

Typically, the first step in the competitive grant process is for the advisory committee with oversight of a specific issue or funding area to provide direction on the potential release of funding.  The decision to release funds may be driven by any number of factors – for example, by the Commission’s strategic plan; state and federal program guidelines; the advisory committee’s established objectives; legislative direction; or after extensive vetting by designated workgroups and/or subcommittees. 

Interested parties who have signed up for grant opportunity notifications are made aware of available funding via automatic communications from PCCD's electronic grants management system (Egrants). Any organization or entity who is interested in receiving PCCD’s funding announcement notifications should Subscribe for Email Notifications.  Please note that for the vast majority of PCCD's funding opportunities, potential applicants must also complete the Egrants user registration process to be eligible to apply for grants.

Following approval for the release of funds, PCCD staff posts a funding announcement in Egrants or on its website (in the case of open funding announcements in Survey Monkey).  The funding announcement describes the following:

• The type of funding being made available.

• The acceptable uses of the funding.

• The information that applicants must provide to describe their proposed project.

• The due date of the application.

• The anticipated start dates for the recommended projects.

• The criteria that will be used to evaluate applications. 

Applicants typically have a minimum of six weeks from the date the funding announcement is released to complete their application and submit it to PCCD.  All applications submitted to PCCD must be submitted electronically via the Egrants system, unless otherwise prescribed in the funding announcement.

You can vier current open funding announcements on PCCD's website here.

Once the time to submit an application under a funding announcement has elapsed, all eligible applications are evaluated by review teams that are comprised of PCCD staff and/or external reviewers.  Reviewers usually have expertise in the topic of the funding announcement or a related-field, and they are expressly prohibited to have a conflict of interest in participating in the review.  The application review process usually takes between two to four weeks to complete. 

Applications are reviewed according to the criteria identified in the funding announcement.   These criteria typically include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Proposed project is feasible and coincides with the overall goals and objectives of the funding announcement.

• Proposed activities are aligned with evidence-based and/or promising approaches suggesting a high likelihood of meeting established goals and objectives. 

• The need for the project is clearly articulated. 

• Proposed project is cost effective and there is a strong relationship between the proposed budget and program objectives.

• A sustainability plan is outlined for continuing the project after PCCD funding has ended, if applicable.

 After evaluating the applications individually, the review team meets to discuss its findings collectively and develop an initial list of proposals that they recommend for funding.

Proposals recommended for funding are then presented back to the advisory committee for their review.  The advisory committee will formulate a recommendation on those projects that will be presented to the Commission for final approval.  (Note: Grants administered by the School Safety and Security Committee are not presented to the Commission for action since it is a separate body established by statute.)

Please note that at any time after the advisory committee review and prior to final approval at the Commission meeting (or by the School Safety and Security Committee), PCCD staff may work directly with applicants to resolve programmatic or fiscal issues and/or questions that were raised by the review team or the advisory committee. 

​Applications recommended for funding by the advisory committee are presented at the next quarterly Commission meeting for official review and final approval. 

Following the quarterly Commission meeting, award letters are issued as soon as possible after all identified application issues have been resolved.  At that time, PCCD staff will begin working with the grant recipient on the next steps of the process. This can include scheduling initial phone calls or onboarding meetings with Program and Fiscal Staff, among other activities. 

Programs funded by PCCD must provide Program and Fiscal reports via the Egrants System. This includes reporting on any performance indicators established for the grant program. Subrecipients will also be subject to monitoring requirements specific to the funding stream and will be required to provide documentation to support reported expenditures.