Good Afternoon MEEOA!

It's been a while since I have sent out a good ol' fashioned Government
Relations update, so I hope this one finds you well! It certainly has been
a tumultuous few months, but I think once the dust settles there will be
some brightness on the horizon. I just want to bring to your attention some
of the important pieces from COE's email today if you haven't seen them yet
or didn't scroll down to the bottom of their message!

   - President Hoyler spoke with the Department of Ed over three weeks ago
   and was told that programs would receive a letter regarding renegotiating
   regulations. COE will reach out as soon as there are any updates.
   - The tentative open and due dates for the annual APR are as follows
   (just to keep these fresh in your minds).
   [image: image.png]
   - The Department of Education re-published its draft notice for comments
   on the Talent Search and EOC application packages that were utilized in the
   2015-16 competition. Per the Department's previous actions on the SSS
   competition, they  believe the agency has reissued this notice in order to
   eliminate the need to publish a draft for the upcoming 2020-21 competitions.
   - COE expects a short, 30-45 day turnaround between the release of the
      2020-21 RFPs and the proposal due dates, and
      - The competitive preference priorities included in the drafts just
      released will be different.
   - COE continues to expect the *Talent Search application due date to be
   in early December or the end of January* with the *EOC application due
   date to be approximately a month after.*
   - Last week, the Senate Appropriations committee released their FY 2021
   appropriations bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education bill and report
   language that explains appropriators' intent for the programs.
      - TRIO received flat funding in the Senate Appropriations LHHS
      Subcommittee bill. This is $10 million less in funding compared to the
      House Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee bill.
      - The committee report did include language that "directs the
      Department to allocate any grant funding not needed for non-competitive
      continuation awards or for programs up for re-competition in fiscal year
      2021 to provide inflationary increases for current grantees, and to
      increase the number and size of new awards in the fiscal year 2021 Talent
      Search and Educational Opportunity Centers grant competitions."
      - It also says, "the committee continues to not support the budget
      proposal to transform TRIO into a single State formula grant."

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns! I am
happy to discuss this more with anyone interested and offer any insight I
may be able to offer!

Take good care,

Eric


   --

*Eric Pratt*
Pronouns: He|Him|His

Academic Counselor
MEEOA Government Relations Chair
Upward Bound | University of Maine at Farmington
252 Main Street
Farmington, ME 04938
C: 207.314.5499 | W: 207.778.7279
Toll Free: 1.888.237.1667
www.upwardbound.umf.maine.edu