State Adult Literacy Education (ALE)

The RFP, all documents and any updates will be posted to the ACCES website .

Legislative Authority: Public Law 113-128; Education Law §207 & Chapter 53 of the Laws of 2002

Purpose of Grant: Adult Literacy Education (ALE) provides funding to support adult literacy education programs including Adult Basic Education (ABE), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and Adult Secondary Education (ASE) programs. At least 50 percent of the participants receiving services must be at the lowest beginning New York Reporting System (NYRS) of Adult Basic Education and/or English for Speakers of Other Languages that is NYRS Levels 1 and 2. Up to 50% can be for participants at the highest two levels of Adult Secondary Education that is NRS Levels 5 and 6. These students must be preparing to take the NYS HSE exam leading to an HSE diploma.

Project Period
Successful applicants will be funded for July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030.
Eligible Applicants Public and private not-for-profit agencies, including 2- and 4-year colleges, community-based organizations, libraries, volunteer literacy organizations, other not-for-profit organizations and consortia of the above organizations.
Amount of Funding $10,093,000 per year ALE funding

Component A (Direct Student Services) - Funding ($9,193,000)

Component B (One-on-one Support and Technical Assistance Centers for Adult Education Programs) - Funding ($900,000)
Continuous funding beyond Year One will be contingent upon the State Legislature appropriating funds.

Application Due Date and Submission Instructions: Applicants are requested to submit their application electronically through HighQ. The required documents, as listed in the Application Checklist section of this RFP, must be received via online form no later than May 5, 2025.

Questions and Answers: Questions regarding the request must be submitted via online form no later than the close of business April 14, 2025. A Questions and Answers Summary will be posted to NYSED’s Procurement Opportunities website no later than April 21, 2025.

Pre-qualification Requirement Proposals received from nonprofit applicants that are not Prequalified in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) by 5:00 PM on the proposal due date of May 5, 2025 cannot be evaluated. Such proposals will be disqualified from further consideration. Please see the “Prequalification Requirement” section for additional information.

Non-Mandatory Notice of Intent The Notice of Intent (NOI) is not a requirement for submitting a complete application by the application date; however, NYSED strongly encourages all prospective applicants to submit an NOI to ensure a timely and thorough review and rating process. A non-profit applicant’s NOI will also help to facilitate timely review of their prequalification materials. The notice of intent is a simple email notice stating your organization’s (use the legal name) intent to submit an application for this grant. Please also include your organization’s NYS Vendor ID. The due date is April 21, 2025. Please send the NOI via this online form .