More confusion following RAILS Application update... Answered

[Aubree-J-zz]

Hello all,

After sending out our update email blast, I have been notified that there was still confusion as to why the changes were made. I would like to address this here for those of you who may still be confused.

Changes made:

• Limiting the long form applicant questions to the stated word counts

  • In several questions, we asked that applicants limit their responses to specific word counts (300 or 100 depending on the question), but did not build the capability into the form to actually limit how many words were entered by applicants. Because of this, some early submissions contained too many words. We figured out an algorithm to limit the amount of words entered that will notify applicants when they have gone over the word count.

• Making it mandatory to select a priority neighborhood or none

  • We would like to ensure that applicants are not simply skipping over this question, so we added the option to select that the project will not be catered toward a priority neighborhood.

• Changing the wording around the Thousand Strong employer question and reminder to include $4000 in budget summary

  • The way this question was worded gave the impression that an applicant would already have to be a Thousand Strong employer. We changed it to be less constraining.

• Update dates on application from July 2019 - June 2020 to reflect current year July 2018 - June 2019

  • This was a typo that was pointed out in several workshops.

• Adding wording to give applicants sample programs definitions for Acceleration, Innovation and Leadership

  • This was to address a question that we anticipated receiving and have received several times around what programming falls under which grant categories. There are a couple descriptors included in the description of the question that should give applicants an idea of what we are looking for in each category. We still strongly encourage that applicants review the guidelines for further clarity

• Remove Startup Enablers and Social Entrepreneurship as stand alone focus areas in order to reduce confusion and help promote the building of the SUTL

  • This seemed to be a very confusing point in workshops. We have changed the focus areas to be around SUTL's verticals. This year's RAILS program is being integrated into the SUTL framework and we would like to see projects that are building within these areas. they are broad enough to include a number of fields so we expect that the projects and programs that will receive funding will fall into one or several of these focus areas

If there is further confusion around these changes, please submit a question so we can provide further clarity for all.

Thank you!