CSP - Lumen Impact Group

Grant Strategy. School Impact. Lasting Results.

Maximizing the Impact of Your CSP Grant

The Charter Schools Program (CSP) grant is a powerful opportunity—but navigating its complexity can be challenging. With the right partner, it doesn’t just become manageable—it transforms into a catalyst for meaningful change and measurable results.

At Lumen, we partner with State Entities (SEs) transform CSP funding into strategic impact and measurable outcomes. Our technical assistance goes beyond mere compliance—we design systems, coach teams, and guide grantees from vision to action. With extensive experience supporting SEs, authorizers, and schools, we bring clarity to complexity, ensuring your grant drives meaningful change for students and strengthens the charter sector across your state.

Grant Strategy. School Impact. Lasting Results.

Maximizing the Impact of Your CSP Grant

Grant Management & Compliance Support

CSP success requires more than strong planning—it takes well-run systems, clear oversight, and the ability to adapt in real time. We help SEs to build the infrastructure to award funds, monitor progress, and provide targeted, timely support to subgrantees—all while staying aligned with federal requirements and focused on impact.

Grant Management Capacity

We help SE teams build the internal capacity needed to implement CSP effectively. From navigating complex program requirements to aligning internal roles, systems, and timelines, we provide the guidance and tools teams need to lead the work with clarity and control. Whether you’re managing your first CSP grant or refining an existing approach, we support your team in building the knowledge and confidence to unlock the full potential of your award.

Subgrant Implementation Support

Effective subgrant oversight starts with clear systems, strong processes, and the right tools. Lumen works alongside SEs to lead subgrant implementation with precision—from onboarding to closeout. We provide the training, resources, and strategic guidance SEs need to monitor performance, manage compliance, and support schools in meeting CSP expectations—so the work stays focused, responsive, and student-centered.

CSP Technical Assistance for Schools, Boards, and Authorizers

High-quality planning, leadership, and oversight are essential to building strong schools and sustainable growth. Our field-tested support strengthens instructional models, operational systems, governance practices, and authorizer capacity—whether delivered through a CSP grant or as direct technical assistance.

Pre-Launch Readiness Planning

Smart planning sets the stage for a successful school launch. We guide teams through vision-setting, readiness assessments, and implementation roadmaps—grounded in local context and designed for long-term viability—whether you’re opening your first school or expanding to serve more students.

School Quality & Continuous Improvement

Improvement starts with insight and intention. Lumen’s flexible, needs-responsive support meets schools where they are—whether launching a new campus, expanding their footprint, or deepening quality through targeted improvement efforts. Our Focused Lens Strategic Planning (FLSP) model helps school leaders identify challenges, prioritize action steps, and build on strengths through a structured, data-informed process.

Board Governance Training

Strong governance is essential to charter school success—from academic oversight to strategic planning and risk management. Lumen supports boards through a tiered structure that includes topic-based workshops, pre-recorded training modules, role-specific communities of practice, individualized coaching, and responsive technical assistance. Our approach builds the structures and skills needed for confident, mission-aligned oversight at every stage of a board’s development at every stage.

Leadership Development

Effective schools are led by empowered leaders. We develop school leaders through cohort-based training, one-on-one coaching, and tools that build operational capacity, school culture, and leadership confidence.

Quality Authorization Support

Authorization has transformed public education—but the work of building stronger, more responsive systems is far from finished. Lumen helps authorizers raise the bar through targeted PD, peer-learning networks, and tools that strengthen oversight and improve decision-making. We support every phase of the work—helping teams identify best practices, build capacity, and drive system-wide improvement.

Why it Works

Our technical assistance approach is rooted in partnership. We don’t offer one-size-fits-all solutions—we work alongside your team to create practical, scalable systems that turn federal dollars into better-run schools and stronger outcomes for kids.

Ready to turn your grant into real results?

Connect with our team at info@lumen.org to get started.

Testimonials

"They don’t tell you what you want to hear. They tell you what you need to hear. That makes a huge difference. We needed to understand our weaknesses in order to make the organization work right, and I was overwhelmed by how they really got it and they helped us to get it too. They were able to do it in a way that really made me want to understand the goals we needed to focus on. I believe Lumen was absolutely the best we could have found."

Barbara Sellinger
Cresthaven Academy

"I’ve been in nonprofits for 30+ years and have used the services of many consultants, but I have never been so comfortable with their commitment to helping us. It was as if the Lumen team shared our need to have a successful outcome and they were committed to the notion that they would indeed bring value to what we were doing. "

Caroline Novak
Alabama School Readiness Alliance

"The Lumen team did a really good job sharing the hard truths with us. Their findings were different from what we were expecting, but they used the information to push us farther than we originally planned. They were candid and didn’t hide anything from us. We’re now on the path to developing products that are very different from what we’ve done before but are hopefully much more useful for the people we serve."

Drew Jacobs
National Alliance of Public Charter Schools

"The management of a federal CSP grant is a really niche area that requires a tremendous depth of expertise and technical know-how. You need to have a microscopic attention to detail when it comes to compliance and reporting timeliness. The Lumen team is excellent at all of the above. "

Tyler Barnett
New Schools for Alabama

"In my coaching, we make really strong, specific plans for next steps and then we follow up on them in our next conversation. We try to keep those next steps really manageable. When I’m busy, I can’t layer a ton of personal growth on top of my other responsibilities, so we make plans for growth that are baked into the work I’m already doing. That has been really helpful for me. "

Kristen Forbriger
City Fund