FIRST Tech Challenge NEWS for the 2017- 2018 season

In this newsletter:

• National FIRST Registration 
• Oregon Department of Education: FIRST Robotics Grant 
• Team Support Awards and Tournament Fees  for 2017 - 2018 
• FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Virtual Help Desk for Mentors - SLACK  

FIRST Tech Challenge National Team Registration will open on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at 9:00 am Pacific Daylight Time.

New things you need to know about the NEW streamlined national registration website:

• Simplified dashboard provides clear reminders for outstanding team tasks 
• No more Youth Protection Program registration delays! Two Youth Protection Plan (YPP) screened Lead Coaches/Mentors are still required; however, now Lead Coaches/Mentors and administrators can create teams, submit payment, and order products while screening process is completed. 
• A team  must to pay the national registration fee or have the FIRST Rookie or Veteran  Grant applied to their account prior to purchasing product from the FIRST Storefront. 
• The National FIRST Rookie or Veteran Team Grant Application will be available on May 11th and applicants will be notified on  May 31st. 
• Rookie Teams receive $275 as a national registration credit  and $475 in credit to purchase product in the FIRST Storefront applied to their team profile.
• Veteran Teams receive $275 in national registration credit applied to their team profile
• Teams applying for this FIRST Grant should begin the registration process but stop just short of paying. Teams must wait until notification on May 31st to see if the funds were applied to the team profile. FIRST does not reimburse teams for grants. 
• When does national FIRST registration close? In April 2018. However..... 
• League teams who want to compete in FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon leagues and league qualifying tournaments  must be nationally paid and registered by October 15, 2017 and have the Oregon League signup form completed. 
• Non-League teams who want to compete in FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon non-league qualifying tournament  must be nationally paid and registered by November 1, 2017 and have the Oregon Non-League Qualifying signup form completed. 
• Teams can expect the tournament minimum fees to be adjusted down this coming season. 

Oregon Department of Education: FIRST Robotics Grant
A message from David Perry, ORTOP Executive Director 

As your team prepares for the upcoming fundraising season, keep in mind that this year may be more challenging than last.  One of our largest sponsors shifted their funding priorities for the upcoming season, and the Oregon Department of Education FIRST grant for schools is in jeopardy as well. Due to significant revenue shortfalls, early budget frameworks indicate this program is one of many that will be cut. Many of you relied on these state and sponsor dollars to help with the sustainability of your team. ORTOP is doing it's best to approach sponsors, both continuing and new. However, we do not expect to have the same level of team support funding as in the 2016-17 season. It is more important than ever to get out into your community to ask for support. ORTOP will continue to prioritize team support for those with the greatest need, and those that have made an individual effort but are still a little short will rise to the top. Please communicate with the Program Leads about your team’s situation so we can help ensure all are able to participate again in the upcoming season. 

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Last season 95 FIRST Tech Challenge teams received a total of $131,500 in ODE Funding. The loss of this funding is significant. Most teams received $1000 grants. We encourage teams to start fundraising earlier. We will be providing tips and strategies for fundraising (see SLACK post below).

Team Support Awards for 2017 - 2018 / Funding your FTC Team
We know that this will be a financially challenging year for most of our teams since 75% of our teams received some level of support from ODE or ORTOP.  We do not want anyone to throw in the towel and fold their team. Please talk to ORTOP before making any quick decision about next season. ORTOP can't make any promises but we are committed help teams find solutions to continue. Working with David Perry, our new executive director, we have taken two initial steps toward helping teams. 

1.   ORTOP Team Support Awards will primarily focus on helping existing teams stay in FTC over providing funding for new teams.
2.   Our program costs have not changed and the full costs of the program is the same or more than last year, but we are lowering the tournament sliding scale ranges to assist teams. We will seek other avenues to make up the difference. 

FIRST Tech Challenge Tournament Sliding Scale Fee Structure 2017-2018	Minimum	Maximum
All League Meets & League Tournament (one fee for all events)	$200	$400
Non-League Qualifying Tournament	$150	$300
Super-Qualifier	$150	$300
Championship	$200	$400

Finally,  Rockwell Collins, Google and Intel provides funds for ORTOP Team Support Awards. Each has requested that teams do not contact them directly for funding and prefer that they submit applications to ORTOP for support.

FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Virtual Help Desk for Mentors - SLACK 
We are going to pilot a virtual help desk for FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Mentors. The purpose is to create a shared space for a gracious exchange of information and help in mentoring FIRST Tech Challenge teams. Although this can't replace in-person workshops we hope it will prove helpful.

**This is not a replacement or even similar to the official FIRST Tech Challenge Forum run by FIRST.** The FIRST Tech Challenge Forum is always the definitive official final word on game rulings.

OR-FTC-Mentors using the SLACK application is meant as a virtual world to ask and receive help on a variety of topics (channels). As the conversation grows the admins will add and delete channels.  We are starting with the following topics.
#build , #control-system, #gamestrategy (careful on this one), #mechanical, #programming, #sensors, #team-management, #fundraising, #general, #random
My intention is for adult mentors to join OR-FTC-Mentors - all channels and initially restrict team members to the #general channel.

We extend our thanks to Krishnan Duraiswami, 2017 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Compass Award Winner for establishing the OR-FTC-Mentors Slack Group. We can see he is already making good use of his time now that Batteries in Black has retired. 

Are you ready to join the conversation??  

You can use the link below to join OR-FTC-Mentors SLACK team — it only takes a minute to send us your preferred email address so that we can issue an invitation to join. 

Use this link to get started