Providence After School Alliance

As a service to our dedicated educators and providers, PASA compiles some of the latest after-school grant and professional development opportunities available both nationally and locally. It can be quite overwhelming to seek out and wade through the wealth of foundation and corporate RFPs, so PASA hopes this list, which caters to those in the after-school field, will ease the grant-seeking process. For helpful navigation, keep in mind that those items with the most pressing deadlines are given priority in each section. Check back often for updates and happy hunting!

If you have a grant alert, workshop, or training that you feel should be included on this list, please contact:

Jeremy Hawkins, Public Relations/Development Coordinator
401.490.9599 x163
jhawkins@mypasa.org

Grant Opportunities

Siemens: We Can Change the World Challenge
The purpose of this challenge is to engage students in identifying and solving local environmental problems, utilize their creativity, involve their community, and recommend how others could use this solution in their communities.  Teams will embark upon a 9-13 week project to make positive environmental change in a neighborhood. Eligibility: Teams made up of a teacher or adult mentor and 2-4 middle school students.  Award: includes a $10,000 savings bond for students, see site for complete details. Deadline: March 15, 2010.

Finish Line Youth Foundation Youth Grants
These grants recognize youth athletic programs, such as community based programs, addressing active lifesdtyle and team-building skills; and camps, particularly those emphasizing sports and serving children who are disadvantaged or have special needs. Eligibility: Organizations with 501(c)(3) status serving kids age up to 18 years of age. Maximum award: $1,00-$5,000. Deadline: March 31, 2010.

NEW ADDITION!
New Roots Providence: Capacity Building Grants
New Roots Providence is awarding $500,000 in capacity building grants. These grants are designed to support the learning necessary to strengthen an organization's structure and management functions.  Most organizations use grants to purchase technical assistance or training.  These grants do not support operating expenses or salaries.  Eligibility: visit the New Roots website for complete details. Maximum award: varies. Deadline: April 7, 2010.

NEW ADDITION!
MetLife: Afterschool Innovator Award
The Afterschool Alliance and MetLife Foundation are partnering to develop and disseminate a series of Issue Briefs that address topics related to middle school youth and afterschool programs. Nominate a program by April 23, 2010 for a chance to receive a MetLife Afterschool Innovator Award and be highlighted in one of our Issue Briefs.  Awardees will be recognized in the related Issue Brief and in the final compendium.  Awards will be given out by the Afterschool Alliance in conjunction with the 2010 Lights On Afterschool and each recipient will receive an award of $5,000 to be used to continue or improve upon the highlighted program. Eligibility: Middle School After-School Programs.  Maximum award: $5,000. Nomination deadline: April 23, 2010. 

ING Unsung Heroes®
Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into reality for students. Eligibility: Full-time educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals or classified staff with effective projects that improve student learning. Maximum award: 100 finalists will receive an award of $2,000. From that group, three winners will receive $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000. Deadline: April 30, 2010. 

NEW ADDITION!
Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes
The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes honors outstanding young leaders who have focused on helping their communities and fellow beings and/or on protecting the health and sustainability of the environment. Youth are nominated by adults who have a solid knowledge of the youth. Eligibility: Youth 8-18. Maximum award: $2,500. Deadline: April 30, 2010.

NEW ADDITION!
Earth Island Institute: Youth Award for Outstanding Activism in Environmental and Social Justice
The Earth Island Institute Brower Youth Award recognizes young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Eligibility: youth activists ages 13-22. Maximum award: $3,000; a trip to San Francisco for the awards ceremony, October 19, 2010; and a wilderness camping trip. Deadline: May 15, 2010.

Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation
Brown Rudnick's Community Grants Program subsidizes small projects designed to improve inner-city education in Boston, Hartford, Providence, New York, or Washington, D.C., within the coming year. In keeping with the foundation's 2008 focus, proposals aimed at helping to reduce public school absenteeism and dropout rates are of particular interest. The applicant must be a "frontline educational worker" who is involved in the education field or a related field in one of the communities eligible for foundation grants. The proposed recipient must be a nonprofit organization or tax-exempt organization (e.g., a public school) that is willing to accept the grant and use it in the required manner. Maximum award: $2000. Open Deadline.

The Coca-Cola Foundation
The Coca-Cola Foundation aims to make a greater impact on the communities around the world by being responsive to the citizenship priorities of the communities in which we live and work. The Coca-Cola Company’s renewed strategy focuses on global pillars where we can make a unique and sustainable difference: water stewardship, healthy active lifestyles, community recycling, and education. Open Deadline.

Fender Music Foundation Grants
The Fender Music Foundation accepts electronic grant applications throughout the year. Qualifying applicants are established, ongoing and sustainable music programs in the United States, which provide music instruction for people of any age who would not otherwise have the opportunity to make music. Almost all of the awarded grants are for in-school music classes, in which the students make music, after school music programs that are not run by the school, and music therapy programs, in which the participants make the music. Grants awarded nationally. Maximum award: $5,000. Open Deadline.

GTECH After School Advantage
The GTECH After School Advantage Program is a national community investment program, which provides non-profit community agencies and public schools with state-of-the-art computer labs. These computer centers are designed to provide inner-city children aged five to 15 with a meaningful, yet fun, learning experience during the critical after-school hours, in a safe environment. This initiative is meant to provide an otherwise unavailable educational experience and bridge the digital divide among at-risk children. It is currently estimated that there will be over 115 After School Advantage computer centers established throughout the United States by the end of 2008. GTECH will contribute, on average, $15,000 to each site. Open Deadline.

Jenny’s Heroes
Jenny's Heroes provides grants to fund projects that promise long-term community benefits. Through the fifty grant recipients so far, funds have been used to provide items and services such as library books, school computers, firefighting gear, nursing home upgrades, sports equipment, free dental services, wheelchairs, coats for children in domestic violence shelters, and a running track at a women's prison. Grants awarded nationally. Maximum award: $25,000. Open Deadline.

Rhode Island Council for the Humanities: Monthly Mini Grants
Mini grants are awarded on a monthly basis to individual researchers to support research in the humanities. Applications are to be completed online and submitted by or on the 1st of each month. The council asks that applicants contact grants staff prior to submitting an application to discuss availability of funds. The council’s grants support various phases of public humanities projects (from research and development to production) and many kinds of public humanities projects (from live discussion and presentation programs to broadcast media programs). As a rule, programs should be geared to a broad and diverse general audience. Maximum award: $2,000. Application deadlines are on the first of each month.

State Farm® Education Excellence Award
State Farm® is committed to meeting the needs of our communities by focusing our giving in three areas: Safe Neighbors (safety), Strong Neighborhoods (community development), and Education Excellence (education). State Farm field offices consider Grant requests for local initiatives. The following types of grants for K-12 Public Schools will be considered: teacher excellence programs that improve teacher quality, service-Learning programs that integrate core classroom curriculum with service to the community, and programs that incorporate the Systemic Improvement criteria into education systems to improve overall effectiveness. Proposals are accepted year-round and are reviewed in a timely manner. However, approval time depends on the requesting amount and completeness of the proposal.

Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance offers grants of $500 to $2500 to preK-12 classroom teachers for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve intergroup relations in schools and/or support educator professional development in these areas. Proposals from other community organizations and houses of worship will be considered on the basis of direct student impact. Open Deadline. 

Professional Development Opportunities 

9th Annual Youth Work Intensive Conference
Save the date! The Youth Work Intensive is a conference which offers a series of skill building workshops focused on the knowledge and practice of youth work. It brings together trainers and leading practitioners to provide sessions focused on skill development, promising practices, and tools for everyday use. Accordingly, each workshop will address a broad topic while giving particular attention to tools, methods and strategies. The conference will be held on March 15-16, 2010 at the College of Public and Community Service at UMass-Boston. 

NEW ADDITION!
New Roots Providence: Boards 101
In this workshop, participants will learn how to design a great board, how to define the board jobs you need, how to identify and recruit great people to fill those positions, and how to provide the right level of oversight that every organization needs. Attendees should be executive directors, leadership volunteers, and board members. Registration deadline is March 24, 2010.  This workshop will be held on March 31, 2010 at CCRI Warwick or April 3, 2010 at the Berliet Function Room from 9:00am - 12:30pm.

NEW ADDITION!
PASA: B.E.S.T. Training
This training has been offered across Rhode Island since 2005 and to date, more than 275 youth workers have received certificates.  Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback, PASA is continuing to offer this training twice a year. The BEST training, an 8-week, 32-hour training session offered by Health Resources in Action (formerly the Medical Foundation), is designed to build a better understanding of youth development principles and practices. This training is designed for front-line staff and those who work directly with youth. The 8-week training runs April 2 - May 28, 2010 (with no class on April 23) and can hold up to 25 people. It will be on Fridays, 9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Location TBN. THIS TRAINING IS FREE OF CHARGE.

New England League of Middle Schools Annual Conference
The New England League of Middle Schools through its vision, leadership, and programs, provides a network of services for learning about and implementing developmentally appropriate practices for young adolescents that will serve them in their ever changing world. Keynote speakers at this year's conference include Judith Baenen, Debbie Silver, and Jack Berkemeyer. The conference will be held on April 8-10, 2010 in Providence Rhode Island.

The Grantsmanship Center: Competing for Federal Grants
This five-day workshop prepares attendees for the preparation and submission of federal grant applications.  ore than $300 billion in federal grants are awarded each year and Competing for Federal Grants will equip participants with the skills needed to develop proposals that will be competitive at the national level.  Discounts available for early registration.  This training will be held in Watertown, MA from April 12-16, 2010. 

National AfterSchool Association Convention
The National AfterSchool Association is the leading voice of the afterschool profession, dedicated to the development, education and care of children and youth during their out-of-school hours.  Along with the Afterschool Alliance, the NAA will be holding a 3-day convention focusing on the after-school field.  Attendees who register before December 11, 2009 will be entered in a drawing to win a trip to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah! This convention will be held on April 19-21, 2010 in Washington, DC.