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

Mockingbird Foundation: Grants for Music Education
The Mockingbird Foundation grants funds to schools and nonprofits to effect improvements in music education for children (see website for specific requirements). Mockingbird is interested in targeting children 18 years or younger, but will consider projects that benefit college students, teachers, instructors, or adult students. Eligibility: public schools K-12, 501(c)3 organizations. Maximum award: $5,000. Deadline for letters of inquiry: September 1, 2010.

ASCAP Foundation: Grants for Music Education
The ASCAP Foundation is now considering proposals from organizations engaging in music education and talents development programs that support music education for aspiring songwriters and composers. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations.  Maximum award: $3,000. Deadline: October 1, 2010.

Mr Holland's Opus Music Foundation
Mr. Holland's Opus Music Foundation Grants have two programs, the Melody Program that targets qualified school music programs in need of assistance, and the Special Projects Program that targets community schools of the arts, after school programs and youth orchestras in need of assistance. Eligibility: school music programs K-12; community schools of the arts, after-school programs, and youth orchestras. Maximum award: Programs fund instrument repair and the acquisition of new instruments up to $10,000; no cash grants. Pre-application Deadline: October 1, 2010.

Wild Ones: Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program
The Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program gives small monetary grants to schools, nature centers, or other non-profit educational organizations for the purpose of establishing outdoor learning centers. Funds will be provided only for the purchase of native plants and seed. Eligibility: schools, nature centers, and other nonprofit and not-for-profit places of learning, including houses of worship. Maximum award: $100-$500. Deadline: October 15, 2010.

Verizon Foundation
The Verizon Foundation makes grants that help people to increase their literacy and educational achievement; avoid being an abuser or a victim of domestic violence; or achieve and sustain their health and safety.  Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations. Maximum awards: $10,000.  Deadline: October 31, 2010.

NEW ADDITION!
CVS Caremark: Community Grants
CVS Caremark Community Grants support programs that promote independence among children with disabilities, including physical and occupational therapies, speech and hearing therapies, and assistive technology and recreational therapies. Eligibility: nonprofit organizations that serve children with disabilities, located in a state that has a CVS pharmacy/store. Maximum award: $5,000. Deadline: October 31, 2010.

State Farm: Company Grants
State Farm is committed to meeting the needs of communities by giving in three areas: Safe Neighbors (safety), Strong Neighborhoods (community development), and Education Excellence (education). Eligibility: nonprofit, 501(c)3 organizations; Canadian charitable organizations, educational institutions, and governmental entities. Maximum award: varies. Deadline: October 31, 2010.

Office Depot Foundation
These funds are for the priorities of serving, teaching and inspiring children, youth and families; supporting civic organizations and activites that serve community needs; and disaster relief. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations.  Maximum award: most grants average $1,000 each.  Deadline: November 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.

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 

Statewide Professional Development Calendar | Fall 2010
This year, the Providence After School Alliance (PASA) and the Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance (RIASPA) have teamed up with generous support from the 21st CCLCs, RIDE, the CS Mott Foundation and the Wallace Foundation to bring you a professional development menu. We are excited to offer two workshops almost every Friday this fall in an effort to connect program providers to the resources they need to focus on quality improvement. A similar menu is forthcoming for the winter/spring of 2011, so stay tuned to PASA and RIASPA’s websites for more details.

Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference
Join the country’s largest convening of education funders, as attendees seek more powerful approaches to achieve systemic change. As educators celebrate resilience and highlight models of success, they gather with a heightened sense of immediacy, a greater sense of opportunity and a renewed commitment to providing equity and excellence for all learners.  This conference will take place October 21-29, 2010 in New Orleans.