Pennsylvania Awards $36.1 Million to Strengthen Literacy Programs, includes Erie & Clarion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 23, 2012

Harrisburg – Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis today announced that more than $36.1 million in federal funding has been awarded to 56 local education agencies to support literacy programs for students from birth through 12th grade.

The Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant, also referred to as the Keystones to Opportunity grant, is a five-year, competitive federal grant program designed to assist local education agencies in developing and implementing local comprehensive literacy plans.

“I applaud these schools for securing funding to ensure that students have the essential skills to succeed academically,” Tomalis said. “Literacy programs help to improve student reading and comprehension, which could result in higher academic achievement.”

This grant program will support Pennsylvania’s comprehensive approach to improving literacy outcomes for all children, including disadvantaged students, limited English proficiency students and students with disabilities.

This funding will provide the necessary tools to foster 21st century literacy environments where children can develop the reading, writing, speaking, listening and language skills they need to succeed academically.

A total of 149 school districts submitted grant applications.

As one of only six states to receive funding for the first year, Pennsylvania was awarded a total of $38.6 million by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant requires that 95 percent of the award must be driven out to local education agencies.

Funds for the second year are pending release by the federal government, and funding for years three through five is contingent upon the availability of federal funds.

In less than one year, Pennsylvania has been awarded more than $80 million in federal funds to improve educational opportunities for students.

Clarion County - Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District, $739,252

Erie County - Girard School District, $59,691

Math and Science Partnership

The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program is a major research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects are expected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in the STEM performance of diverse student populations. MSP projects contribute to what is known in K-12 STEM education. All STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields supported by NSF may be involved in this work, with special encouragement to areas that are gaining increased traction at the K-12 level, such as computer science and engineering, in addition to mathematics and science. MSP projects also serve as models that have a sufficiently strong evidence/research base to improve STEM education outcomes for all students. Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to support two levels of Targeted Partnership awards, Implementation and Prototype. Implementation awards are intended to develop and put into practice innovative approaches and strategies in education. Prototype awards explore potentially innovative approaches and strategies in education. Both types of Partnerships incorporate significant new innovations to STEM education, linked to a strong educational research agenda, in one of four focal areas: Community Enterprise for STEM Learning; Current Issues Related to STEM Content; Identifying and Cultivating Exceptional Talent; and K-12 STEM Teacher Preparation. In addition, there are three types of Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (RETA) project opportunities in this solicitation: research related to sustainability, or policies, or state plans for STEM education; technical assistance for evaluators of MSP projects; and the STEM Education Resource Collaboratory.

Link to Additional Information

NSF Publication 12-518

Awesome list of open grants from MANY

Visit www.manynet.org to sign up for their newsletter. They also provide excellent webinars and training for those interested in applying for youth-related grants.

Youth Leadership Program
Application Deadline: May 31, 2012
The program will support the participation of high school youth and adult educators in intensive, substantive three- to four-week exchanges in the United States.
Click here for more information.

Statewide Consumer Network Grant
Application Deadline: May 18, 2012
For the purposes of this funding opportunity, this program seeks to address the needs of underserved and under-represented consumers, such as veterans; those with histories of trauma; those from ethnic, racial, or cultural minority groups; and those who have been involved in the criminal justice system.
Click here for more information.


BJA FY 12 Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program
Application Deadline: June 7, 2012
The BCJI application requires a consortium of partners (hereinafter referred to as “cross-sector partnership”) to work together to design a strategy addressing a targeted crime problem and respond to the scope of this solicitation.
Click here for more information.

Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program
Deadline May 4, 2012.
Click here to access the full funding announcement.

Research and Evaluation on Children Exposed to Violence
Deadline May 22, 2012.
Click here to access the full funding announcement.


OVW Fiscal Year 2012 - Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking Program
Includes providing culturally specific programs for children exposed to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking among others.
Click here for more information.


OJJDP FY 2012 Mentoring Best Practices Research
Deadline May 1, 2012
Click here to access the full funding announcement.


FY 2012 Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program
Deadline May 14, 2012.
Click here to read more.


FY 2012 Local Mentoring Coordinator Program
Deadline May 14, 2012.
Click here to read more.


Child Welfare - Education System Collaborations to Increase Educational Stability
Deadline May 29, 2012.
Click here to read more.


Youth Environmental Outdoor Education and Camps
Deadline  April 23, 2012.
Click here to read more.


OJJDP FY 2012 Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation Program
Deadline May, 7, 2012.
Click here to read more.


FY 2012 Second Chance Act Juvenile Offender Reentry Program for Demonstration Projects
Deadline May 14, 2012.
Click here to read more.


Serving Adult and Youth Ex-Offenders through Strategies Targeted to Characteristics Common to Female Ex-Offenders
Deadline May 4, 2012.
Click here to read the full announcement.


Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Planning Grants
Deadline May 1, 2012.
Click here to read more.

Afterschool innovator awards

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The Afterschool Alliance and the MetLife Foundation are seeking nominations of exemplary afterschool programs serving middle school youth for the MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Awards.

Nominees are sought in four categories. The afterschool and digital learning category is for programs that have demonstrated success with leveraging digital technology to facilitate learning experiences, enhance technical skills, and strengthen critical thinking across core subject areas. The afterschool and arts category is for programs that have demonstrated success in using the arts as means to strengthen self-confidence and self-expression, to build community, and to improve academic and skills development. The afterschool and parent involvement/engagement category is for programs that have demonstrated success in creatively engaging parents to help them become more involved in students' learning both in and outside of school. The afterschool and school improvement category is for programs that have successfully utilized school improvement grant funding to help promote positive change and improved academic outcomes in partnering schools.

The awards aim to identify potentially lesser-known yet effective programs and the individuals running them. Nominees will be judged by the innovative nature of their approach and demonstrated effectiveness.

Program staff and directors are allowed and encouraged to nominate their own program, but a nominator does not have to be officially affiliated with a program to nominate it. Each of the five award winners will receive $10,000 for their program.

Winners will receive additional support (up to $1,500, plus media outreach assistance) to hold a Lights On Afterschool event on October 18, 2012, to announce the award. Additionally, awardees and other notable nominees will be recognized in nationally released issue briefs and the alliance's Afterschool in Action Compendium.

Visit the Afterschool Alliance Web site for complete program guidelines

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Clinton Global Initiative announces new commitments

[from Philanthropy News Digest] At the fifth annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting atGeorge Washington University this past weekend, former President Clinton announced over nine hundred new projects that students and universities will undertake to improve the world.

New commitments announced at the two-day meeting include an expansion of Code the Change, a project of Stanford University student Sam King that hosts Code Jams in which computer science students provide up to twenty-four hours of pro bono volunteer services for nonprofit projects; the development, by Duke University student Patrick Oathout, of Uhuru, an online operating module that uses crowdsourcing technology to increase access to information among the international refugee community; the creation of Teach for Africa, a program byHarvard University student and Kenyan native Peggy Mativo that will provide trained teaching assistants to underserved schools in Nairobi, Kenya; and training workshops taught by Princeton University students Amanda Rees and Corinne Stephenson on how to build and operate solar drying units, enabling Kenyan farmers to dehydrate and preserve otherwise perishable produce.

Sponsored by the Victor Pinchuk and Peter G. Peterson foundations, as well as Microsoft, Laureate International Universities, Andy Nahas, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Peter Kovler, the Prospect Fund, and Booz Allen Hamilton, CGI U 2012 convened more than one thousand students representing all fifty states, eighty-two countries, and over three hundred universities around a wide range of topics, from the global economic crisis and its impact on young people to the youth movement for global health. The second day of the event concluded with a day of service held in partnership with Rebuilding Together and the United Service Organizations.

To view a complete list of commitments made at this year's meeting, visit the Clinton Global Initiative University Web site. “President Clinton Hosted the Fifth Annual Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.” Clinton Global Initiative University Press Release 3/31/12.

Emerging Latino Leaders Scholarship Program

The Best Buy Children’s Foundation and NCLR are proud to launch the sixth NCLR–Best Buy Emerging Latino Leaders Scholarship Program, which will award $25,000 in scholarships to graduating Hispanic high school seniors throughout the United States. 

Starting next week, online applications will be made available here.  The deadline for submission is Friday, April 27, 2012, and the winners will be announced in May 2012.  

Blended Learning Technology initiative

Education Elements in Palo Alto, California, has announced commitments totaling $6 million to expand its blended learning technology services to meet the growing demand for such services from schools nationwide.

The funding — which includes support from Harmony Partners, Rethink Education, and Eff Martin of Anthos Capital, as well as longtime Education Elements contributors Tugboat Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, and Wally Hawley, founder of the venture capital firm InterWest Partners — will enable the organization to expand its education consultant and support teams, strengthen its content and technology partnerships, enhance its technology platform, and open an office in Washington, D.C.

Since 2010, Education Elements has worked with schools, educational networks, and districts to adopt blended learning. To that end, it offers a comprehensive suite of design services and an SAAS-based Hybrid Learning Management System (HLMS) that allows institutions to personalize student learning and focus on small-group instruction. Over the next two years, the organization plans to grow its network of forty schools to more than two hundred. Among other things, it will use the new funding to develop additional HLMS features that support schools' blended learning approaches, as well as tools that enhance students' ownership of their own learning.

"We are gratified by the continued support from the investment community in helping Education Elements and its partner schools realize the potential of blended learning for teachers and students," said Education Elements CEO Anthony Kim. "Given the unprecedented student achievement and teacher satisfaction that our first schools have experienced, demand for our products and services has far exceeded our expectations this past year, and we look forward to continuing to ensure that schools and teachers have the support they need to accelerate student learning by integrating novel approaches to technology into their everyday instruction."

“Education Elements Raises $6 Million to Continue Helping Schools Transition to Blended Learning.” Education Elements Press Release