Howard Hughes Medical Institute grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has announced grants totaling $79 million to universities and individual scientists to help strengthen pre-college and undergraduate science education nationwide.

The grants will make it possible for faculty at research universities to pursue some of their most creative ideas and develop new ways to teach and inspire students about science and research. Fifty research universities in thirty states and the District of Columbia will be awarded a total of $70 million through the institute's Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education Program. The schools will use the grants, which range from $800,000 to $2 million over four years, to develop creative, research-based courses and curricula; give more students experience working in the lab; and improve science teaching from elementary school through college. Grantees include Florida International University, Northwestern University, and the University of North Texas. In addition, thirteen HHMI Professors will receive a total of $9 million over four years to help solve important problems facing science education, including how best to bring research into the classroom, teach large introductory science courses, and encourage students from diverse backgrounds to become scientists. T

Walmart Foundation Awards $3.9 Million to Raise Middle School Reading Levels

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Walmart Foundation has announced three grants totaling $3.9 million for programs that help students who are reading below grade level.

An estimated 50 percent of eighth-grade students in urban, high-poverty schools read at a fifth-grade reading level or lower. To help raise those levels, the foundation awarded $1.5 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to create dedicated reading spaces and encourage reading at one hundred clubs; $1.2 million to City Year to establish a literacy training academy where AmeriCorps volunteers can tutor public school students; and $1.2 million to Boston-based public television station WGBH to broaden its free online curriculum for teachers across the country.

Last year, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation awarded $53 million for education initiatives, including the Walmart Teacher Rewards program, which provided $4 million to help teachers purchase vital classroom supplies. "Walmart and the Walmart Foundation recognize that students of today are the leaders of tomorrow," said the company's executive vice president, Raul Vasquez. "Providing extra support will help students excel not only in school but in life."

Informal Science Education (ISE)

The ISE program supports innovation in anywhere, anytime, lifelong learning, through investments in research, development, infrastructure, and capacity-building for STEM learning outside formal school settings.

Estimated Number of Awards: 46 Approximately 8 Research, 8 Pathways, 17 Full-Scale Development, 3 Broad Implementation, and 10 Communicating Research to Public Audiences awards will be made per year.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $25,000,000 in FY 2011 for new awards, pending availability of funds.

Research and evaluation: The ISE program seeks to build the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; to advance the assessment of such learning; and to support the application of innovative methods to address questions of importance to those who live or work in informal science education settings. Investigators proposing to conduct research about informal STEM learning should clearly articulate the importance of such research to the informal science education field, the specific approaches that will be used, and how the research process and findings would be evaluated and disseminated. Researchers are encouraged to involve informal learning practitioners as partners in their projects. Evaluation is another means by which the field advances, assessing the effectiveness of various models and approaches, and is a required component of all projects.

Design and development: Investment in models, resources, and programs for STEM learning throughout the lifespan is a core element of the ISE program. Proposals can utilize a broad range of communication formats and experiences, such as mobile and broadcast media, virtual learning environments, exhibitions, films, citizen science, and after-school and/or out-of-school programs. Particularly encouraged are cross-format proposals that help learners identify and navigate among multiple resources, both new and existing, to develop their own STEM-related identities over time. Investigators proposing to develop models, products or tools should make a case for the innovative contributions of such deliverables. They should provide a plan for the systematic evaluation of their effectiveness and a plan for substantial dissemination of promising practices for engaging the public in STEM learning.

Infrastructure: The ISE program also encourages individual proposals to take a systemic perspective in reaching public or professional audiences. This could involve building innovative platforms with multiple uses, creating virtual organizations, utilizing scientific networks, building cross-sector partnerships, or developing connections among the wealth of existing informal science education resources in the physical and online worlds. Such approaches advance the field toward a more seamless informal learning infrastructure in which participants can learn anywhere and anytime, and are deliberately supported to deepen their STEM expertise over their lifetimes.

Capacity-building: The ISE program seeks proposals to build the STEM and education expertise of informal science education’s broad community of professionals, volunteers, parents and caregivers, and all those with potential to facilitate the learning of others. Proposals with a capacity-building aspect should make a case for the innovation in the approach and the strategic importance of involving the particular community targeted by the proposal. Proposers should also provide a plan for the systematic evaluation of the capacity-building outcomes and the dissemination of contributions to knowledge building in informal STEM learning and education. The program particularly encourages proposals that have the potential to transform informal STEM learning, to diversify the field, or support broader use of existing research, evaluation, and best practices. Partnerships among creators of informal science education experiences, STEM experts, and learning researchers are highly desirable.

Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy Offers Conference Scholarships to Young Philanthropic Leaders of Color

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy is accepting applications for the 2010 summer cycle of its Professional Development Fund. Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, EPIP's Professional Development Fund awards young philanthropic leaders of color up to $1,000 to attend a conference, gathering, or training of their choice. Since its inception, the fund has awarded close to $56,000 in total scholarships to promising young leaders from different sectors of philanthropy — from public, private, and corporate foundations, foundation affinity groups, and philanthropic support institutions. Awardees have attended conferences sponsored by such organizations as EPIP, the Council on Foundations, Neighborhood Funders Group, and the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

Awardees also are invited to the PDF Gathering, a national convening focusing on skills development and the exploration of racial equity and social justice grantmaking. A PDF applicant must be a dues-paying member of EPIP; an emerging professional of color or young trustee in a foundation, foundation affinity group, or philanthropic support institution, or a graduate student studying the field of philanthropy; and under 40 years of age with fewer than five years in the foundation field and/or in a junior position.

Kellogg Foundation Launches $75 Million Initiative to Address Effects of Racism

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has announced the launch of a five-year, $75 million initiative to improve life outcomes for vulnerable children and their families by promoting racial healing and eliminating barriers to opportunities.

During the first phase of the America Healing initiative, more than a hundred community-based organizations will receive grants totaling more than $14.6 million to support healing efforts among racial and ethnic groups that address historic burdens, disparities, and barriers to opportunity. Representing twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia and several different racial and ethnic population groups, the grantees will work to increase opportunities for children in education, health, and economic areas. Additional phases of the initiative will aim to curtail racism in the media, the environment, education, housing, and the health and criminal justice systems, with an emphasis on expanding opportunities for all children.

Children of color are over-represented among the twenty-nine million low-income children and families in the U.S., particularly among families living in concentrated poverty. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, about 58 percent of children with immigrant parents and 61 percent of African-American, 62 percent of Latino, 57 percent of Native-American, and 30 percent of Asian-American children live in low-income families, compared to 26 percent of white children.

"The Kellogg Foundation's vision is for a nation to marshal its resources to ensure that all children in America have an equitable and promising future," said Kellogg Foundation president and CEO Sterling K. Speirn. "That is simply not the case in many communities across the country today. The goal of the America Healing initiative is to help make that vision a reality by engaging communities and supporting them in the hard work of racial healing and addressing the effects of historic and contemporary structural issues, such as residential segregation and concentrated poverty."

“W.K. Kellogg Foundation Announces $75 Million Effort to Tackle Structural Racism and Promote Racial Healing.” W.K. Kellogg Foundation Press Release 5/11/10.

Sloan Excellence in Online Teaching awards

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Deadline: August 15, 2010

Originally funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education and to helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of online education.

The Call for Nominations for the 2010 Sloan-C awards is now available.

The 2010 Sloan-C Awards for Excellence in Online Teaching and Learning will present awards in the categories of Excellence in Online Teaching (Individual), Outstanding Achievement in Online Education by an Individual Outstanding Online Program, Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Teaching, and Excellence in Institution-Wide Online Education. Individual nominees must be employed by a Sloan-C member institution or be individual members of Sloan-C; program and institutional awards are also limited to Sloan-C member institutions and organizations. Nominations for individual awards must be made by an institutional representative other than the nominee. Individual awards include a commemorative plaque and $2,000; institutional awards consist of a commemorative plaque only.

The 2010 Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education will be presented to an institution that has demonstrated its commitment to assessing and improving the quality of its online education programs through quantitative application of the five Sloan-C quality pillars (access, learning effectiveness, cost effectiveness, student satisfaction, and faculty satisfaction). Institutions may apply for the Gomory Award based on a single degree program, a cluster of such programs within a department or a school, or the online degree offerings for the entire institution. The award includes a commemorative plaque and $5,000 to be used by the recipient institution to fund “Sloan-C Gomory Scholarships” to students enrolled in its online programs.

The 2010 A. Frank Mayadas Leadership Award in Online Education will honor a prominent professional whose work has had significant positive impact on online learning within the higher education community. Nominees must be individual members of the Sloan Consortium directly associated with leading, coordinating, or managing an online learning program in higher education; the program must be one of quality, scale, and breadth. Anyone may submit nominations for the award, which consists of a commemorative plaque and a contribution in the amount of $2,000 to a scholarship fund of the recipient’s choice. Award recipients will also be invited to present a talk at the Sloan-C Annual Conference on a subject of their choice, reflecting their area of professional expertise and interest.

The awards will be presented at the Sixteenth International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Florida, on November 4, 2010.

Visit the Sloan-C Web site for award nomination guidelines.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

America's Promise Alliance and ING Foundation Invite Entries for 100 Best Communities for Young People Program

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Deadline: June 1, 2010

America's Promise Alliance and the ING Foundation are accepting entries for this year’s 100 Best Communities for Young People competition.

The program is designed to honor the hundred American cities and towns whose top priority is keeping children in school and helping end the nation's dropout crisis through innovative programs that address the everyday challenges facing young people and create better places for them to live and grow.

Winning communities receive national recognition and media exposure, financial and logistic support to celebrate their selection at a local event, commemorative awards to be displayed in the community, access to Alliance partner resources and the insights of other winning communities through an online space and invitations to exclusive online informational events featuring Alliance partners.

Interested communities are invited to visit the America's Promise Web site for information.

Link to Complete RFP

Promise Neighborhoods

FIE supports nationally significant programs to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education at the State and local levels and help all children meet challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards. The purpose of Promise Neighborhoods is to improve significantly the educational and developmental outcomes of children in our most distressed communities, and to transform those communities by-- (1) Supporting efforts to improve child outcomes and ensure that data on those outcomes are communicated and analyzed on an ongoing basis by leaders and members of the community; (2) Identifying and increasing the capacity of eligible entities (as defined in this notice) that are focused on achieving results and building a college-going culture (as defined in this notice) in the neighborhood; (3) Building a complete continuum of cradle-through-college-to-career solutions (continuum of solutions) (as defined in this notice), which has both academic programs and family and community supports (both as defined in this notice), with a strong school or schools at the center. Academic programs must include (a) High-quality early learning programs designed to improve outcomes in multiple domains of early learning (as defined in this notice); (b) programs, policies, and personnel for children in kindergarten through the 12th grade that are linked to improved academic outcomes; and (c) programs that prepare students for college and career success. Family and community supports must include programs to improve student health, safety, community stability, family and community engagement, and student access to 21st century learning tools. The continuum of solutions also must be linked and integrated seamlessly (as defined in this notice) so there are common outcomes, a focus on similar milestones, support during transitional time periods, and no time or resource gaps that create obstacles for students in making academic progress. The continuum also must be based on the best available evidence including, where available, strong or moderate evidence (as defined in this notice), and include programs, policies, practices, services, systems, and supports that result in improving educational and developmental outcomes for children from cradle through college to career; (4) Integrating programs and breaking down agency ``silos'' so that solutions are implemented effectively and efficiently across agencies; (5) Supporting the efforts of eligible entities, working with local governments, to build the infrastructure of policies, practices, systems, and resources needed to sustain and ``scale up'' proven, effective solutions across the broader region beyond the initial neighborhood; and (6) Learning about the overall impact of Promise Neighborhoods and about the relationship between particular strategies in Promise Neighborhoods and student outcomes, including a rigorous evaluation of the program.