Afterschool reading and math grants awarded

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The New York Life Foundation has announced a two-year, $1.6 million grant to the Oakland-based Developmental Studies Center to expand its afterschool reading and math enrichment programs nationally.

Building on New York Life Foundation grants of $700,000 in 2007 and $2.4 million in 2008, the latest funding will enable at least eight hundred new sites around the country to participate in the Afterschool KidzLit and Afterschool KidzMath programs, bringing the total number of participating sites to three thousand. KidzLit is a K-8 reading enrichment and social development program built around nearly two hundred popular children's books featuring diverse cultures and settings, while KidzMath is a K-6 math enrichment and social development program that utilizes a mix of fifty collaborative games and twenty math-related storybooks.

Program sites receive free professional development for two or three of their staff members at thirty workshops across the country as well as a 10 percent discount on materials. High-need program sites (those with at least 50 percent disadvantaged children) receive a 25 percent discount on materials.

YouthBuild Walmart Foundation grants

[Philanthropy News Digest] The Walmart Foundation has announced a $2.6 million grant to YouthBuild USA to support education and job training for low-income youth.

The grant will provide training in green building skills to two thousand 16- to 24-year-olds while they work toward their GEDs or high school diplomas. Through YouthBuild programs, the young people will help build affordable housing units for homeless and poor people in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

“The Walmart Foundation Awards $2.6 Million to YouthBuild USA.” Walmart Foundation Press Release 8/11/10.

Verizon PA Library grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Pennsylvania's twenty-nine district library center organizations are invited to compete for a total of $150,000 in grants from the Verizon Foundation to support literacy initiatives that incorporate Verizon Thinkfinity.org resources into their programs.

The foundation will award grants of up to $15,000 each to district library center organizations that best use Thinkfinity.org resources to enhance existing programs, or launch new ones, for library patrons. Thinkfinity.org offers free, online educational and literacy resources for teachers, parents, and students provided in partnership with leading educational and literacy organizations. To be eligible, grant applicants must be Pennsylvania nonprofit district library center organizations.

Proposals must be submitted online at the Verizon Foundation's Web site.
Link to Complete RFP

New postsecondary education awards

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Indianapolis-based USA Funds has announced grants totaling $2.8 million to one hundred organizations in eleven states and the District of Columbia working to broaden access to postsecondary education.

Second-quarter grants included $275,000 to the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund to produce a white paper that examines how Asian and Pacific Islander students finance their education, $270,000 to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for the Learn More Indiana program, and $100,000 to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning for the College Knowledge Project, which is designed to inform low-income and first-generation Mississippi students of postsecondary education opportunities.

"These awards support programs that improve students' awareness of and preparation for postsecondary education, promote access to high-quality higher education opportunities, and increase student persistence and completion of their programs of study," said USA Funds senior vice president of program and corporate development Robert C. Ballard. "USA Funds focuses its grantmaking primarily on underserved low-income middle and high school students, students of color, and first-generation postsecondary students."

“USA Funds Awards $2.8 Million in Higher Education Grants.” USA Funds Press Release 8/03/10.

Investing in Innovation Fund Awards

The U.S. Department of Education has announced forty-nine finalists for the $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) fund.

Chosen from a pool of nearly 1,700 applicants, the finalists include four organizations — the KIPP Foundation, Ohio State University, the Success for All Foundation, and Teach for America — that are eligible for grants of up to $50 million to scale-up education programs with proven track records. Fifteen applicants are eligible for grants of up to $30 million to cultivate programs with emerging evidence of success, and thirty are eligible for grants of up to $5 million for the development of promising ideas. The finalists will focus on projects in two hundred and fifty communities in more than forty-two states and two territories.

Two Pennsylvania education organizations are receiving up to $30 million in federal Recovery Act funding to further develop promising innovations in education that will benefit Pennsylvania students, acting Education Secretary Thomas E. Gluck announced. Children’s Learning Initiative, based in Philadelphia, and ASSET Inc., based in Pittsburgh, were awarded highly-competitive “validation” grants through the i3 fund to build upon programs which have shown evidence of success.

Also among the 49 winning applications are seven other organizations that will partner with Pennsylvania school districts, nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education. Some of the school districts and communities that will benefit from these i3 funds include Easton, Homestead, Reading, Bethlehem, Carnegie, East Stroudsburg, Wrightsville, Erie City SD, Philadelphia and Harrisburg City SD. For additional information on the i3 funds and descriptions of winner initiatives, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html

Off-Campus Community Service program

The purpose of this program is to provide grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) participating in the Federal Work-Study Program under title IV, part C of the
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) to recruit and compensate students (including compensation for time spent in training and for travel) for part-time, off-campus employment directly related to community service. Under section 447(b) of the HEA, funds granted to an IHE under this program may only be used to make payments to students participating in work-study programs.

Full announcement available here.

Early Career Research Program

The Office of Science of the Department of Energy hereby invites grant applications for support under the Early Career Research Program in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); High Energy Physics (HEP), and Nuclear Physics (NP). The purpose of this program is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Expected Number of Awards: 50
Estimated Total Program Funding: $6,000,000
Deadline: Nov. 9, 2010