Two new library grant programs

[From Philanthropy News Digest]
Through funding from the Margaret A. Edwards Trust, the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, will award up to ten Teen Tech Week mini-grants, consisting of $450 in cash and $50 worth of Teen Tech Week products, to YALSA members who create a reading program that incorporates technology.

Teen Tech Week is designed to help teens learn to become efficient and ethical users of technology, especially in a library setting. Teen Tech Week also encourages teens to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology. Teen Tech Week 2011 will be celebrated March 6-12 with a theme of "Mix and Mash @ your library."

Visit the ALA Web site for complete program information. Link to Complete RFP

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The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries was founded in 2002 as a fund of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $7.3 million to 1,433 pre-K-12 schools in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition to these grants, the foundation also has awarded more than $5.7 million to school libraries in the Gulf Coast region to rebuild book collections that were lost or destroyed by recent hurricanes and storms.

Only schools where a minimum of 50 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches are eligible to apply for LBF regular grants. Because research demonstrates a clear relationship between family income and a student's access to books, the LBF gives selection preference to schools in which 90 percent or more of the students receive free or reduced-price lunches and are likely to have the fewest books at home.

Schools in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, all American territories, and Department of Defense schools in other countries are eligible to apply. This includes all public, private, parochial, charter, city, state, county, and reservation schools — including special schools, social services schools, and juvenile detention center schools in any of those jurisdictions — that serve any combination of pre-kindergarten through high school students.

The foundation makes grants of up to $6,000 to update, extend, and diversify the book collections of the libraries that receive them. All LBF grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations, or other entities.

In order to promote a love of reading, the goal of the foundation is to provide books to the school libraries and students that most need them. Consequently, funds are available only for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions.

All applications must be submitted through the foundation's Web site. Visit the site for complete program guidelines, application procedures, and an FAQ. Link to Complete RFP

Unsung Heroes program

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The ING Unsung Heroes program annually provides grants to K-12 educators utilizing new teaching methods and techniques to improve learning.

Educators are welcome to submit grant applications describing projects they have initiated or would like to pursue. Each project is judged on its innovative method, creativity, and ability to positively influence students.

Each year, one hundred educators are selected to receive $2,000 each to help fund their innovative class projects. Three recipients are then selected to receive additional top awards of $5,000, $10,000, and $25,000.

All K-12 education professionals are eligible to apply. Applicants must be employed by an accredited K-12 public or private school located in the United States and must be full-time educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, or classified staff with projects that improve student learning.

Visit the ING Web site for 2011 program guidelines and application materials.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Music Education grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The nonprofit NAMM Foundation works to advance active, lifelong participation in music making by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs of the international music products industry.

The organization has announced the availability of grants through its Wanna Play Fund to provide instruments to schools and community organizations that are expanding or reinstating music education programs as part of a core curriculum and/or that employ quality music teachers.

Eligible applicants are public schools serving low-income students (percentage of free and reduced lunch data required); community organizations serving low-income students and students with special needs (community demographic information required); and schools and community programs that have made a commitment to hiring and retaining high-quality music teachers and providing standards-based, sequential learning in music.

Online grant applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants will be notified within thirty days of submission whether or not a grant will be awarded.

Complete program information and an online application form are available at the NAMM Foundation Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Shell Science Lab Challenge

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The National Science Teachers Association, the largest professional organization in the world working to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning, and Shell Oil Company have launched a new competition for middle and high school teachers that will bring laboratory resources to school districts across the United States. Through the NSTA Shell Science Lab Challenge, schools will compete for up to $93,000 in total prizes, including a grand-prize school science lab makeover valued at $20,000.

The challenge invites middle and high school science teachers (grades 6-12) in the U.S. and Canada (with special attention to urban and underrepresented groups) to describe a replicable approach to science lab instruction using limited school and laboratory resources.

Entries will be judged on the basis of several criteria, including uniqueness, creativity, and replicability. Eighteen regional winners will be selected. From those, five national winners will be chosen, and from the national winners a grand-prize winner will be selected.

All winners will receive donated science lab equipment or gift certificates, a grant to purchase additional science lab tools and resources, a $300 gift certificate to the NSTA Bookstore, and membership to the NSTA and the NSTA Learning Center.

For complete program guidelines and application procedures, visit the NSTA Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

International Science and Education Grants

Description

The International Science and Education Competitive Grants Program (ISE) supports research, extension, and teaching activities that will enhance the capabilities of American colleges and universities to conduct international collaborative research, extension and teaching. ISE projects are expected to enhance the international content of curricula; ensure that faculty work beyond the U.S. and bring lessons learned back home; promote international research partnerships; enhance the use and application of foreign technologies in the U.S.; and strengthen the role that colleges and universities play in maintaining U.S. competitiveness.

Link to Full Announcement

International Science and Education Grants Program

Talent Search program

The purpose of the TS Program is to identify qualified individuals with potential for education
at the postsecondary level and encourage them to complete secondary school and undertake a program of postsecondary education. TS projects publicize the availability of, and facilitate the application for, student financial assistance for persons who seek to pursue postsecondary education and encourage persons who have not completed programs at the secondary or
postsecondary level to enter or reenter and complete these programs.

Projects provide tutorial services, career exploration, aptitude assessments, counseling, mentoring programs, workshops, information on postsecondary institutions; education or counseling services designed to improve the financial and economic literacy of students; guidance on and assistance in secondary school reentry, alternative education programs for secondary school dropouts, entry into general educational development programs or postsecondary education; and programs and activities previously mentioned that are specially designed for students who are limited English proficient, students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education, students with disabilities, students who are homeless children and youths, students who are in foster care or are aging out of the foster care system or other disconnected students.

Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education, public and private agencies and organizations including community-based organizations with experience in serving disadvantaged youth, combinations of such institutions, agencies and organizations, and secondary schools, for planning, developing, or carrying out one or more of the services identified under this program.

Expected Number of Awards:	464
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$142,000,000
Award Ceiling:	$460,000

Deadline: December 28

My Future Career Tools

The Department of Defense has recently announced the launch of Myfuture.com which helps young adults plan their next steps in life by bringing together the most recently available information about colleges, careers and military services. Designed primarily for individuals between 16 and 24, the site features information drawn and collated from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education and Labor. The site contains information on more than 1,000 military and civilian careers and nearly 7,000 accredited colleges, universities and trade schools, and can serve as a central resource for valuable background on college admission requirements, employment trends and military benefits.

MyFuture also provides useful advice across a wide spectrum -- help on taking the SAT examination to interviewing for a first job to preparing for boot camp. Step-by-step planning checklists are also available along with the capability to store favorite job and educational information for future visits.

The site has gained early acceptance. The military information pages have earned 100,000 page views so far, and more than 3,000 visitors have created accounts on the website. As part of the outreach campaign, the website is also being highlighted on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The site architects do note that Myfuture does not offer career counseling, but acknowledges that self-assessment is key to developing career goals. This site joins the One-Stop joins www.careeronestop.org and www.mySkillsmyFuture.org in the constellation of governmental websites designed to assist all Americans in their educational pursuits, career-decision making, job search, and reemployment ambitions.