GRANTS: September 2009

[Ryan Goble]

Pulled these from NEA Today:

Target Field Trip Grants
As part of our commitment to education, we created the one-of-a-kind Target Field Trip Grants program. So far we’ve awarded 7,400 grants, totaling over $6 million, to educators in all 50 states. More than 729,000 students have explored the world outside the classroom with a Target Field Trip Grant!

Pay It Forward Mini Grants
The Pay It Forward Foundation administers a mini-grant program for Pay It Forward activities
designed by and involving youth in service to their school, neighborhood or the greater
community. Mini-grants up to $500 are available to schools, churches and community-based
groups of youth for service activities of all types.

Green Yor School Contest
SCA's Green Your School Contest is a national competition to stimulate and/or identify conservation service projects designed by high school students that improve or restore or beautify or conserve their high school environment. To be eligible, projects must have been started after August 1st, 2008. The Contest submission phase begins on April 1, 2009, and will end at 11:59 pm ET October 9, 2009. Winners will be announced on or around November 15, 2009.

The NEA Foundation Grants

The NEA Foundation is accepting applications for $2,000 and $5,000 grants. To apply online for a Learning & Leadership Grant, click here.
To apply for a Student Achievement Grant, click here.

Click here for a brochure with more details.

To learn more about our new Teaching Improvisation Grants, Learning & Leadership and Student Achievement grants that have been earmarked to support public educators’ work to teach improvisation to middle- and high-school music students, download this document. The NEA Foundation announces these grants in partnership with MENC: the National Association of Music Education.

The NEA Foundation supports a variety of efforts by teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff to improve student learning in the nation's public schools, colleges, and universities.

• Learning & Leadership Grants: provide opportunities for teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff to engage in high-quality professional development and lead their colleagues in professional growth. The grant amount is $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. Application deadlines are February 1, June 1, and October 15.

• Student Achievement Grants: provide $5,000 to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. (These grants replace the Foundation's Innovation Grants program, which has been discontinued.) Application deadlines are February 1, June 1, and October 15.
  
• NEA's Books Across America Library Books Awards: In collaboration with the National Education Association, the Foundation is pleased to announce 50 awards of $1,000 each to public schools serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books for school libraries. The awards are made possible with support from corporations and individuals who donated to the NEA’s Books Across America Fund to bring the gift of reading to students. Click here for a complete list of 2009 recipients.

• Closing the Achievement Gaps: Many economically disadvantaged and minority students do not have the same opportunities for academic success as their more affluent peers. With support from the NEA Foundation, partnerships led by NEA affiliates, school districts, and community organizations will take action to accelerate the achievement rate for disadvantaged and minority students, while raising achievement for all groups of students. Details. Application is by invitation only. Additional resources.