New grant program: Up to $100,000 for middle school OST programs!

The New York Life Foundation has created a new $1.95M fund to support middle school afterschool, summer or expanded learning programs serving disadvantaged youth over the next three years. This year, the new Aim High grant program will provide $750,000 to support 18 awards nationwide—take a look to see which opportunity is a good fit for you, and apply!

Grant categories:

• $100,000 over two years – 4 awards to be made to organizations with annual budgets of $500,000 or greater
• $50,000 over two years - 4 awards to be made to organizations with annual budgets of between $250,000 and $500,000
• $15,000 one-year grant – 10 awards will be made to programs that demonstrate promising family engagement strategies run by organizations with annual budgets of more than $150,000

Read the full application and eligibility requirements, and join our webinar on January 25 at 2 PM ET to learn more about this opportunity.  Applications due by February 17, 2017.

• Application for 1-Year Grants
• Application for 2-Year Grants

Grant funds may be used for technical assistance, enhancing direct service activities, and/or program expansion. Applicants for the two-year grants will need to describe how programs support youth in the transition to the ninth grade, specifically around indicators of success such as on-time promotion; school attendance rates; improved behavior, grades and test scores; and/or the development of social and emotional skills.

The New York Life Foundation invests in middle school OST programs to help economically disadvantaged eighth-graders get to ninth grade on time. Research has shown that for disadvantaged students, more learning time in the form of high-quality afterschool, expanded-day, and summer programs leads to greater achievement, better school attendance, and more engaged students.

The Foundation has invested more than $240 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations since its founding in 1979, including supporting organizations that provide nearly 500,000 middle school youth with afterschool and summer programming. Foundation grants have supported an additional 6 million hours of OST programming. The new grant opportunities provide a way for the Foundation to support smaller programs in communities across the nation.

The Afterschool Alliance is administering the grant program on behalf of the Foundation. A panel of external reviewers will assess applicants. Awardees will be notified in May 2017.

Questions? Email Dan Gilbert at dgilbert@afterschoolalliance.org.