First lady Michelle Obama presents her Let’s Move! campaign to provide options for ending childhood obesity. Part of that campaign includes the Apps for Healthy Kids competition in which software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators are challenged to “develop fun and engaging software tools and games that drive children, especially “tweens” (ages 9-12) – directly or through their parents– to eat better and be more physically active.”

The competition offers $60,000 in prizes. The submission period ends June 30, 2010. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the Apps for Healthy Kids website.

Non-profits that collaborate effectively to gain greater impact by working together are invited to apply for the 2011 Collaboration Prize.

Criteria needed for collaborations to be eligible to apply:

• demonstrates improved effectiveness in achieving social good,
• more effectively uses human and financial resources,
• represents an innovative response to a specific challenge or opportunity, and
• exhibits characteristics that would demonstrate that the collaboration is a field/sector/community model.

Applications are accepted from June 1 to July 26. Each of eight finalists will receive $12,500 and the grand prize winner will receive an additional $150,000. For additional information click here.

The General Commission on Religion and Race (CORR) has a mission of “investing in community organizations, churches, conferences, seminaries, and ecumenical bodies that nurture programs focused on dismantling racism”. This year, their funding for racial justice is looking at programs that provide action and advocacy efforts related to sanctuary and assuring the rights of racial ethnic immigrants, groups, and refugees. CORR makes grants of up to $40,000. To apply your must return the downloadable application by June 30th. To learn more, click here.

Preferences:

• Evaluations of large scale programs with high policy impact and include a clear communications strategy
• Proposals with close partnership with the implementing agency
• Proposals produced by developing country researchers and/or evaluators or through a partnership between developed and developing country partnership of research teams
• Evaluation designs based on the theory of change underlying the program with evaluation questions addressing the causal chain

Background

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) works to improve the lives of people in the developing world by supporting the production and use of evidence on what works, when, why and for how much. 3ie is a new initiative that responds to demands for better evidence, and will enhance development effectiveness by promoting better informed policies. 3ie finances high-quality impact evaluations and campaign to inform better program and policy design in developing countries.

Letters of inquiry are due by July 7. For more information on this RFP go to Arun Virk, Programme Officer at ow3@3ieimpact.org and to see a details visit www.3ieimpact.org/openwindow.

The Best Buy Foundation is supporting non-profits across the United States for providing positive experiences designed to help teens in the following areas:

• to excel in school
• to engage in their communities
• to develop leadership skills

501(c) (3) tax exempt nonprofits can apply to the Foundation’s “@15 community Grants Program” which intends to grant a total of $2 million to a group of selected applicants.

“Special consideration will be given to programs that serve a diverse population in local or regional communities; build social, academic, leadership, and/or life skills in early adolescents (ages 13-18); show positive results against a demonstrated community need; and reach at-risk children in working families.”

The deadline to apply is July 1, 2010.

The priority of the Needmore Foundation is to give support to those organizations that work toward improvement of people’s social, economic or political conditions which might bar their access to participation in a democratic society. The Foundation provides both regional and national grants. Their national grants “support grassroots community organizing groups that link the power of faith, labor, and community organizations into powerful local, state, and regional organizing networks that represent the interests of low- and moderate-income communities”.

Pre-application forms will be due this May on the 31st. Click here for more details on the Foundation’s grants and their priorities.

State Farm Operation Centers accept grant requests for local non-profit initiatives including those for educational institutions and governmental agencies. The types of grant requests State Farm focuses on are in the following areas:

1. Safe Neighbors (auto & roadway, home, fire, natural disaster, personal finance)
2. Strong Neighborhoods (affordable housing, 1st time home owners, community revitalization,
economic development)
3. Education Excellence (teacher development, service learning, systemic improvement)

The grant cycle runs from January 2 to October 31. Each grant area has a separate application which can be accessed by clicking here.

A competitive grant opportunity for State and local government entities, Indian tribal governments, public universities and colleges, and faith-based and community-based nonprofits is available from the Department of Justice. The DOJ offers the Second Chance Act for funding “mentoring and other transitional services to help reintegrate juvenile offenders into their communities.” Youth in programs must be younger than 18 years old.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 27, 2010. For more information, click here.

In their efforts to promote children’s literacy, the Snapdragon Book Foundation is providing grants to libraries that serve disadvantaged youth throughout the U.S. Last year grants ranged from $500 to $2,000. This year the Foundation anticipates having more funds to disburse and encourages all K-12 private, public, charter, and experimental schools to apply.

The Foundation accepts applications via email through April 30th each year. Open ended questions on the downloadable application are designed to encourage extended answers. Access to application guidelines and forms is available by clicking here.

Autism Speaks Family Services Community Grants are available for “projects that promote services that enhance the lives of those affected by autism spectrum disorders.”

Submitted proposals need to address one of three areas of need — education, recreation/community activities, and young adult/adults services. Autism Speaks has a special interest in supporting new programs or the expansion of existing projects.

• June 10th, 2010 - Letters of Intent Due
• June 25th, 2010 - Final Proposals Due

To learn more about this grant opportunity please click here.

Local nonprofit housing organizations can apply for grants from the Wells Fargo Home Ownership Grant Program to help low to moderate incomes people obtain sustainable housing. This program covers the following areas of interest:

• Construction/Rehab
• Education, counseling and prevention
• Subsidies
• Home repairs

Revenue Service Code 501 (c) (3) organizations or government entities may apply. There are various application rounds during the year with the next deadline on May 1st. For more information please click here.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The Suder Foundation accomplishes its mission by partnering with four-year public universities to implement its Suder Scholars Program. The Foundation partners with universities that have an undergraduate classes with a target size between 10,000 to 25,000 students to offer financial, academic, emotional, and social assistance to first-generation college attendees.

You must be a four-year institution of higher learning in the United States to be eligible. Each university is expected to give a contribution to the scholarship that may include additional funds toward scholarships, housing and/or meals for the scholars, administrative staff, or other resources. Grant applications are due April 15, 2010 and details on how to apply can be found by clicking here.

Not so long ago I visited my 4th grader’s classroom to do a presentation at the beginning of the day. As the students came into the room I noticed Nick’s teacher had them go to the board and write down what they had for breakfast. For the students who put nothing she asked if they would like to take a moment to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I was touched by her compassion and saddened that these children were going without. The funder today wants to see kids have good nutrition in the morning to help them throughout their day.

The got breakfast? Foundation has a mission to make sure “every child, regardless of background, starts the school day with a nutritious breakfast in order to learn, grow, and develop to his or her fullest potential.” The Foundation has expanded its Silent Hero Grant Program to include participants in the federal Summer Nutrition program.

If you are a public, non-profit private school, or 501(c)(3) non-profit that participates in the national School Breakfast Program you may qualify for the Alternate Meal Service Breakfast Grant. Alternate meal service is defined as either breakfast in the classroom, grab and go or any other alternate site meal service outside of the standard cafeteria lunch line.

Summer grant applications are available now and should be submitted by April 1, 2010. They will be awarding grants between $2,000 and $10,000. For more information you can contact the Foundation at info@gotbreakfast.org".

Today’s grant gives support to school running programs in an effort to help keep students physically active and decrease the growing occurrence of childhood obesity. The ING Run for Something Better School Awards Program (RFSB) partners with the National Association for Sport and Physical Activity to provide a minimum of fifty $2,000 grants to schools “that want to establish a running program, or expand an existing program, that targets grades 4 through 8 in public elementary or middle schools.”

Application deadline is April 15, 2010. For guidelines and information click here or visit Run for Something Better.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity, through the generous support of The Improve Group, to travel to Samara, Costa Rica to do a Spanish immersion program at the Intercultura Language School . Samara is a beautiful little beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula, with just the right amount of both Costa Rican and foreign tourists. I never felt as though I stood out too much, but at the same time I got to know many familiar faces during my stay. While in Samara, I lived with a family to ensure that I spent all of my time speaking Spanish. Luckily, my host family owned a restaurant, Jardin Marino, so I ate very well! I took my breakfast of fresh fruits including papaya, bananas, watermelon, and apples every morning with a fresh smoothie of guanabana (soursop) or mango. On some mornings I opted for gallo pinto, a tasty mix of fried rice and beans with scrambled eggs. Generally for lunch I went out with my fellow students and then joined my family for dinner at the restaurant. I enjoyed sampling a wide variety of foods from their menu, including the traditional comidas with rice and beans, salad and some form of poultry, meat or fish. I also loved having plantains on a regular basis; a food that I dearly miss from my years in Mali.

Gallo pinto
Classes were four hours per day, with an additional two hours worth of homework, so I was able to absorb a large amount of Spanish in a short amount of time. One of the major challenges that I faced in learning Spanish, as anyone who is multi-lingual knows, was having French and Bambara streaming through my head. This was frustrating at times, and particularly when speaking to my host family, often thoughts would either compose themselves in French and Bambara or they would actually come out of my mouth that way when I was sure I was speaking Spanish. We had a lot of humorous conversations; luckily my family had a good sense of humor. Over dinner they would often ask me which language was streaming through my head that day?

My good friend from studying in Amsterdam managed to come visit me in Samara as well. He just happened to be on holiday from his native England at the same time. So the two of us spent a nice weekend in Samara and then headed to the capital city of San Jose to meet up with another friend of ours who is Costa Rican and happened to be visiting her family for Christmas. One of my former co-volunteers from Mali (who is also Costa Rican) was also visiting his family for Christmas, so we spent a great day touring the downtown San Jose area and central market.

It was lovely to be able to see so many of my dearly missed friends.
Overall it was a very enjoyable and educational experience! I would highly recommend an immersion to anyone trying to learn a language; it is truly one of the fastest ways to gain confidence in speaking. As I gain in proficiency in my new language I hope to use it assisting Spanish speaking clients who are interested in working with the Improve Group.

Danielle with her Host Dad