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

My Uncle recently passed away and one of the more moving parts of his memorial was the honor guard. My Uncle Emil served in the army in World War II and many more of my relatives have given their time to serve their country. In thinking of them, I offer this grant opportunity.

The McCormick Foundation has a Veteran’s Program which” honors the service of America's veterans by supporting nonprofit organizations that assist veterans in overcoming their unique challenges and successfully re-entering life at home and work.”

Nonprofit organizations that apply need to focus on one of McCormick’s key areas relevant to veterans:
1. mental health;
2. family issues;
3. shelter and homelessness;
4. job and career development; and
5. legal challenges facing our veterans

Grant amounts between $5,000 and $25,000 are awarded. Before submitting a proposal, an organization should send a two-to-three page letter of inquiry. To access the guidelines, click here.

One of the many grants of the Kresge Foundation is called of Healthy Environments and is in support of state and regional efforts “to improve the health outcomes of vulnerable children and their families by funding highly promising, evidence-based projects and programs that have the potential to achieve broad change through replication or increased scale.”

Funding priorities are clean air, safe and healthy housing and schools, and safe, accessible, and inviting outdoor play spaces – all advanced with community engagement, citizen leadership and cross-sector alliances. Funding amounts between $100,000 and $750,000 may be requested by grant seekers for up to 3 year project periods. Applicants may also choose to apply for a one-year strategic planning grant. Online letters of inquiry are accepted any time. For more information, click here.

One of our client projects has been a community needs assessment for the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB). It is exciting to watch the new developments coming from their planning efforts. Today I would like to highlight a number of new grants MSAB is offering.

MSAB has “seven new grant programs that will support arts and arts access, arts learning, and arts and cultural heritage across the state, and will give Minnesotans more opportunities to experience the arts.” The new granting programs fund:

Arts Access
Arts Tour Minnesota
Partners in Arts Participation
Arts Learning
Community Arts Schools and Conservatories
Folk and Traditional Arts
Minnesota Festival Support —

You can learn more about 3 of the 7 programs right now on the MSAB website with more information to come on the rest. Grants have varying application deadlines, so please check their website.

For nine years MetLife Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) have been partnering to “to recognize, sustain and share the work of innovative partnerships between community groups and police to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization” through its Community-Police Partnership Awards.

Grants range from $15,000 to $25,000 and are awarded in two categories: Neighborhood Revitalization and Special Strategy Awards. Preliminary applications are due Feb. 26, 2010. To learn more, click here.

School music programs have really taken a financial hit over the past decade. The Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation would like to help through its Music Matters Grant Program for K-12 school music programs and independent music programs throughout the United States. “Public school programs (qualifying for Title I federal funding and serving a minimum of 70 percent low-income students) as well as nonprofit organizations directly funding music education and serving students regardless of their ability to pay are eligible to apply.” You must apply by February 5, 2010. You can click here for the guidelines and the application form.

Leah Goldstein Moses, President and CEO of the Improve Group will be one of this year’s presenters along with Michael Quinn Patton, Jean King and many other notable evaluation professionals. If you are hoping to improve your skills, update your knowledge in the field or just network with a great group of people I highly recommend the MESI Conference. This year’s theme is “If Social Betterment is the Goal, Are Evaluators Leading the Way? “ Click here for more information.

The misuse of alcohol is a problem for college campuses. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is providing funds for NCAA member-institutions and conferences to help in integrating athletics into efforts to reduce alcohol abuse on college campuses. The CHOICES grants range up to $15,000 for the first year, $10,000 for the second year, and $5,000 for the third, final year. The deadline to submit grants is February 16, 2010. You can download the proposal and guide lines here.

We are turning our attention to health here at the Improve Group. The State Health Improvement (SHIP) grant evaluations we are working on remind us daily to keep ourselves well and our communities healthy. In this spirit, the following funding program is aimed at caring for the health of our children.

The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) makes grants of up to $12,000 to pediatricians in the initial and/or pilot stage of developing and implementing a community-based child health initiative. The fund is a national initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Activities may include service delivery, community meetings, focus groups, and development of grant proposals in the context of a pilot project. The deadline to apply is January 29, 2010. For additional information, click here.

As I complete this last 2009 Grant Gazing, I want to share that we appreciate everyone who follows our website and our blog. In 2010, the Improve Group will reach our 10 year business anniversary and we have some exciting plans for our website and all of our internet communications. As we make these changes throughout the year, we hope you will enjoy the evolution of our work and let us know what you would like to know. You can send comments and suggestions to info@theimprovegroup.com. Thank you!

This week’s pick: The Longview Foundation for Education in World Affairs and International Understanding has a global view of education and works to help youth in the United States learn about world regions and global issue. For U.S> K-12 schools the following grants are provided:

• Internationalizing Teacher Preparation grants encourage teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities to adopt a range of strategies to develop the global expertise of future teachers.
• Innovations in International Education grants support strategic, field-building activities that help bring global education to large numbers of students and teachers.

Grants range between $15,000 and $30,000 and the deadline for letters of inquiry is January 15, 2010. Click here for more details.

This week’s pick: The new Native American New Enterprise Program is a partnership with the Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation (MMCDC) and the Bold Thinking Institute. The program will work to assist independent business' success in the Midwest and is completely free to all tribal members in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. “This program provides a path for developing a business and an opportunity for funds to develop the business, whether the business is just beginning or it has been operating for a few years.”

Also available will be educational resources for participants who set and reach their goals including providing funds of up to $10,000 to help grow the business. Access will be given to business coaches through one-on-one, online mentoring. Please direct questions about this program to info@boldthinking.com. For more information, visit their website by clicking here.

Some of the common themes that came out in the portion of the presentation given by George F. Grob with the Center for Public Program Evaluation were:

• Evaluation is an integral part of policy making and program management in the new administration
• Evaluation helps streamline processes and paperwork
• The emphasis is on the analysis of trends and evaluation data
• There is a need for independent, rigorous evaluation
• There is a focus on new, high-priority programs
• An importance in communicating with Congress in setting performance goals for programs

He also mentioned that there is a new accountability for the Cabinet and senior agency appointees regarding performance goals.

Throughout the presentations by different experts I heard an overall message that this administration is striving to improve the performance of its agencies and programs and not just measure it. There will also be an effort to encourage cross-program comparisons on how to streamline government. The main message given by Stephanie Shipman of the US Government Accountability Office was a renewed and increased interest in accountability and transparency.

Also brought up was the fact that Congress has continued to add programs without dropping any of the old ones. Evaluation can play a major role in helping agencies work together to look at budgets and practices to see which programs merit continuing and which programs could be merged or done away with entirely.

One speaker cautioned that success in using evaluation in examining the effectiveness of government programs can only be achieved it the evaluation is conducted in a thoughtful, analytic, non-partisan and subjective manner.

I came away from this AEA session with a sense that the presenters and audience had an overall positive outlook about how the new administration was approaching evaluation. I also heard that it would be necessary to make serious changes in the current system due to having too many measures and reporting systems for federal agencies and too many information systems that are not in sync.

At the Improve Group we work with numerous organizations that mentor, guide, educate and assist our youth. One of the outcomes many of our clients look for is how well a young person can not only grasp the concept that is being shared with them, but also take the initiative to execute it or teach another how to do so. My funder today is looking for those organizations who are promoting this kind of engagement and personal growth in young people in the community.

This week’s pick: The Starbucks Foundation through their Shared Planet Youth Action Grants program is granting funds to help youth get involved in shaping their communities through entrepreneurship. Nonprofits serving youth ages 6 to 24 are eligible to apply for grants of up to $25,000.

The Foundation has an open deadline for submitting their application with reviews happening on a quarterly basis. For additional information click here.