Your key to all the latest funding opportunities
Welcome to eSchool News' "Grants & Funding ALERT." In this issue, you'll find a quick, accessible roundup of the ed-tech grant opportunities just now coming available. Your subscription to this newsletter also includes the grant-writing insights and other powerful resources available at http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/ Happy hunting!

The purpose of CAMP is to provide academic and financial support to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their children complete their first year of college and continue in postsecondary education.

HEP is to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers and members of their immediate family obtain a general education diploma (GED) that meets the guidelines for high school equivalency established by the state in which the HEP project is conducted, and to help them gain employment or be placed in an institution of higher education (IHE) or other postsecondary education or training.

These grants bring together students of all abilities to fight childhood obesity in their schools and communities. The program awards grants of $500 or $1,000 to help youth create and implement service-learning programs to fight childhood obesity. The application must be completed by a teacher and a unified pair of students (one with and one without an intellectual disability).

This grant will provide schools with planning and assessment support from skilled one-to-one experts using the top tools in the trade.

Entrants will also be asked to provide a written statement to the question: “How do you help sharpen kids’ minds?” The answer to this question will not be used to determine prizewinner.

Over the last 13 years, the Coming Up Taller Awards have recognized the accomplishments of exceptional arts and humanities after-school and out-of-school programs across the country. Its new name, the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, will serve to enhance recognition of the national significance of the award.

In 2011, the Eisner Foundation will award the inaugural Eisner Prize and is currently soliciting nominations of individuals or non-profit organizations for this prestigious honor. The Eisner Prize is a cash award of $100,000 and is designed to recognize excellence by an individual or a non-profit organization in uniting multiple generations, especially seniors and youth, to bring about positive and lasting changes in their community.

Simply paint, draw or sketch an original work of visual art addressing the theme, Scenes of Nature, using materials purchased at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores or Joann.com. Complete an official entry form, available at any Jo-Ann store, or at Joann.com/fineartscontest. Mail the completed entry form along with a photograph of the artwork and a copy of the Joann.com or Jo-Ann store register receipt(s) showing the purchase of the items used to make the artwork to: Fine Arts Contest Entries, Jo-Ann Stores, Inc., 5555 Darrow Rd., Hudson, OH 44236. All entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2011 and received by February 7, 2011. One award per group, includes: 1st place winner: $4,000 cash & over $400 worth of products; 2nd place winner: $1,500 cash & over $200 worth of products; 3rd place winner: $1,000 cash & over $100 worth of products; Honorable Mention: $100 Jo-Ann Gift Card & over $50 worth of products.

The Manufacturing Institute and University of Phoenix will offer individuals currently working in manufacturing the opportunity to complete an undergraduate or master’s degree program on a full-tuition scholarship. The program will cover tuition and fees at any University of Phoenix campus or online, to 20 qualified individuals currently employed by a manufacturer in the United States. Applicants must provide letters of reference from their employer and a business case for how their future degree will support their professional growth within manufacturing and the competitiveness of their workplace.

Do you know high school students who are passionate about improving wildlife habitats or conserving natural resources? Planet Connect can help them take their ideas from concept to reality! We’re offering $1,000 grants to support students to implement a project in their school or community and to participate in a local internship focused on wildlife conservation or natural resources.

Classroom Earth is supporting middle and high school teachers around the country eager to make wildlife conservation part of their curriculum. The 2011 Professional Development Grants will enable applicants to take a six-week online course offered by the Wildlife Conservation Society to create a strong foundation in wildlife conservation. Participating teachers will be better equipped to bring wildlife conservation into the classroom, facilitate scientific learning and to connect students with their natural surroundings.

This new annual awards program to honor individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment, and extraordinary accomplishment in effecting positive social change. No affiliation to Grinnell College is required.

National Leadership Grants support projects that have the potential to elevate museum, archival, and library practice within the context of national strategic initiatives. The Institute seeks to advance the ability of museums, archives, and libraries to preserve culture, heritage, and knowledge, contribute to building technology infrastructures and information technology services, and provide 21st century knowledge and skills to current and future generations in support of a world-class workforce.

The Christopher Columbus Awards is a national, community-based science and technology program for middle school students. The program challenges the students to work in teams of three to four, with an adult coach, to identify a problem in their community and apply the scientific method to create an innovative solution to that problem. Eight finalist teams and their coaches will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Walt Disney World to attend National Championship Week and compete for valuable U.S. Savings Bonds and the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant, plus a $200 development grant to further refine their idea.

The Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence (AASTE) is an annual awards program that recognizes extraordinary contributions by K-12 educators across the United States and Canada who are elevating the level of science literacy through creativity in the classroom and motivation of students. An independent panel of judges selects the winners based on the following criteria: creativity and effectiveness of teaching methods; plans for the use of grant money to improve science education resources in their schools; and submission of a science lesson plan showcasing innovative methods in the classroom.

This program seeks 12 top public high school juniors and 12 dynamic educators to receive seven-day, all-expenses-paid scholarships to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival, June 26 – July 2, 2011. The program – which provides a remarkable leadership opportunity for students and educators – seeks independent thinkers, demonstrated leaders and engaged community members. Students must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

This grant program aims to help students find inspiration in reading and writing. The contest encourages students to explore and write about their own experience with courage and how this experience has made an impact in their lives.

This funding initiative provides money to help schools jumpstart and sustain healthy nutrition and physical activity improvements.

The Literacy Empowerment Foundation invites schools or other literacy projects to apply for FREE books for Read Across America Day. During the past year, LEF has distributed over 3,000,000 books to schools all across the country for Read Across America Day and other literacy projects. Resources are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

This program offers grants to science teachers for innovative projects that enhance science education in the school and/or school district.

This grant calls on to middle and high school science teachers to illustrate replicable approaches to science lab instruction using limited school and laboratory resources.

Participating schools must complete a registration form and upload a 2-3 minute video, detailing why the school’s classroom needs a technology makeover. Entries should be accompanied by photos and videos.

H&R Block Dollars & Sense is offering $500,000 in curriculum grants and scholarships for the 2011-2012 school year. All U.S. high schools are eligible and it typically takes only 10 minutes for a teacher or school official to apply. Grant recipients receive Virtual Business–Personal Finance interactive software and lesson plans that cover 18 real-world topics, such as managing a budget, handling taxes, avoiding credit card debt, saving, and investing.

In this program, elementary school age children will have the opportunity to practice real science and work directly with cutting- edge scientists and engineers. Students are asked to propose an original question, problem or experiment that relates to the group of scientists involved with the competition. Winning students in each category will then have the opportunity to meet and work with these scientists.

The SchoolE Awards recognize the very best in web strategy, design, and effectiveness within the K-12 sector.

The 2011 Folds of Honor Foundation scholarships provides post-secondary educational scholarships for children and spouses of military service men and women killed or disabled while serving the nation.

The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge educates, empowers, and engages students and teachers nationwide to become “Agents of Change” in identifying and solving environmental problems.

The Realize Science Technology Grant for Agriculture in the Classroom will award $5,000 worth of cutting edge science education equipment to K-12 teachers across the U.S. this spring. Those awarded the grant will receive new hand-held video microscopes with software to take still pictures, video, time lapse movies, etc.

This contest, part of National Youth Traffic Safety month, is a national teen-led and school-based activism competition to help spread the word about safe teen driving and encourage youth to make a difference in their communities.

Organizations with specific, identifiable needs primarily in these areas of support are urged to apply: early childhood education and development that is directly related to creativity, and technology and communication projects that advance learning opportunities.

Through this grant program, Samsung is looking to award a total of 50 Samsung SAMCAM 860 digital presenters to those schools who could best utilize a document camera that offers extremely sharp resolution and clarity.

Students interested in participating should submit up to a 300 word essay answering the question: “Is technology critical to a live presentation? Or is it just a crutch?” The papers will be judged by an independent panel based on original thinking, relevance to the real world, and writing quality. High school students in the United States must have a teacher to sponsor them and grant Samsung permission to use their photo and essay in publicity efforts.

This program provides financial support for efforts aimed at improving the quality of education in psychological science and its application in the secondary schools. Proposals for programs must focus on supporting the education of talented high school students. Applicants must be educational institutions or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or affiliated with such an organization.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. The award focuses on performance in six key areas: product and service outcomes, customer-focused outcomes, financial and market outcomes, workforce-focused outcomes, process effectiveness outcomes, and leadership outcomes. To be selected as an award recipient, an organization must have a system that ensures continuous improvement in overall performance in delivering products and/or services provides an approach for satisfying and responding to customers and stakeholders.

National PTA and Promethean are launching a national initiative to help members “Fund their Dream ActivClassroom.” As part of a new three-year sponsorship, Promethean will help local PTAs interested in adding interactive technologies into classrooms and investing in digital-age learning resources. This contest is designed to help local communities with creative and effective ways to raise funds to overcome recent budget shortfalls. Each contest entry should describe in detail a successful program and articulate how the activity was used to support school and learning-related activities. Entries will be collected online and judged by an anonymous panel of individuals from National PTA and Promethean based on the following categories: originality and creativity, community involvement, and focus on philanthropy.

The six-month challenge is open to all K-12 students in the U.S., and invites them to play baseball at TiViTz online at www.tivitz.com, with the grand prize awarded to the state with the most online games played per capita. TiViTz is a new way for kids to improve their math skills through an internet-based game that uses baseball to keep kids interested in math.

The Broadcom MASTERS, a program of Society for Science & the Public, is designed to inspire and reward interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The Broadcom MASTERS competition—standing for Math, Applied Science, Technology & Engineering for Rising Stars— will reach hundreds of thousands of middle school students engaged in hands-on science fair and research activities at SSP affiliated fairs throughout the United States. Nominees will compete for a spot in the finals where they must demonstrate their understanding and mastery of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts at work in the development and presentation of their science fair project. From the national entrants, 300 Semifinalists will be selected, including 30 finalists who will win an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Broadcom MASTERS finals for awards and prizes, including the top education award of $25,000.

Grade 6-12 applications for $5,000 or less are accepted on a rolling basis, throughout the calendar year. Grant requests of more than $5,000 are reviewed twice a year. Applications for grants of more than $5,000 are due February 1st and August 1st each year.

Competition for scholarships is grouped into a series of 75 day rounds. Players will compete against the entire ScholarGamers.com community to generate the highest cumulative scores for 45 days. A time limit of 20 minutes is imposed on each competition. Within 30 days, the 15 players with the highest scores are flown to Disney’s BoardWalk Resort to compete head-to-head for the scholarships. The first round of competition kicks off November 1, with participants playing for a $10,000 first prize. Each of the 15 finalists will receive scholarship money, in the form of 529 plan contributions that can be used towards educational expenses. Scholarships will only be awarded to middle-and high-school students, aged 13 and above. Competition rounds will repeat every 45 days, for a total of 120 planned scholarship opportunities in the next year.

Any teacher can use DreamBox online manipulatives free, with an internet connection and an interactive white board or projector – or even just a computer.

DreamBox has developed a variety of resources to support teachers’ perfoessional development and students’ mathematical learning.

In order to help continue and strengthen the education of our youth and educators, the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Museum of Vision is providing three FREE curriculum guides for teachers and parents interested in teaching children about the science of vision.

These guides are fun and interesting educational resources designed for children ages 10-14. Each guide can be downloaded at www.museumofvision.org/education and is free of charge.

The Extron Classroom A/V System Grant Program provides increased visibility to K-12 educational technology projects by supplying selected pilot classrooms with advanced audio/video solutions. This grant program aims to boost students’ interest and achievement in the classroom, as well as help prepare them for the workplace. The goal of the pilot classroom is to demonstrate the ease-of-use and benefits of Extron classroom A/V technology to students, teachers and administrators.

Netop has just received $500,000 in funding for school that purchase Vision6, the award-winning classroom management software proven to improve student achievement. NGAGE grants are available until funding runs out.

Netop launched the Netop Get A Grant for Education (NGAGE) program to help educators struggling with shrinking budgets. Available until funds run out, this program provides financial support for schools to purchase an individual or site license for the Netop Vision6 Class Kit, the most popular classroom management software, proven to improve student achievement.

The Vision6 Class Kit is priced at $999, but with an NGAGE grant of $450, an educator would pay only $549 per lab. Schools can also receive grants of $1,600 for a site license, making Netop Vision6 more affordable.

Hall Research announced the launch of the T-Squared (Teaching through Technology) Grant Program that will give educational institutions the opportunity to receive grants for classroom A/V control equipment. Schools will have the ability to apply for a grant by filling out and submitting a simple application. Hall Research’s Grant Committee will review applications and announce grant recipients on a regular basis as long as the grant prog! ram stays in effect. The grant program is available to any public or private primary, secondary, and higher education institution in the United States.

Link:

T-Squared Grant Program

InfoComm International’s foundation, the International Communications Industries Foundation (ICIF), created the Michael Verguwen Education Fund to recognize the career achievements of AV industry leader, Michael Vergauwen. Vergauwen, the COO of AVI Systems and officer of InfoComm International, died in an accident on June 28. 

The Michael Vergauwen Education Fund will foster educational opportunities, enhancing the audiovisual industry’s service to the public through scholarships, curriculum development, community engagement and the promotion of careers in the AV field. Proceeds from investing the fund will be used on an annual basis to create these new educational opportunities, while the balance will be maintained to continue to make investments in the industry on an ongoing basis.
 
The fund has set an initial target of $100,000 to begin the activities of the fund. Companies and individuals wishing to contribute to this fund should send donations to: Michael Vergauwen Education Fund, ICIF, 11242 Waples Mill Road, Suite 200, Fairfax, VA  22030. Checks should be made payable to the International Communications Industries Foundation. Donations will be tax deductible.

SAS Curriculum Pathways, which is used by thousands of teachers in more than 30 states, is now available for free to every educator in America. SAS Curriculum Pathways provides content in the core disciplines of English, mathematics, social studies, science and Spanish. Aligned with state standards, it has more than 200 InterActivities and 855 ready-to-use lessons that enable technology-rich instruction and engage higher-order thinking skills. It is primarily for use in grades 8-12, though middle school content is in development.

Able Information Technologies has completed a contest to reward Arizona schools for their exemplary use of technology to improve education. The contest, which awarded $100,000 worth of prizes to eight winning schools, was a collaboration of Able, the Arizona Technology Council, the Arizona Technology in Education Alliance, and the Greater Arizona eLearning Association.

L.W. Cross Middle School in Tucson took first place for its use of technology in a cross-curricular course taught between eighth-grade English and social studies classrooms. Emily Gray Junior High School in Tucson took second place for using virtual literature circles to help extend classroom reading. Maricopa Wells Middle School took third place for its Mini-Cities program, which taught vertex-edge graphing to eighth-graders. All three winners received computers and scholarships for graduate-level education classes. Five honorable mention winners also received audiovisual equipment and graduate scholarships.