Applications Open for NEA Foundation and Nickelodeon's Big Help Grants

Grant applications are now being accepted for the NEA Foundation and Nickelodeon’s Big Help Grants. Up to $5,000 will be awarded to applicants that are practicing K-8 U.S. public school teachers or public school education support professionals and can be used for resource materials, supplies, equipment, transportation, technology or scholars-in-residence. Big Help Grants is especially looking for applicants that embody their commitment to the development and implementation of ideas, techniques, and approaches to addressing four key concerns: environmental awareness, health and wellness, students' right to a quality public education, and active community involvement.

Grant applications are due October 15. For more information and to apply, please click here.

Community engagement is often critical in promoting academic success. Below are a few resources this blog has highlighted in the past that can help schools, nonprofits, and communities refine, begin, or learn more about their community involvement.

• The Handbook for Family and Community Engagement—funded by the Department of Education, the handbook provides concrete tools, resources and best practices that be implemented both locally and nationally to achieve positive educational outcomes for all youth. The original post.
• The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)’s tool for communities: “Making a Difference In Your Neighborhood: A Handbook for Using Community Decision-Making to Improve the Lives of Children, Youth and Families.”—Based on CSSP’s work in communities throughout the past two decades, this handbook provides communities with the “how to” guidance that is needed to begin community change efforts. The original post. 
• Three guides from the Bridgespan Group—these guides are intended for communities that are committed to: achieving needle-moving change, using data for evaluation and continuous improvement, building partnerships across sectors, making a long-term investment, and engaging residents and community members as agents of change. The original post. 
• CSSP’s Building Neighborhood Capacity Program Resource Center—CSSP believes that community capacity is the combination of knowledge, skills, relationships, interactions and organizational resources that enable residents, civic leaders, the public and private sectors and local organizations to transform neighborhoods into places of opportunity. This website is intended to be a resource for ANY and ALL communities interested in revitalization efforts. The original post.