Grantee Announcement Scheduled for December 9, 2024
Through the Thriving Next Gen Pathway Grant, UWSWI seeks to invest in nonprofit programs that work collaboratively with schools to foster strong school engagement in students. Grantees will be awarded both financial support and evaluation services.
• The Thriving Next Gen grant is intended to provide programmatic support for two years. Future funding is not guaranteed.
• All grant requests must include a line-item spending plan for transparency into how grant funds would be used. The minimum request amount is $50,000.
Applicants must be either a 501(c) 3 organization as registered with the IRS or a community group with a 501(c)3 organization serving as its fiscal agent/sponsor.
Applicants must work in collaboration with public school(s) and provide documentation of the partnership(s). Programs supporting exclusively private or parochial schools are not eligible to apply.
If you missed the webinar, a link to the recorded session is below. If you want to schedule time to discuss your proposal with Margaret Stuckey, our Community Impact Director, please email her at [email protected].
The Challenge
“Students from low-income or impoverished households are more likely to struggle with engagement in school. According to research, this engagement is critical for improving the academic outcomes of students and thus, their likelihood to become upwardly mobile.”
– Lipman & Rivers, The California Association of School Psychologists (2008)
The school asked me to talk to my mentee about attendance issues and poor grades.
Because we had a solid relationship already, the student told me he was having to work a third-shift job to help pay rent. After working all night, he was too tired to go to school.
Since he trusted me with the truth, we could work with the school system and his employer to make a schedule that allowed him to earn money and graduate high school!
More than $1.6 Million Awarded in 2024 to Support School Engagement
Barrier – Support in the Classroom
Improving school engagement requires continuity between home life and school life. Two local organizations have focused their efforts on the “cradle to career” model that creates social and educational interventions at multiple touchpoints in a child’s regular routine.
The Potter’s Wheel will use Pathway Grant funds to place a staff member inside the neighborhood school to serve as additional support for students who use the nonprofit’s services. Dream Center Evansville plans to use the grant award for more student success coaches at their three neighborhood schools.
A third organization, Southern Indiana Resource Solutions (SIRS), will provide resource navigation, self-advocacy, job exploration, workplace readiness training and more to Spencer County middle and high school students with disabilities.
Barrier – Mentors Who Look Like Me
Building healthy relationships at school and practicing positive habits become easier when a trusted adult consistently shows up for a kid.
Three nonprofit organizations understood the power of connecting children with mentors who look like them, share cultural similarities, or language. They received Pathway Grant funds to extend services and help children bloom into the best versions of themselves.
Southern Indiana Mentoring Academy (SIMA 100) places trained mentors in the classroom to assist with student behavior management, improve attitudes toward school, and increase academic performance. With their award dollars, SIMA will expand in-classroom mentors to 3 EVSC schools.
The Immigrant Welcome and Resource Center will also partner with EVSC to provide mentors, tutoring, after-school programs and more for English Language Learners.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of SWI will use their funds to train high school students as mentors for middle schoolers.
Barrier – Enriching Opportunities
Field trips and fun afterschool activities keep young learners interested and engaged. They nurture curiosity and drive positive attitudes about the future value of education.
The YWCA Live Y’ers Program and the Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville (cMoe) were selected for Pathway Grant funding to continue afterschool enrichment activities for local kids.