2/24/25 Grant Alert Newsletter

The purpose of this resource is to provide updates on upcoming grants and supplemental funding opportunities for area schools. Information is curated from a variety of sources, including:

• MDE Memos - The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announces grant opportunities and updates through memos and weekly communications.
• MDE Grants Repository - MDE maintains a database of grants included in the State School Aid Act and supplemental funding bills.
• Grants.gov - The federal government’s centralized platform for finding and applying for federal grants.
• Other - Curated grants from additional sources, such as GrantStation, Foundation Directory, and more.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of all available funding opportunities. To submit a grant opportunity for a future newsletter, please contact jameshissong@kentisd.org. Past editions of this newsletter can be found here.

Sec. 27h will provide $49 million (up to $10 million per year over 5 years) to districts to support mentoring and induction programming for teachers, administrators, and counselors. The funds awarded through this grant may be used for:

• Stipends to mentors of administrators, teachers, and counselors.
• Training for mentor teachers, mentor school counselors, and mentor administrators.
• Books, materials, professional learning expenses, and other resources necessary for mentoring and onboarding new teachers.
• Staffing costs to cover time spent by both new and mentor teachers, school counselors, and administrators dedicated to mentoring and onboarding rather than being in the classroom or performing other job duties.
• Contracting with 1 or more established state professional organizations to provide mentoring services to school administrators. Only $3,000.00 per administrator or the actual program cost, whichever is lesser.

MDE will hold Office Hours on Tuesday, March 4th at 9:00 AM, Thursday, March 13th at 1:00 PM, and Wednesday, March 19th at 3:00 PM. Links to join will be posted on the Program Website.

Due Date: March 27, 2025

Link to Program Website

The Michigan Department of Education announced the availability of funds to support the development of a Community Health Worker (CHW) Certification Program. The purpose of the grant is:

• To create a CHW certification program that meets career and technical education accreditation standards.
• To create a program that is replicable by other local education agencies (LEAs) or intermediate school districts (ISDs), ensuring scalability and broad impact.

Total Available Funding: $275,000

Due Date: March 30, 2025

Link to MDE Communication

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced the opening of the Section 11x(6) Consolidation Studies Grant. Grant funds can be used to support the cost of a feasibility study or analysis of consolidation of districts or consolidation of services among one or more school districts or one or more intermediate school districts. The maximum amount of a grant to be distributed under this section is $250,000. This is third round of grants under this section. Eligible applicants are intermediate school districts (ISDs) and local education agencies (LEAs), both traditional public school districts and public school academies (PSAs). The application for Section 11x(6) grants is available on January 30, 2025, to eligible applicants. The application period will remain open in NexSys until funds are exhausted or until Tuesday, September 30, 2025, whichever comes first.

Link to MDE Memo

The Family Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs and Children’s Special Health Care Services are pleased to announce a grant opportunity for the 2025-26 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2025–Sept. 30, 2026). Each school district and/or school can apply for up to $5,000 to implement peer-to-peer programs to reduce bullying for students with special health care needs. Eligible programs must demonstrate the ability to meet the following objectives for students with special health care needs:

• Create a more inclusive school community.
• Create or expand peer support.
• Increase social and emotional support in schools.
• Expand anti-bullying efforts.

Due Date: March 14, 2025

Link to Application Packet

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE), in partnership with the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), is pleased to announce the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) State Activity Grant opportunities. The purpose of these four grants is to support 21st CCLC program grantees. The four grant opportunities are:

• Statewide coaching support system.

• Statewide collaboration and capacity building.

• Statewide continuous quality improvement system.

• Statewide evaluation system.

Due Date: March 27, 2025 (12pm)

Link to Program Website

The grant application for the second round of the 27m National Board Recognized Achievement grant is now open. This grant will be awarded to local education agencies (LEAs), both traditional public school districts and PSAs, and intermediate school districts (ISDs) to award eligible teachers who hold National Board Certification at the time of application. To be eligible, a Michigan teacher must:

• hold National Board Certification at the time of application submission.
• hold a valid or expired Michigan teaching certificate.
• be employed in a classroom and teach at least 50% of the teacher’s full-time hours, as determined by the district or intermediate school district.
• be employed by the district or intermediate school district as teachers, including those in teacher leadership roles as a peer assistance and review coach, mentor, or other teacher support provider if the position does not require a school administrator certificate.

Teachers may receive up to $4,000. If employed in a schoolwide Title I building teachers shall receive up to $10,000. Eligible teachers may receive a grant award, including teachers who received an award in the previous round.

Due Date: February 26, 2025

Link to Program Website

The federal funding landscape is rapidly evolving due to recent Executive Orders, the "Federal Funding Freeze," and related court rulings. This newsletter aims to provide updates on new competitive grant opportunities. If you have questions or concerns about an existing federal grant, please contact jameshissong@kentisd.org.

We continue to observe the same trends noted in the February 10, 2025 newsletter. These include a decrease in the number of new grant opportunities, the cancellation or modification of existing programs, and ongoing uncertainty caused by missing webpages and the removal of listings from Grants.gov. These observations are aligned with reports that federal agencies have been asked to complete a review of grant programs, ensuring alignment with the new administration's priorities.

Sen. Peters is accepting applications for federal funding to support high-impact local projects through the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) process. Local government entities, including public school districts, are eligible to apply.

To be included in an appropriations bill, a project must qualify under an approved account listed in the FY26 Appropriations Handbook. The CDS process is lengthy, and projects submitted now are applying for inclusion in an FY26 appropriations bill. Even if a project is successfully included, Congress must still pass the FY2026 funding bill with CDS projects included—rather than operating under continuing resolutions (CRs). For this reason, FY2025 CDS requests remain pending.

Due Date: March 17, 2025

Link to Website

**The original solicitation for the GAP program (due Feb. 13th) was cancelled. New program guidelines were released on Feb. 7th with a due date of March 11th, 2025. The grant requires that districts agree to a new set of assurances, and encourages projects that honor the semiquincentennial of the United States of America (America250).**

NEA Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) provides project-based funding for organizations in the areas of Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Film & Media Arts, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Theater, and Visual Arts. Funded activities may include public engagement with the arts and arts education, the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector. Under the Arts Education category, the NEA supporting projects for pre-K-12 students (Direct Learning), the educators and teaching artists who support them (Professional Development), and the schools and communities that serve them (Collective Impact).

Award Range: $10,000 - $100,000

Due Date: 3/11/2025

Link to Program Website

**The FY25 BJA STOP School Violence Program initially opened on Jan. 15, 2025 with a due date of March 27, 2025. A message to Kent ISD from the Office of Justice Programs confirmed the program has been paused. "At this time, BJA has paused the FY25 STOP School Violence Program Notice of Funding Opportunity and associated webinars. Please check back to BJA.OJP.gov, OJP.gov and Grants.gov to keep up to date on future notices of funding opportunities and webinar postings." **

**The program application portal for this program is no longer active. The grant still appears in grants.gov with a due date of 4/3/2025, but the listing does not appear to be updated to reflect recent changes.**

**Current grantees of the SEED grant received termination notices, as the program was reportedly cut by the U.S. Department of Education. However, the grant still appears on Grants.gov with a due date of 3/18/25.**

**At this time, all program links/materials appear active.**

DLT grants help rural communities use advanced telecommunications technology to connect to each other and the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. The USDA DLT program defines rural as a community with a population of 20,000 or fewer that falls outside of an urbanized area contiguous to a city or town having a population in excess of 50,000. Funds can be used to purchase or support:

• Audio, video, and interactive video equipment
• Broadband facilities used for distance learning or telemedicine (up to a certain percentage)
• Computer hardware, network components, and software
• Instructional programming
• Limited technical assistance and instruction on how to use distance learning and telemedicine equipment

Award Range: $50,000 up to $1 million (15% match requirement)

Due Date: 3/6/2025

Link to Program Website

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table's Donation Grant was created to help build collections and bring books into the lives of children in preschool programs, faith-based reading projects, homeless shelters, charter schools, underfunded libraries, and other community organizations. Books available for donation include over 100 titles by African American authors and illustrators, including a full set of the year's Coretta Scott King Book Award winning and honor titles.

Due Date: April 15, 2025

Link to Program Website

The Voya Unsung Heroes Awards Program helps U.S. K-12 educators and their schools fund innovative classroom projects. Each year, 50 educators are selected to receive $2,000 for their class projects. Of these finalists, three are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000. Full-time educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, or classified staff with effective and innovative projects that improve student learning are eligible to apply. Applicants must be employed by an accredited K-12 public or private school located in the United States.

Due Date: April 18, 2025

Link to Program Website

Youth changemakers—aged 5 to 25—in the U.S. and Canada are eligible to apply for these grants to lead and engage their peers in awareness, service, advocacy, and philanthropy projects in their communities. This year, youth may apply for grants of either $250 or $500 depending on the number of youth who will be participating as volunteers (project planners, project leaders, and day-of volunteers). $250 grantees will be required to engage at least 25 other youth as volunteers while $500 grantees have a 50-youth volunteer minimum requirement. A total of $50,000 in grants will be awarded.

Due Date: March 16, 2025

Link to Program Website

Civil Air Patrol is a civilian axillary of the US Air Force. One of the organization’s missions is aerospace education/STEM education. To further this goal, educators (defined as anyone who directly supports children learning) can join CAP as Aerospace Educators for a one time $35 fee (renewal each year is free). The estimated value of each kit is $20 - $400, and when finished using the kit - the educator may keep the kit, complete a short evaluation, and order another kit. Aerospace Educators receive additional benefits - including access to a collection of STEM education materials and an option to apply for a $250 grant each year (very short application and the chance to receive the scholarship is high.)

For more information on how to access this resource, visit the REMC 4 Discovery Center website.