Social Innovation Fund Supports New Funding Opportunities in Innovative Community Development
August 2, 2012
New funding opportunities may soon be available in your community through the help of the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS). Four grantmaking organizations were recently awarded $2 million each under the Social Innovation Fund to assist in improving the lives of people in low-income communities. Each of the four grantees is required to host an open grant competition which helps fulfill their organization’s mission and goals, as well as the larger mission of CNCS and the social Innovation Fund. These diverse organizations target different aspects of community development ranging from early childhood education to rural health.
Public broadcasting stations will find these competitions fit nicely with their station goals and activities such as curriculum development and teacher training, as well as health related community outreach endeavors. American Graduate stations will find a fit in competitions targeting education and the dropout crisis. If a competition opens in your station’s region, we encourage you to apply. Public Broadcasting stations are naturally positioned to reach a much broader, and in some cases, harder to reach audience.
The four Social Innovation Fund grantees and their proposed competitions include:
The Green Light Fund
The Green Light Fund will support projects in the Boston, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay area that impact the lives of 20,000 low-income children by improving school persistence and academic achievement, increase high school graduation and GED attainment, and increase college access, credit accumulation and degree.
Twin Cities Strive in Partnership with Greater Twin Cities United Way
This joint partnership will support evidence-based youth programs serving kids from kindergarten through college in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. They are especially interested in programs designed to improve kindergarten readiness, third grade reading proficiency, ninth grade readiness for upper-level math, four-year graduation rates, and college enrollment rates for between 1,500 and 2,000 low-income youth each year.
The John A. Hartford Foundation
The Hartford Foundation will support nonprofits that expand an evidence-based program for treating depression in rural communities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Effective treatment using their model improves depression symptoms, social and work-related functioning and economic outcomes.
Capitol Area United Way
The Capitol Area United Way will support projects in the Greater Baton Rouge Area that address success in early childhood education specifically those designed to improve children’s school readiness by ensuring positive birth outcomes, strong parental engagement, support and education, and access to quality childcare and preschool.
In addition, the following seven grantees will receive a total of $33.9 million in grants to continue their work to expand the impact of powerful nonprofits. Learn more about these organizations and their areas of grantmaking on the CNCS webpage.
- AIDS United ($1.8 million).
- Jobs for the Future and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions ($2 million).
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation ($8.4 million over two years).
- Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Center for Economic Opportunity ($5.7 million).
- Missouri Foundation for Health ($894,636).
- New Profit ($5 million).
- The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation ($10 million).
