Grants for Middle School STEM-Focused Service-Learning Programs

"Contingent on federal funding, Youth Service America plans to implement a service-learning program in twenty-five middle schools in ten states to strengthen students' science, technology, and math skills.

The program will focus on creating a framework for primarily disadvantaged students to work in a semester-of-service model, where each month is devoted to a different aspect of planning and executing a service project in their community in connection to academic standards. The projects will begin on Martin Luther King Day of Service (January 18, 2010) and conclude on Global Youth Service Day (April 23-25, 2010).

Teachers, administrators, and service-learning coordinators in middle schools as well as staff and service-learning coordinators in afterschool programs in the states of Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Washington are eligible to apply.

The program components include an annual $5,000 grant for teachers or service-learning coordinators and an additional $500 grant for an "ally" located in each school who will support the grantee and help to establish a more sustainable program at their school, as well as training and technical assistance, specialized resources, social networking to facilitate an online professional learning community, and communications training."