The Catalyze Birmingham Challenge is a national challenge that exists to jumpstart innovations in the field of career-connected learning (CCL), working to ensure that learners ages 11-22 have access to transformative career-connected learning that integrates education and career, allowing them to discover their aptitudes and leading them to rewarding careers.
Donor Name: Catalyze
State: Alabama
County: Bibb County (AL), Blount County (AL), Chilton County (AL), Jefferson County (AL), Saint Clair County (AL), Shelby County (AL), Walker County (AL)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/16/2024
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Since 2021, the national Catalyze Challenge (“Catalyze”) winners have impacted more than 45,000 students, drawing on $13+ million in grants across 50+ organizations. Catalyze grantees work across the U.S. to plan, pilot, and implement innovations that provide students with career-connected learning opportunities and pathways into fulfilling careers. More specifically, they award competitive grant funding to forward-looking organizations with groundbreaking solutions for specific career-connected learning challenges, particularly those faced by (a) learners navigating career pathways and (b) both individuals and organizations working within education and industry.
Open to innovators across the United States, Catalyze seeks novel approaches to career-connected learning that are aligned with one of two challenge-related themes: Career Exploration for Young Adolescents and Activating Employer Partnerships. These themes are deliberate opportunities to close existing gaps in the market and to enable learning experiences and outcomes that challenge the status quo. Career-connected learning innovations will build learners’ skills and agency to effectively navigate lifelong career journeys, and grantees will be part of a wider effort to build an evidence base around these themes while addressing practical challenges in their communities and beyond.
Catalyze Birmingham Challenge will fund, learn from, and share bold ideas that rethink the connections between the education system, postsecondary education, vocational programs, apprenticeships, and employment for young people in the Birmingham Region. While they encourage innovative ideas across a broad spectrum, the outcomes for this Birmingham challenge must be innovative, specific, and clear, with proposals directly impacting the career opportunities and potential success of local participants through career-connected learning. The Birmingham coalition will operate the challenge, and with the help of a regional evaluation and selection committee, it will engage, source, evaluate, and fund high-potential innovations.
Funding Information
The Catalyze Birmingham Challenge will award pilot grants between $50,000 and $250,000 each to power 12-24 months of exploratory implementation.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applications will serve learners who live, learn, or work in the Birmingham region, defined as Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker counties.
For more information, visit Catalyze.
