Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) and The Ford Family Foundation (TFFF) seek proposals from out-of-school time programs in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California, that wish to participate in a three-year, highly structured Learning Community focused on improving program quality and building evaluation capacity.
Donor Name: Oregon Community Foundation (OCF)
State: Oregon, California
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 06/15/2022
Size of the Grant: $25,000 to $60,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
OCF and TFFF seek proposals from out-of-school time programs that wish to deepen the effectiveness of their current programs by joining an existing highly structured Learning Community focused on program quality improvement through the use of the YPQ tools. In addition, staff will engage in evaluation capacity building, strengthening efforts to gather and use program quality and other types of data to improve programs.
Grants will be awarded to out-of-school programs that currently serve middle school-aged youth and are focused on promoting academic success for low-income youth, youth of color and/or rural youth.
Grants will provide three years of core program operations support that will allow staff to participate in Learning Community activities and integrate quality improvement practices into their programs. These practices are more effective when program and front-line staff are engaged, which tight budget constraints can hinder. Grants can cover:
- Increased hours for permanent staff or hiring of temporary staff to free up permanent staff to participate in Learning Community, assessment, reflection, planning and program improvement implementation activities.
- Travel to all trainings and Learning Community activities (Learning Community expenses like trainings, accommodations and food will be covered directly by OCF and should not be included). Typically, travel costs to centrally located trainings will be $300-$600/year.
- Direct costs associated with program improvement that are identified through the program quality assessment and subsequent action planning in the Learning Community. These exact costs are initially unknown, so it is fine if the budget line is vague.
- Other costs identified by the grantee that would be a barrier to full participation in the
- Learning Community and implementation of program quality improvement.
To deepen the quality of available out-of-school time programs, participating programs will engage with a program quality framework, receive related professional development, and build capacity for evaluation and organizational learning.
Grant Information
Grants ranging from $25,000 to $60,000 per year will be awarded for three years to out-of-school programs with existing middle school programming that promotes student success.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible organizations include nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations, tribal governments, churches, public agencies, school districts and colleges located in Oregon and Siskiyou County, CA. As a condition of the grant, it is expected that all grantees will fully participate in the Learning Community, which includes:
- Attendance at in-person Kick-off training: October 17-18
- Conduct internal observations and turn in your data in November and December 2022 (estimated time to do observation, assessment and related reporting: 15 – 18 total staff hours).
- Attendance of two staff members (decision-maker and someone familiar with programming) at an annual convening on January 23-24, 2023, in Silverton.
- Participation in at least four of ten two-hour trainings related to delivering high quality youth programming. Trainings are located throughout Oregon on a variety of dates.
- Engage in evaluation capacity building activities integrated into the above dates and processes.
- Participate in webinars with topics to be determined depending on grantee identified priorities.
For more information, visit Out-of-School Time Initiative.
