$1.35 Million Available for Teachers and Districts for Social and Emotional Learning Programs

Education First and the NoVo Foundation have opened the application process for their 2019 Social Emotional Learning Innovation Fund. The program will award $5,000 grants to up to 100 individual teacher-led projects and $25,000 grants to up to 35 district-level projects.

For this year's program, both one-year and two-year grants will be awarded.

The Social Emotional Learning Innovation Fund is a competitive grant process. Each year, roughly 12 percent of applicants receive awards. For this year's program, the emphasis is on projects that focus on underrepresented groups and populations that are disproportionately represented in suspensions or referrals to law enforcement. Projects focusing on ELL students, LGBTQIA+ students, immigrants, refugees, indigenous populations, girls and young women of color and students with learning disabilities will also be given priority.

Other priorities include:

• • Innovation/originality;
• • Focus on student outcomes;
• • Sustainability;
• • Ability to be implemented during the 2019–2020 school year;
• • Involvement of and support from multiple stakeholders;
• • Benefit to high-needs school;
• • Evidence-based practices;
• • Consideration for "trauma informed practices, implicit bias and culturally responsive approaches to teaching";
• • Demonstration of values of social justice; and
• • Creation of "alternative and restorative practices of accountability."

Applications are being accepted now. The deadline for submissions is March 22.

Complete details, the RFP and an FAQ can be found at education-first.com/social-emotional-learning-innovation-fund.

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