Fundraising is changing rapidly. If you are relying on outdated approaches to securing funds for your organization, your success will be limited. Plan now to join us for these timely webinars designed to equip you with the information you need to improve your fundraising game in these uncertain times.
SESSION I: ARE YOU READY TO WRITE A GRANT? Wednesday, August 12, 2020 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
There are many important elements of grantwriting that should be in place before you take pen to paper or turn on your computer. This session will help you set the stage for a successful grantwriting process. You will learn how to:
Evaluate your readiness
Assess your capacity
Draft your case for support
Identify funding sources
Establish basic relationships with potential funders
SESSION II: GRANTWRITING BASICS Wednesday, August 19, 2020 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Once you have done your grantwriting homework, you will be well prepared to write a strong proposal. This session will provide a detailed analysis of the parts of your grant proposal along, with some tips and tricks used by seasoned grant writers to improve the likelihood of funding. You will learn:
RSVP for Out 2 Learn Quarterly: Tuesday, August 18, 2020 9:00 – 11:00 am
We will have presentations from out-of-school time Providers offering academic support for the start of the school year. Wesley Community Center and the YMCA will share their approach to this new support model.
We will also launch the Fall 2020 Quality Cycle, release Barrier Buster RFP and more!
Autumn 2020 won’t look like any year on record, but that won’t stop us from shining a spotlight on afterschool. The 21st annual Lights On Afterschool is kicking off on October 22, 2020!
We’ll be changing things up this year by hosting a full week of virtual, in-person, and hybrid events and activities to help afterschool programs, and the children and families they serve, celebrate. From posters and giveaways to seven days of themes and lots of exciting partnerships — we’re going to make some digital space to share activities, bring in old and new OST friends, and offer strategies to have an incredible celebration of America’s afterschool programs and everything they do for our kids.
Will you join us for a Lights On Afterschool like none other?
Youth-led Creative Expression Contest to Prevent COVID-19 across Texas!
Request for Applications (RFA)
We are inviting young people from across Texas to submit creative materials (videos, digital art, murals) to promote behaviors that can prevent the spread of COVID-19. Materials will be used by schools, health departments, and other community groups to promote COVID-19 protective behaviors. This contest is being hosted by the COVID-19 Communications Team within the Health Promotion/Behavioral Sciences Department at UTHealth School of Public Health in partnership with community organizations across Texas.
GUIDELINES:
Submissions must be created by student(s) and supported by an identified parent, adult mentor, or sponsor. Parent/Guardian permission and signature are required with submission.
K through 12 students, student clubs, after-school programs, youth nonprofit organizations, school wellness teams, and other youth-based groups are encouraged to apply.
Creative expression content can be in English or Spanish and may include translation into other languages.
Submissions can be either as an individual or as a group of youth. If completed as a group, we need permission forms from all youth involved with the submission.
Creative expression content needs to be authentic and original, or it will be excluded from the competition. We will review for authentication and use of other’s materials or ideas.
Creative expression content should link directly to any of the four main COVID-19 prevention behaviors (mask wearing, handwashing, social distancing, not touching your face). However, simple, direct, and brief content/message (e.g., short videos) is encouraged
Multiple submission are allowed!
APPLICATION PROCESS & KEY DATES:
Campaign Launch: Request for Applications (RFAs) will be sent on Friday, July 17th, 2020.
The Houston Area Urban League is one of many national affiliates advocating for equitable education via a National Urban League project. This year HAUL will be more intentional with efforts. You have been extended an invitation to participate in Listening Sessions to address COVID 19 educational needs because of your service to and for children/youth. The Listening Sessions will focus on how your practice has been impacted, what you have experienced, and what must be done to address COVID-19 related education needs.
As we are gearing local efforts, you may be contacted to aid in local efforts. For now, you are welcome to participate in the listening sessions hosted by the National Urban League. When registering, please indicate “Houston Area Urban League” or “Houston” as affiliated organization. Please see registration below or attached flyer with QR code.
Please join us for one of our upcoming Listening Sessions. Registration is quick and easy, click here
Institute of Engagement Launches Shift Press Fellowship Application
All Greater Houston area high school-aged residents are invited to apply
On Wednesday, July, 22 2020, The Institute of Engagement launched applications for the Shift Press Fellowship, an online, 10-week paid fellowship for eight Greater Houston-area youth to develop journalistic and critical thinking skills.
The organization is looking for young people who are passionate about this city and are looking to grow. In addition to attending weekly e-workshops, fellows will produce at least five written pieces. These pieces may come in the form of reporting, op-eds, and investigative journalism as well as more personal writing.
Jalesha Bass, graduate of Yates High School and a current student at the University of Texas at Austin, says “This fellowship gives young people a great opportunity to tell their stories, gain knowledge about topics of their interest, and learn how stories impact all community action.”
“This fellowship values the crucial perspectives of young people and gives them agency in defining the narratives of their generation,” says Amy Fan, graduate of Bellaire High School and Duke University.
Young people can best shape their communities when they define themselves by the stories they tell, as opposed to the ones adults force on them.
“Engaging the dreams and concerns of Houston’s young people is the key to a bright future. I’m excited to see this work expand the fellows’ collective range of imagination,” says Uyiosa Elegon, a graduate of DeBakey High School and the University of Houston.
Fellows will receive a $1000 stipend for the 10 week fellowship. The team will also equip fellows with resources, such as reliable WiFi, if needed.
High school-aged individuals in the Greater Houston area are encouraged to apply for the 2018-19 fellowship at www.shift.press/apply by midnight on July 29, 2020.
BACKGROUND:
The Institute of Engagement is a collective that helps young people take responsible ownership of their Houston.
The team’s past work includes the year-long 2018-19 Civic Fellowship. Thirteen students from seven high schools and four different school districts in the Greater Houston area deepened their knowledge of issue areas that they each identified as important. The fellows gained different civic skills like root cause analysis, house meeting, op-ed writing. Throughout the fellowship, the fellows facilitated house meetings with community members and grew to be a strong cohort.
READYNEWS: News & resources from the Forum and the field about collaborative work to get young people ready by 21.
In this Issue:
Social and Emotional Learning
Graduation
Youth Voice
School Reopening
Thriving, Robust Equity, and Transformative Learning & Development
The potential for thriving is universal, but so too is the existence of adversity. Young people can overcome adversities, but the ease of doing so is not equally shared. Opportunity structures – in schools, communities, and society – make it easier for some youth to avoid or buffer the impacts of adversity than others.
A new paper from the Readiness Projects partners, Thriving, Robust Equity, and Transformative Learning & Development, speaks to the needs of all youth, as every youth can benefit from robust approaches to thriving, equity, and learning. The cumulative impacts of inequity and trauma, however, propel the authors to call out the need to improve opportunity structures to address and eliminate the disadvantages created by current systems and practices. The report also calls out the need to eliminate the root causes of structural inequality in opportunities for youth to thrive across all domains. Throughout the paper, the authors:
Introduce a formula and a rationale for addressing thriving, equity, and learning and development together that helps us better focus on actionable social factors.
Summarize prevailing definitions of thriving, equity, and learning and development (and related terms).
Take a deeper dive into the dimensions that contribute to individual and collective thriving.
Offer powerful and aligned conceptualizations of thriving, equity, and learning and development.
Describe the opportunities and conditions required to ensure that efforts to create “equitable educational outcomes” or “equitable learning and development opportunities” are as powerful and inclusive as possible.
Social and Emotional Learning: Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Roadmap for Reopening Schools
The return to school this fall will be unlike any other. Students, families, educators, and community partners have all been impacted by a global pandemic, economic crisis, and the ongoing mobilization against systemic racism. Social and emotional learning has a powerful role to play in helping schools reopen in the fall in the face of these challenges. The Forum for Youth Investment is a proud collaborator on Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: SEL Roadmap for Reopening School
This new guidance provides school leaders with whole-school, anti-racist SEL strategies centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of the school community to support students and adults as they return to school this fall.
Graduation: New Toolkits from America’s Promise Alliance to Navigate Graduation Barriers
What does it take to help more young people – particularly those navigating the greatest barriers to graduation – graduate ready and well for whatever their futures hold? Communities and states in the GradNation campaign’s Acceleration Initiative help answer this question in a new case study series
The case studies highlight key themes and tangible examples from these community and statewide efforts to improve secondary school outcomes for specific groups of young people:
Holistic Approaches to Helping Young People Succeed examines the complex barriers to success in school and life that many of today’s young people face and suggests strategies to support their holistic needs in an intentional, comprehensive way
Building Responsive Pathways to Graduation and Beyond outlines strategies to create meaningful pathways that lead young people to viable career opportunities after they complete high school.
Creating Effective Youth-Supporting Partnerships highlights the ways in which states and communities have leveraged strategic collaboration to align efforts to promote success for students facing the greatest obstacles to graduation
Youth Voice: Our Thoughts, Our Words, Our Work: An Online Conversation with Young Thought Leaders and Activists in Minnesota’s Fight for Racial Equity
Every Hour Counts Online DiscussionJuly 29, 2020 2:00-3:30 EDT
Our nation is facing two major turning points, the COVID-19 pandemic and our fight for meaningful change in racial inequities and injustice. How are youth leading during this time?
Join Youthprise, Minnesota, and Every Hour Counts for a forum on what Minnesota’s fight for racial equity looks like and how youth are leading. Youthprise’s Neese Parker, Youth Engagement Manager, and Shiranthi Goonathilaka, Board Member, will moderate a panel discussion of young activists and thought leaders making a difference in Minnesota and pushing for change in new and meaningful ways.
The conversation will focus on:
Movement building and Black liberation organizing.
School resource officer reform.
Amplifying the actions being called for to end racial injustice and inequality.
Highlighting opportunities for supporting youth leadership.
School Reopening: Council of Chief State School Officers Releases Guidance on Reopening Schools
State and local education leaders around the country are tackling the tremendous and urgent task of planning, launching, and sustaining a strong school year in the wake of COVID-19 related school closures. While school may look different this fall than what families are accustomed to, the focus remains the same: every student receives a high-quality education. This is true whether that means learning remotely, in person, or through a hybrid of the two.
To support leaders as they strive for equity, are mindful of health and safety, and focus on teaching and learning, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) created Restart and Recovery: Considerations for Teaching and Learning. This resource builds on other critical resources aligned with CCSSO’s Restart and Recovery Framework, which is designed to assist states as they work to reopen school buildings and recover student learning loss in the 2020-21 school year.
