Educational Incentives Challenge Grant

RFP Educational Incentive Challenge Grant 23.24  The Middletown Youth Services Bureau Advisory Board is pleased to announce the opening of the Educational Incentives Challenge Grant for the 2023 through 2024 fiscal year.

Overview

The grant is coordinated by the Youth Services Bureau Advisory Board on behalf of the City of Middletown. The YSBAB would like to make note that funding for the grant program has been reduced from $22,250 to $15,000 making the process more competitive than in prior years.

The Educational Incentives Challenge Grant looks to fund program activities for children in Grades Kindergarten to 12 that help support at-risk, under-represented youth who traditionally are not involved in programming outside the regular school day. 

These activities may be of academic, recreational, cultural, physical, psychological, and/or emotional benefit to the child.

Grant Amount

The minimum grant award is $1,000 and the maximum is $10,000. Any organization placing a grant request of $5,000 or more is required to provide a 1 to 1 ratio match. 

Match Free Grant

Organizations with total budgets of $75,000 or less, may apply for "match-free" grant if the request is between $1,000 and $4,999. Organizations with budgets over $75,000 may petition the Youth Services Bureau Advisory Board via email by noting the circumstances and why they are requesting to qualify for a $1,000 to $4,999 "match-free" award. 

Please allow for a 72 hour (business day) response time. The match was lowered to a 1 to 1 to help open up the process to smaller youth programs in the Middletown community. In-kind donations will not count toward the match.

Developmental Assets Framework

Additionally, the Middletown Youth Services Bureau utilizes a framework called Developmental Assets which identifies 40 "Assets" that provide the building blocks for children to grow up well. 

Priority developmental assets have been identified by members of Ben Florsheim's Mayoral Youth Cabinet. 

Addressing Assets

The following assets must be addressed as part of the narrative. Please identify two of the following areas that your program will work to build and include both actionable items and how they will be measured:

  • Ensuring each Middletown youth has strong developmental relationships with at least 3 adults in their life. See Search Institute's "Developmental Relationships" model as an example.
  • Creating a community that better understands and empathizes with young people; free of stereotypes and judgement. This will allow youth to grow up in a community that is prepared to support their hopes and dreams for both themselves and their community.
  • Priority Asset: Equality and Social Justice - Young person places high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty. Issues of racial justice were extremely important to local youth.
  • Priority Asset: Safety (both physical and emotional safety) - Young person feels safe at home, school and in the neighborhood. Young people want to be in spaces that they feel welcomed and supported in. For our youth physical safety/security and emotional safety/security are equally important.
  • Supporting youth mental wellness. Beyond just awareness of mental health issues, youth need skills to build up their wellness and resiliency to internal and external stressors.

For information of Developmental Assets please visit Asset Promise/DocumentCenter/View/23838 or call us at 860-638-4530.

Applicants must target two of these assets and describe how they will work toward promoting those assets as well as how they plan to measure their outcomes.

Measures of Success

The YSBAB would also like to inform applicants that due to the limited amount of funds available to distribute they will be placing extra emphasis on outcome data showing both qualitative and quantitative measures of success. We also encourage applicants to detail how they are serving underserved populations.

Grant Applications Due Dates

Challenge grant applications are due Friday, August 11th, 2023 and must be submitted electronically to the Middletown Youth Services Bureau by 4 p.m. 

Additionally, applicants will be asked to give a short (three minute) presentation to the Youth Services Advisory Board on the evening of Monday, August 14th at
6 p.m. in person at 51 Green Street location.

View the RFP Educational Incentives Challenge Grant