Subject to the availability of appropriations for fiscal year 2010, the Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation) announces the anticipated availability of approximately $7.3 million to award new Learn and Serve America Higher Education grants. Grants will be awarded to an estimated seven to nine individual institutions ranging from approximately $85,000 to $200,000 annually for a project period of up to three years, and an estimated seven to eleven consortia ranging from approximately $200,000 to $500,000 for a project period up to three years.
What is the purpose of Learn and Serve America Higher Education Grants?
The purpose of the Learn and Serve America Higher Education program is to support institutions of higher education that use innovative service-learning programming to meet the needs of local communities. Our programs promote institutional commitment to the local community while promoting lifelong civic engagement for student participants.
Learn and Serve America Higher Education programs:
- Create or expand organized service-learning programs that increase social responsibility and commitment to the community in which the institution is located;
- Promote student-initiated and student-designed projects as part of service-learning programming;
- Support service-learning programs that will demonstrably address local community issues;
- Improve student engagement in academic coursework through service-learning; and
- Strengthen the service-learning infrastructure within institutions of higher education in the United States.
What types of Higher Education grants are available?
The Learn and Serve America Higher Education program funds two different types of grants:
- Individual Institution grants to support innovative and potentially replicable service-learning programs at a single institution of higher education.
- Consortia grants to support a group of institutions of higher education who will be implementing similar service-learning programs. Funding for consortia grants will be used to support both program implementation on the different campuses via subgrants as well as the training and monitoring of subgrants.
Both types of grant applicants must demonstrate that they will participate in service-learning projects in partnership with community-based organizations, local government agencies, non-profits, K-12 schools, and/or student organizations.
What are the priorities for this grant competition?
For this year’s grant competition, Learn and Serve America will fund programs that focus on one of the following priorities:
- Embedding Service-Learning in Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Training –programs will include service-learning as a key component of pre-service teacher curricula and/or professional development provided to in-service teachers.
- Service-Learning in STEM-focused disciplines – programs will integrate high-quality service-learning into the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).