Learn and Serve Arizona

Nominate a Youth Leader for the Harris Wofford Youth Award

The Harris Wofford Awards, presented by Youth Service America and proudly sponsored by State Farm, were established in 2002 to honor Senator Harris Wofford, one of our nation's greatest public servants and long-time board member of Youth Service America.

The Harris Wofford Youth Award recognizes a young person who has made extraordinary contributions towards achieving Senator Wofford's vision of "making service and service-learning the common expectation and the common experience of every young person on America."

If you would like to nominate a young person who has played a leadership role in your Global Youth Service Day or Semester of Service programs and mobilized their peers to be engaged in their community, please take this eligibility quiz to access the application.

The Harris Wofford Youth Award winner receives $1,000 - $500 to be used for education expenses and $500 to be donated in the winner's name to an organization of their choice. The winner also receives travel, lodging, and conference registration to accept the award at the State Farm Awards Ceremony during the National Service-Learning Conference on April 6-9 in Atlanta, GA.
Once you have started the nomination process you can return to the application here.

Youth Leaders for Literacy Grants Now Available (Deadline: January 5, 2011)
Please promote within your networks and encourage your partners and coalition members to apply.

The National Education Association (NEA) is partnering with Youth Service America to offer Youth Leaders for Literacy grants to support service-learning projects focused on increasing young people's interest in reading and improving literacy in schools and communities. Youth Leaders for Literacy will award 30 young people from across the U.S. with $500 grants. Successful projects will be youth-led and address an established literacy need in the applicant's school or community. The projects will launch on NEA's Read Across America Day on March 2nd and culminate on Global Youth Service Day, April 15-17. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply. Youth ages 5-25 are welcome to apply along with an adult ally. The application deadline is midnight January 5, 2011. Access the application at: www.YSA.org/grants/nea-youth-leaders-literacy

Special Olympics Get Into It® Grants (Deadline: January 19, 2011)
Please promote within your networks and encourage your partners and coalition members to apply.

Special Olympics is partnering with Youth Service America to offer Get Into It® grants that bring together students of all abilities to fight childhood obesity in their schools and communities. The program awards grants of $500 and $1000 to help youth create and implement local, hands-on programs to fight childhood obesity. Get Into It® grant projects launch on Spread the Word to End the Word Day (March 2, 2011) and culminate on Global Youth Service Day (April 15-17, 2011).
All 50 states and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply. The application must be completed by a teacher and a unified pair of students (one with and one without an intellectual disability). Special Olympics will host two application training webinars, December 2, 2010 at 3:00 pm EST and January 4, 2011 at 5:00 pm EST, for applicants to learn more about developing a successful project. Register for either webinar here. www.YSA.org/getintoit

General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids Grants (Deadline: December 15)

The General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids Grant Program is a partnership of the General Mills Foundation, the American Dietetic Association Foundation, and the President's Council on Physical Fitness. The goal of the program is to encourage U.S. communities to improve the eating and physical activity patterns of young people, ages 2-18. In 2011, the program will award 50 grants of $10,000 each to nonprofit organizations, schools, and government agencies throughout the country that offer innovative programs to help youth adopt a balanced diet and physically active lifestyle. (All funded programs must have at least one nutrition objective and at least one physical activity objective.) Local organizations that work with children, including park districts, health departments, government agencies, Native American tribes, municipal organizations, schools, YMCAs, Boys & Girls clubs, etc., are encouraged to apply. Online applications must be submitted by December 15, 2010. www.generalmills.com/en/responsibility/community_engagement/grants/champions_for_healthy_kids.aspx

Captain Planet Foundation Grants (Deadline: December 31)

The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to fund and support hands-on, environmental projects for children and youths. The Foundation is interested in funding innovative programs that empower children and youth to work towards solving environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. All funded projects must involve young people ages 6-18 (elementary through high school). Nonprofit organizations and public schools worldwide are eligible to apply for grants of $250 to $2,500. In order to be considered for funding, proposals must:

Promote understanding of environmental issues
Focus on hands-on involvement
Involve children and young adults 6-18 (elementary through high school)
Promote interaction and cooperation within the group
Help young people develop planning and problem solving skills
Include adult supervision
Commit to follow-up communication with the Foundation

Generally, the range of grants awarded by the Foundation is $250 - $2,500. For more information, visit: www.captainplanetfoundation.org

Gates Millennium Scholars Program Scholarships (Deadline: January 10)

The 2011 Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) scholarship application is now available. GMS will select 1,000 talented students to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice. We provide Gates Millennium Scholars with personal and professional development through our leadership programs along with academic support throughout their college career. The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence and to provide an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential. For more information visit or to nominate an outstanding youth, visit www.gmsp.org

Lexus/Scholastic Eco Challenge (Deadline: January 19)

The Lexus Eco Challenge is a life-changing opportunity for teens across the nation to make a difference in the environmental health of our planet, one community at a time. The program is designed to inspire and empower middle and high school students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. The Challenge is open to students in grades 6-12 who are registered, and enrolled a public or accredited private school or home-schooled, and who are legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia. Teams can enter if they are part of an after-school science or environmental club, but the Challenge is not open to clubs outside of the school. Maximum award: $30,000 in scholarships and grants. Eligibility: middle and high school teams comprised of five to 10 students and one teacher advisor. For more information visit www.scholastic.com/lexus

AmeriCorps State and National Grants (Deadline: January 25)

CNCS is looking for high-impact organizations across America to submit their strongest applications for how to use AmeriCorps members to address pressing social problems. If the President's fiscal year 2011 budget request is fully funded, the agency anticipates approximately $311 million to be available for new, recompeting, and continuation grants in all of the AmeriCorps State and National grant categories, and $1 million for AmeriCorps planning grants. This funding will make a focused investment in the six national issue priorities identified in the Serve America Act of improving education, energy conservation, the health of all Americans, and economic opportunity for economically vulnerable individuals; increasing service by and for veterans; and providing disaster services. Public or private nonprofit organizations, including labor organizations, faith-based and other community organizations; institutions of higher education; government entities within states or territories (e.g., cities, counties); Indian Tribes; partnerships and consortia; and intermediaries planning to subgrant funds awarded are eligible to apply. The Corporation encourages organizations that have never received funding from the Corporation or AmeriCorps to apply for these grants. Applications to the Corporation are due January 25, 2011, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and successful applicants will be notified in early June 2011. For more information, visit: www.americorps.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa_detail.asp?tbl_nofa_id=83

The Eisner Prize for Excellence in Intergenerational Work (Deadline: January 31)

The Eisner Foundation has announced the launch of the inaugural Eisner Prize and is currently soliciting nominations of individuals or non-profit organizations. The Eisner Prize is a cash award of $100,000 and is designed to recognize excellence by an individual or a non-profit organization in uniting and utilizing multiple generations, especially seniors and youth, to bring about positive and lasting changes in their community. The foundation hopes to spur innovation in this field and to reward those who have committed already to excellence in uniting multiple generations for the betterment of our country. Non-profit groups may self-nominate; individual candidates must be nominated by another person or group. To learn more about The Eisner Foundation or to nominate yourself or someone else who may be eligible for The Eisner Prize, please visit www.eisnerfoundation.org/eisnerprize

Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge (Deadline: March 15, 2011 - Activities Take 3-12 Weeks to Complete)

As citizens and future stewards of our planet, today's students are in a unique position to become active agents of environmental change. Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge - Encourages students from grades K-12 to team up with their classmates to create replicable solutions to environmental issues in their schools (grades K to five), community (grades six to eight) and world (grades nine to 12). The goal of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is to do more than just give kids a chance to formulate an experiment and carry it out. Contestants explore an environmental problem that affects their community. As part of the challenge, students must also put together guidelines for how other communities could repeat the project, and they share those guidelines as part of the contest. Prizes include scholarships, savings bonds, teacher awards, school grants, adventure trips, and green products. Learn more at www.wecanchange.com

Ben & Jerry's Foundation National Grassroots Grant Program (Deadline: Ongoing)

Through the National Grassroots Grant Program, Ben & Jerry's Foundations
supports nonprofit community organizations throughout the United States that bring about progressive social change by addressing the underlying conditions of societal and environmental problems. The broad goals of the program are to further social justice, protect the environment, and support sustainable food systems. Grants of up to $15,000 are provided to grassroots, constituent-led organizations that are using community organizing strategies to accomplish their goals as well as organizations that provide technical support and/or resources to such groups. The Foundation does not make grants to support social service programs. Letters of interest may be submitted at any time. www.benandjerrysfoundation.org/the-national-grassroots-grant-program.html