Grants Overview
April 17, 2008Grants help close the digital divide because they fund expensive computers and technology for schools and homes. This web page http://www.grantsearchengine.com/faq offers a great explanation of grants. Take a look at this website: http://www.cpsb.org/scripts/abshire/grants.asp. Its compilation of links directs you to organizations that are making efforts to help the digital divide. The sites provide grant applications and information. You can specifically select the “Technology Donation Programs” category for a list of technology grant information. What have you learned after looking through the linked sites? Which sites did you find most helpful?
The first site really explained everything well. I knew a little bit about grants, but I did not realize that grants usually never needed to be paid back (which is answered on the site). That is great! This site really made everything so much mor clear to me-thanks for posting it!!
I was overwhelemed when I looked at the sites you recommeded on cpsb.org. There so are many and they all can be used for different things! The first site listed, http://www.aacps.org/aacps/boe/admin/development/grants.htm , helps those who need more help with grants but also helps those who know what they want to do. It makes it easier for everyone. Another site that I enjoyed was thegateway.org. It provides free lesson plans for those who need it, helping all students receive a proper education. The front page says that it provides teachers with “quality material”. No matter the population of the students, everyone benefits.
This reminds me of the writing group the AED program is working with at Cortland JSHS. At the beginning, the teacher in charge, Amanda Tripplett, needed to get a grant in order to establish this group. It is great to see what great things can be accomplished from a grant!
Alexis
In the summer I work for the YMCA …a nonprofit organization and my boss fills out many many grants to provide the before & after school program with money for the reading center, resources, and miscellaneous items that help through the year. There is a lot of money available but like the article said, many people are unaware of it.
As I was looking through some of the sights I saw the variety of reasons and range of grants available. For educational purposes I feel there are many teachers can use to benefit their classrooms. The one I looked at was http://sharetechnology.org/.“Many of the hundreds of thousands of used computers taken out of service every year are still perfectly usable and could be passed along to nonprofit organizations, schools, and people with disabilities whenever possible” and this project could helps students that couldn’t afford computers in the digital divide, like we discussed last question. There are categories of what schools need computer equipment and are seeking it out.Using the internet to our advantage we could help out other schools wanting to teach their students new media, just as in richer school districts.
The more aware as teachers of what grants can help us, the better our classrooms can be.
Similar to Alexis, I also liked the site about grants. I especially learned from the part that said, “all you have to do is fill out your application and create your business plan so that you can justify to the government that you deserve the funding you are requesting.” This encouraged me as a future teacher because it makes it seem like getting a grant is definitely possible!
I looked at this link: http://computersforlearning.gov/
This quote explains it’s purpose: “the CFL program’s ambitious goal is to make modern computer technology an integral part of every classroom so that every child has the opportunity to be educated to his or her full potential.” I found this to be a relevant attempt to closing the digital divide. I think that all of these sites would be very useful for us now and when we are teachers! Would any of you feel confident enough to try to get a grant in the future?
Stacia
After reading through the first site, I learned that you don’t have to have good credit to receive a grant – you just have to justify that you deserve extra funding. Like Alexis, I didn’t realize they were totally free. The second site provides an extensice list of grant opportunities, and I think that is something worth keeping around. On one of the sites listed, ( http://www.awesomelibrary.org ), there are several tools for teachers, grant applications being only one of the free opportunites, and who knew that hundreds of these sites existed? Technology is growing faster than us!!!
Oh and to respond to Stacia – I feel like I will be brave enough to ask for a grant if needed. It doesn’t seem there are any repercussions if you are turned down. Also, according to the website
http://www.dadecommunityfoundation.org/Site/docs/TOOLS%20-%20FAQ%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.pdf
you can apply for several loans at once, provided you are following the guidelines.
Grant writing is an incredibly important skills to learn as a future teacher. Between annual budget cuts and other outstanding expenses [we] will or should be active members in our academic communities where we will teach. To me, it is like applying for a scholarship, the money is out there and we should take advantage of it!! These sites provide good instruction on how to frame requests and what type of guidelines to follow in order to be successful in recieving the fund. I found this really inspiring article thorugh the Washington Post which talks about how gaining grants provides “great expectations”. The Gates Foundation provided money to a secondary school in an urban D.C. area.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120301256_3.html
However, gaining grants have become a little more of a challenge over time but the reward and effort is certainly worth it.
I think the first website gives a great intro on what grants are and how to go about requesting one for your school district. Grants are the chance to give less fortunate school districts the resources they need to expose their students to technology and give them the experience for the future. One problem is that many teachers are unaware of how to request grants in the correct way. By requesting grants from these government grant organizations a school district will be more likely to receive them.
http://www.afterschool.gov/
This website was the most appealing to me because it has a great set up for easy grant writing. I think grant writing is an extremely important aspect of being a teacher that can sometimes be overlooked. I also feel that every teacher should be trained to go about this process in the correct way. Just thinking of the idea, writing a grant can be a little intimidating if you have never written one before and especially if you have no knowledge of how much money or resources to ask for etc.
I always thought that grants were very similiar to loans, and I was thrilled to learn that grants don’t have to be paid back. I don’t think I understood just how important learning how to write a grant was, and how beneficial it is, especially to schools. I think the first site (grantsearchengine)explained grant writing very well. I never thought about any of those questions posed on the website and I think they are answered in a very reader friendly way.
I found this website: http://www.cpb.org/grants/grantwriting.html
and it explains several tips on grant writing. I’m happy to have been able to be introduced to the ideda of grant writing, and I’m sure many, if not all, will at some point find themselves using the skills needed to write one of their own. -Aut
I have to agree with Autumn, I too thought grants were much like loans, but soon discovered the truth about grants. I think the first website was very helpful and passionate. I think the grant writing was elaborated on well, creating a user friendly way to wrtie grants. I also found this website when researching grant writing and that it was beneficial.
http://www.pcsforschools.org/ check it out! The website is all about getting computers in schools. There is an area for donations as well. I think grant writing is an extremely important thing for everyone to be able to do, especially teachers.
Kaitlyn
If you have more questions about grants, please send them to Info@GrantSearchEngine.com or Info@GrantSearchLink.com, we can assist to help you better understand free government grants