Background
Family engagement is one of the most influential factors in educational outcomes, particularly for students of color, multilingual learners, and students from low-income backgrounds. Research shows that students learn more when families have a meaningful role in their education.
Despite the disruptions of the past year, one positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it broke down the imagined barrier between home and school. Educators worked hand-in-hand with parents to support students and discovered what is possible when collaboration with families is a priority. These experiences demonstrated the value of involving parents and caregivers of diverse perspectives and backgrounds in cocreating and advocating for the learning opportunities their children deserve. This new paradigm for family engagement may have been born of necessity, but it has the potential to dismantle longstanding educational inequities and create lasting change.
The Opportunity
Carnegie Corporation of New York is committed to supporting effective partnerships between educators and families and to fostering innovation in the family engagement field.
Through this call for proposals, we will select up to ten nonprofit organizations to participate in a grantee cohort that will design, implement, and improve upon school-based family engagement strategies with a specific focus on advancing student learning. Each grantee will receive an award ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 over 12 months, with the opportunity to renew the grant for a second year. Grantees will also participate in a community of practice where they will collaborate and learn from one another while benefiting from professional learning workshops and one-on-one support provided by the Columbia University Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL).
Throughout the grant cycle, CRPL will support the Corporation and help grantees clarify and refine their family engagement models, operationalize their strategies through data collection and analysis, and conduct short-cycle improvement tests to help grantees continuously improve their family engagement projects or programs. CPRL will also capture lessons from these experiences and disseminate those to the field to improve family engagement practice nationally.
Goals
Through this Call for Proposals, we hope to achieve:
- increased trust between participating educators and parents
- refined theories of action, family engagement models, and aligned metrics to assess impact
- improved grantee and educator capacity to engage diverse families, including multilingual families, with a focus on improving student learning
- improved school and/or district conditions to support family engagement beyond this initiative
- sustainable family engagement models to carry this work forward beyond the scope of the grant period
- improved knowledge about family engagement practices that effectively support student learning
Eligibility Requirements
In order to apply, your organization must:
- be a nonprofit organization based in the United States
- do work aligned with the goals of this Call for Proposals
- have experience developing or be currently implementing family engagement projects linked to student learning
- have existing relationships with school districts to support student learning
- have the organizational capacity to administer this grant and the proposed project
- have at least two part-time employees or one full-time equivalent employee to lead project coordination and professional learning in connection with this project
- have a staff that reflects the school and family populations with whom your organization works
Current Carnegie Corporation of New York grantees are not eligible to apply, and preference will be given to organizations that have not ever received Corporation funding.
Additional Considerations
Beyond core eligibility requirements, we are looking for organizations and projects that:
- have deep roots in their local communities
- support learning of Black, Latinx, Native-Americans, low-income, and/or multilingual students
- support student learning in public elementary, middle, or high schools, including a focus on math, language arts, science, or social-emotional learning
- support partnerships with school districts and Title I schools to achieve project goals
- involve collaboration between educators and families in ongoing and sustained ways
- have the potential for scale
Though not a requirement, we are especially interested in projects involving high-quality instructional materials (i.e., materials that are “green” on EdReports).
Application Process
There are four stages to the application.
Stage 1: Expression of Interest
As a first step, prospective applicants should complete an eligibility survey and write a short (250 words) summary, providing a high-level overview of their project idea by October 8, 2021. The most promising applicants will be invited to the next stage of the process. To submit an expression of interest, click here.
Stage 2: Concept Paper
Selected organizations will be invited to submit a concept paper, a proposed project budget, and letters of support from partners by November 5, 2021. The paper should outline the problem that will be addressed through the project, the organization’s proposed approach and desired outcomes, and how the work will be sustained beyond the grant period.
Carnegie Corporation of New York, CPRL, and a panel of external reviewers including parents, educators, and leaders of family support organizations will review the proposals.
Stage 3: Interviews
Carnegie Corporation will interview semi-finalists between December 1–16, 2021.
Stage 4: Funding Proposal
Based on the concept papers and interviews, Carnegie Corporation will invite a select group of finalist organizations to submit a full funding proposal by February 15, 2021.
Timeline
- Informational webinar for potential applicants: October 1, 2021. Watch a recording here.
- Deadline for Expression of Intent: October 8, 2021
- Invitation for Concept Papers: October 19, 2021
- Deadline for Concept Papers: November 5, 2021
- 12–15 organizations will be identified as semifinalists and invited to interview round: December 1–16, 2021
- 7–10 finalist organizations will be invited to submit full funding proposals: January 12, 2022
- Funding proposals submitted: February 15, 2022
- Projects start: March 1, 2022
Resources
Learn more about Carnegie Corporation’s grantmaking to support Family and Community Engagement here and in the reports below:
- Carnegie Challenge Paper: Next Generation Family Engagement
- Carnegie Report: Embracing a New Normal: Toward a More Liberatory Approach to Family Engagement
- CPRL Report: Fundamental 4:Pandemic Learning Reveals the Value of High-Quality Instructional Materials in Cultivating Educator-Family-Student Partnerships
Additional questions, including those that you would like us to address at the informational webinar, may be directed to familyengagement@carnegie.org.