This fall, the William T. Grant Foundation awarded its sixth group of Youth Service Improvement Grants (YSIG) to community-based organizations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The 7 organizations listed below will receive $25,000 to carry out improvement projects over the next 2 years. These grantees were selected from a pool of 108 applications submitted between January and March 2009.

Our Youth Service Improvement Grants (YSIG) share the goal of our research grants: improving the lives of youth. YSIG grants support community-based organizations that have a direct impact on the daily experiences of young people ages 8 to 25. We focus on small to medium-size organizations that have already had some success, but lack the funds to make needed improvements. Applications are accepted in the spring and in the fall. The Foundation is currently reviewing applications for the fall 2009 cycle, with decisions to be made in February 2010. The Foundation is making some adjustments to the YSIG program, and the revised program guidelines and new application deadlines will be released by early February, 2010. Please check for our website for updates: www.wtgrantfdn.org.

Getting Out and Staying Out
Mark Goldsmith
New York, New York
$25,000
Getting Out and Staying Out (GO&SO) will use this award to improve and upgrade the database that tracks the activities of their formerly incarcerated clients who utilize their New York City office. GO&SO plans to hire Social Solutions, which has an established Efforts to Outcome (ETO) software that focuses on prisoner re-entry. Social Solutions will develop a centralized ETO database, migrate data from separate databases, and provide staff training and technical support.

Groundswell Community Mural Project
Amy Sananman
Brooklyn, New York
$25,000
Groundswell will use this award to train their teaching artists to better identify and appropriately address the disruptive behavior of some of the program participants. Groundswell plans to hire a social worker with experience in recognizing and working with youth who have behavioral issues to act as a consultant. The consultant will develop a protocol for how to recognize and address behavioral issues and will create a training manual. The consultant will then implement the new protocol with a small test group of artists and staff. Senior staff and the consultant will evaluate the effectiveness of the protocol.

I Have a Dream Foundation – New York
Thierry Cazeau
New York, New York
$25,000
I have a Dream Foundation – New York (IHDF) will use this award to strengthen the college preparation section of their program, which serves youth who live in under-resourced areas of the tri-state region. IHDF plans to implement the College Coach Program, which is a mentoring program that matches college-educated volunteers with high school students. The mentoring relationship lasts two years, during which time the mentor guides the student through the college preparation, selection, and application process.

Love Heals
Jasmine Nielsen
New York, New York
$25,000
Love Heals will use this award to improve the Speakers Bureau Program, which sends health educators and youth speakers to public schools and community organizations to make presentations and conduct workshops on HIV/AIDS prevention. Love Heals plans to recruit and train younger speakers in an effort to better engage and retain the attention of their young audience during the workshops.

New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Mary Pulido
New York, New York
$25,000
New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) will use this award to improve its Trauma Recovery Program, which provides mental health services to youth who have experienced abuse, violence or neglect. NYSCCC will transition from manual tracking to an electronic database that is more efficient, reliable, and will standardize quality assurance for the program. The Research Associate will create an Access database to store, track, and evaluate information collected on clients. The Associate will also train staff to use the database.

Rockaway Artists Alliance
Christine Mullally
Rockaway, New York
$25,000
Rockaway Artists Alliance will use this award to improve and update services offered to children with special needs who attend the KidsmArt After-School program. To accomplish this, a new Coordinator will interview and evaluate children with special needs, create a more focused/appropriate curriculum for the kids, and train staff in order to integrate the Special Activities Program into the KidsmArt Program. Rockaway Artists Alliance will also hire an outside consulting firm to help with staff training.

Young Audiences New York
John Schultz
New York, New York
$25,000
Young Audiences (YA) will use this award to improve its arts residencies programs, which are offered to New York City public schools. YA has received increased requests to work with special needs students, yet very few of their teaching artists are trained to work with this population. YA plans to have their special education coordinator conduct five four-hour workshops to train 20 artists to work with special needs students.