This March, the William T. Grant Foundation awarded its fifth group of Youth Service Improvement Grants (YSIG) to community-based organizations in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The 10 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 77 applications submitted between July and September 2008.

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 spring 2009 cycle, with decisions to be made in August 2009. Applications for the fall 2009 cycle will be accepted starting in July with a final deadline in September. Those grant decisions will be made in February 2010.


American Place Theatre
New York, New York
David Kener
$25,000

American Place Theatre (APT) will use this award to improve the elementary school component of their Literature to Life arts education program. APT proposed a revision of Literature to Life’s curriculum, scripts, performances, and activities with the hopes of increasing the reading and writing skills of their young participants, ages 8–11. APT will form a committee of select staff members to work with teaching artists and hired education specialists on reviewing and revising current literature. They will also revise the Resource Guide to reflect the new curriculum and to make sure they are meeting the needs of partnering elementary school teachers.

Community Works
New York, New York
Barbara Horowitz
$25,000

Community Works will use this award to strengthen the literacy component of their Making a Difference (MaD) arts and literacy program. Funds will be used to hire an educational consultant, who will work with the Making a Difference staff to revise lessons and suggest new approaches for the MaD curriculum. The consultant will conduct professional development sessions with teaching artists to strengthen the artists’ abilities to implement the revised curriculum and to educate them about the communities in which they will work. Finally, the consultant will observe and coach students and teaching artists during the implementation of the revised curriculum.

Girls for Gender Equity
Brooklyn, New York
Joanne Smith
$25,000

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) will use this award to improve their Urban Leaders Academy after-school program, which includes a mix of academic and extracurricular activities. GGE will hire a curriculum developer to create a centralized, interdisciplinary curriculum that is more closely aligned with their current themes. The developer will also conduct a series of workshops with teachers and students to discuss and plan the new curriculum’s implementation. Periodic meetings will be held by staff to assess how well the curriculum is being implemented and institute any necessary adjustments.

Groundwork, Inc.
Brooklyn, New York
Richard Buery
$25,000

Groundwork will use this award to implement a professionalism improvement project for the college and high school students who comprise the front-line staff of Groundwork for Youth, an after-school and summer program for elementary and middle school children. Groundwork will hire a consultant to write an employee manual and create and implement a performance evaluation system. The consultant and senior staff will institute mandatory weekly English/writing skills workshops and monthly management training workshops to help the front-line staff develop their skills.

Harlem Children Society
New York, New York
Sat Bhattacharya
$25,000

Harlem Children Society (HCS) will use this award to improve their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (HCS-STEM) program for underserved high school students. HCS staff will write new science curricula that covers linear math, algebra, computer science, chemistry, biology, computer technology, and research. These curricula will be designed to help students whose high schools don’t provide adequate preparation for the HCS-STEM program’s internships and hands-on lab work. HCS will hire an external evaluator and use teacher and mentor feedback, student evaluations, and achievement data to track the success of the curricula.

iMentor
New York, New York
Mike O’Brien
$25,000

iMentor will use this award to improve the Alumni Pairs (AP) component of their New York City mentoring program by hiring a full-time AP program coordinator. The coordinator will work with iMentor’s director of curricula to create an AP-specific curriculum and oversee the mentor-mentee matching process. The program coordinator will do outreach to mentor-mentee pairs who are graduating from the traditional mentoring program, and will also create and run AP-specific events. Staff will monitor the AP program closely to make sure the coordinator is able to create more matches and improve the structure and frequency of mentor-mentee communications.

New Haven Ecology Project
New Haven, Connecticut
Oliver Barton
$25,000

New Haven Ecology Project (NHEP) will use this award to ensure consistent program quality for all of their middle school programs. With the help of the Youth Development Training and Resource Center, NHEP will create and implement new curricula for their middle school programs. They will also create a new staff manual and provide staff training to ensure consistency and quality. Finally, NHEP will train their staff to use the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) instrument to assess their programs annually.

South Asian Youth Action SAYA!
Elmhurst, New York
Annetta Seecharran
$25,000

South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!) will use this award to revamp their SAT Preparation Program. SAYA! will contract with Revolution Prep to teach and administer the SAT prep test to 11th and 12th grade students, who are native English speakers and/or academically advanced. SAYA! will also contract with New York Cares and Kaplan to work with English-language learners or students who require basic content instruction. The new contractors will also provide more efficient grading and assessment systems. SAYA! will use a variety of tools, including attendance records, practice test scores, and focus groups to monitor the program’s success.


VISIONS Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
New York, New York
Nancy Miller
$25,000

VISIONS Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired will use this award to improve their Summer Youth Work Experience Training (SYWET) program, which places participants into paid summer internships. VISIONS staff will first perform individualized assessments of all participants in the SYWET program. They will then develop or obtain an appropriate assessment instrument such as the Comprehensive Vocational Evaluation System. VISIONS, with help from outside consultants, will develop alternate programming to address mental health, cognitive, or behavioral issues among participants in order to reduce violence, attrition, and poor attitudes.

Christian Herald Association
New York, New York
Edward Morgan
$25,000

Christian Herald Association (CHA) will use this award to restructure their Kids with a Promise (KWAP) after-school program. CHA will purchase KidzLit and KidzMath curricula, which are specifically designed for after-school programs by the Developmental Studies Center. Instead of repeating school content, the curricula help kids develop reading and math competencies through fun activities such as games, art, writing, and informal discussion. Implementation instructions and assessment tools were also designed with after-school staff in mind, and do not require staff to have formal training in education.