Early Literacy Grant Program for Public Elementary Schools
The Liberty Bank Foundation’s Early Literacy Grant Program supports early literacy programs targeted at low- or moderate-income students in public elementary schools in communities served by Liberty Bank. The goal of the program is to reduce the educational achievement gap for students in our community by providing them with creative supplemental literacy programming in grades pre-K through 3, with the goal of having students reading at or above grade level by grade 3.
Eligible Schools
Public school systems operating in the following towns will be invited to apply for grants for one or more of their elementary schools: all towns in Middlesex and New Haven Counties, plus the towns of Andover, Berlin, Bozrah, Bristol, Colchester, Columbia, Coventry, East Lyme, Franklin, Glastonbury, Groton, Hebron, Lebanon, Lyme, Mansfield, Marlborough, Montville, Naugatuck, New Britain, New London, Newington, Norwich, Old Lyme, Plainville, Rocky Hill, Salem, Shelton, Southington, Sprague, Stonington, Waterbury, Waterford, West Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windham.
Each school system is invited to submit only one application. Each grant application must be approved and signed by the superintendent of the school system submitting it.
Parochial, charter, magnet, and private schools are not eligible for the Early Literacy Grants Program.
Amount to Be Awarded
Because enhancing students’ performance in literacy is not a short-term process, grants awarded under the Early Literacy Grants program will be disbursed in equal installments over a three-year period. The maximum individual grant amount is $30,000, or $10,000 per year, and aminimum of three grants will be awarded. A maximum of $90,000 annually will be awarded for the entire program.
Criteria for Awarding Grants
To qualify for an Early Literacy Grant, a program must focus on literacy for students in grades pre-K through 3, with the ultimate goal of having students reading at or above grade level by grade 3. Programs may address kindergarten readiness, the “summer slide,” and any or all aspects of early literacy. Following are additional criteria that will be considered in evaluating grant requests:
▪Target population: This grant program is intended to reduce the achievement gap between children of low or moderate income and their more affluent peers. Students served may be in any or all grades from pre-K through 3. In order for an early literacy program to qualify for consideration, one of the two conditions below must be met:
- At least 15% of the students in the school district must receive free or reduced price lunch;
OR
- At least 51% of the students participating in the early literacy program must receive free or reduced price lunch.
▪Creativity and innovation: Schools are encouraged to view this grant program as an opportunity for creative experimentation to address the special learning challenges faced by young children from economically disadvantaged families.
▪Number of students: A minimum of 20 students must participate in the program.
▪Duration and frequency of services: The program must be of sufficient duration and frequency to make a measurable impact on student performance.
▪Timing: Programming may take place over the summer or during the regular school day, but not after school. (After-school programs may be eligible for funding under the foundation’s general grants program; please contact the foundation staff with any questions.)
▪Technology: A portion of the funds requested may be used for technology, but the request must clearly document how the technology will be used to support early literacy and why it is integral to the program.
▪Parental engagement: Engaging parents in supporting their children’s learning is vital, and programs that incorporate means to do so will receive preference over those that do not.
▪Evaluation: A program may follow a cohort of students from grade to grade over the 3-year grant period, or may impact successive classes of students in one or more grades. In either case, schools must present a plan to measure the impact of the program on student performance annually over the three-year grant period. In addition, foundation staff may conduct a site visit each year to see the program in operation.
▪Timeline: Programs are expected to take place over a three-year timespan. Programs that are new or evolving may include time for initial planning, implementation, evaluation, and revisions over the three years.
Application Information
Information about the Early Literacy Grants program was mailed to superintendents of eligible school systems in January2016. The Early Literacy Grant application can be downloaded in Word format from the foundation’s website at:
Applications for the 2016-19 funding cycle are due by February 29, 2016.
Awarding of Grants
The Foundation subcommittee on education, augmented by educators from the territory served by Liberty Bank, will review the applications and make recommendations to the Foundation board as to which should be awarded grants. Schools will be notified of results in springand the initial grant payments will be disbursed by June 30 of the year in which they were awarded.
For more information on the Foundation’s Early Literacy Grants program, please contact the Foundation Executive Director at (860) 638-2959 or .
Early Literacy Grant Application
2016-2019 Cycle
Please complete the following information and return it by February 29, 2016, along with the requested supporting documents, to:
Liberty Bank Foundation
1190 Silas Deane Highway
Wethersfield, CT 06109
NOTE: This application can be downloaded in electronic form at
Eligibility Test
To be eligible to apply for an Early Literacy Grant, a program or district must meet one of the following requirements. Please check the one that applies for your district/program (or both, if both apply.)
At least 15% of the students in the school district receive free or reduced price lunch.
OR
At least 51% of the students participating in the proposed early literacy program receive free or reduced price lunch.
If neither of the statements above applies to your district/program, please STOP here and do not complete this application; you are not eligible to apply for this grant. (NOTE: If you have questions regarding the eligibility requirements for the Early Literacy Grant Program, please contact the Foundation office at (860) 638-2959 or .)
School Information
Name of School:
Mailing Address:
Street Address (if different than mailing address):
City: State: Zip:
Please don’t forget to complete your entire address!
Contact Person for this application: Title:
Phone: () Fax: () E-mail:
Team Leader for this program (if different from Contact): Title:
Phone: () Fax: () E-mail:
Please provide the following information about the school:
Grade Levels: Total Number of Students:
Town(s) Served: Percentage of Minority Children:
Percentage of children receiving free or reduced price lunch:
Please add any other information about your school that you feel is relevant to this grant request:
Program Information
Amount Requested: (Grants are awarded over a 3-year period; maximum amount is $10,000 for each of the three years, or $30,000 total.)
Total program budget (please attach detail, including both income and expenses):
Proposed starting date of program: Proposed completion date:
Number of students to be served by this program:
Is your program: (select one)
Brand new – never before implemented
Existing and research-based – never implemented in your district/school but proven successful in educational environments
Blended – incorporates new and existing elements
Enhancing – elevating impactful early literacy and reading readiness programming already taking place in your school/district
If your program is not new, please indicate how long it has been in operation.
Please answer the following questions about your program. We ask that you keep your responses to a maximum of 5 pages, including the program budget and a timeline for implementation.
- Describe the students to be served by the program, including the number, grade level(s), and demographic and academic characteristics. Will your program follow a cohort of students from grade to grade over the 3-year grant period, or will it impact successive classes of students in one or more grades? Please specify.
- Describe the program to be funded. What are the goals of the program, and what is the expected impact on the students to be served?
- How will your program effectively support early literacy and reading readiness?
- How will the project be implemented? What activities will take place? How often will students participate, and for how long? Please include a timeline for your program on a separate page. This may include time for initial planning, implementation, and evaluation over the three years. Programming may take place during the school day or over the summer, but NOT after school.
- Howdoes your program engage parents?
- If a portion of your program budget is going towards the purchase of technology or software, clearly document how it will be used to support early literacy and why it is integral to the program.
Evaluation
- What outcomes are necessary to classify the program as a success?
- Process Outcomes - What did you do, and how well did you do it? (e.g., number of sessions, number of students participating, number of books read, number of parent activities, etc.)
- Impact Outcomes – How are the participating students better off? What will have changed? (e.g., grades, attitudes toward school, test scores, understanding of specific focus areas such as vocabulary, phonics, etc.)
- Describe the process that will be used to measure the impact of the project. How will you set a baseline for student performance, and what tools will be used to measure progress? At what intervals will you assess progress?
Other Sources of Funding
Please provide information about other public or private organizations that have provided significant financial or in-kind contributions to this program during the past year. (Please add rows to the table as needed.)
Name of Contributing Organization / Amount of Contribution / Status of Contribution(Committed, Pending, or Application Not Yet Submitted)
Approval of Superintendent
The school named above will act as the responsible fiscal agent for any funds that might be received and will comply with applicable tax laws, regulations, and the Liberty Bank Foundation’s policies. We understand that the Liberty Bank Foundation requires periodic program and financial expenditure reports from grant recipients and may request the opportunity to visit our programs for the purpose of project evaluation.
______
Signature of Superintendent
Name of Superintendent Date