Department of Health and Human Services – Administration for Children and Families – Early Head Start Expansions and Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership Grant Attention folks already operating Head Start services (or capable of doing so)! If your program is seeking funding to expand services or create a childcare partnership that addresses your community’s needs, then you might be interested in this opportunity. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) recently opened applications for Early Head Start (EHS) Expansion and Early Head Start – Child Care (CC) Partnership grants. The Head Start and EHS programs provide funding to public and private nonprofit and for-profit entities that offer comprehensive child development services. The emphasis for this grant funding is on supporting economically disadvantaged children and families.

Kansas Department of Commerce – Back to Business Grants Attention Kansas organizations! The Kansas Department of Commerce recently announced multiple funding opportunities related to COVID-19 relief. The Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Task Force has approved over $130 million for economic development and connectivity projects, which will be awarded as grants to qualifying businesses. The application portal will be live Wednesday, August 19 at 12:00pm CST and remain open until funds are expended.

ReDiscover was recently awarded a $80,000 grant from Jackson County COMBAT Match to reach “hard-to-treat” individuals living in Jackson County, MO who are involved with the family and criminal justice systems and need concurrent substance use treatment, mental health treatment, and supportive services.  Services will promote recovery from substance use and mental health diagnoses that supports safe, stable communities.

Powell Gardens was recently awarded a $1,000 grant from the Ash Grove Charitable Foundation to launch Fun and Games: Come Play in the Gardens.  This summer exhibition will feature kid-friendly areas for climbing, digging, swinging, and playing make-believe. The highlight of this summer exhibition will be four new nature-themed play areas throughout the Gardens that spotlight pollinators and woodland creatures and their habitats.

Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) recently received a grant for $50,000 from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation to support the KCAI Fund and ArtPop. Funding from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation will be divided equally between the college’s annual fund initiatives and a presenting sponsorship of ArtPop, the biennial fundraising event. The KCAI Fund helps to close the gap between student tuition and the actual costs to educate our students, while ArtPop raises money specifically for scholarships and making an art and design education affordable for families.

Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) was recently awarded a $145,031 grant from Clay County Developmental Disabilities Resource Board (DDRB) to support their Early Intervention Program (EIP). CCVI’s Early Intervention Program (EIP) serves children from birth to three with developmental disabilities residing in Clay County, Missouri. The EIP provides regularly scheduled home-based instruction, therapies, and center-based evaluations of the infant and toddler’s developmental progress, beginning as soon as the child is diagnosed until the child’s third birthday. The program offers a comprehensive, individualized educational and therapy program for infants and toddlers who have significant visual impairments that impact learning and development.

National Endowment for the Humanities – Public Humanities Projects Attention humanities folks! If your program is seeking funding for a project that engages general audiences through in-person humanities programming, you might be interested in this opportunity. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently opened applications for the Public Humanities Program grants to support exhibitions, historic places, and humanities discussions. The NEH seeks projects that explore diverse topics in American history and examine foundational documents, historical objects, places, traditions, events, and individuals who have shaped the United States.

United States Department of Education – Office of Elementary and Secondary Education: Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program: Early-Phase Grants Attention folks in higher education! Is your program seeking funding for researching and developing an innovative educational practice? The United States Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) recently opened applications for Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program for Early-phase grants. The EIR program is a phased structure that links the potential funding amount to the quality of supporting evidence for the proposed project’s efficacy. The expectation here is that projects will build upon their evidence and move through the EIR program phases: Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion. For the purposes of this solicitation discussion, we’ll take a closer look at Early-phase grants.

With summer in full swing, vacation planning is or has been on everyone’s mind, including mine! As I booked reservations for a family road trip with my husband and three kids along with five other families, it got me thinking – this vacation planning is a lot like grants management planning. There are some key strategies used in vacation planning that can and should be used in grants management to answer the dreadful question, “Are we there yet?” with a confident “yes.”   Whether you are a grants professional working with a university managing lots of complex federal grants or a small nonprofit agency managing several foundation grants, there are some simple strategies we all can employ to alleviate bumps in the road.