Building Compassion: Using youth-powered community-based service to develop compassion and social-emotional competencies in African American youth
The Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots youth program invites all national and local youth-serving organizations to apply for a 12-month grant of up to $75,000 to support a shared goal to develop compassion, critical social-emotional and character-building skills in young people through service and youth-powered action.
Proposal Goals:
1. Funds must be used to engage predominately African American youth in meaningful service to support the development of these critical skills.
2. Using the Roots & Shoots Model, young people must be actively involved in identifying, planning and leading any resulting service projects that are developed through the grant partnership.
3. Over the course of 12 months, the grant should directly engage African American youth between the ages of 12 and 24 with a cost of $10/youth. For example, if your project proposes to directly reach 1,000 students during the 12-month period of the grant, you may request $10,000 (1,000 x $10 per student) as part of this funding opportunity.
4. Proposals that target African American youth from low-income, high-need communities will be prioritized. For the purposes of this grant program, "low-income" is defined as students who qualify for the Federal Free or Reduced Price Lunch Program (FRPL) or children living in communities where a majority of the population falls below twice the federal poverty threshold.
NOTE: Grant recipients will not have an opportunity re-apply for this grant after its completion. The proposal must include plans for how to support the project lessons after the grant cycle ends, including opportunities to maintain a partnership with the Roots & Shoots program.
About Roots & Shoots:
Roots & Shoots, a program of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), is a global movement led by millions of compassionate young people. Roots & Shoots was started by Dr. Jane Goodall and a group of students in Tanzania who felt that everyone can make a change in the world, no matter who they are or where they live. Roots & Shoots has developed the strength of their voice and actions by growing the program and building compassionate individuals in over 50 countries across the globe. Together, they're changing the world for the better for people, other animals and the environment we share.
Purpose:
The goal of Roots & Shoots is to build compassion, and critical social-emotional and character-building skills in young people across the world by providing support, mentorship, and resources world to come up with ideas for how they can make a difference, and turn those ideas and solutions into action. We do this by offering a high-quality SEL-based, common-core aligned curriculum and by activating young people in service projects that are meaningful and relevant to them and their unique communities.
We are currently seeking to support a national or local youth-serving partner over a 12-month period to engage African American youth with our model of youth-powered, community-based action.
