Search Through Workforce Grants in California in the U.S.

Arthur N. Rupe Foundation Grant

The Arthur N. Rupe Foundation is dedicated to achieving positive social change by shining the light of truth on critical and controversial issues. It pursues this mission through the support of scholarly studies, education, research, and public debate, and by the dissemination of the results via a variety of media to all segments of the public.

The Arthur N. Rupe Foundation exists because it wishes to bring about an improvement in society, to be a positive influence on American life. In the founder’s words, the foundation “aims to improve education at all levels, support authentic debate where all aspects of issues are revealed in a balanced exploration of the facts, and support research and scholarly studies that can achieve broad public dissemination.”

Currently the foundation fulfills its mission through grantmaking in the following areas:

• Caregiving: Influenced by the founder’s experience providing at-home care for a loved one with dementia, the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation supports efforts to train and relieve family caregivers, who provide most of the long-term care in the U.S. To increase the number of professional caregivers in the workforce, the foundation also provides support to nursing assistant programs at California Community Colleges.
• Debate: The Arthur N. Rupe Foundation also supports numerous projects that advance civil and reasoned public debate at the high school, university and civic level. ANRF-sponsored debates are non-partisan and accessible to a general audience, with the intention of educating and exposing audiences to all sides of a particular social issue. It is the foundation’s hope to increase the number of Americans actively involved in debate, as it forms the cornerstone of an informed electorate in a free society.
• Public Policy: The foundation supports various national and state-based think tanks, as well as other freedom-oriented organizations whose scholars produce vital research that will affect public policy and reach a broad and influential audience. In addition, ANRF provides support to public interest law firms that defend core Constitutional principles and adjudicate societal issues consistent with its mission.

About The Foundation

The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation was founded in 2008 to center the margin, creating and supporting strategies to reach gender and racial equity. The Foundation believes that intersectional feminism is an essential principle in our work and we intentionally prioritize women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals of color throughout our programming.

The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations primarily in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties (the tribal lands of the Amah Mutsun, Ohlone, Chalon, Awaswas, and Esselen nations), occasionally in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and organizations and programs with statewide impact across California or national impact across the US. Grants are restricted to the United States. We do not accept unsolicited applications.

The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation is a registered 501c3 non-profit.

Funding Priorities

The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations that serve people and communities in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties (the tribal lands of the Amah Mutsun, Ohlone, Chalon, Awaswas, and Esselen nations), occasionally in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and organizations and programs with statewide impact across California or national impact across the US. The Peggy and Jack Baskin Foundation believes that intersectional feminism is an essential principle in our grantmaking. We fund solutions to address the impact of racist and patriarchal structures facing women of color and gender-expansive individuals of color. 

Current Grant Opportunities/Funding Priorities

• Feminist / Gender / Women’s Studies
• Reproductive Rights and Justice
• Legal Advocacy for Immigrant Women
• Activist Fund
• Indigenous Women and Girls
• Girls in Engineering
• Women in Public Policy
• Transitional Housing for Survivors of Relationship Abuse
• Legal Services for Survivors of Relationship Abuse
• Women Re-Entering the Workforce
• Media Literacy
• Gender Economic Justice
• Environmental Gender Justice
• Farming: Gender and Racial Justice

How We Do Our Work

The California Health Care Foundation is dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the health care delivery system provides care to the people of California, particularly those with low incomes and those whose needs are not well served by the status quo. We work to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. 

At the California Health Care Foundation, we know that health care is a basic necessity. We work hard to improve California’s health care system, so it works for all Californians.

Because low-income Californians experience the biggest health burden and face the greatest barriers to care, our priority is to make sure they can get the care they need.

We are especially focused on strengthening Medi-Cal — the cornerstone of California’s safety net. We are also committed to finding better ways to meet the health care needs of the millions of people who remain uninsured in our state.

We organize our work around three main goals:

Improving Access to Coverage and Care

We work to broadly strengthen California’s health care safety net so all Californians with low incomes have access to the care they need when they need it. As part of that, we help stakeholders understand the performance of Medi-Cal to support improvement across the system.

Key Focus Areas:

• Access to Affordable Coverage: Ensuring that all with low incomes have affordable health coverage and that all who are eligible for Medi-Cal are enrolled.
• Access to Primary Care: Ensuring that all Medi-Cal members have access to high-quality, linguistically and culturally responsive primary care, inclusive of behavioral health care. Strengthening and diversifying the health workforce, including community health workers and promotores, so the safety net has the people it needs to deliver primary care effectively.
• Access to Specialty Care: Spreading the use of telehealth in California’s safety net and improving access to specialty care for Californians with low incomes.

Advancing People-Centered Care

We work to ensure that Californians — particularly those enrolled in Medi-Cal — receive responsive, comprehensive, and coordinated care that supports their health and well-being, and reduces inequities.

Key focus areas:

• Behavioral Health Transformation: Transforming mental health and substance use treatment so wherever and however care is delivered, it is effective, appropriate, and accessible, thereby improving outcomes and reducing inequities. Includes work to improve detection and treatment of maternal mental health conditions.
• Care for People with Complex Needs: Helping Medi-Cal enrollees with challenging health or social circumstances get high-quality medical care and supportive services that improve their lives. Particular focus on people experiencing homelessness and older adults with low incomes, and supporting implementation of CalAIM.
• Advancing Black Health Equity: Improving care and outcomes for Black Californians by working with health care partners to interrupt racism, build transparency and accountability around equitable care, and diversify the health care workforce. Includes work to advance Black birth equity in California.

Laying the Foundation

We invest in people, knowledge, and networks that help to make meaningful change possible in California’s health care system.

• Market Analysis and Insight: We provide research and analysis so decisionmakers have a market-wide view of California’s complex health care ecosystem.
• High-Quality Health Journalism: We support health journalism so that Californians have access to timely, relevant information about the most pressing health care issues.
• Building Leadership: We help to develop the leadership and skills of California’s health care professionals, state policy partners, and safety-net organizations to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.
• Bridging the Innovation Gap: We support information, networks, and communications platforms that enable safety-net organizations and entrepreneurs to work together to improve the delivery system.

CHCF Grants

CHCF funds projects that are aligned with its strategic goals, have relevance to California health care as outlined in these goals, and generally have implications beyond a single institution. While unsolicited requests are accepted by the foundation, most of our grants are solicited or awarded through a competitive request for proposals.

Brightening Our Communities

Today, Edison International is one of the largest corporate philanthropic contributors in Southern California, we partner with local nonprofits and everyday community heroes to brighten our neighborhoods and build a better tomorrow.

Last year, we contributed $20 million in funding to support programs that help communities in our service area shine bright while tackling tough issues, such as improving air quality and access to clean energy solutions, increasing community resilience and disaster preparedness, advocating for increased diversity, equity & inclusion, and helping kids make a difference in the world by studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

More than 90% of our giving helps underserved residents, including diverse ethnic groups, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, women, LGBTQ+ populations and low-income families.

Grants to Make a Difference

Our grant funding aims to assist members of our communities that are often underserved, such as diverse ethnic groups, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, women, low-income and LGBTQ+ populations.

Our Giving Priorities

Education

We believe education has the power to change lives, communities, and the world. Education receives the most funding of our focus areas to support educational programs designed to help keep kids engaged in school while opening doors to higher education.

We look for education programs that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in middle school, high school, and college levels, including tutoring, scholarships, and college-access programs.

The Environment

Our commitment to protecting the environment began decades ago and is deeply rooted in our company culture and focus to be a clean energy leader for our region and state.

We are uniting with nonprofits that have the passion and expertise to help shift environmental issues impacting our state and the world, such as improving Southern California's air quality, conserving green spaces for future generations, preserving and restoring habitats, and creating healthier communities by increasing access to green jobs and clean energy solutions.

Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness

Natural disasters can strike suddenly, anywhere and at any time. Earthquakes pose a real and ongoing threat, while wildfires have become an urgent problem with devastating consequences for all Californians.

Edison is committed to protecting our communities and helping families be prepared for natural and human-caused disasters. We support programs focused on electrical safety, emergency/disaster preparedness, community resiliency and wildfire safety and mitigation for our most vulnerable community members.

Civic Engagement

We believe that the ability to lead the transformation of the electric power industry toward a clean energy future relies on the diversity of our team and a society that enables all people to thrive.

To reflect our values, we partner with organizations that are deeply rooted in community advocacy and engagement while providing services such as workforce development and career pathway programs, professional and civic engagement leadership, youth mentoring, and capacity building for local nonprofits with an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Background

Pentair believes it is our responsibility to make a positive impact on people and the planet – through our solutions, communities, and operations - as reflected in our Win Right Values. Since 1998, Pentair and the Pentair Foundation have contributed more than $80 million to philanthropic causes strengthening the communities in which we operate. The mission of the Pentair Foundation is to support and advance inclusive and sustainable communities by investing in the availability, quality, and enjoyment of water and by increasing the participation of youth and young adults in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.

Program Areas

In support of this mission, Pentair and the Pentair Foundation engage in giving across these key program areas:

Water

Pentair and the Pentair Foundation seek to help the world sustainably move, improve, and enjoy water by reducing water stress and building ecological resilience; improving the quality of drinking water; improving access to cleaner and safer water; and increasing water-related safety and well-being.

The Pentair Foundation focuses on programs that help to:

• Move: Reduce water stress and build ecological resilience
• Improve: Improve water quality and reduce single use plastic water bottles
• Enjoy: Increase swim safety and promote water-related well-being

Education

Pentair and the Pentair Foundation seek to help build the workforce of the future by investing in or supporting STEM career pathways, with a particular focus on engineering and manufacturing for youth and young adults.

Community

Pentair and the Pentair Foundation seek to advance vibrant, inclusive communities where we live and work by encouraging employee volunteerism and matching Pentair employee donations.

If you have an initiative you would like Pentair to consider, please contact Pentair. 

Background

The Foundation’s primary grantmaking strategy is place-based. We seek opportunities to make clusters of complementary grants in specific communities, supporting public and nonprofit organizations that serve essentially the same children, youth, and families.

We respond first and foremost to the capacities and vision of the community and to expressed community needs. Then we seek ways to build on the insights, resources, and achievements generated through our grantees’ efforts.

We prioritize places in Northern or Central California that are experiencing acute and widespread poverty, where people of color likely experience disparate outcomes. Our goal is to achieve more capable, responsive, and effective community organizations and institutions.

Through the sustained, concerted efforts of those organizations, we expect community residents to realize benefits including:

• The healthy development and education of children
• The economic and social advancement of their families
• The opportunity to influence the conditions that shape their lives

Funding Priorities

The Foundation’s primary grantmaking strategy is place-based. We seek opportunities to make clusters of complementary grants in specific communities, supporting public and nonprofit organizations that serve essentially the same children, youth, and families.

Families

We support programs that honor lived experiences and incorporate resident voices in the design, implementation, and governance of family-support services.

We fund programs and community-building efforts that help families build on their strengths and increase their self-efficacy, and that implement trauma-responsive practices. We also support comprehensive programs that safeguard equitable access to concrete services such as food, shelter, childcare, and safety.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Family resource centers that promote physical health and wellness, child development, and parenting;
• Organizations that build pathways for families to attain financial literacy, employment, and economic mobility;
• Community-organizing initiatives focused on emerging issues prioritized and led by residents.

Education

We believe that high-quality public schools, available to all, are essential for society to thrive.

We fund initiatives within schools and school districts to provide equitable learning for all students, particularly students of color and those living in poverty. We support engaging students in relevant, immersive learning that prepares them for college, career, and citizenship, equipping them to help solve complex challenges in their communities and the world. We also invest in organizations outside of school districts that, along with community residents, hold public schools to account and help them improve.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Efforts within schools to improve teaching and academic support, particularly for underserved students, by fostering teamwork, adaptation, and organizational learning;
• Organizing efforts among students and families to effect positive changes in their schools and expand learning opportunities;
• Programs promoting reconciliation and mental and emotional health among students and educators;
• Outdoor education and stewardship programs that link academics to life and deepen students’ understanding of the environment, climate, and community health.

Youth

We support youth development organizations that provide safe spaces for youth to explore their interests and aspirations, build confidence and resilience, and solidify a commitment to lifelong learning and community engagement.

We prioritize programs focused on the mental health and well-being of young people and supporting their agency and leadership, as well as their readiness for higher education and careers. We support organizations implementing trauma-responsive practices in their programs and services for youth.

Examples of grant-funded activities include, but are not limited to:

• Addressing the mental health and well-being of students through school-based wellness centers;
• Providing afterschool and/or summer programming that engages youth academically and in special interests such as the performing arts;
• Developing youth leadership, training them in community organizing skills, and supporting them to create solutions for their communities around issues such as educational equity, racial justice, and environmental health.

Supporting Programs

Through our active engagement in communities, we often learn about critical needs and opportunities that lie outside our main program areas.

Leadership & Organizational Health: Cowell commonly funds the direct costs of delivering services and operating programs for community residents; but we are keenly aware that the scope and quality of those services, and ultimately their effectiveness, depend on the vitality of our grantee organizations. Accordingly, grantees in the Families, Education, and Youth program areas may inquire about complementary grants through the Leadership & Organizational Health program.

In addition, Cowell supports organizations whose mission and core capability is leadership development.

Community Resources: Through our active engagement in communities, we often learn about critical needs and opportunities that lie outside our main program areas. For that purpose, we maintain a budget for responsive grants in communities where we are active. This complementary program is necessarily broad, but likely areas of focus include:

• Affordable housing construction and preservation;
• Small business and workforce development;
• Access to banking services, credit, and other supports for economic security;
• Neighborhood infrastructure such as parks, gardens, and greenways.

Across our programs, the funding guidelines incorporate four themes:

• Racial Equity
• Economic Advancement
• Community Health
  • Environmental Health and Justice
  • Mental Health
• Resident Voice and Agency

Types of Grants

Place-Based

• Grants awarded to organizations in active Cowell communities across program areas and initiatives.

Resource Capacity-Building

• Resource Capacity-Building grants from a secondary strategy that supports our primary, place-based investments.
• These grants enhance the resources, practices, and cohesiveness of the program fields in which Cowell operates, and to create access to such resources on behalf of place-based grantees

Exploratory

• Types of work that currently lie outside the program area guidelines.
• These grants are awarded while Cowell is prospecting and developing relationships in a community, before determining whether it is appropriate to fully engage there under the place-based guidelines.
• Exploratory grants may also be awarded as Cowell seeks to learn about emerging fields of work beyond the current program guidelines.

The Michelson Smart Justice Initiative

Our Approach: We support rehabilitative models that reduce recidivism and promote the successful re-entry of system-impacted individuals through improved access to education, employment, and economic opportunities both in prison and post-release.

Our Focus Areas

We are interested in supporting projects that advance:

Efforts that scale and increase higher education and workforce development pathways for incarcerated individuals pursuing firefighting careers.

• Projects that facilitate employment in firefighting careers for incarcerated firefighters, including efforts that fully certify them to pursue a firefighting career upon release and those that facilitate their employment in these careers post release.
• Policy advocacy work that supports incarcerated firefighters.

Initiatives with innovative approaches to higher education in prison (HEP) programming

• Innovative efforts that address housing for individuals reentering the community including efforts centering specific underrepresented populations.
• Transfer pathways that help HEP programming participants with Associates degrees to seamlessly enroll in programs offering Bachelors degrees.
• Efforts that expand HEP programming at the California State University and/or University of California systems
• Policy advocacy efforts that facilitate the scaling of HEP programming across California higher education systems and carceral facilities.

Projects that help ensure the quality of education being provided in HEP programs

• Efforts that promote/improve consistency in data collection to better understand the impact and tell the story of HEP programs.
• Programs that promote, ensure, or evaluate race equity in accessing HEP programs.
• Projects that improve training for HEP program educators and include appropriate pedagogy/practice that ensures a quality education for incarcerated students.
• Efforts focused on increasing higher education retention and completion rates for individuals in prison and individuals being released from prison.
• Policy advocacy work that help ensure the quality of education being provided in HEP programs.

Efforts that analyze the landscape of HEP programming in California to support the launching of a California HEP consortium, a group that will advance recommendations on best approaches in HEP/Reentry programming and policy statewide.  

At Banner we care about the places where we work and live—the places we call home—and we appreciate your interest in our Banner Gives program.

Areas considered for Banner Gives grants include:

• Housing,
  • especially programs that address homelessness and opportunities to advance affordable housing such as home ownership counseling and projects creating and/or preserving access to affordable housing
• Youth
  • academic achievement, civic involvement, financial literacy (see below), as well as physical and emotional development
• Financial education
  • for youth and adults
• Economic development
  • with greatest emphasis on aiding small business and small farm development and lending, workforce development education, job creation and retention

Community Progress Makers Fund

Community Progress Makers is a Citi Foundation initiative aimed at supporting local community organizations connecting low-income communities to greater social and economic opportunity. The Foundation first launched the Community Progress Makers initiative in 2015 with a vision of empowering local community organizations to grow their transformative impact through unrestricted, trust-based funding. The Foundation is committing an additional $50 million to support a fourth cohort of Community Progress Makers. Through an open request for proposals (RFP) process, the Foundation will select 50 community organizations to receive the following over three years: 

• $1 million in unrestricted grant support
• Access to technical assistance from national experts and leading researchers
• Opportunities to connect and share learnings through webinars and local and national gatherings

Selection Priorities

For this funding opportunity, the Citi Foundation will prioritize organizations that demonstrate:

• Deep connections to the communities served
• Track record of partnering with other community organizations and stakeholders to achieve positive change
• Utilization of data to inform planning and the capacity to collect, analyze, and share data, results, and learnings
• Track record and innovative vision in one of the following areas of work: 
  • Affordable Housing and Access, such as efforts to promote housing affordability; home ownership; and resident support services to help people more easily access employment, education, health, and childcare.
  • Economic Development, including the provision of technical assistance to small businesses; commercial corridor revitalization efforts; and green economy strategies that promote job creation.
  • Financial Health, such as efforts in delivering financial coaching; integrated financial capability services; and savings and asset building strategies.
  • Workforce Readiness, including organizations preparing young people and/or adults for careers and entrepreneurship.

The California Air Resources Board is soliciting Grantee(s) for the Adult Education & Vocational School Zero-Emission Vehicle Technology Training Project (Project) for Fiscal Year 2021-22 to develop new or strengthen existing workforce training and development programs and training curriculum for Zero-Emission Vehicle technologies. On November 19, 2021, the Board approved a $1.5 million allocation toward Workforce Training and Development projects in the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives (Funding Plan).

The goal of this solicitation is to increase priority population, including low-income and disadvantaged communities, awareness of and access to Zero-Emission Vehicle specific training, education, and jobs for individuals opting to follow a non-traditional educational (i.e., not a 4-year university or community college) pathway. This includes connections to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeships programs based on California Air Resources Board’s Senate Bill 350 study, Overcoming Barriers to Clean Transportation Access to Low-Income Residents (California Air Resources Board’s Senate Bill 350 Guidance Document or Guidance Document), lessons learned, and ongoing stakeholder feedback. Supporting adult education and vocational school programs fills a key gap identified in community discussions to fund educational programs outside of the community college system, where funding has been provided from state programs. California Air Resources Board aims to create opportunities for building and expanding zero-emission skills to support the shift to a clean transportation economy.

This funding supports access to relevant clean transportation employers and high-road jobs that prepare students for careers in the clean transportation technology sector. Funding for this Project must benefit an existing program within a California-based, accredited, non-profit adult education or vocational school and support new or expand existing Zero-Emission Vehicle technology training elements that lead to job and career advancement for priority populations. Programs should focus on working with and enrolling students from priority populations. The Project will be administered and implemented through partnerships between California Air Resources Board and Grantee(s) selected via this competitive solicitation. 

Opportunity Young Adult (OYA) Evaluation and Technical Assistance (ETA) Program (CA)

The Employment Development Department (EDD), in coordination with the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), announces the availability of up to $1.7 million in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Governor’s Discretionary Funds for the Opportunity Young Adult Evaluation and Technical Assistance (OYA ETA) grant for Program Year Solicitation for Proposals (SFP). The OYA ETA PY awardee will provide evaluation and technical assistance (ETA) for the Opportunity Young Adult Career Pathway Program (OYACPP) awardees, for the prior PY's as they successfully implement and develop programs that connect with apprenticeship programs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and community college and adult school programs with evidence of success for opportunity young adults 18-28 years of age facing significant employment barriers.

Accordingly, this grant will also fund the assessment and analysis, staff development, community of practice (CoP), consultation, and development of partnerships with mainstream services to test, demonstrate, and evaluate strategies to improve employment outcomes and reduce persistent economic inequities for OYAs 18-28 years of age. The ETA provider will create a learning community, foster connectivity among program awardees, share best practices, and assist program awardees with program development and implementation for employment and career advancement opportunities, in sectors such as Public, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, and Health, and allow awardees to make a case for consideration of other sectors that will improve regional economic workforce outcomes and equity.

Nordson Corporation Foundation

The Nordson Corporation Foundation awards grants to non-profits in our communities throughout the United States. Since 1989, the Foundation has awarded more than $60 million in grants to improve the quality of life in our communities, placing a special focus on causes related to education. Employees support the foundation by making donations during our annual A Time to Give Campaign, or by participating in a Community Affairs Committee (CAC). Committees review grant applications and vote to distribute Foundation funds to deserving local causes. During the last financial year, the Foundation gave out 362 grants totaling $6.3 million.

Nordson Foundation Giving Strategies

The geographic areas in which Nordson has major facilities determine the Nordson Foundation's giving priorities. 

Within these geographic areas, granting priorities are driven by community needs. Although needs change quickly, our vision is long term. We pursue and support results-oriented opportunities that prepare individuals for full and equal participation in the economic and social mainstream. We believe these kinds of programs help improve the quality of life over the long term and produce stronger, more enlightened communities in which we live and work. We strive to fulfill these responsibilities in our communities through contributions to charitable activities with a focus on education. Other major giving categories that are supported are human welfare, civic affairs and arts and culture. 

Nordson Foundation Values 

In the spirit of our corporate founders, the Nordson Corporation Foundation continues to operate on the belief that business, as a corporate citizen, has a social responsibility to share its success with the communities where it operates and draws employees.  

The Nordson Foundation is dedicated to improving our communities by supporting the continuum of education from birth to adulthood in the belief that education is the key for individuals to become self-sufficient, productive members of society.  

To prepare individuals for economic independence, a variety of quality educational experiences are necessary. To be successful today, individuals not only need to master the basics, “reading, writing and arithmetic”, they must also know how to think critically and creatively. Strengthening the community’s human capital – through quality education – is crucial.  

The Nordson Foundation offers support to non-profit organizations that cultivate educational curriculum and experiences that foster self-sufficiency, job readiness and goals to aspire to higher education. The Foundation is well aware of the fact that for non-profit organizations to remain viable they must receive operating support. With this in mind, Nordson Corporation Foundation does invest in general operating support.  

As stewards of the Foundation assets, the directors feel strongly that the organizations that are supported by the Foundation be able to measure the effectiveness of their mission and programs. Quantitative and/or qualitative data allows for the Foundation to ensure that the organizations it supports are bringing about the desired outcomes in our communities.

Nordson Foundation Goals

The goals of the Nordson Corporation Foundation are to insure that:

• All children have access to and receive quality educational experiences from early childhood
• All individuals have the opportunity to be self-sufficient members of society 
• There is a continuum of quality educational opportunities 
• Our communities are strengthened by the organizations we fund whether their focus is education, human welfare, civic or arts and culture

Nordson Foundation Funding Strategy

Through its grant-making, the Foundation supports organizations that directly or indirectly seek to maximize success before, during and beyond the traditional classroom years. Grants will be reviewed and considered on the basis of their enrichment to the communities where our employees live and work. Organizations and programs receiving grants will be expected to identify relevant, measurable outcomes to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs.

Education

• Early Childhood Care and Education
• Maximizing Student Success
• Access to quality educational opportunities
• Innovative programs
• Partnerships/collaborations with school districts
• Funding gaps not covered by public monies
• Augmenting core curriculum
• Exposure to programs that expand on traditional education
• Workforce Preparation
• Initial preparation for the world of work
• Retraining for the new job market
• Strengthening our communities

Human Welfare

• Promote prevention and lifestyle maintenance programs and activities
• Promote crisis intervention
• Promote life transition opportunities
• Promote systemic change

Arts and Culture

• Actively seek to broaden the audience bases in Nordson communities
• Support the visual and performing arts
• Provide educational enrichment for students
• Motivation for at-risk youth
• Provide access to the arts for special needs audience
• Promote greater understanding among people via the arts

Civic

• Work to improve the physical or economic environment
• Provide cultural or historical preservation
• Strive to inform citizens and increase their participation in community improvement

About the Motorola Solutions Foundation

At Motorola Solutions, we are good citizens by design. Our work makes a difference in the critical moments that shape lives, businesses and the world, but our contributions don’t end there. The Motorola Solutions Foundation acts as the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola Solutions and focuses on giving back to the community through strategic grants, employee volunteerism and other community investment initiatives. The Foundation is one of the many ways in which the company lives out its purpose to help people be their best in the moments that matter.

Grant Program Focus

The Motorola Solutions Foundation, which has donated $100 million over the past 10 years, aims to partner with organizations that are creating safer cities and thriving communities, and prioritizes underrepresented and/or underserved populations, including people of color and women, within the three focus areas below:

• Technology and engineering education
• First responder programming
• Blended first responder programming and technology/engineering education programs

Overarching Priorities

• Reach people of color, women and other underrepresented and/or underserved populations within our focus areas
• Leverage robust partnerships with other nonprofit organizations and institutions
• Support organizations that exhibit strong financial health
• Support organizations with data-driven evaluation methods, including quantifiable metrics

Focus Areas

First Responder Programming

• Provide leadership development and training opportunities for underrepresented first responders, including people of color and women
• Provide mental wellness and stress management trainings for first responders and their families
• Provide wellness and scholarship support to families of fallen first responders
• Prepare youth and young adults for careers in public safety through outreach, scholarship and educational programs
• Offer safety preparedness and response training to schools, adults, students and first responders
• Lead safety and disaster preparedness trainings for the public

Technology & Engineering Education

• Engage students in innovative, hands-on technology and engineering activities, such as design, coding and robotics
• Provide vocational skills, scholarships, certifications and workforce placement opportunities in engineering, information technology and data science
• Equip teachers with the skills and training necessary to enhance instruction in technology and engineering
• Prioritize school-aged students ages 8-18, college/university students and young adults

Overview

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) values being an informed, compassionate and contributing neighbor in our local communities. The commitment has been demonstrated throughout Sandia’s history and is an enduring part of our future.

Sandia and National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) provide grants to address the greatest challenges facing families in our communities. K-12 school systems are working to eliminate educational disparities from one community to another. Many families struggle with affordable housing, food insecurity, and other challenges. Recognizing that both family stability and equitable educational success are critical to our children’s futures, we are investing our corporate contributions in the areas of Family Stability and Educational Success. NTESS, on behalf of Sandia National Laboratories, contributes more than $1.5M annually to our local communities. 

Family Stability Criteria

This grant opportunity is intended to support non-profit organizations that are helping families in crisis provide and sustain a stable home environment, especially for families with children. Programs should demonstrate sustainable improvement and where applicable, partnerships with other organizations to create efficiencies and avoid duplication of services. Priority will be given to programs that address:

• Hunger relief services including pantries and prepared meal services that serve people experiencing food insecurity.
• Support those working toward obtaining short or long-term housing for people experiencing homelessness
• Workforce development serving under-employed populations.
• Services and wraparound support for children/families who are experiencing a temporary crisis. 

About Teichert

We are a construction company operating in California since 1887. Over the years, Teichert has grown into a diverse mix of businesses, most notably Teichert Construction and Teichert Materials. With our commitment to our family of employees, high quality of work, strong customer satisfaction, and giving back to the community, Teichert will continue to flourish in the 21st century and beyond.

Teichert Foundation

Teichert Foundation expresses the company’s commitment to build and preserve a healthy and prosperous region.

We make grants to organizations that create beauty, foster culture, nurture children, provide access to food and housing for those in need, preserve nature, increase awareness of our environment, build an educated citizenry and a well-prepared workforce, and strive to provide better health for all.

Teichert Foundation will consider grant requests in the following categories:

• Civic improvement and historical restoration
• Community and social services
• Culture and the arts
• Education and workforce development
• Environmental sustainability
• Rehabilitation and health service
• Youth and elderly

The Foundation directors may also, from time to time, identify areas for special emphasis when emerging needs require extraordinary attention.

While deciding how much to grant to whom, the Foundation will give careful consideration to:

• The number of people that will benefit from the project
• The number of local volunteers supporting the organization and the project
• The extent to which the applicant complements the services of other community organizations
• The extent to which the program addresses underlying causes, rather than just symptoms of specific problems
• The outcomes of monitoring and evaluating the organizations projects
• The commitment and composition of the organization’s Board of Directors or Board of Trustees
• The current budget and the prior year actuals to show the organization’s fiscal responsibility and management qualifications; and
• The ability of the organization to provide ongoing funding after the term of the grant

Grants are generally made for one year only.

The Employment Development Department (EDD), in coordination with the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, announces the availability of up to $1 million from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Governor’s Discretionary Fund for the Employment Social Enterprise (ESE) Technical Assistance (TA) funding opportunity for Program Year 2024-25.

The TA awardee will provide individualized assistance based on each program awardee’s project focus, the unique barriers of the target populations being served, and the industry sectors and geographic regions involved. These efforts should support Social Enterprise intervention strategies that provide work-based learning, work experience, and the supportive services necessary to help improve employment outcomes. The ESE program will provide support to California’s most vulnerable populations, transitioning participants into the workforce by placing them into supported employment settings that allow them to earn wages while improving their job skills and building work experience.   

Employment Social Enterprise Grant (CA)

The Employment Development Department (EDD), in coordination with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, announces the availability of up to $10 million in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I Governor’s discretionary funds, made available through the Employment Social Enterprise Program (ESE) for Program Year 2024-25 (PY 24-25) Solicitation for Proposals (SFP).

The ESE grants will support the design, development, and implementation of programs aimed at promoting job training opportunities and transitional employment through social enterprise initiatives. These programs will serve California’s most vulnerable populations, helping them achieve economic self-sufficiency and life stability.

The ESE program focuses on the first step to transitioning participants into the workforce by placing individuals into supported employment settings, where they can earn wages, gain work experience, improving job skills, and access supportive services.

Funding

Applicants may apply for funding ranging from $500,000 to $2,000,000. 

Background

The Citi Foundation’s Global Innovation Challenge is an open call for applications or request for proposals (RFP) designed to provide catalytic grant funding to community organizations across the world. This year, the Foundation invites proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24.

Funding Overview

Despite recent progress, young people globally continue to experience challenges in their pursuit of employment, including skills mismatch and gaining access to quality jobs. According to the International Labour Organization, 65 million young people globally are unemployed. Since the Citi Foundation’s inception, advancing youth employability has been integral to our mission of supporting low-income communities globally. The Citi Foundation invested more than $300 million over the last decade alone in programs that supported over one million young people in expanding their skills, experience and networks through its Pathways to Progress initiative. Building on our funding journey, this year’s Global Innovation Challenge is focused on youth employability, and we invite proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24

These innovative solutions could include, but are not limited to:

• Technical and vocational training programs that upskill or reskill low-income youth and move them into employment, which could include paid internships, apprenticeships or formal employment.
• Entrepreneurship programming that specifically focuses on the incubation or scaling of youth-led enterprises to increase job creation and access to selfgenerated income.
• Efforts to embed financial education programming into workforce development initiatives equipping low-income youth with financial skills and access to safe and affordable financials tools. 

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities. In 2021, the Pacific Power Foundation awarded more than $1 million to local nonprofit organizations.

Apply for a Grant

The foundation manages its grants in four cycles. This helps the foundation carefully review similar requests to ensure maximum benefit.

Education/STEM Grants

Electrical safety, energy efficiency education, higher education institutions, K-12, literacy and reading programs, STEM education initiatives, teacher/professional educator development, workforce development/careers and employability, and youth development.

About

The Firedoll Foundation is a private family foundation founded by two unrepentant liberals from the 60's who still believe in the motto, "If you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." 

Focus Areas

We fund in five different focus areas: Community Development and Entrepreneurship, Immigrant Issues and Human Rights, Environmental Conservation, the Peace Process in the Middle East, and Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Community Development and Entrepreneurship

We believe that government has largely abdicated its responsibility in the area of community development. Although non-profit organizations should not be in the position of having to fill the gap, they are. Funders must step forward and provide them with support.

We focus our resources on supporting non-profits that work with vulnerable populations through safety-net services, reentry programs, entrepreneurship, and workforce development in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Immigrant Issues and Human Rights

Immigration is a continuing source of vitality and rejuvenation of American society. We reject the anti-immigrant hysteria that swept the United States in the 1990's, bringing with it the detention of thousands of immigrants.

We support projects that provide alternatives to detention and advocate on behalf of detained immigrants and asylum seekers. We are especially inclined to support organizations providing legal aid to immigrants in detention, facing deportation, and/or seeking asylum. We make grants to human rights projects on behalf of vulnerable populations whose basic rights are being sacrificed by repressive governmental or religious policies or for the sake of global economic interests.

The geographic focus for the immigration program area is Northern California, with an emphasis on Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Environmental Conservation

We have a sense of urgency about the state of the planet and the web of life of which we are all a part. As a result, we support a variety of approaches to preserving the environment, including legal action, environmental justice advocacy, scientific inquiry, and direct action.

We are particularly interested in projects involving regional cooperation and those that combine conservation with environmentally sustainable development, giving local people a stake in conservation. In the Western United States we restrict our grantmaking to Northern California. We give grants on a range of issues from protection of old growth forests and rivers and the preservation of endangered species to pesticide reform and community action for clean air and water.

Economic Security & Dignity Fund

To be healthy, people need the stability, confidence and aspiration gained through earning a reliable and growing income, building up a financial cushion, and owning assets. Yet many Californians face barriers to achieving enough income to meet basic needs, let alone build wealth – the single most important factor that influences health.

If you think of economic security as a house, we strive to support Californians in strengthening the floor and eliminating the ceiling. "Strengthening the floor" means focusing on reinforcing a social safety net that protects people from economic distress when faced with financial challenges. And "eliminating the ceiling" means emphasizing higher education, and access to good jobs that provide living wages, strong benefits and career paths. Eliminating the ceiling also includes entrepreneurship and growing assets – from homeownership to retirement savings.

Our Economic Security and Dignity portfolio aims to advance the economic well-being of Californians, especially those from low-income communities and communities of color.

Economic Mobility & Wealth Creation

All Californians should be able to get good-paying jobs, build businesses as entrepreneurs if they choose to, and be financially secure. We will support efforts that advance workforce development and entrepreneurship for communities of color and low-income communities.

Improving health outcomes is not just a matter of promoting good jobs and increasing income — it’s also about building assets and the confidence and cushion that wealth provides to expand opportunities.

The Economic Security and Dignity portfolio makes grants under three goal areas. To be eligible for funding, your organization’s work must fit into at least one of these goal areas:

• Economic Mobility & Wealth Creation
• Higher Education (note: this goal area is currently not accepting unsolicited applications for funding).
• Economic Safety Net

Economic Mobility & Wealth Creation

• Comprehensive workforce development efforts that focus on systems-impacted communities, with attention to formerly incarcerated men and women and provide all of the following:
  • Placement into living-wage jobs that offer robust benefits and pathways for career advancement;
  • Job retention services; and
  • Case-managed wraparound support services.
• Efforts that support and strengthen small businesses through culturally-effective advising services and access to trustworthy capital for owners and operators who are persons of color, immigrants and refugees, or low-income individuals.
• Public policy efforts that address one of the following:
  • Advance comprehensive workforce development approaches described above; or
  • Strengthen supports for small businesses.

• Workforce development efforts that focus on populations other than formerly incarcerated adults, or that emphasize resume writing, interview skills training, placement into low-wage jobs, or job training with minimal job placement or support services.
• An individual organization’s efforts to develop, build, or expand its in-house workforce or its own small business, including social enterprises.

Higher Education

This goal area has two priorities:

• pathways to access and succeed in postsecondary education for juvenile justice system-involved youth and
• advancing racial equity in medical schools to address the acute racial disparities in the physicians’ workforce in California.

More than two-thirds of youth connected to the juvenile justice system aspire to higher education. At the same time, incarcerated youth in California face many obstacles in their quest to enter and succeed in higher education. Across the state, youth in custody have no access to face-to-face, classroom-based postsecondary instruction, and receive no postsecondary outreach, engagement, or orientation activities. And the juvenile justice system’s disproportionate ensnarement of Black and Latino youth exacerbates racial inequities in the pathways into postsecondary education. As a result, college and other postsecondary education – a leading pathway to economic self-sufficiency – is out of reach for most juvenile justice system-involved youth. Our grants are shaping a field and elevating a supportive ecosystem across the state to nurture a higher education pathway for these systems-involved young people.

• College campus-based support programs and supportive housing programs that support the postsecondary educational success of our youth involved with the juvenile justice system.
• Efforts that advance access to and success in medical schools for students from communities of color that are underrepresented in medicine, with attention to pathway and other programs at schools of medicine and community-based organizations.
• Public policy efforts that:
  • Advance the postsecondary educational success of youth involved with the juvenile justice system, or

• Address barriers to access to and success in medical schools students from communities of color that are underrepresented in medicine. Leadership development efforts that support advocacy of:
  • Juvenile justice system-involved youth issues impacting their pathways to and through postsecondary education

• Programs that focus on college preparation, high school completion or the acquisition of a GED or HiSET certificate, or K-12-focused programs, including efforts addressing STEM.
• Supportive housing programs that are not tailored to our priority youth population nor oriented to advancing their postsecondary educational success.
• Health professions schools and training programs that address students broader than physicians.
• Efforts that focus on health workforce or workplace diversity and cultural competence.

Economic Safety Net

We want to make sure there is easier access to safety-net income supports. According to the Center for American Progress, a strong safety net reduces poverty, increases economic mobility, and strengthens our national economy. Furthermore, studies show that many safety-net programs offer an excellent return on investment to taxpayers. We will help expand and strengthen the safety net to support low-income Californians in both maintaining their financial stability and in building their economic progress. We also support the economic justice ecosystem of organizations in California working to improve wages, benefits, and employment practices.

Public policy and systems change efforts that:

• Address strengthening income security (e.g., earned income tax credits, child tax credits, retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, guaranteed income), including expanding eligibility (e.g., undocumented immigrants); or
• Advance economic justice (e.g., worker power, increasing the minimum/living wage, improving workforce policies, etc.).

Efforts that primarily address occupational health and workplace safety.

Background

The CalMoneySmart program provides annual grants of up to $200,000 to nonprofit organizations to provide financial education and financial empowerment programs and services for unbanked and underbanked Californians.

CalMoneySmart began when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 455 (Bradford) in October 2019, which created the Financial Empowerment Fund to fund a grant program for nonprofit organizations. The CalMoneySmart program was launched with an initial $4 million fund, and the program was authorized to award up to $1 million each year to nonprofits for financial empowerment programs focusing on unbanked and underbanked consumers in California. In 2021-22, Assembly Bill 137 expanded the Financial Empowerment Fund by an additional $10 million, increasing the annual amount available for grants to $2 million with a maximum grant award to $200,000 per fiscal year until the program sunsets on January 1, 2030.

Unbanked households have disproportionately lower incomes and levels of education than banked households. Black and Hispanic households, single mothers, working-age adults with a disability, and immigrants are also disproportionately represented among the unbanked. Due to their credit status, unbanked and underbanked households often pay high fees for everyday financial services and find it difficult to build savings, establish credit, and build wealth.

Financial education programs, like those funded by CalMoneySmart, are cost-effective means to improve both financial knowledge and financial behaviors that promote stability, protect consumers, and generate wealth (Kaiser, FINRA Foundation, 2022). Individualized counseling reinforces and empowers consumers to participate in financial services and build assets and financial security. Access to free financial products provides a pathway to mainstream financial services and helps to develop habits to increase financial well-being.

Community-based nonprofit organizations that have received CalMoneySmart funding over the past four years have implemented diverse and innovative approaches to reaching underserved communities by supporting and educating Californians about creating a better future for themselves and their families. Reports of previous CalMoneySmart cycles can be found at https://dfpi.ca.gov/calmoneysmart-grant-program/.

Since the program’s inception, grant funds have been awarded on an annual basis through a competitive application process. Beginning in the 2024-25 fiscal year, applications will be accepted for a two-year period. Funding will be announced in advance for two consecutive fiscal years, with funds disbursed separately at the beginning of each year. This program change has been introduced to improve the sustainability of funding for community-based organizations, allowing them to recruit and retain qualified staff and build organizational capacity to meet program objectives.

Use of Funds

The grants may be used to:

• Design, develop, or offer free classroom- or web-based financial education and empowerment content intended to help unbanked and underbanked consumers achieve, identify, and access lower-cost financial products and services, establish or improve their credit, increase their savings, or lower their debt.
• Provide individualized, free financial coaching to unbanked and underbanked consumers.
• Design, develop, or offer a free financial product or service intended to help unbanked and underbanked consumers identify and access responsible financial products and financial services, establish or improve their credit, increase their savings, or lower their debt.

Every project funded with a CalMoneySmart grant must:

• Promote and enhance the economic security of consumers.
• Adhere to the Five Principles of Effective Financial Education described in the June 2017 report issued by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau titled Effective financial education: Five principles and how to use them.
• These five principles are:
  • Know the individuals and families to be served
  • Provide actionable, relevant and timely information
  • Improve key financial skills
  • Build on motivation and,
  • Make it easy to make good decisions and follow through.

The Arts & Cultural Organizations General Operating Support grant program provides direct funding to arts and cultural organizations in support of ongoing operations.

This grant supports the well-being of California’s cultural vitality by helping sustain a robust and diverse arts workforce and infrastructure. Funds may be used to support any eligible expenses associated with the general operations of an arts or cultural organization, including but not limited to rent, utilities, and staff salaries. Applying for this grant does not restrict an organization from applying for other CAC project-based grants. General Operating grants are intended to support the applicant organization in carrying out its mission. Funding is not intended to support a specific project.

Background & Purpose

The Creative Youth Development program is rooted in the CAC’s belief that arts learning is an essential tool for healthy human development and that it should be available to all young people throughout California, including but not limited to those whose lives have been impacted or interrupted by the justice system. The CAC envisions that all of California’s young people are provided with meaningful, culturally responsive arts-learning experiences so that they can reach their full potential. All projects may occur during or outside of traditional school hours and should take place at arts and culture venues, community centers, court/school sites, juvenile halls and camps, county-operated correctional facilities, social services agencies, and other youth-oriented settings.

Creative Youth Development is a commitment to supporting young people’s stories, ideas, and dreams through creative expression and honoring their lived experience. In order to create environments that promote Creative Youth Development, these three concepts must be present:

• Racial Equity and Social Justice
• Youth Voices
• Collective Action

Beneficiaries of Creative Youth Development projects include youth from infancy to 25 years of age. Support for system-engaged, system-impacted, and/or at-promise youth are an additional priority with successful projects being tailored specifically to respond to their needs. These may be youth and young people who were dismissed from middle, high and/or continuation schools; have been subjected to racial profiling; have been arrested or are on probation; are currently incarcerated at a juvenile justice facility or attending a court-appointed educational institution; are undocumented; are unhoused and/or migratory; are refugees; have incarcerated parent(s) or guardian(s); and/or are pregnant or young parents themselves. Examples of applicable projects include but are not limited to:

• arts projects in early learning, daycare, or foster-care environments.
• projects that support the transmission of traditional arts and cultural practices.
• youth leadership, apprenticeship, and mentorship opportunities in arts, social service, or youth correctional settings.
• arts programming that supports social/emotional learning, workforce development or entrepreneurial skills.

Statewide & Regional Networks

The Statewide and Regional Networks (SRN) program contributes to the health and vitality of the creative workforce in California by creating a resilient network of arts service organizations and artists. Applicants must be arts services organizations with statewide or regional reach.

An arts service organization is defined as a nonprofit or fiscally sponsored organization that furthers the interests of artists, creators, and culture bearers. They also provide programs and services that are substantially focused on enhancing the capacity of individual artists and/or arts and culture organizations. They have as a core purpose the provision of services that assist or promote arts and culture. Together these organizations form unified networks at state and regional levels, working to ensure that the arts and culture sector across California continues to thrive. An arts service organization shall operate a network.

Networks are associations or groups of individuals or organizations with common interests, visions or organizational missions that work together to strengthen the collective group. Arts Networks develop professional services for the broad array of individuals and organizations engaged in diverse fields of art (paraphrased from Americans for the Arts Public Art Network definition).

Program Goals

This grant supports the well-being of California’s cultural vitality by creating resilient and diverse networks of arts service organizations and artists. Grantees will be required to accomplish the following within the grant activity period:

• Arts service organizations must provide practical services for artists, creators, culture bearers, and/or arts and cultural organizations.
• Constituent representation must be active, ongoing, effective, and relevant statewide or regional reach.
• Programs and/or services must provide engagement and access throughout all counties and/or municipalities identified within the statewide or regional network.

Spark Grants is an innovative, just-in-time grantmaking process.

Our vision is to introduce a process that can fill urgent needs for education organizations that are well-aligned with our focus areas. We seek to fund highly impactful initiatives that would not be possible if they needed to wait through a traditional grant decision timeline.

Baseline Grant Criteria

• We will be awarding grants up to $25,000 to nonprofits and educational institutions whose projects hit one of the focus areas outlined below.
• For this funding cycle, we will focus on organizations that are doing work in California.
• Given the size and scope of digital inequity and the complexity of securing adequate funding for programs and initiatives to fully address the issue, we welcome proposals where Michelson Spark Grant funds are part of a larger overall project with multiple funding streams.

Digital Equity Funding Cycle Focus Areas

Eliminating Digital Discrimination: Efforts that help address the impact that low-quality and/or unaffordable Internet has in areas that may superficially appear to have Internet access, and provide tools to combat digital discrimination and to promote equitable access to broadband throughout California. By focusing on the role of race in the historical causes of digital equity, we seek to grow awareness and uplift the voices and needs of underserved communities that have been deliberately excluded from connectivity by systematic redlining and disinvestment. These may include but are not limited to:

• Efforts that highlight disparities in broadband access
• Research that addresses mapping shortcomings at the state level
• Storytelling, surveying, testimonial-gathering

Digital Equity in Tribal Communities: Projects that help Tribal communities bridge the digital divide and achieve digital sovereignty. This may include but isn’t limited to:

• Digital Equity Research & Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on Tribal communities, digital equity best practices, and more)
• Community Capacity-building
• Broadband Infrastructure Workforce Development

Policy Advocacy and Civic Engagement: Efforts that increase civic participation in digital equity policy-making and regulatory processes at the local, regional, or state-level (including the education of state policy-makers on key digital equity issues). This may include efforts focusing on education, capacity-building, and the equitable implementation of digital equity policy

Digital Equity as a Social Determinant of Health: Efforts that address digital inequity through its impact as a social determinant of health, and that can be a promising practice to be scaled across the state. Efforts that bridge the digital divide in at least one of the following issue areas:

• Higher Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on college students)
• Healthcare/Public Health (i.e.: Equitable access to digital healthcare)
• Economic Opportunity (i.e.: Workforce Development; equitable access to seeking, applying, and securing jobs)
• Civic Engagement (i.e.: Access to public benefits)

Digital Equity and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Projects that aim to ensure communities that have been historically underinvested have access to and are prepared to take advantage of technological advancements in AI for full participation in our society, as well as projects that are aimed at increasing transparency and equity in the use and development of AI tools.

Open Educational Resources

We seek to advance affordable, equitable, culturally relevant, and high-quality learning experiences for postsecondary students by increasing the number of courses and faculty that use open educational resources (OER).

Open educational resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others.

Michelson Spark Grants

Spark Grants is an innovative, just-in-time grantmaking process.

Our vision is to introduce a process that can fill urgent needs for education organizations that are well-aligned with our focus areas. We seek to fund highly impactful initiatives that would not be possible if they needed to wait through a traditional grant decision timeline.

OER Funding Cycle Focus Areas

• Eliminating Digital Discrimination: Efforts that help address the impact that low-quality and/or unaffordable Internet has in areas that may superficially appear to have Internet access, and provide tools to combat digital discrimination and to promote equitable access to broadband throughout California. By focusing on the role of race in the historical causes of digital equity, we seek to grow awareness and uplift the voices and needs of underserved communities that have been deliberately excluded from connectivity by systematic redlining and disinvestment. These may include but are not limited to:
  • Efforts that highlight disparities in broadband access
  • Research that addresses mapping shortcomings at the state level
  • Storytelling, surveying, testimonial-gathering

• Digital Equity in Tribal Communities: Projects that help Tribal communities bridge the digital divide and achieve digital sovereignty. This may include but isn’t limited to:
  • Digital Equity Research & Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on Tribal communities, digital equity best practices, and more)
  • Community Capacity-building
  • Broadband Infrastructure Workforce Development

• Policy Advocacy and Civic Engagement: Efforts that increase civic participation in digital equity policy-making and regulatory processes at the local, regional, or state-level (including the education of state policy-makers on key digital equity issues). This may include efforts focusing on education, capacity-building, and the equitable implementation of digital equity policy

• Digital Equity as a Social Determinant of Health: Efforts that address digital inequity through its impact as a social determinant of health, and that can be a promising practice to be scaled across the state. Efforts that bridge the digital divide in at least one of the following issue areas:
  • Higher Education (i.e.: Research on the impact of digital inequity on college students)
  • Healthcare/Public Health (i.e.: Equitable access to digital healthcare)
  • Economic Opportunity (i.e.: Workforce Development; equitable access to seeking, applying, and securing jobs)
  • Civic Engagement (i.e.: Access to public benefits)

• Digital Equity and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Democratizing AI Projects that aim to ensure communities that have been historically underinvested have access to and are prepared to take advantage of technological advancements in AI for full participation in our society, as well as projects that are aimed at increasing transparency and equity in the use and development of AI tools.