U.S. Mission to India announces “Promoting Diversity and Tolerance through Interfaith and Interclass Community Service Projects”

Deadline: 29 June 2019

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai (PAS Mumbai) is currently accepting proposals for a project entitled “Promoting Diversity and Tolerance through Interfaith and Interclass Community Service Projects”.

Under this project, the grantee will work with local partners and the consulate to identify up to 500 youth, aged 12-25 from different cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, to participate in the program to be held in a secondary city in one of the following four western Indian states: Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, or Maharashtra.

Objectives

Empower diverse Indian youth by conducting a series of community-service projects that bring together youth from different socio-economic backgrounds.

Provide opportunities where Indian youth can learn about and work with each other. The grant will do this by bringing youth from different backgrounds and experiences to work together on mutually beneficial service projects in their local communities.
- This may be evidenced by the number of projects completed and the number of youth from disparate backgrounds working together on the projects.
Improve understanding of different socio-economic groups, heighten appreciation for diversity. The grant will highlight this in their final, cumulative event.
- This may be evidenced by the quality and quantity of reflections about working with their teammates that beneficiaries report in their final event, or in responses to the grantee. This may also be evidenced by the number of beneficiaries of disparate backgrounds that plan to keep in touch after the event and any plans beneficiaries make to have a follow-up community service projects.

Award Information

Minimum (“Floor”) Award Amount: $20,000
Maximum (“Ceiling”) Award Amount: $22,000

Proposals must detail

The grantee is responsible for all aspects of the program except as noted below. Submitted proposals should include programmatic and financial details on the following:

Program activities: The grantee will work in close coordination with the consulate and local partners to recruit youth participants identify local community projects to undertake, and design and implement the finale event. The grantee will be responsible for managing all logistical elements of the program including, but not limited to, securing any necessary permissions for the community projects, transportation of youth and volunteers to the project sites, providing any needed supplies such as cleaning materials, paint, or supplies, providing all participants with a program designed T-shirt and/or cap. For the finale event, grantee will be responsible for all logistics, including venue rentals and A/V setup, refreshments, photography/videography for the finale, and program design. The grantee will coordinate with PAS Mumbai for the recruitment of area alumni of U.S. government exchange programs to serve as project volunteers.
Traditional and/or social media plan for amplification and advertisement of the program activities and outcomes: The grantee should submit a media plan for approval by the consulate that amplifies the project. Appropriate press/social media activities should be recommended in coordination with the program activities. When appropriate, PAS Mumbai will amplify activities through PAS-sponsored social media platforms.
Monitoring and evaluation plan: The grantee will be responsible for submitting a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan for all components of the program. The grantee will brief PAS Mumbai periodically on the qualitative and quantitative progress of the project implementation.

Eligibility Criteria

Private institutions of higher education
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Eligibility is open to all non-profit, non-governmental organizations. Individuals are not eligible for an award under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Organizations may sub-contract with other entities, but only one, non-profit, non-governmental entity can be the prime recipient of the award. When sub-contracting with other entities, the responsibilities of each entity must be clearly defined in the proposal.
Cost sharing or matching is not required for this funding opportunity.
Pre-award costs are not an allowable expense for this funding opportunity.
This award does not allow:
- Programs relating to partisan political activity;
- Charitable or development activities;
- Construction programs;
- Programs that support specific religious activities;
- Fund-raising campaigns;
- Lobbying for specific legislation or programs
- Scientific research or surveys;
- Commercial projects;
- Programs intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the organization;
- Programs that duplicate existing programs; or
- Illegal activities