Deadline: 8-Sep-23
The Ascend Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) initiative requests proposals for the Parent-Powered Solutions Fund.
Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Parent-Powered Solutions Fund is the first parent-led fund model of its kind – designed, led, and evaluated by Ascend Parent Advisors to the Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) initiative and funded by Imaginable Futures. This public fund supports nonprofit organizations and institutions focused on increasing postsecondary success among parents.
This fund is open to the public, organizations and institutions that are supporting parents in completing postsecondary programs, including workforce development, career and technical education, and baccalaureate degree programs, are welcome to apply.
Goals
- The Parent-Powered Solutions Fund has five goals:
- Support solutions that make pursuing postsecondary degrees and credentials accessible and equitable for parents.
- Foster the growth of organizations that provide individualized, holistic support (e.g., emotional, personal, professional, financial) to parents and their children.
- Place parent voices and their experiences at the center of philanthropic decision-making.
- Expand opportunities to share parent and family narratives and recommendations with practitioners, policymakers, and philanthropists at local and national levels.
- Surface and support solutions that parents believe are most effective.
Funding Information
- Organizations may apply for awards of $12,500; $25,000, and $50,000.
- Selected partners will have a year long term, with grants awarded on November 15, 2023, and ending on October 15, 2024.
What they will Support?
- The fund will support and advance solutions, practices, and innovations that support student parent engagement and postsecondary completion. Among other methods of direct engagement, resources can be used to include students who are parents in decision-making processes, hire students who are parents, include parents as consultants on work, etc.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for the Parent-Powered Solutions Fund grants, applicant organizations must be:
- Working to implement or expand undergraduate (or first postsecondary credential) programs and policies that benefit parents and engage them in their creation and iteration.
- Serving parents with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
- Committed to documenting and sharing results, learning, data, and tools with the field.
- A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (K-12 schools are eligible to apply if they fit within the funding parameters) including, but not limited to, programs that support postsecondary access and completion for parents and programs that provide supports during the summer before enrollment.
- Located within the United States.
For more information, visit Aspen Institute.
