Deadline: 30-Apr-21
Alaska Conservation Foundation under its Youth Mini Grant Program is seeking calls for grant proposals to support youth-led projects that address conservation issues in Alaska. These include climate change, community health, racial and social inequity, and sustainable economies.
The Youth Mini Grant Program aims to empower youth leaders as they invest in their communities, become mentors, and delve into issues of social justice impacting Alaska’s cultures, communities, and well-being.
Successful projects will center youth empowerment and youth leadership, will be fiscally sponsored by a 501c3 non-profit organization, Tribe, or equivalent organization, and will have a conservation focus. Preference will be given to applications from rural and indigenous youth.
Priority Issues
The Youth Mini-Grant supports youth-led conservation projects in the following areas:
- Climate Change: The Youth Mini-Grant supports the documentation and application of Indigenous Knowledge, place-based climate-change strategies, or other ways of understanding and addressing climate change in Alaska;
- Food Security: Biologically diverse local food sources are key to community wellness, connection to the land and water, and fundamental to conservation. The Youth Mini-Grant supports projects related to conservation, harvest, traditional food practices, and sharing of local foods;
- Community Health and Wellness: Holistic wellness includes cultural, social, mental, and physical health. The Youth Mini-Grant supports work that aims to advance community health of mind, body, and spirit.
Award Amount
- ACF will award grants up to $500;
- If multiple youth plan to collaborate on a project together, a proposal for multiple awards can be considered together.
Eligible Projects
The following are examples of activities that could be funded with a Youth Mini Grant:
- Leadership: This may include youth identifying challenges in their communities that they can help with, efforts to strengthen or support emerging youth leaders, Elder voices, exchanges, or mentoring;
- Communication & Technology: This may include innovative ways to overcome broadband and connectivity challenges that limit rural communities and residents from participating fully in work that has quickly shifted online during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Education, Art, and Expression: This includes connecting culture and conservation through an education project or the mediums of art, music, or dance. This could include supporting place-based education and Traditional Knowledge.
Ineligible Projects
- Existing Staff Salaries;
- Scholarships;
- Expenses that violate local, state, or federal COVID-19 mandates;
- For-profit organizations;
- Capital Campaigns.
Eligibility Criteria
Youth ages 15-25 are eligible to apply for grant awards. All applicants need to be Alaska based, or if attending school elsewhere, have an Alaska focused project. In order to be eligible for a Youth Mini-Grant, youth applicants must find a fiscal sponsor in the form of one of the following:
- 501(c)3 non-profit organization;
- Federally Recognized Tribe;
- Public School;
- Church;
- Other equivalent organizations.
In addition to a fiscal sponsor, successful applicants will also have an adult mentor/sponsor.
For more information, visit Alaska Conservation Foundation.
For more information, visit https://alaskaconservation.org/community-resources/grant-opportunities/youth-mini-grant/