Dateline: 04/16/97 - by Walter H. Horowitz, Vice President, NoteSys, Inc.
In his
State of the Union message, President
Clinton said, "We must bring the power of the Information Age into all our
schools." Since October 1996, the federal government has been putting money behind
that goal through a series of Technology Learning Grants as announced
by the President.
The latest round of Technology Innovation Challenge Grants were announced on March 28, 1997. Applications for grants under this program must be filed by May 30, 1997. The grants will be for between $500,000 to $1,500,000 per year with an estimated 20 grants to be awarded. The criteria for selection for these grants was published on February 26, 1997.
Before I give any comments on the grant material, I need to state that I am not an expert on grant writing. In fact, I have never written one.
The announcement says that "only consortia may receive grants under this program. Consortia must include at least one local educational agency (LEA) with a high percentage or number of children living below the poverty line." If your school is not a member of a consortium that has a member school with a high percentage of children living below the poverty line, is there any reason why you can't form one for the purposes of fulfilling the requirements of this grant? The grant does not require that all agencies involved have a high poverty level. There is no need to be geographically near the other schools involved in your project. In fact, it looks like it would be to your advantage to be geographically dispersed.
To win this grant, you need to have an idea on how to use the Internet to enrich the education in your school in concert with other schools. If you haven't found something to excite your students interest in your subject on the Internet, you aren't looking. Find a site at an institution of higher learning or a government agency that fits your needs. If you don't know where to look, use the services of one of our education guides here at The Mining Company.
If you have been looking for money to connect to the Internet in your classroom, here is your opportunity. Make contact with other schools around the country. Make sure that one or more of the schools in your group have a high percentage of students below the poverty level. Show your creativity and excitement about the Internet in writing the grant. You will need to show that and attention to the details of the requirements; there are other people out there competing with you for this money.
I'd love to hear from you if you apply for one of these grants. I'd even love to hear from you if you want to explain how little I know about the grant process.
Announcements of current federal government grants can be found at the
U.S. Department of Education.
