Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I-Corning) is sending his "June Grants Action News Update" to residents, organizations and local governments about a series of grants available from the state, federal government and private entities. Each month, the Assembly provides an updated list of grants for a variety of categories.

“During a time of economic recovery, grants can play an integral part in helping our local communities complete needed infrastructure repairs or support under-funded projects,” said Palmesano. “Many people don’t realize the scope of available opportunities because they aren’t sure where to look. The ‘Grants Action News’ bulletin makes finding these grants much easier by consolidating the information and making it available to everyone. I hope residents, organizations and local governments throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions will be able to use this resource to find much-needed support to strengthen communities in our rural area.”

The Grants Action News bulletin is updated at the beginning of each month with newly-available grants and information on how to apply. Continuing his monthly updates, Palmesano will be providing regular updates on his Assembly website at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Philip-A-Palmesano, as well as posts to his Facebook page – just like “Assemblyman Phil Palmesano” to stay up-to-date on new grant information.

The update can be accessed here: http://nyassembly.gov/gan/20170601/index.pdf

State Grants

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)

The NYSDEC seeks applicants for the Hudson River Estuary Grants Program for River Access Improvements for river entry improvements that implement priorities of the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda. This year, improving access for people of all abilities is a particular focus. To further this goal, the NYSDEC is supporting projects and plans to develop, retrofit, repair or make improvements to existing river access sites to enhance access to boating, fishing, swimming and/or wildlife-related recreation or educational interpretation of the estuary for people of all abilities on and along the estuary on tidal waters.

• Eligibility: Not-for-profit, governmental entities and tribal organizations are eligible to apply.
• Funding: Approximately $220,000 is available for this project. Grant awards will range between a minimum amount of $10,500 up to a maximum amount of $50,000.
• Deadline: July 12, 2017, 3 p.m.
• Contact: Susan Pepe Email: susan.pepe@dec.ny.gov

  Website: www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5091.html

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)

The NYSDEC seeks applicants for Round 22 of the 2017 Hudson River Estuary Grants for Local Stewardship Planning to fund projects that will implement priorities of the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda. These priorities include providing the benefits of a vital estuary ecosystem: clean water, resilient communities, sustainability of estuary fish, wildlife and habitats, conservation of natural scenery and enhanced access, river education and recreational opportunities. Funding is available for projects for plans, feasibility studies, assessments, design and permitting, inventories and the development of regionally applicable guidance documents or handbooks to help communities improve infrastructure and protect water resources and habitats.

• Eligibility: Not-for-profit, governmental entities and tribal organizations are eligible to apply.
• Funding: Approximately $450,000 is available for this project. Grant awards will range between a minimum amount of $10,500 up to a maximum amount of $50,000.
• Deadline: July 12, 2017, 3 p.m.
• Contact: Susan Pepe Email: susan.pepe@dec.ny.gov Website: www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5091.html

Federal Grants

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health

The objective of this funding opportunity, Noncoding Functional Elements in the Human Brain and their Role in the Development of Psychiatric Disorders, is to support research in the discovery and characterization of the full spectrum of human-specific noncoding functional genomic elements across brain regions, cell types and developmental time periods to elucidate their role(s) in the molecular pathophysiology of mental illness. Projects should characterize functional genomic elements in both healthy and diseased human brains to correlate findings with development of mental illnesses and outcomes relevant to brain function and dysfunction. Successful applications will include expertise in genetics, neurodevelopmental biology, psychiatry, high through put analysis, whole genome sequence analysis, computational bioinformatics and/or other fields relevant to the application.

• Eligibility: Eligible applicants include higher education institutions, nonprofits other than institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations, local, state and other federally recognized governments, and others such as independent school districts, public housing, Native American tribal organizations, faith-based or community based organizations and nondomestic entities.
• Funding: The amount of funding is dependent on the number of meritorious applications received and the availability of funds.
• Deadline: July 6, 2017.
• Contact: Geetha Senthil, Ph.D. Phone: 301-402-0754 Email: senthilgs@mail.nih.gov Website: www.grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pafiles/PAR-17-257.html

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children & Families

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) has announced the availability of funding under the Transitional Living Program (TLP) and Maternity Group Home (MGH) grant programs. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to implement, enhance and/or support effective strategies for successful transition to sustainable living for runaway and homeless youth ages 16 to 21 and/or pregnant and parenting youth ages 16 to 21 and their dependent children. Prospective applicants may choose to serve either or both populations. The primary goal is to help runaway and homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 21 establish sustainable living and well-being for themselves and, if applicable, their dependent children. Through the provision of shelter and services, youth between the ages of 16 and 21 will realize improvements in four core outcome areas: stable housing, education/employment, permanent connections and social and emotional well-being. Additionally, runaway and homeless youth programs must provide street-based services to youth victims of trafficking.

• Eligibility: Eligible applicants include nonprofits with a 501(c)(3) status, private and public institutions of higher education, independent school districts, state and local governments, public and Indian/Native American housing authorities and tribal governments.
• Funding: Approximately $20,056,829 is available. An anticipated 103 awards will be made with an award floor of $100,000 and an award ceiling of $194,726.
• Deadline: July 14, 2017.
• Contact: Angie Webley, Administration for Children and Families Phone: 202-401-5490 Email: angie.webley@acf.hhs.gov

  Website: https://ami.grantsolutions.gov/index.cfm?switch=foa&fon=HHS-2017-ACFACYF-CX-1233

Private Grants

Karma for Cara Foundation (K4C), Youth Microgrant Program

Karma for Cara Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by 21-year-old Cara Becker and her family while she was undergoing treatment for leukemia at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Cara and her two brothers began volunteering at a young age as part of their family’s commitment to community service. She and her family saw a tremendous need to help support other patients and their families who were also challenged by cancer. Tragically, Cara passed away four months after her diagnosis, yet her wish to help others through K4C lives on with the support of an ever-growing circle of family and friends. The Youth Microgrant Program promotes and supports youth volunteerism throughout the U.S. Examples of fundable projects include – but are not limited to – turning a vacant lot into a community garden, rebuilding a school playground or helping senior citizens get their homes ready for winter.

• Eligibility: Kids 18 and under can apply for a community service project they feel passionate about.
• Funding: Grants are awarded in amounts between $250 and $1,000.
• Deadline: July 1, 2017.
• Contact: Phone: 312-967-3469 Email: k4cmicrogrants@livingclassrooms.org Website: www.karmaforcara.org

Scholar Awards

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Office of Research and Evaluation

The mission of CNCS is to improve lives, strengthen communities and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. CNCS is seeking applications that build on existing research in the field, address gaps in knowledge and provide new ideas and methodological approaches to the study of civic concepts such as social capital. CNCS anticipates funding projects in two categories: Dissertation and Scholars. The dissertation category targets research that may support doctoral dissertations. The dissertator must have completed their Ph.D. coursework, passed qualifying exams and achieved All But Dissertation (ABD) status by Oct. 1, 2017. The scholar category targets established academics, researchers and post-doctoral researchers with a proven track record and standing in their respective fields. CNCS seeks to support research in three broad areas of equal priority: how civic infrastructure and civic engagement are defined, measured, developed and hindered; how an individual’s civic engagement changes over the course of a lifetime; and the impacts associated with civic engagement, volunteering or national service.

• Eligibility: This competition is only open to accredited institutions of higher education and is funding research for dissertators and scholars.
• Funding: CNCS anticipates approximately $800,000 for National Service and Civic Engagement Research Competition 2017 awards. CNCS expects to make awards in the range of $20,000 to $150,000.
• Deadline: July 11, 2017.
• Contact: Phone: 202-606-3778 Email: nationalserviceresearch@cns.gov Website: www.nationalservice.gov/national-service-and-civic-engagementresearch-2017

The William T. Grant Foundation

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand junior researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods and content areas. Early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take risks, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as an emphasis on community and collaboration. Research that increases understanding in one of two of the foundation areas will be funded. These two areas are programs, policies and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes and strategies to improve the use of research evidence to benefit youth. The foundation seeks research that builds stronger theory and empirical evidence in these two areas. The research should inform change and contribute to a body of useful knowledge to improve the lives of young people.

• Eligibility: To be eligible, the applicant should have received his/her terminal degree (e.g. Ph.D., M.D.) within seven years of submitting the application. For doctorate holders, this is the date the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency. The project should advance the foundation’s interest in understanding programs, policies and practices that reduce inequality of improving the use of research evidence. The applicant must be employed at a tax exempt organization, in a career-ladder position. The award may not be used as a post-doctoral fellowship.
• Funding: Award recipients are designated as William T. Grant Scholars. Each year, four to six scholars are selected and each receives up to $350,000 distributed over five years. Awards are made to the applicant’s institution and must not replace the institution’s current support of the applicant’s research.
• Deadline: July 6, 2017, 3 p.m. EST.
• Contact: Phone: 212-752-0071 Email: info@wtgrantfdn.org Website: www.wtgrantfoundation.org

The Foundation Center

The Foundation Center has scheduled the following free training classes:

Introduction to Proposal Writing: Classroom, July 5

This newly-revised class will provide attendees with an overview of how to write a standard project proposal to a foundation.

Introduction to Finding Grants: Classroom, July 6

In this newly-revised class, attendees will learn what funders want in nonprofits seeking grants and how to find potential funders.

Introduction to Project Budgets (Proposal Budgeting Basics): Classroom, July 11

This class will provide attendees with step-by-step instructions on how to generate a standard project budget for a foundation proposal. Prior attendance at Introduction to Proposal Writing is strongly recommended.