About the Educational Recovery Initiative
In 2022, the Lohengrin Foundation launched the Educational Recovery Initiative to partner with nonprofits working directly to support students within targeted communities get back on track academically. This initiative provided funding to 13 organizations that have prior experience or showed great promise to create and implement measurable and impactful interventions designed to help elementary and middle school students (grades 1-8) in Chicago targeted communities to begin to rebound, recover and catch up. This year, we are opening up the initiative to new applicants.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a sustained impact on communities and families across the world and in Chicago. Over the past 36 months, Chicago’s youth have experienced a combination of remote/virtual/hybrid and in-person teaching and learning experiences with mixed outcomes. As a result, many students have experienced learning loss, increased trauma, and ongoing academic decline. These losses were further compounded by the educational achievement and opportunity gaps that existed pre-pandemic.
The Lohengrin Foundation seeks proposals from nonprofit partners who will work directly with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students to accelerate learning, regain academic losses, and strengthen daily student attendance and academic outcomes. The primary goal of this call for proposals is to seek out additional partners who can help students get back on track academically. While we are prioritizing a list of targeted communities in Chicago, the 2023 call for proposals is open to supporting organizations working in and outside of the existing targeted communities in the Chicago area (Chicago and surrounding suburbs). This initiative will provide funding to organizations that have prior experience delivering measurable and impactful interventions designed to help elementary and middle school students (grades 1-8) in Chicago area communities to begin to rebound, recover and catch up.
Target Communities
Applicants that directly serve under-resourced students who live and attend schools in one or more of the Chicago communities of Woodlawn, South Chicago, Englewood, West Englewood, Rogers Park, Roseland, Pullman, and West Pullman, Austin, South and North Lawndale, Auburn Gresham, New City, or Albany Park will be prioritized. However, the 2023 call is seeking new partners whose service area may extend beyond these communities to surrounding communities and suburbs serving under-resourced populations.
Applicants must accept program participants without regard for race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Additional consideration will be given to programs or organizations led by BIPOC leaders.
Grant Size and Duration
Grant awards will range in size with a potential cap of $40,000 annually per organizational applicant. Grant award sizes will be based on the amount of youth served through direct academic intervention or recovery programming, the number of communities impacted, the ability to measure direct student academic growth and the potential for long-term impact.
Application Attachments
The following attachments should be prepared to ensure completion of the application.
Required:
- Organizational 501(c)3 IRS Determination Letter
- Program / Project Budget
Optional:
- We welcome program descriptions, reports, or other data related to prior student outcomes of your proposed program or project. This can be included as attachments of testimonials, assessment tools, evaluations, or reports.
- Any other documents that you feel are relevant to the project or program that would be helpful to share.
Applicants may be invited to a virtual call prior to final decisions. Funding notifications and awards will be provided in November 2023. Funded applicants will be asked to complete a spring mid-term conversational check-in report and final student progress report in the summer.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with the application submission period closing on October 12, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. CST.