Housed at the Miami Foundation, Press Forward, the $500 million movement to reimagine local news, has issued an open call on Closing Local Coverage Gaps for funding focused on addressing the long-standing inequalities in journalistic coverage of underserved communities.

Local news outlets that fill coverage gaps with original reporting and have a budget under $1 million are eligible to apply for Press Forward funding. Through the open call, Press Forward will provide more than 100 news outlets with an expected $100,000 each in funding, whether they are nonprofit or for-profit entities. The funding will be unrestricted, general operating support, allowing the news organizations to spend it as needed to sustain and grow their operations.

Press Forward is investing funding in four areas: strengthening local newsrooms that have the trust of their communities, accelerating the enabling environment for news production and dissemination, closing longstanding inequalities in journalism coverage and practice, and advancing public policies that expand access to local news and civic information.

For this open call, Press Forward will prioritize organizations that are producing and delivering news and information to underserved audiences such as communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-wealth rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached, or represented.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Press Forward website.

Deadline: June 12, 2024

The philanthropic wing of Centene Corporation, the Centene Foundation aims to transform the health of communities through three distinct drivers of health: healthcare access, social services, and education.

Projects or programs must align with one or more of Centene Corporation’s focus areas of education, healthcare access (including social determinants of health), and social services. The foundation supports local partnerships and initiatives focused on inclusion, the whole person, and community development. The foundation recognizes that transforming the health of communities requires more than one-time contributions and seeks partnerships that can grow over time and position communities to thrive.

To be eligible, applicants must be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) or section 170(b) of the Internal Revenue Code.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Centene Foundation website.

Deadline: May 31, 2024

At Temple Harrisburg, our Grant Writing Certificate Program offers you the opportunity to enhance your skills and expand your career horizons. Join us for a comprehensive learning experience that will equip you with the knowledge and expertise needed to succeed in grant writing and fundraising.

This certificate program will cover the basics of grant seeking and writing, enabling anyone with an interest in getting started on the grant writing process. It will also help experienced academic researchers, nonprofit organizations, and freelance writers to write grants more confidently and improve their grant-writing outcome. The Grant Writing Certificate Program will provide all individuals with an opportunity to learn and practice skills in developing successful proposals to obtain external funding. Our flexible schedule with a morning and an evening option allows you to choose what is best for your personal and professional schedule!

Classes start May 21 or 23.

Enroll here.

Register here.

This year we are so thrilled to present this award to the incredible Jennifer Rice.

Jennifer’s commitment to the advancement of women, girls, and gender and racial equity is demonstrated by her long-term support of WOMEN’S WAY, her engagement in the community, and her advocacy and mentorship supporting women in leadership positions.

As a founding member of the WOMEN’S WAY Gender Wealth Advisory Council, co-founder of the Forman Arts Initiative, and passionate contemporary art collector committed to elevating women artists, Jennifer’s exemplary leadership in the community reflects her dedication to building a region where all women and girls can thrive.

Join us at the 46th Annual Celebration: Equity Champions Unite on May 22nd, 2024 at 5:00 PM at the Crystal Tea Room (Wanamaker Building, 100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia., PA 19107), as we pay tribute to Jennifer Rice and this year’s other remarkable honorees!

Learn more and get tickets.

Who should attend?

Pennsylvania educators and community staff who work with refugee students and
their families such as:

• Refugee School Impact (RSI) Program administrators and staff.
• Ukrainian Refugee School Impact (URSI) Program administrators and staff.
• Afghan Refugee School Impact (ARSI) Program and ARSI Support to Schools (ARSI S2S) grantees.
• Resettlement Agency staff.
• English Language Development (ELD) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and staff.
• School counselors and school social workers.
• Intermediate Unit staff working with refugee programs.
• Community organizations working with refugee students.
• Out-of-school time (OST) programs serving refugee students.
• Other educators and community staff seeking best practices and strategies to support the education of refugee students.

There is no cost to attend. A discounted room block at the Harrisburg Hilton will be available on first-come, first-served basis. Details coming soon.

Dates: September 24-25, 2024

Location: Harrisburg Hilton, Harrisburg, PA

Sign up to be notified when registration opens.

Spanning topics from integrating STEM across the curriculum and innovative teaching methods, to the crucial inclusion of underserved communities and the expanding role of technology, this series promises to deliver cutting-edge insights and practical strategies for fostering STEM excellence.

Attendees can expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to engage youth in STEM learning, both inside and outside the classroom, and prepare them for the future careers that await in these ever-important fields.

Act 48 credit is available.

This webinar explores ways to expand the scope of STEM education beyond traditional classroom settings into the broader community and everyday life.

Date and Time: June 12, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Register.

In this training, we’ll discuss how we use quantitative and qualitative data to tell a story about the work we do.

Date and Time: Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 6:00 PM –  7:30 PM

Register.

If this describes your organization, we encourage you to apply for funding. Funds can be used to:

• Expand the availability of FAFSA advisors, counselors, and coaches
• Facilitate FAFSA submission clinics
• Provide transportation support
• Communicate with parents and students

To apply for funding, please email fafsasupport@ecmc.org expressing your interest. ECMC will then send you an application form.

Read more about the FAFSA Student Support Strategy here.

guides.vote engages potential voters, especially young voters, by providing clear, insightful, and well-sourced candidate information so they can draw clear contrasts and counter misinformation. We do so by creating and distributing nonpartisan candidate guides for America’s most important elections. Our guides give voters the confidence they need to participate, understand the stakes, and make informed decisions. The guides highlight where candidates stand on key issues, with links to credible sources. Concise, trustworthy, and user-friendly, our resources help people rise above the myth that voting is not worthwhile because candidates are “all the same.” They’re distributed by organizations including Black Voters Matter, Mi Familia Vota, the NAACP, Nonprofit Vote, Vote.org, Youth Service America, Teen Vogue, and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Working with groups like Andrew Goodman Foundation and Campus Vote Project, we also reach hundreds of college campuses. 

Collaborating with our terrific partners, we distributed 500,000 individual nonpartisan guides in 2022, our first year. Colleges with a total enrollment of 715,000 also posted enlarged versions as banners and posters in high-traffic locations, as did some community groups. The guides traveled further as individuals emailed them to friends, shared them on social media, and even posted printed versions on neighborhood lamp posts.  We then continued to grow in 2023, distributing as many printed guides in 6 races as in 46 in 2022. And our growth has skyrocketed in 2024, with NAACP, Black Voters Matter, BVM’s grassroots partners and several other groups committing to distribute 3.5 million printed guides as of spring, plus online commitments from outlets like Teen Vogue and States News Service.

See guides.vote for more information, including our Impact Summary.

$50,000-62,000 – full-time, hourly contract position.

This is a dual role with the following expectations: 

• Engage potential distribution partners, like national and local nonprofits and media outlets. 
• Engage existing and potential financial supporters. 
• For both, you’ll need to communicate the value of our nonpartisan guides in helping potential voters past their overload and mistrust, and the ways that partners have distributed them. 

 Engage New and Prospective Partners:

• Reach out to existing distribution partners and engage them to distribute our guides and increase their level of participation.  Partners include voter participation groups, nonpartisan advocacy groups, community-based nonprofits including social service organizations, nonpartisan voter engagement coalitions, individual campuses, and media outlets. 
• Engage new potential partners by email, phone, LinkedIn, social media etc. Communicate the value of the guides, motivate them to distribute them, and work to integrate them into their programs.  
• Research and follow up on lists of new potential distribution partners, including working through allies like Nonprofit Vote, Vote Early Day, and Youth Service America.  We’re particularly interested in reaching communities of color in our top priority states.
• Assist with communications, like partner and donor newsletters, email appeals, and ad campaigns. 
• Log  and track every contact in our database (Little Green Light) in a timely and accurate manner.  We also use this database to track outreach to donors.
• Help with miscellaneous tasks, like coordinating to send orders for printed guides to our printer.

Fundraising tasks:

• Reach out by email and phone to existing donors and new prospects. 
• As much as possible, incorporate each donor’s passions, interests, and communication preferences in your outreach.    
• Identify, research and solicit new prospective individual, foundation, and corporate donors. 
• Assist our grant writer with the submission of grants, as needed. Grant Writing experience is a plus, but not essential.
• Help organize in-person or virtual fundraising events drawing on the networks of our supporters.
• Work on donor-related marketing materials like E-newsletters, thank-you letters  or event invitations.
• Log  and track your donor contacts in our database (Little Green Light) in a timely and accurate manner.  We also use this database to track outreach to organizations.

 Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• A passion for citizen engagement and enthusiasm for providing trustworthy and accessible information to help people vote with confidence.
• At least three-five years of relevant nonprofit or grassroots experience, more preferred. Demonstrated ability to engage new allies, whether organizational partners, funders, or individuals, and inspire them for your cause.  History of leading successful initiatives with measurable results.
• Ideally,  2 + years of experience personally soliciting and a proven record of closing major gifts. If candidates have strong and successful organizing experience, we can train them on fundraising.  
• Highly organized self-starter, able to foster strong relationships, carry out projects independently, manage multiple deadlines, and take initiative while working in a fast-paced team environment. Ability to promote existing models of engagement while also developing new ideas.  
• Persistent and creative.  Comfortable asking people to distribute our guides or for money, willing to keep on following up despite the likelihood that most donors and partners you initially approach will take multiple rounds to engage and that some donors will simply say no, at least initially.
• Strong communicator with high emotional intelligence. Able to “make the case” to inspire potential partners and donors, while hearing and heeding their interests and passions.  
• Strong writing, editing and research skills. (Be prepared to share a writing sample.)
• Works with integrity, reliability, and professionalism. Particularly maintains confidentiality when fundraising.
• Familiar with Microsoft Office, Google docs and sheets, willing to use our easy-to-learn CRM, Little Green Light to track all your outreach.
• If not a US citizen, have US work authorization.

This is a contract position reporting to guides.vote founder Paul Loeb. Hourly payment $25-30 hr based on experience, not to exceed $62,000 per year without administrative approval. As an independent contractor, the employee needs to cover their own benefits. May be expected to work during weekends or late hours during peak election cycles. This is an opportunity to work full-time from your location on the critical mission of educating voters where candidates actually stand.

Guides.vote is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity in our work environment and believe it furthers our mission to create and preserve an inclusive democracy for all voters and for underrepresented and marginalized communities in particular. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Contact lisa@guides.vote with a cover letter, resume, and three references. PDF format preferred. 

“This country is in the midst of a STEM and data literacy crisis,” opined Elena Gerstmann and Laura Albert in a recent piece for The Hill. Their sentiment represents a widely held concern that America’s global leadership in scientific and technological innovation, anchored in educational excellence, is being relinquished, thereby jeopardizing our economy and national security. Their message recycles a 65-year-old warning to U.S. policy makers, educators, and employers when the USSR seemingly eclipsed our innovation pace with the launch of Sputnik.

Read more.

• Learn about college and careers in the U.S. and get help with applications.
• Go on college tours in the Philadelphia area.
• Meet other immigrant and refugee students applying to college.

Eligibility:

• 16-24 years old
• ORR eligible students with refugee, asylee, or humanitarian parole status
• Live in the U.S. for less than 5 years
• High beginner English level or higher

When and Where:

• July 11 to August 8, 2024
• Weekly on Thursday afternoons
• 6 workshops and tours
• HIAS PA office (600 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA) or at college campuses

Contact Maritza Lohman at mlohman@hiaspa.org.

Informational flyer.

HIAS Pennsylvania supports low-income immigrants of all backgrounds as they build new lives in our community. Through Immigrant legal services and an array of social services, we work to address their needs, defend their rights, and advocate for their equitable inclusion in American society.

General Description:

The Young Adult Mentoring (YAM) Summer Program is a summer workshop series for refugee and immigrant teens and young adults. The summer program will have weekly workshops for 6 weeks, including information sessions, personal statement writing workshops and college visits. The YAM Summer Program Assistant will assist the instructor at the in-person events, and will also assist with administrative duties including registering students, sending reminder texts and calls for events, keeping attendance records, etc. The approximate start date of the position is the week of June 17, 2024. The approximate end date of the position is Friday, August 9, 2024.

Full job description and application information.

Location: Furness High School, 1900 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA

Days and Times: Friday, August 16 and Monday, August 19; 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP here .

The program includes:

• a free, three-week summer program for 16 rising high school seniors from greater Philadelphia area schools to engage in civic conversation through a foundation in the liberal arts
• an opportunity to continue those conversations with peers and faculty mentors once a month throughout the academic year
• a jumpstart on the college application process, including one-on-one mentoring and guidance for navigating the Common App and for drafting college essays

Civitas through Caritas is hosted by Villanova University’s Augustine and Culture Seminar, the University’s signature academic program for all first-year students, and is made possible by a generous grant from the Teagle Foundation as part of their Education for American Civic Life initiative.

Learn more and apply.

While some charitable organizations withdrew support due to the Marketplace’s shift towards selling food instead of giving it away, community members have reported positive experiences with the new approach, highlighting the need for services that don’t exacerbate feelings of belittlement among those seeking assistance. Despite challenges in measuring success, organizers remain hopeful that data from collaborative programs will validate the efficacy of trauma-informed care and sway donors towards supporting initiatives with tangible positive outcomes.

Read more.

If you are interested in signing up to volunteer, please complete the form here by May 22nd.

Informational flyer.

To kick off a new in-depth series sponsored by PolicyLink, Dr. Michael McAfee issues a call for individual and institutional self-renewal so we can re-found the United States as a thriving multiracial democracy:

“We must own the right to make this country better, on our terms. We can and must be the founders of a nation where all have equal protection, our economy is designed to benefit people and the planet, not just profit, and we have rectified the harms of the past to open the possibility of a new future.”

Read more and follow the new series, Realizing a Multiracial Democracy for All.

As the School District of Philadelphia continues to implement its Strategic Plan – Accelerate Philly – we anticipate that there will also be future opportunities for contracted providers to play a significant role in the launch of extended day and/or extended year pilots and initiatives, in alignment with Strategic Action 3.6. As a partner, you will be directly supporting The District’s vision – to help all students imagine and realize any future they desire.

The deadline to submit a proposal for the RFQ is Tuesday, May 28th.

Negotiation Number: NG10478

Click here to apply.

Click here for a guide on ways to celebrate AAPI Heritage month in Philly.