January 2015 PEP Grant Program Update and Additonal Grant Opportunities
The 2015 federal budget was finalized in mid-December. The US Department of Education’s (ED) Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP grant program) was allocated $47 Million. In communications we recently had with the PEP Program Manager, Carlette KyserPegram, we learned that the amount appropriated by Congress for 2015 was NOT enough to make new PEP grants in 2015. So ED will not be holding a PEP competition in 2015 and does not expect to make any new PEP grant awards in 2015. Continuation awards for existing PEP grant winners are scheduled to be funded for 2015. It is far too soon to say what this means for PEP in 2016 and the future, but for this year, those who planned on applying for PEP will not be able to do so.
Although this is disappointing news, we would encourage potential applicants to consider other programs.
General Mills and the American Dietetic Association partner to offer the foundation-funded Champions for Healthy Kids grants which are specifically for nutrition and physical activity programs. These are smaller grants of $20,000 each. The application period has already opened, and applications are due 1/23/2015. You need to have a registered dietitian on board prior to application (that person will actually be the official applicant on behalf of your organization), although how the RD participates in your project is completely up to you, and he/she can be paid with grant funds for his/her role if needed. General Mills likes to see a wide reach, so if you go for that one, think about what you could do with $20,000 that includes at least one physical activity piece and one nutrition piece (with an RD serving at least as an advisor if not playing a more direct role) that would reach all of your kids and maybe even others. This grant focuses on ages 2-20, but you can have a secondary reach to families if you want to, as long as ages 2-18 are the primary audience. Champions grants are sometimes given to school-based programs operating during and around the school day but are most often given to programs operating at other times—programs that require support because they are clearly outside of the typical school budget.
AstraZeneca’s Connections for Cardiovascular Health is a foundation-funded grant program. AZ will accept applications February 2-26, 2015. This year, grants will range from $150,000-$180,000 for one year. One exciting element of the AZ grant is that, at least to this point, there hasn’t been an age range restriction. So you could focus solely on your kids, parents and community members, both, the elderly, or another population all together. Similar to General Mills Champions grants, though, AstraZeneca tends to be less of a fit for most PE class- and school-day-focused projects and more of a fit for out-of-school time and community-focused projects.
If you have out-of-school time aims and/or aims that touch parents, staff, and/or community members, General Mills or AstraZeneca grants may be options for you this year. Both grants are highly competitive, so definitely think of creative project activities you might propose to be as competitive as possible if you want to apply.
As additional news and opportunities surface throughout the year, we’ll be posting about them. As always, if you’d like to talk with us about a potential project or application and would like to inquire about our grant writing, editing, or evaluation services, please contact us.
