The Lohengrin Foundation is pleased to announce a new call seeking proposals for its 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 a set of targeted Chicago area communities to begin to rebound, recover, and catch up. This year, we are opening up the initiative to new applicants for the 23/24 academic year.
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.
Who is eligible to apply?
☐ Non-profit, charitable organizations as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code
☐ Organizations with a 501 (c)(3) Fiscal Sponsor
Who is not eligible to apply?
☐ For-profit educational organizations or tutoring companies
☐ Individuals not associated with a 501(c)(3) organization
☐ Public or Faith-Based Schools. Schools may apply in collaboration with a secular nonprofit partner.
☐ Programs that embed inherent religious instruction, worship, or proselytization into their program design or requirements.
Applicants must address one or more of the following program areas of focus:
☐ Reading and Literacy Skill Building – Programs that build, strengthen, or enhance early literacy skills development (phonemic awareness, vocabulary, etc.), reading, and or language fluency.
☐ Math Skill Building – Programs that build, strengthen or enhance mathematic and related problem-solving skills through continuous learning, practice, and hands-on activities
☐ One-on-One High Dosage Tutoring – Programs that go beyond drop-in homework help and provide hands-on and consistent high dosage tutoring that connects with or mirrors content and skill building being addressed in the classroom. Priority will be given to organizations that provide concentrated extended day tutoring (before or after school) in the school building and pull-out one-on-one sessions occurring during the academic day that is not disruptive to standard academic instructional periods. Consideration would also be given to highly effective out-of-school time stand-alone or community-based programs that have proven and demonstrated high levels of student retention, engagement, and academic success.
Additional Academic Support Components – Competitive applicants will incorporate culturally responsive and culturally sustaining student engagement approaches and one or more additional areas outlined below.
☐ Cultural Responsiveness and Culturally Sustaining Student Engagement Approaches – Programs and organizations that place students’ culture, histories, backgrounds, communities, or voices at the center of the experience as assets and building blocks for learning through culturally relevant materials, student engagement approaches, and content for learning new concepts.
☐ Hands-On and Contextualizing Learning – Programs that work in collaboration with schools to provide direct experiences for students to make connections to content in a context, i.e., embedding key learning concepts in meaningful activities and in a scenario that helps students to enhance their understanding and to make the concepts more relatable will be competitive.
☐ Learning Acceleration – Programs that prepare students for success in the present with materials and resources at grade level. While past concepts and foundational skills may be addressed, programs that do so with the perspective of future learning in mind will be competitive.
☐ Social Emotional Learning, Mental Health, and Wellness– Programs that incorporate social, and emotional learning aspects into their academic program models to address other needs that may inhibit the full academic engagement of students will be competitive and strongly considered.
Evidence or Research-Based Program Components – Competitive applicants will incorporate evidence or research-based program delivery approaches.
☐ Evidence-Based – Programs that have documented evaluated and evidence-based student outcomes of their programs and have demonstrable prior experience in target communities will be prioritized
☐ Research Based – Programs that have innovative program models not formally evaluated or assessed over a long period of time will also be considered. These applicants must have an internal assessment approach and utilize research-based program delivery approaches.
☐ Applicants must accept program participants without regard for race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
☐ Applicants that directly served under-resourced students who live and attend schools in one or more of the target communities of Woodlawn, South Chicago, Englewood, West Englewood, Rogers Park, Roseland, Pullman, and West Pullman, Austin, South and North Lawndale, Auburn Gresham, New City, and Albany Park will be prioritized. Organizations whose service area extends beyond these communities to surrounding under-resourced communities and suburbs will also be considered.
☐ Additional consideration will be given to programs or organizations led by BIPOC leaders.
September 6, 2023 – October 12, 2023 > Application Acceptance Time Period
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with the application submittal period closing on October 12, 2023, at 5:00 p.m.
September 2023 – November 2023 > Application Review Period
Applicants may be invited to a virtual call or asked to respond to additional questions via email prior to final funding decisions. Applications will be reviewed by the staff and board during this period of time.
November 2023 > Application Notification and Funding Decisions
Depending on the submittal of the application. Application award notifications can begin as early as October and go through November.
All applications must be submitted via the Educational Recovery Online Grant Application Form
Grant awards will range in size with a potential cap of $40,000 annually per applicant. Grant award sizes will be based on the amount of youth served, the number of target communities impacted, the ability to measure direct student academic growth, and the potential for long-term impact.
Q&A Information Sessions
Two Zoom information or Q&A sessions will be held. Both will be held at noon and a representative from prospective organizations can join by registering via one of the following links.
September 14th Info Session Registration Link or the September 27th Info Session Registration Link
One-on-One Organizational Conversations
20-minute, one-on-one organizational conversations and encouraged and could be scheduled online via the link for Organizational One-on-One Virtual Session.
For information on the RFP, please email us at edrecoveryrfp@lohengrinfdn.org .