Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth awards approximately $200,000 annually to tutor/mentor programs. Most grants range from $5,000 to $10,000. While many programs that receive grants are well established in their communities, start-up and emerging programs are eligible and encouraged to apply. A list of recent grant recipients can be found on under the link Who We Support at the left.
Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth's grant requirements reflect our commitment to promote one-on-one mentoring relationships that foster consistent, long-term (i.e., more than one year) bonds between the mentor and young person. To be eligible for a grant, a program must meet the following core requirements:
- The program must be operated by a 501(c)(3) organization or have an appropriate fiscal agency agreement with a qualified 501(c)(3) entity.
- The program must primarily serve young people from disadvantaged communities in either Chicago or the suburbs.
- The program must have a goal or objective to provide one-on-one, long-term mentoring between an adult volunteer and a young person. Long-term is defined as at least one school or calendar year.
- A minimum of fifty percent (50%) of the program's match-ups must be one-on-one with a plan in place to reach a one hundred percent (100%) one-on-one matched rate.
- For tutoring programs, there must be consistency and longevity in the relationships between the tutor and the young person (i.e., tutors are not constantly changing), and there must be a mentoring component to the tutoring relationship that goes beyond assisting with schoolwork.
The additional criteria used to review proposals can be found in the grant application.
In addition to our general grants, Lawyers Lend-A-Hand awards several named grants including:
- The Thomas A. Demetrio Award of Excellence - a $10,000 award funded annually by the law firm of Corboy & Demetrio, P.C. and given to the most exemplary established tutor/mentor program;
- The Much Shelist Founders Award - a $7,000 award donated by the law firm Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, P.C. in honor of their 35th anniversary and given to the most promising tutor/mentor program in existence five (5) or less; and
The Sun-Times Literacy Award - a $10,000 award given to a tutor/mentor program with a primary focus on literacy.
There is no separate application to be eligible for the above named grant awards. Programs that submit grant proposals for general grants will be considered for the Demetrio, Much Shelist, and/or Sun-Times awards.
Lend-A-Hand has awarded a small number of special grant awards for the last two years. These awards are typically larger than the general awards and are designed to support the development or expansion of an initiative related the organization's tutor/mentor program. With these special grants, Lend-A-Hand seeks to fund initiatives that increase impact on underserved youth and/or foster collaboration. Decisions regarding special grants are made simultaneously with general and named grant awards; however, applicants must submit additional material with their proposals.
As a prerequisite to applying for a special grant, the applicant must discuss their proposed initiative with the Lend-A-Hand executive director. The executive director will inform the applicant whether they may proceed with the special grant request and what additional information they will need to provide.
Grant proposals are due Thursday, October 1, 2009. Decisions will be announced in late December or early January.
