2011-2012 - Grant Cycle

For the last four years, Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth has awarded approximately $200,000 annually to mentoring and tutoring programs. Individual grants to each of those programs have ranged from approximately $5,000 to $10,000. While many programs that received grants were well-established in their communities, start-up and emerging programs were eligible and encouraged to apply. A list of recent grant recipients can be found under the link Who We Support. We anticipate making similar grant awards during the 2011-2012 grant cycle.

As a result of recent strategic planning efforts, Lawyers Lend-A-Hand plans to develop a set of supports, in addition to funding, to provide to mentoring and tutoring programs. As we work to establish these new sets of supports, Lend-A-Hand will rely heavily on the input of our current grantee programs and other existing mentoring and tutoring programs. If you are not a current grantee, but wish to have input, please call 312.554.2041 or e-mail grobinson@lawyerslendahand.org to be added to our list of external stakeholders.

As part of these same strategic planning efforts, Lend-A-Hand is further reassessing our current grant giving with an eye toward long-term sustainability. We anticipate overall funding amounts and individual grants are likely to change during the 2012-2013 grant cycle based on our ongoing evaluation. While the size and scope of such changes remain under review, in an effort to maximize our grantee programs' ability to plan ahead, we are communicating the likelihood of future changes now. As an organization, we strive to be trustworthy, forward thinking, and resourceful in serving our constituents, in decision making, and in communicating our message.

Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth's grant requirements reflect our commitment to promoting best practice mentoring and tutoring programs in disadvantaged communities that foster consistent, long term bonds between adults and youth. They also reflect our belief in the potential for all youth to succeed. 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 will award the following 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 mentoring program; and
  
  

• The Sun-Times Literacy Award - an 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 and/or Sun-Times awards.

Grant proposals are due Monday, October 3, 2011. Decisions will be announced in January in honor of National Mentoring Month. 

Please click here to download the complete application.

To aid in ensuring that a grant application contains all required components, please consult our internal checklist.