Learn and Serve America Youth Engagement Zone FY11

YOU MUST APPLY THROUGH THE CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL & COMMUNITY SERVICE'S WEBSITE www.nationalservice.gov The goal for the Youth Engagement Zone initiative is to improve student engagement, including student attendance and behavior, and student achievement, graduate rates and college-going rates by: 1. Engaging youth as positive contributors through service-learning to demonstrate the relevance of academic coursework and the value of civic engagement to their educational and personal development; and 2. Connecting with citizens from diverse communities, backgrounds and perspectives to provide...

Eligible partnerships may apply for a Youth Engagement Zone grant. The lead applicant for this YEZ competition must be a public or private non-profit organization – e.g., a faith-based or community-based organization, a local educational agency (or individual public secondary school), an institution of higher education, or an Indian tribe. In addition, the lead applicant of the partnership must be physically located in the designated zone and have the organizational capacity to manage the grant. Eligible partnerships must include the following components; these factors will be used to determine eligibility for funding for this competition. (See Section VI regarding submission requirements. You are not required to submit partnership agreements or memoranda of understanding at the time of application, but you may be asked to provide them as part of the review and selection process.) 1. One or more community-based entities with demonstrated records of success in service-learning programs with economically disadvantaged students. (For the purpose of this competition, a community-based entity is a public or private nonprofit organization that has experience with meeting unmet educational, environmental or public safety needs.) 2. A local educational agency (LEA) serving a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students (a free and reduced-price lunch eligibility rate of 70% or more) and where the graduation rate is less than 70%. 3. a community college with existing connections to the LEA and/or youth serving organizations; and 4. a geographic area where less than 30% of the secondary school students are already engaged in service-learning.

Cara Patrick YEZ@cns.gov 202-606-7510