Grants

Nickelodeon Announces Giveaway Program to Encourage Healthy Play
Deadline: Rolling, until May 31, 2006

Children's television network Nickelodeon (http://www.nick.com) has announced the launch of the 2005-2006 "Let's Just Play" Giveaway Program, where the network will distribute more than $1 million from September 2005 to June 2006. The "Let's Just Play" Giveaway offers kids around the United States the opportunity to take action and enter for a chance to win $5,000 to improve their school or community program's fitness resources. The initiative is part of the network's three-year pro-social "Let's Just Play" campaign, which encourages healthy and active lifestyles for kids and families.

For ten months, Nickelodeon will award a minimum of 20 winners per month with $5,000 each to help facilitate play in their community. To enter, kids ( 6-15 years of age), partnering with teachers and other community-based leaders, must tell Nickelodeon what they need for their public or private school (grades K-9) or community-based after- school organization to help them play better and why, and give three reasons why play is important. Once the entry form is completed and mailed to Nickelodeon, the winners will be randomly selected and announced via Nickelodeon Online at the top of each month, beginning in September.

As a partner of the "Let's Just Play" Giveaway, the Kellogg Company (http://www.kellogg.com) will match a Nickelodeon grant of $100,000 for September, enabling the network to award funding to 40 winners that month. The partnership is part of the network's efforts to bring corporate partners on-board for the "Let's Just Play" Giveaway in order to increase the total funds distributed to $2 million.

For more information on the "Let's Just Play" program and details on submitting program entries, visit the Nickelodeon Web site.

RFP Link: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/5000082/nick

Service Learning Grants to Promote Crime Prevention & Community Service
Deadline: June 1, 2006.

The National Crime Prevention Council will award grants to support service-learning projects planned and implemented by youth who identify needs and create projects to address or prevent crime, violence, and drug abuse in their schools and communities. These grants are intended to encourage and promote crime prevention, community service, and civic responsibility. Maximum Award: $500. Eligibility: Ages 11-19; Youth must be participating in a Community Works or Youth Safety Corps program or be in a youth group or class of six or more members. http://www.ncpc.org/programs/tcc/

Best-selling author and literacy advocate James Patterson and the Time Warner Book Group have announced the creation of the James Patterson PageTurner Award, an annual cash prize intended to single out and support the people, companies, schools, and other institutions who find original and effective ways to promote the excitement of books. Within each yearly application cycle, there will be two awards of $25,000 each plus twenty-five $1,000 awards of merit for runners-up.

The first $25,000 award -- the PageTurner Award -- will go to any person, group, company, or institution that spreads the excitement of books in an effective and original way. Examples of potential recipients include: a librarian, educator, or bookseller who's promoted the joy of reading; anyone who's publicly highlighted the entertainment value of books; a philanthropic group that orchestrated a unique event that drew attention to books and reading; or a book group leader, Web site operator, or other person who singles out books in an exciting or unusual way. Nominees for this award must be U.S. organizations or U.S. citizens (age thirteen or older).

The second $25,000 award -- the PageTurner School Award -- will go to an elementary school, middle school, high school, or college that inculcates the joy of reading for pleasure in its students. The winning school will also win a visit from author James Patterson for reading, signing, and talking about books. Nominees for this award must be U.S.-accredited private or public primary, secondary, or vocational schools or colleges.

There will also be twenty-five $1,000 awards of merit to individuals and organizations who have made notable contributions to promoting the excitement of books and reading. Entries that meet the criteria for either of the two $25,000 awards are eligible for the awards of merit.

In honor of the two $25,000 winners, First Book (http://www.firstbook.org), a national nonprofit organization that gives children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books, will donate 1,000 books to programs serving disadvantaged children in cities of the winners' choosing.

PageTurner nominees must be able to demonstrate outstanding accomplishments (or ongoing efforts that have taken place) within the given calendar year.

Any U.S. citizen, 18 years of age or older, who can access the awards program Web site and complete the nomination form is eligible to nominate any person or institution, including themselves or their own organization, that meets the award criteria.

Visit the awards program Web site for complete program information and the online nomination form.

RFP Link: http://fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/5000080/page