grants for Evanston Cradle to Career partner organizations
The Evanston Cradle to Career (EC2C) initiative is a collective impact effort to mobilize our community assets to make a lasting difference in the lives of our community's children, youth and families. The EC2C partner organizations can submit action plan proposals to fund collaborative efforts.
A broad and deep group of community organizations and individuals have committed themselves to this bold vision. Visit the EC2C website to learn about collective impact and the EC2C equity statement. Since 2017, ECF has coordinated the process of distributing grants to advance EC2C's bold goal of supporting families with young children. Information about grants for 2020 will be available in fall 2019.
EC2C United Way grant process
On behalf of the Evanston Cradle to Career (EC2C) initiative, Evanston Community Foundation invites proposals from EC2C partners that address the initiative’s first shared bold goal: Increase the district-wide kindergarten readiness score to 85% by 2025 by creating and strengthening equitable, supportive, accessible systems for pre-k children and their families in Evanston, significantly increasing racial and ethnic parity for African American and Latinx children.
Only EC2C partners are invited to submit action plans. At least three EC2C partners must collaborate on each submission. Please identify one partner to serve as a “distribution manager” to accept and manage the fund distribution. Applicants must either be 501©3 organizations, schools, or government entities. Proposals can be submitted for distributions of $5,000 to $65,000.
Key Dates: Action plan distribution guidelines released May 3, proposed action plans due September 7 (revised date), decisions by October 8, 2018; allocation period is October 15, 2018 to December 31, 2019.
Action Plan Proposal materials to download:
Action plan distribution guidelines
last year's EC2C UW grants
Previously, for FY18, $157,000 was made available for systems change efforts by coalitions of EC2C partner organizations. Evanston Community Foundation was asked to develop and manage the guidelines and selection process for these funds.
A committee of Evanston residents reviewed applications with a focus on investing in efforts that address the systems and structures in our community that create barriers to equitable access and opportunities for all children and their families. Five collaborative efforts were selected for funding. Each furthers goals established by EC2C action teams, as detailed the UW EC2C Funded Action Plans chart:
- Evanston Home Visiting Centralized Intake Study ($11,500). Partners: Childcare Network of Evanston, Family Focus, Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Infant Welfare Society of Evanston.
- Community Schools ($50,000). Partners: Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, Metropolitan Family Services
- Evanston Fatherhood Initiative planning grant ($16,000). Partners: Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Family Focus, Evanston Parks and Recreation, Youth Job Center, YWCA Evanston/North Shore.
- Trauma-Informed Services for Evanston Early Childhood Programs ($50,000). Partners: Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Reba Early Learning, Learning Bridge, Childcare Network of Evanston.
- Moving the Equity Needle ($31,000). Partners: Evanston Parks and Recreation, Evanston Equity and Empowerment, YWCA Evanston/North Shore