National Schools of Character

If your school or district does an exemplary job educating students for character, you should consider applying for the National and State Schools of Character awards.  Every year, the Character Education Partnership (CEP) names approximately 10 public and private schools and districts (K–12) as National Schools of Character (NSOC) for their outstanding work in character education. The awards program honors these exemplars, showcase their work, and facilitates their leadership in the field of character education.

National Schools of Character winners receive a banner and an engraved award at the annual CEP National Forum on Character Education. Winners also receive national and local press coverage, and CEP features the NSOC in its annual book and on the CEP website. In addition, award recipients have the right to use the NSOC name and logo.

Financial Grant
NSOC winners receive a financial grant as high as $10,000. The amount of each grant is based on the size of the school or district, the extensiveness of the winner’s outreach plans, and available resources. Half of each grant is used to enhance the winner’s program and send a team to present at the CEP Forum; the other half is used for outreach to other educators. Outreach efforts include providing staff development and mentoring to other schools or districts.

State Schools of Character
Many states conduct State Schools of Character (SSOC) competitions as a preliminary step to advancing to the National Schools of Character awards. This tiered approach allows more schools and districts to be recognized and provides exemplary sites within states to serve as models for other educators. See State Schools of Character for more information. 

> http://www.character.org/nsoc

Teaching Tolerance

Teaching Tolerance offers grants of $500 to $2500 to preK-12 classroom teachers for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve intergroup relations in schools and/or support educator professional development in these areas. Proposals from other community organizations and houses of worship will be considered on the basis of direct student impact.

> http://www.tolerance.org/teach/grants/guide.jsp

Allstate Foundation

Tolerance, inclusion and diversity. Programs should address:

• Teaching tolerance to youth, Ending hate crimes and Alleviating discrimination

> http://www.allstate.com/foundation/funding-guidelines.aspx

Partnerships in Character Education

An eligible entity may apply for a grant to design and implement a character education program that will be (1) integrated into classroom instruction and is consistent with state academic content standards and (2) carried out in conjunction with other education reform efforts.

Awards are made to eligible entities for the purpose of designing and implementing character education programs that can be integrated into classroom instruction, that are consistent with state academic content standards. Such programs may be carried out in conjunction with other education reform efforts and must take into consideration the views of parents, students, students with disabilities, and other members of the community.

> http://www.ed.gov/programs/charactered/index.html

Sprint Character Education Grant Program

Sprint and the Sprint Foundation are committed to supporting K–12 education initiatives within the focus area of character education. In 2008, the Sprint Foundation launched a national education grant program. The program is open to all US public schools (K-12) and US public school districts and provides grant funding to support character education programs.

The Sprint Character Education Grant Program accepts applications for funding of character education programs promoting leadership, youth volunteerism, character education and school pride. Grants will fund the purchase of resource materials, supplies, teacher training and equipment that facilitates character education for K-12 students.

Examples of programs that the Sprint Character Education Grant Program will fund include:

• Character education curriculum and character education teacher training
• Direct project related costs for service learning programs
• Leadership and mentor training

Examples of programs that the Sprint Character Education Grant Program will not fund include:

• On-going staff salary (stipends and training are allowable)
• Physical fitness programs
• School beautification programs (i.e. playgrounds, gardens)
• Capital improvement needs (i.e. bricks and mortar, computer labs, Smart Boards)
• Any costs that are not directly related to the Character Education program you are proposing.

> http://www.sprint.com/responsibility/education/character/index.html?id8=vanity:educationgrants