The William T. Grant Foundation has restructured its Youth Service Grants program,

changing it from a program that supported youth services to one that supports efforts to improve these services. The Youth Service Improvement Grants program, as it is now called, focuses on activities conducted by community-based organizations in the New York metropolitan area to improve the quality of services for young people between the ages of 8 and 25. To be eligible for consideration, organizations must have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and provide services to youth located in the New York

metropolitan area, defined as the following counties: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union counties, New Jersey; and Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield counties, Connecticut. The organization must serve youth aged 8-25 years and have an operating budget between $250,000 and $5 million.

Organizations should identify aspects of their current services that require improvement and propose a project with two main elements: 1) a plan of activities to improve the program services; and 2) an assessment plan to track the implementation of the improvement plan and its short-term results. Activities eligible for funding include, but are not limited to, activities designed to increase the attendance of enrolled youth and decrease program drop-outs; development and implementation of improved curricula and teaching materials; on-site, ongoing staff development; and strategies to improve staff retention.

The foundation expects most grants will be close to the maximum amount of $25,000.