US Tennis Association Charitable Foundation Grants

This is a good one if you or an organization close to you is into tennis.

USTA Serves is the national charitable foundation of the U.S. Tennis Association.

Dedicated to improving the quality of life among our nation’s youth and people with disabilities, USTA Serves supports organizations that use tennis as a vehicle to help at-risk children finish high school and qualify for college scholarships.

Deadline: October 18, 2013 

To qualify for a USTA Serves Grant, your NFP organization must:

1. Provide tennis programs for underserved youth, ages 5-18, with an educational* component OR
2. Provide tennis programs for people with disabilities (all ages) with a life skills component for Adaptive Tennis programs AND
3. Be a USTA Organization Member (Click here to join)

*Educational components may be defined as:

• Promote academic achievement through homework assistance, tutoring, reading clubs and computer literacy
• Participate in peer and professional mentoring programs
• Learn about and practice healthy nutrition and physical fitness
• Improve life skills that focus on character and social development
• Offer college preparatory sessions

USTA Serves awards program grants twice a year to programs that support at-risk youth and people with disabilities through tennis and education programs designed to improve health, build character and strive for academic excellence.

To date USTA Serves has granted more than $11 million to fund 226 programs in 173 cities in 43 states, including more than $600,000 to adaptive tennis programs for people with special needs.

Online course: Improving Library Services to People with Disabilities

Improving Library Services to People with Disabilities

Course Dates: October 14 through November 10, 2013 featuring two Live Online Sessions using FlashChat in Moodle (Chat 1: Thursday, October 24, 3-4 pm Central Time; Chat 2: Thursday, November 7, 3-4 pm Central Time).

Course Description: Library services to people with disabilities are provided by all levels of library staff.  From the part-time aide charging out library materials to the library director determining policies, staff skills and attitudes are crucial for a satisfactory library experience.

All libraries have a plan for serving people with disabilities, whether it is the installation of ramps or the creation of special needs story times. But improvements are always possible.

Library staff who enroll will review the current level of service to people with disabilities then explore materials and sources that provide additional support or new ideas. 

Who Should Take This Course: This course is designed for all library staff, including support staff, general professional staff, age-level or subject specialists, managers and administrators.

Course Objectives:

1. Library staff will identify patrons with disabilities who use the library and the resources that are available to assist them.
2. Library staff will examine changes in attitudes, laws and technologies that have impacted people with disabilities.
3. Library staff will demonstrate communication with people-first language and non-verbal techniques.
4. Library staff will recommend changes in personal and organizational behaviors to improve services for people with disabilities.

Course Outline:

Week 1: 

• Visible or invisible:  who are the people with disabilities?

Week 2:

• What has changed?  Attitudes, laws and practices affecting services to people with disabilities.
• Communication:  etiquette, alternative communication and people-first language.

Week 3:

• Didn’t know we had that:  discovering assistive technology already available at your library.

Week 4:

• Know the rules:  applying policies and procedures of your library.
• One step forward:  share one personal goal and one organizational change that you would recommend to improve service in your library for people with disabilities.

Course participants who complete four assignments and two discussion postings will receive a certificate of completion from ASCLA.

Instructor: Kate Todd has worked as a children’s librarian for The New York Public Library and as Emerging Technologies Librarian for Manhattanville College.  At Manhattanville College, she taught “Technology for Special Education” in the graduate School of Education. She has taught several online courses for ALSC (Association of Library Services to Children), including “Children with Disabilities in the Library.” Kate is currently working on independent projects, including online instruction for ALA. Her interests include online learning, educational games, library services for people with disabilities and readability/leveling strategies.

Registration Information: Registration limit for each session: 30; registrations for this session will no longer be accepted once the 30 student limit is reached.

Registration Fees:

• $150 for ASCLA members
• $195 for ALA members
• $230 for non-ALA members
• $120 for student members and retired members

Register Online, by fax (download, complete, & fax PDF form to (312) 280-1538), or mail (download, complete, and mail PDF form to American Library Association, ATTN: MACS/Online CE Registration, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611

Standard Charitable Foundation

The SCF supports community development, education, disability and health organizations with a special emphasis on helping individuals and families who have experienced a major disability or the loss of a loved one. See the guidelines page.

The Foundation invites organizations to apply after approving an online LOI. Applications must be received by May 1 and October 1 to be considered for funding.

Community Development
They support organizations and programs that build healthy communities and help maintain their vitality, and programs that address major human services issues affecting children and families. The Foundation will also consider requests that focus on disadvantaged populations and develop young people's abilities, knowledge and aptitude for successful futures. They are interested in organizations and programs that increase employment opportunities, strengthen job skills and opportunities, develop the workforce, increase entrepreneur financial training and access to capital, and develop financial literacy.

Education Effectiveness
They support organizations and programs that strengthen the quality of education and develop systems to improve its overall effectiveness, with particular emphasis on K-12 grade levels. They fund programs that promote access and opportunity to schooling and help low-income and at-risk students succeed in school and prepare for post-secondary education. They are interested in bolstering literacy in the early years and focusing on diversity and inclusion. They will also consider requests to develop after-school programs, improve education leadership skills and help students achieve high results.

Disability and Health
They are committed to using The Standard's expertise in disability and return-to-work programs in tandem with corporate giving to support organizations and programs that help people with disabilities lead independent and fulfilling lives. The Foundation will also fund programs that promote and educate about health and wellness and help people make informed decisions about their health.

Learning Disabilities Foundation of America

The Learning Disabilities Foundation of America is accepting grant applications for projects which respond to an unmet need in the field of learning disabilities.

Funds are granted for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes or for the identification, ongoing evaluation and education of and services for children and adults with learning disabilities.

Examples of project areas that fall within this philosophy:
* Innovative research into the causes, the prevention and/or the alleviation of learning disabilities;
* Distinctive public awareness programs to advance public understanding of the needs of persons with learning disabilities;
* Innovative programs to advance the competence of persons with learning disabilities, and the support skills of their families, professional advisors, and employers.

Grant application guidelines.

Deadlines: March 1 and September 15.

Upcoming 2/16 webinar: Next Chapter Book Club: An Innovative and Viable Approach to Meeting the Literacy Needs of Adolescents and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

MLSC’s lab is free on 2/16 and CSL can swing a group rate if we get 3 or more people interested in coming here to view the webinar. Contact me (Doug Lord, 860-704-2204, Douglas.Lord@ct.gov) and I can coordinate.

“Next Chapter Book Club: An Innovative and Viable Approach to Meeting the Literacy Needs of Adolescents and Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities”

Thursday, February 16, 2012, 2:00 – 3:30pm Eastern Time.

The Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) is a community-based literacy and social program for adolescents and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. NCBCs include five to eight people with a wide range of reading skills who gather weekly in bookstores, cafés, and, increasingly, libraries. This webinar will describe the NCBC model, which has been disseminated to over 100 cities in North America and Europe.  The webinar will further explore how the NCBC model has been implemented by the Scotch Plains Public Library, which is reaching out to people with disabilities, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, in a variety of ways. Public librarians, especially those involved in outreach, programming and teen services, high school media specialists, and community members interested in authentic engagement and lifelong learning for people with disabilities will find this webinar to be extremely useful and valuable.

Presenter: Jillian Ober, MA, CRC, of The Ohio State University Nisonger Center on Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

REGISTRATION INFO AND RATES:

Individual registration fees are $40 for ASCLA members, $50 for ALA members, $65 for non-ALA members, and $45 for ALA student members and retired members.

Group rates are available: $99 for a single login, and $38/person for multiple logins (min. 2 people). We also offer excellent rates for state libraries who are members of ASCLA: $69 for a single login and $29/person for multiple logins (min. 2 people). Get more group registration information, including forms, at the ASCLA website. Registration closes at 5pm CT on Tuesday, February 14.