In support of this mission, the foundation is accepting applications for its After the Bell Breakfast Launch Grant Opportunities program. The benefits of the ATB breakfast program include lower absentee and tardy rates, fewer morning nurses visits and behavioral problems, and higher academic achievement.

Under this RFP, technical assistance and one-time grants of $10,000 will be awarded to eligible, high-poverty schools/districts and charter public schools in Massachusetts for the launch or expansion of ATB programming. Districts may request district-wide grants.

To be eligible for a grant, schools are asked to set a goal of 80 percent breakfast participation via their ATB delivery model in order to: 1) meet the nutritional needs of children from low-income households; and (2) support nutrition department operations and its bottom line. Funding may be used for equipment and operational costs as well as incentives to help teachers and school officials/administrators embrace ATB breakfast programming.

See the Eos Foundation website for complete program guidelines, application instructions, examples of ATB models, and a list of schools that have received grants in the past.

With over 100 grants, the foundation works in Nigeria to achieve six main goals:

1. Eradicate polio: We work at the international level with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, as well as at the country level, with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and state governments, to ensure regular vaccinations and immunizations.
2. Improve family health: We aim to reduce preventable deaths by focusing on maternal and child health; investing in programs that provide prenatal through postnatal care, as well as childhood immunization programs. We also address common healthcare challenges, including pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, and neglected tropical diseases, as well as access to clean water and proper sanitation and hygiene.
3. Strengthen healthcare systems: We bolster primary healthcare and look for ways to integrate healthcare services to ensure a strong system for Nigeria’s people.
4. Improve nutrition: We partner with the Dangote Foundation and others to address severe malnutrition and improve overall childhood nutrition.
5. Increase agricultural productivity: We help smallholder farmers increase the yield of important crops such as yams, cassava, sorghum, cowpeas, and rice, as well as the productivity of their livestock. We do this by providing farmers with better tools, seeds, and systems, and also by supporting research and policies that help improve the lives of smallholder farmers over the long term.
6. Enhance access to financial services: Our programs support the government’s aims to ensure that women, smallholder farmers, and other marginalized populations have access to the country’s financial system, which can help them save, spend, and plan for the future more effectively.

The program envisions a broad conception of educational practice that encompasses formal and informal learning as well as the institutional, policy, and normative frameworks that influence and are influenced by learning and developmental processes and seeks to engage the research community in thinking big and engaging with work that is thoughtful, critical of prevailing assumptions, self-critical about the work and its limitations, and relevant to the aim of building knowledge for the “lasting improvement in education.”

Grants of up to five years and ranging in amount between $525,000 and $1 million will be awarded to intellectually ambitious research projects with the potential to transform the practice of education.

Scholars from all disciplines (including education, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, history, law, or neuroscience) are invited to submit a proposal. Projects may utilize a wide array of research methods, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, ethnographies, design-based research, participatory methods, and archival research.

The foundation values work that fosters creative and open-minded scholarship, engages in deep inquiry, and examines robust questions related to education. The program also supports proposals with multiple disciplinary and methodological perspectives, both domestically and internationally, and work that stretches beyond existing research silos.

To be eligible, principal investigators and co-PIs must have earned a doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field (or have appropriate experience in an education research-related profession) and must be affiliated with a college, university, school district, nonprofit research facility, or nonprofit cultural institution that is willing to serve as the administrative organization should a grant be awarded.

Letters of intent are due May 22, 2019. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal by October 2019.

See the Spencer Foundation website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.