Sample Grant Review - #1

Each application received by the Right To Learn Grants Program will be evaluated according to the rubric below. Within 10 business days following an application, Right to Learn will provide a grant decision (approval, denial or request for more information) and comprehensive feedback on the application. A sample of this feedback is provided below for one of the sample applications published on the Right To Learn site.

Sample #1: Peer Mediation Group

The application for this group can is also accessible for review.

Area of consideration	Score (1-9)
Project clearly identifies and articulates strategy to achieve the desired social change.	8
Grant amount requested is proportional to the number of students involved in or impacted by the project.	6
Project plans for effective uses local resources and community involvement (via in-kind donations and discounts, support from civic groups, etc.)	5
Team proposes an innovative and creative strategy to address the problem/challenge.	8
Project is viable and has a likely chance of successful implementation.	9
Other considerations: number of schools/students involved in project, previous involvement in Right To Learn activities, strong references/recommendations, involvement of low-income and historically underserved communiti

Narrative Comments:

You present a well thought out plan to start a peer mediation group at a school with a high need for conflict resolution. While the idea isn't necessarily unique, it is innovative for your school community since you don't yet have peer groups such as this one. It is a very efficient budget (only $7.50/student for 100 student participants) and the amount ofmoney is proportional to the amount of students expected to participate. We appreciate that you are soliciting donations for food and that you they will purchase their supplies from local small businesses. However, we suggest that you ask these business to donate the supplies you need. Good job choosing an appropriate adult ally who has connected you with a trainer. We assume that the trainer is doing it at a discounted rate, and this is great way to maximize your resources and keep the budget down. Overall, we really like your proposal, and think it will be very successful. We really appreciate that you are approaching this project as a pilot program that may be adopted by other schools in the district. This is a very strong proposal and we are quite confident that we would fund your proposal.