Fifteen educators or program leaders will receive a $500 Marketplace credit to help solve a problem facing their communities.
The timeline to apply for the chance to utilize diverse, tailored books and resource collections to activate students to create direct change within their communities is
Application Deadline: August 31, 2016
Winners Notified: mid-September, 2016
Project Completion: no later than December 31, 2016
First Book, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Albert Shanker Institute present the Citizen Power Challenge thanks to generous funding from the Pluribus Project. To apply you’ll be asked to: Identify an issue that is important to students, school, or community; describe how that issue affects your community; tell how, with the support of additional knowledge and resources, you’ll support students in taking action to address the identified issue.
Each 15 winners of a $500 grant to use on the First Book Marketplace will work with First Book to create custom book/resource collections tailored to their specific topic area, reading levels, and project goals. Each winner will also receive a Citizen Power Action Guide developed by AFT and the Shanker Institute with useful tips and ideas for groups of children or youth wanting to take action in their local communities. Using the selected books and resources, educators will support students in learning more about the issue affecting their community and in customizing their project to take action.
Project Example:
5th grade classroom concerned about pollution because of a new factory relocating into their community could use their $500 Citizen Power Challenge grant to order two collections of books focused on the environment and children making a difference: one set at the 5th grade reading level and one at the 3rd grade reading level. The 5th graders could read the books at their reading level and then plan a pollution education activity for the 3rd graders at their school. The 5th graders could read with and give the books to the younger students as a service activity.
To learn more about the program and apply, click here.